A Shard of Ice

"My imagination has run dry."

Writer: Paul Magrs

Format: Audio

Released: November  2010

Printed in: Demon Quest 03

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Mike Yates

Synopsis 

In the icy wastes of the Murgin Pass, the Doctor and Mike take refuge in a remote lodge alongside Albert Tiermann, storyteller to the king. But the owner's hospitality is repaid with a grisly attack, and suddenly death is amongst the small party. 

What is the significance of a book of fairy tales, one of which prophesies the Doctor's encounter with an Ice Queen monster? What long-held secret is Albert Tiermann holding back? And what dark figure stalks the snowy mountainside?

The answers to these questions add up to a terrifying encounter with a strangely familiar foe.

Verdict

A Shard of Ice was another great episode to continue my way through the Demon Quest anthology! There was immediate continuation from where we left off in the previous story with the Doctor and Yates heading straight to the site of the snowy fairytale illustration bearing their resemblance. The continuity throughout is terrific and I liked the shift in having a guest character do the narration for this episode. That was refreshing and Albert Tiermann was a really strong character to carry that task. The 1847 setting worked well although its importance soon waived, but that was not an issue. I liked how the TARDIS was struggling to operate with half of the spatial geometer missing, but they’d managed to reach the Murgin Pass. Tiermann observing the arrival of the TARDIS was great and I loved the revelation that he was actually the author of the fairytale that brought the Doctor and Yates there. That book was yet to be published so Albert was fascinated to see his name on the cover. That became an obsession, especially as he was the King’s storyteller who had ran out of stories! The pun from Mike about ‘not Yeti’ meeting the Yeti was so bad it was good and I loved that the Doctor was going to tell Albert some of his own stories. References to the likes of The Keys of Marinus, Colony in Space and Genesis of the Daleks were very much welcomed! Albert eavesdropping through the hotel walls was fun and the introduction of the Ice Queen he sensed and was his muse for stories was good, but it was predictable just who she was as the Concierge and Claudius previously. Albert’s driver being on the brink of death was a good injection of urgency and the Doctor’s explanation that he needed to thaw was very good. The suggestion of a siren in the snow was marvellous and I liked how it was later revealed the creature the Doctor saw in the darkness was actually the Ice Queen in her true form. It was obvious that Albert knew more than he was letting on and I was glad the Doctor and Yates realised that. Albert trying to steal the book was amusing because the Doctor wasn’t having any of it as the stories needed an origin. Albert wouldn’t treat his way to published fame. The creature taking Hans after he saved Frau Herz the hotel host was a good injection of excitement and it was excellent for the Doctor to challenge Albert that he was fully aware of the demon. Albert was a coward and afraid to face it, but the Doctor was trying to make him realise that their very events were all a fairytale. The Doctor’s challenge to Albert regarding him already knowing how the story ends was pretty great stuff and I loved how the Time Lord always felt in control. There never seemed any doubt that he would lose. The meeting with the Ice Queen in the cave was fantastic and I really liked the revelation that Albert literally had a shard of ice inside his heart that froze his feelings! That was a tremendous concept and it explained a lot about his nature. The image in the book capturing the Ice Queen mid-transformation into a demon was a terrific description and tied in nicely with the wonderful cover artwork for this adventure. It was hardly a surprise that the book was a mere lure as that is exactly what we heard at the end of the previous episode, but there had to be more than death as that could just be accomplished at Nest Cottage. The ease in which she released Albert from the shard was a bit of a surprise but I did like that they were once again in a dematerialisation chamber. The conclusion was a little cheeky in having the Ice Queen free Mike and then the Doctor just jump out of the chamber moments before it departed breaking his agreement. There’s obviously more to come and the way that was set up with Mrs Wibbsey’s call regarding the final artefact and it showing all three of them in 1970s Central Park in the form of a comic was certainly exciting! It was a nice touch for the Doctor to ask Albert to keep him out of his stories, and Yates having picked up the part of the spatial geometer in a knife draw was pretty hilarious! Overall, a really strong audio!

Rating: 8/10