The Poison of Peladon

"There is no plague on Peladon."

Writer: Lizzie Hopley 

Format: Audio

Released: January 2022

Series: Peladon 1.02

Featuring: River Song

Synopsis

River Song has infiltrated the court of Queen Thalira in the guise of a high priestess. With rumours swirling that Peladon is on the brink of a republican uprising, River joins forces with her new best friend, Alpha Centauri, to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Verdict

The Poison of Peladon was a great story to continue the Peladon series! After a very strong opener in The Ordeal of Peladon, I thought bringing the planet into the modern era of Doctor Who was terrific as River Song entered the fray! She's he perfect character to have enter this world of political deceit as she can be rather manipulative herself, so having her disguised as a priestess just felt very right. I thought she was just so much fun and I wouldn't expect anything less from her to be honest. I don't think the story needed to be quite as long as it was after a little bit of a slow opening, but when we got into the thick of things I really enjoyed what went down. I found it a little amusing that once again we had emissaries from the Galactic Federation heading to Peladon for an investigation, but getting a full story with Alpha Centauri is definitely something I welcomed! They are a really strong character and I liked that River was keen to point out Centauri's pronouns. That also felt like a good way of bringing things into the modern era. The relationship between River and Centauri was something I never knew I needed, but it really was magnificent. They got on so well and having Alpha fake her poisoning and getting River imprisoned despite her knowing that it wasn't the archaeology professor that was the culprit was fantastic. River's reaction to that was great. I liked the flirtation between the pair and the prospect of them meeting again in the future is very exciting. That's something I would definitely want to hear! I thought Thalira had a strong performance returning as the Queen of Peladon and it was nice to get that moment where King Peladon died and passed on his instruction and will for his daughter as the new monarch. That was very powerful. The issue of her having no male heir felt very archaic but very well in line with my expectation of Peladon and its political makeup. I thought Gobron was a good character making up part of the Queen's court and the political landscape of that as a whole worked really well. I thought Ribble was a good character and the insinuation that he was going to be the enemy was decent, and it worked well for the twist to actually reveal Father Mendica as the one trying to poison Peladon and take out the Queen. The reveal of the Subsumers being enslaved within the mines was good and that helping bring the downfall of Mendica was good. The shock that came from the water that left there being poisoned was a good element of the threat, and I really liked Centauri's role in identifying the poison. Mendica was a strong villain so it was brilliant to have River confront him. One other thing I should mentioned before concluding is that I really liked the mentions of Aggedor and actually having a couple of the beasts present. That really worked well in giving a credible feel to the audio and this very much was a fine representation of Peladon. Overall, it was lovely to have River on the planet and it was also great to know that she knew of Sarah Jane! A very good listen.

Rating: 8/10