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Graceless
Graceless II: No Rest for the Wicked
Abby and her sister Zara are not real people. They were created by pan-dimensional beings to help save space and time.
They’ve been blessed with special powers. They can see into people’s heads, even influence their thoughts. And, so long as they’re together, they can go anywhere or when.
But the universe is dangerous, unpredictable. Abby and Zara have made mistakes – and many thousands have died. They know they’ve done wrong, that they have made enemies, who scour all of history to find them.
So they keeping moving on, trying to make amends, trying to help people. And not to do any more harm…
They’ve been blessed with special powers. They can see into people’s heads, even influence their thoughts. And, so long as they’re together, they can go anywhere or when.
But the universe is dangerous, unpredictable. Abby and Zara have made mistakes – and many thousands have died. They know they’ve done wrong, that they have made enemies, who scour all of history to find them.
So they keeping moving on, trying to make amends, trying to help people. And not to do any more harm…
Audio CD
First published February 29, 2012
19 people want to read
About the author
Simon Guerrier
168 books61 followersSimon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges.
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 5, 2017
In this second "season" the sisters have taken to travelling the universe, saving people from both natural and man-made disasters, albeit with varying degrees of success. As before, the emphasis of the stories is more on character relationships than on traditional action, and there is no meaningful link with the
Doctor Who
origins of the series beyond the occasional verbal reference.
The Line - The sisters enter Marek's past when they travel to his homeworld days before its destruction. Fortunately, Marek is more likeable here than he was in the first season, his new responsibilities having changed him for the better. The looming threat of planetary destruction is rather underplayed until the closing section of the episode, which focuses instead on his relationship with his father and with the sisters (most notably Zara). The sisters are eventually faced with a choice that will have disastrous consequences either way; in a regular DW story, you know that the Doctor will somehow come up with a third option, but that's not the case here, and the fallout is delivered in full. 4.5 stars.
The Flood - The weakest story of the three sees the sisters arriving on a rain-drenched planet just as alien monsters rise from the sea to threaten the locals. It's easy to see that this was originally proposed as a story for the Doctor, although the details of the resolution have presumably been changed. I'm guessing that the setting may have been changed, too, since, while it's supposedly set around the 5,000th century, there's precious little to indicate that it isn't the 21st. There are a couple of good supporting characters that raise this above the average, and some good interplay between the sisters, but it's not quite up to the quality that Graceless usually has. 4 stars.
The Dark - The repercussions of the events of the first episode are more fully explored as the sisters find themselves trapped on a desolate planet with two other, similarly marooned people. As they face their bleak surroundings together, past secrets come to the fore and little is quite as it seems. This is a strong character piece, taking advantage of a limited cast to develop its themes, although if you don't like "talky" episodes, this one is even less for you than the first in the season. It closely ties in with the larger story arc, and ends on an unexpected cliffhanger, although the third season was a long time in coming. 5 stars.
Overall, that's an average of 4.5 stars, which rounds up to 5.
The Line - The sisters enter Marek's past when they travel to his homeworld days before its destruction. Fortunately, Marek is more likeable here than he was in the first season, his new responsibilities having changed him for the better. The looming threat of planetary destruction is rather underplayed until the closing section of the episode, which focuses instead on his relationship with his father and with the sisters (most notably Zara). The sisters are eventually faced with a choice that will have disastrous consequences either way; in a regular DW story, you know that the Doctor will somehow come up with a third option, but that's not the case here, and the fallout is delivered in full. 4.5 stars.
The Flood - The weakest story of the three sees the sisters arriving on a rain-drenched planet just as alien monsters rise from the sea to threaten the locals. It's easy to see that this was originally proposed as a story for the Doctor, although the details of the resolution have presumably been changed. I'm guessing that the setting may have been changed, too, since, while it's supposedly set around the 5,000th century, there's precious little to indicate that it isn't the 21st. There are a couple of good supporting characters that raise this above the average, and some good interplay between the sisters, but it's not quite up to the quality that Graceless usually has. 4 stars.
The Dark - The repercussions of the events of the first episode are more fully explored as the sisters find themselves trapped on a desolate planet with two other, similarly marooned people. As they face their bleak surroundings together, past secrets come to the fore and little is quite as it seems. This is a strong character piece, taking advantage of a limited cast to develop its themes, although if you don't like "talky" episodes, this one is even less for you than the first in the season. It closely ties in with the larger story arc, and ends on an unexpected cliffhanger, although the third season was a long time in coming. 5 stars.
Overall, that's an average of 4.5 stars, which rounds up to 5.
August 23, 2018
This was really great. Looking forward to hearing the third one next.
December 6, 2020
Continuing through a Graceless relisten before Wicked Sisters.
March 9, 2025
Kind of going back and forth on whether I liked this more than series 1, but it definitely had my attention. Banter here and there was a little bit and miss.
September 3, 2012
Given a second chance by the Grace, Abby and Zara revisit some of the space-times they interfered with in Graceless.
The ending is sudden and felt like a cliffhanger to me.
The ending is sudden and felt like a cliffhanger to me.
April 25, 2012
Pretty much everything from Big Finish is going to be a solid B+, at worst. Strong stories, and the cliffhanger of part 3 kept me intrigued enough to see how it's all going to play out.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews