The Mary-Sue Extrusion

Bernice Summerfield: Virgin New Adventures #18

by Dave Stone

Once a cultural centre, now a twisted home of unholy Gods, Dellah lies in ruins. Elsewhere, the solar system stands on the brink of war and chaos. Bernice Summerfield can restore stability to the sector, but she needs to find herself before it's too late for everyone.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Own

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Stone has written many spin off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and Judge Dredd.

Stone also contributed a number of comic series to 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, focusing on the Dreddverse (Judge Dredd universe). In collaboration with David Bishop and artist Shaky Kane he produced the much disliked Soul Sisters, which he has described as "a joke-trip, which through various degrees of miscommunication ended up as a joke-strip without any jokes." Working independently, he created the better received Armitage, a Dreddworld take on Inspector Morse set in a future London, and also contributed to the ongoing Judge Hershey series.

Stone’s most lasting contribution to the world of Judge Dredd might well have been his vision of Brit-Cit, which until Stone’s various novels had been a remarkably underexplored area.

Reviews

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dave Stone keeps his surreal comic impulses somewhat in check in this next step in an ongoing story for the New Adventures (which had largely been stand-alone since Bernice took over). The plot is a slow burn until an eventual flurry of activity, which answers some questions you might have after Where Angels Fear, and continues ratcheting tension about the ongoing situation on Dellah.

It’s a fun, funny book but it’s arguably quite disposable until it really commits to the arc stuff. Still one of Stone’s more focussed efforts, and I’m enjoying the series more as a whole now.

3.5

[Julia]

Dopo la caduta di Dellah e il suo conseguente isolamento, le potenze limitrofe temono l’insorgere di una guerra. Un agente segreto viene chiamato a investigare la situazione da parte di una potente compagnia. La chiave per risolvere il mistero sembra risiedere in una donna: Bernice Summerfield. Il problema è che sembra essere scomparsa, presunta morta.

È un libro molto particolare in quanto è narrato in prima persona da parte di un agente che rimane anonimo per tutta la durata del libro, mentre Jason e in seguito Benny fanno una comparsata solo verso la fine. Oltre alla narrazione principale, composta dal rapporto che questo agente scrive, sono presenti estratti del diario di Benny (che tuttavia sembrano avere qualcosa di strano e raccontano di una persona che non abbiamo mai sentito prima) e anche estratti di libri che raccontano, in maniera inesatta, le avventure di Benny e che sono pubblicate con il nome di New Frontier Adventures, che questo agente segreto usa per carpire informazioni su Bernice (ad esempio gli eventi di Ship of Fools vengono riportati nel libro Ship of Death, in maniera romanzata e con molte incorrettezze. È tutto molto meta.)
Carino, ma non essenziale per capire la trama orizzontale. Spiega un po’ la situazione generale dopo gli eventi di Where Angels Fears, ma probabilmente non è indispensabile.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. When Bernice doesn't even show up until about page 200 of a 240 page book, this doesn't bode well. What are authors thinking when they fail to include the title character of a series in their book(s)? Doctor Who without the Doctor and Bernice Summerfield without Benny just doesn't cut it. On top of it, this story isn't very interesting WITHOUT Benny. It doesn't know if it wants to be an action story, a mystery, or a comedy. Unsympathetic characters without any depth or twists also drag this story.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so glad she did what she did for Wolsey. I don't care what disaster you're facing, you don't leave your cat behind! The rest of the plot fitted in well with the growing threat from the Gods, although it lacked the delicious quirkiness of earlier Dave Stone books. Nobody writes Jason Kane better, but Stone was a bit too fond of his new character and squeezed all his regulars a bit thin.

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather interesting one. It's possibly one of the most polarising reads in the expanded Whoniverse.

The Bernice New Adventures were already on the cusp of Doctor Who books, good as they were, so when you have a book that is even on the cusp of a Bernice adventure (she's hardly in it), you're stuck in this awkward limbo where you have a book that isn't quite Doctor Who but also isn't quite original fiction.

The story is told through the eyes of the Stratum Seven Agent, allowing us to see the mystery of Dellah's evacuation from an outside perspective and also puts us behind Bernice's own understanding for a change. It's certainly an interesting take and I appreciate Stone revising this as a readily available 99p ebook (just read the name 'Pandora Delbane' as Bernice Summerfield, and 'Samarah' as Dellah, and you'll be fine).

The final act of the book (i.e. the one that actually features Bernice and Jason) is easily the best, while the first two are pretty slow and directionless at the best of times, with a load of bizarre characters just coming and going from the narrative and ending up having little impact on the wider story or being shoe-horned back in for the climax.

Often times, I struggle to see the picture Stone is trying to portray. The scenes are supposed to be all vivid and futuristic but the description is often lacking or contradictory.

I'm also not sure if it's just a problem with the rewritten version, but there are A LOT of spelling mistakes in this book. Most notably, the majority of 'Be' words are turned to 'Me' to the point that multiple sentences on the same page become unreadable.

Overall, this book is told from a unique point of view in the Virgin continuity and it's a refreshing way to see a Bernice adventure, but it takes too long to actually bring familiar characters into the narrative and for the majority of the book you have a pretty plot-less text to get through.

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only good paragraph out of the whole book, was where Benny told the agent she risked it all for Wolsey, her cat and I love that for Benny because as an animal lover, I get that.

I do not get on with Dave Stone's writing, and I was trying to finish this in time for the end of 2025, but I didn't. This book is no exception.

Literally, save yourself the bother and just read the TARDIS wiki summary of what happens in this book. I literally read the first five pages, skipped to pages 156 and skimmed read it from there. This book is personally a waste of time.

I wish I could go back in time to virgin new adventures publishers and ask them to hire Justin Richards and Rebecca Levene more than they did with Dave Stone.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2012/11...