Sword of Forever

Bernice Summerfield: Virgin New Adventures #14

by Jim Mortimore

Since the Inquisition destroyed the order of the Knights Templar in 1307, their most precious possession has remained hidden. Now, 26th-century archaeologist Bernice Summerfield has uncovered a clue, etched on a human skull, that may reveal the hiding place of this long-sought-after treasure.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction

293 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

About the author

Jim Mortimore is a British science fiction writer, who has written several spin-off novels for popular television series, principally Doctor Who, but also Farscape and Babylon 5.

When BBC Books cancelled his Doctor Who novel Campaign, he had it published independently and gave the proceeds to a charity – the Bristol Area Down Syndrome Association. He is also the writer of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Natural History of Fear and their Tomorrow People audio play Plague of Dreams. He has also done music for other Big Finish productions.

He released his first original novel in 2011, Skaldenland.

Reviews

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is as big and bold as you would expect from Jim Mortimore, mixing a thrilling chase for the Ark of the Covenant with apocalyptic weirdness and (to all intents and purposes) talking dinosaurs. It’s a ride.

And yet - while it seems very sure of its grand plans, with a narrative that happily bounces through time, it doesn’t quite offer a leg up to the reader. There’s a “what gives?” sense of weirdness throughout, and it’s never clear how much of that is intentional. Emotional stakes are a bit hazy - a long lost love affair for Bernice that is only coming up now, really? - and the last act is downright impenetrable in terms of what the heck happened. I like weirdness and I love imagination, but I *need* to understand what the book was about. The Sword Of Forever feels too much like peeking inside the writer’s mind, not enough like getting in there too.

2.5

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only way I can truly describe the plot of Bernice Summerfield: The Sword of Forever by Jim Mortimer is that it is a crossover between Indiana Jones / The Last of Us / Jurassic Park but with intelligent dinosaurs.

It is a bizarre book, but with Jim Mortimer I expect nothing less. I’m not sure I understand why Patience and Old were necessarily needed in the plot, but I guess talking and time travelling dinosaurs is something unique in the Benny world. (Very different to the ones we meet in Blood Heat)

Marillian was an interesting character, and I enjoyed learning more about him and his past and what kind of relationship he and Benny had. It was kind of disappointing how his story ended in a way, as though there wasn’t much too his pov’s anymore

For context, this book focuses a lot about Christianity and Time / Religion. Due to the upcoming arc about the People and God in the Dellah novels upcoming.

I liked we got to see more of Benny handling her trauma and how her actions for what she does has impacts.

I didn’t really understand the bit about the old romance with Daniel and her complications with his family? There was not enough depth and considering how far in we are in the Dellah novels, I wish there had been previous hints or something at lest to build up.

The world building was also unique and very the last of us vibes.

Not really sure how to rate this one but I flew through this book easily.

[Richard Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than the three stars might indicate but it didn’t feel like part of the series. The ending got especially trippy and really should require some major lasting consequences for the universe of these books. I doubt that will be the case.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a few years before Dan Brown blew up bestseller lists with The Da Vinci Code, British author Jim Mortimore explored much the same territory in a quite different novel. Published as part of the Post-Doctor Who series of New Adventures novels from Virgin Books, the novel sends archeologist Bernice Summerfield on a guest through 26th century Earth in search of a number of mythical artifacts. Add in an intelligent Raptor, agents of the Freemasons, human/plant hybrids, conspiracy theories, and time travel and you get a mind-blowing action/adventure/sci-fi novel that defies expectations. Like Brown's more famous book, some of the religious stuff will likely make this off-limits to the easily offended but for everyone else here's an intriguing piece of work.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some good ideas in here, but the ending degenerated into incoherence and the author was clearly just too in love with his own sense of cleverness for his own good.

This is the first NA I've read. I'll have to think about reading any more.

[Brian Moreau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of pointless...full of plot threads that didn't really lead anywhere.