The Fog

"What happened to the town of Compton?"

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Format: Audio

Released: November 2010

Series: Graceless 1.02

Featuring: Abby, Zara

Synopsis

"There's no such thing as witches."

Abby and Zara find themselves in the small town of Compton in October, 1912. In the local pub they meet Nan, who offers them the local beer and then has them arrested.

Something is killing the town's children, something that hides in the fog, something that prevents Abby and Zara from leaving. But Abby knows something worse is coming to the town – something that will kill them all.

Can Abby and Zara prove their innocence and help solve the mystery? Or is it sometimes better not to know?

Verdict

The Fog was a very good continuation of the first series of Graceless! I am really enjoying this spinoff series so far and I really enjoyed this adventure. It followed on right where The Sphere left off which was good and the idea of Abby and Zara being mistaken as witches was a lot of fun. The crowds that accompanied their initial arrest seemed violent and out for blood, but that was soon dying down as we learned more about what was going on in the town of Compton. The idea of the fog surrounding the village was excellent and very mysterious. I loved the atmosphere throughout. I really liked Abby's mentioning of the Fifth Doctor when it came to cricket getting mentioned in the 1912 setting. There were serious goings on in Compton with 46 woman dead with the bodies vanishing before one's very eyes. That was quite the predicament to throw Abby and Zara into and it worked really well. I like how they continue to use their telepathic powers and the moments they used their abilities to see into the mind of Daniel was terrific. They're a lot of fun together and very likeable characters. Their arrest resulted in them being imprisoned in a cell and their reaction to getting food was quite spectacular! They got to have green things! Playing with the idea of the Tracers losing their abilities was intriguing and I liked the fear Zara had when her teleporting abilities seemed to have vanished, with Abby's still intact. During her sister's absence, Zara was accused again of being a witch and was taken to be hanged. Daniel was annoyed as he knew they hadn't been responsible for the vanishings and locking them up was his way of proving that. He was going to sight their talk of being created by the Grace as madness though which I thought was great. Nan saving Zara from the noose was a nice moment after Daniel gave the decision on her fate to the people. Thing seemed different in the daylight than they did at night. Abby returning with a newspaper from the future regarding Compton's fate and how it was obliterated by a meteor was unexpected, but the problem that provided was brilliant. I was a big fan of the idea of animal fear and how even Abby and Zara were getting infected. The concept of the fear being chosen and getting infected by numbers worked really well. Nan's pub serving as the centre of the village was fantastic and definitely what is the case in a number of the villages I have lived in or visited. Zara's research through the 24,000+ books in the library at speed with her mind was really good and it was nice to hear how much she was enjoying learning. The idea of there being a connection between the Tracers and the smog was intriguing to play with, but the fog was something you couldn't get away from. They were already a part of it. The possibility of the fog being alive was brilliant and the connection with the meteor was unexpected but very good. The fog was even taking time which resulted in Abby and Zara advancing to the day of the meteor strike. Daniel realising the truth about the fog was a terrific moment. The meteor hit had already happened and once he'd stopped believing, he was taken. You couldn't show fear. The realisation that the fog was the memory of the people of Compton and Nan was all that remained at the end was quite the moment. The alien nature of the dust from the meteor combining with the fog made for quite the connection. Abby and Zara possibly facing the prospect of dying without the Grace is something that I'm sure will be made more of in the finale, but the added peril with Zara's pregnancy is very good indeed. The sudden nature of the meteor moment was unexpected with the noise literals just cutting out. The impact had been eaten up by the alien energy and everything heard in the audio were simply echoes. Abby and Zara were drawn to the centre of the meteor crash. It was a nice way to bring the story full circle. The cliffhanger with the return of Marek didn't exactly fill me with excitement, but him zapping Abby and Zara sure set things up for a good finale. Overall, a very good audio story!

Rating: 8/10