The Multi-Faceted War

"The war was over. All thanks to one man."

Writer: Richard Dinnick
Format: Short Story
Released: June 2017
Printed in: Myths & Legends 12

Featuring: Rassilon

Synopsis

The war between the Time Lords of Gallifrey and the Vampires has been raging for years now. It's dragging on a bit. The Time Lords only seem capable, and content, with just batting them off from galaxy to galaxy rather than solving the problem permanently. Until someone makes a telling discovery...

Verdict

The Multi-Faceted War was another decent outing from the Myths & Legends collection! I'm drawing to the end of this book now with just two more stories to go and it's safe to say it's been a good and intriguing volume! Rassilon was back once again here for another tale of Time Lord history and whilst I am enjoying this exploration, I do hope the remaining two do not follow in similar footsteps. I think we've had the right amount from that era. This time we saw a glimpse of the Time Lords doing battle with the Vampires and it was a really interesting insight. I think the thing I was most intrigued by was the notion of the Vampires having an alliance with the Macra! That really was most unexpected but a delightful little treat as I'm actually a huge fan of them, despite thinking their initial outing in The Macra Terror was a little iffy. However, I have the animated reconstruction to come so hopefully my opinion changes there. Their role in killing Gith actually facilitating the defeat of the Vampires, in a not too long roundabout way, was very good indeed. I thought the format of the story was a little weird with the way Skellis found the way to kill Vampires actually coming at the adventure's conclusion even though we already knew they'd been defeated. I wasn't sure if that was the right move after the jump in time from Skellis to Rassilon a century later. That was a bit jumbled for me but it wasn't a huge issue. Skellis herself was a very good character and I liked the mention of her regenerating since she had to watch Gith die in horrific fashion at the hands of the Macra. The description of the squeezing causing the head to just pop off was just awful. It was great writing though and it's no surprise that she set sights on a Great One and ended up killing one on the spot. The use of the Macra claw that she'd severed was great and I liked how she was able to draw upon her past to aid Time Lord causes and alter Gallifreyan history forever. Rassilon inadvertently, but not dismissing, the limelight for defeating the Vampires was good and expected as something quite typical of a leader. I did like how he privately acknowledged that Skellis was the one with the means of bringing victory to Gallifrey. The weapon full of spiked missiles being named the Skellis Gun was a nice touch though, if that is possible during war. I would have liked a little more of the actual war itself rather than mere description but I can appreciate how space was limited. I just lust for action though! The Macra deserved a little more time but the fact they appeared at all was a big bonus so I can't complain too much in that regard. The illustrations were a bit rubbish though and they seem to almost make this collection seem a bit kiddy - which it isn't! The myth or legend this was based upon was unknown to me but that didn't prevent my enjoying of the story. Overall, another decent story that probably would have been bettered by more time.

Rating: 7/10