All-Consuming Fire

What an idea. Putting Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and chunks of the Lovecraft universe into a Doctor Who book is a concept that seems ripe for disaster. Too many incompatibilities, too many elements to draw on, and a question of where the focus should be. And yet ALL-CONSUMING FIRE manages to be one of my favorite NAs despite the handful of minor flaws that appear. Holmes and Watson are effortlessly inserted into an imaginative Doctor Who story, giving the book a unique flavor. It's a dark and occasionally grim story, but strangely enough it somehow succeeds at being a whole lot of fun.The tale starts in typical Holmesian fashion. During the beginning, Watson gets to play second fiddle while Holmes makes several detailed (though irrelevant) observations and deductions purely to demonstrate how clever he is. This sort of thing will be very familiar to fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Their involvement in this case begins with an important client hiring them to discover the whereabouts of several books that have been stolen from a strange and secretive library. During the course of their investigation, their travels intersect with the path of that mysterious and eccentric gentleman -- the Doctor (portrayed here as alternatively goofy and cynical). The two fictional juggernauts actually interact quite well. I was hugely entertained by their initial meetings; there's a very amusing sequence in which Holmes is totally unable to determine much of the Doctor's origins from telltale bits of dust and dirt. What could have gone so poorly ends up feeling really right.The trail leads them first to India, and then to an alien world known as Ry'leh. The reactions of the two Victorians as their surroundings become more and more bizarre are handled realistically (or as realistically as possible) without being over the top. The conclusion to the story is satisfying, though the book suffers from having a beginning that is so wonderful that even an extraordinary ending would seem vaguely inadequate.The story is told primarily from the journals/diaries of Dr. John Watson and Professor Bernice Summerfield. Andy Lane is excellent at recreating Arthur Conan Doyle's prose style without appearing to be doing a mere cut'n'paste job. The process of the investigation of missing books is very much in keeping with the flavor of the Holmes stories. The Library of St. John The Beheaded is a fantastic creation, and its description is pure Holmesian. A wonderful combination of concepts and prose.The Lovecraftian additions near the conclusion are not quite as well handled as the Holmes portions. I am, of course, not the first reviewer to note this, and I'm afraid that I cannot break with conventional thinking here. Lovecraft succeeded by keeping his baddies just out of the corner of one's eye, where one wasn't quite sure what was there or what was going on. While this story does eventually come up with a good reason why it's breaking with the formula, the

As a fan and writer of Lovecraftian fiction as well as a Sherlock Holes fan (not to mention one of Doctor Who), I was very pleased with this novel. The author was well versed on the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and it sounds exactly like one of Watson's writings. Of course the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Benny are themselves and they team up very well with Holmes and Watson. My only grip is that Azathoth (who is supposed to be "the blind idiot god at the center of chaos" seemed too intellegent to me. But, hey it's no worse than what August Derleth did to the Mythos. A superb novel and shows that a literary crossover can't always be bad.

I feel I must comment upon possibly the best book Andy Lane has ever written. This novel proved to be a wonderful narrative, told expertly from the viewpoint of Dr. Watson. The idea of the Great Detective having actually existed, and entered into such an adventure was awe-inspiring. Quite how Mr. Mobile could even begin to call this book Tripe is beyond my comprehension. The fate of Mrs. Prendersley should fall upon Mr. Mobile as soon as is humanly possible. Full Marks to Andy Lane, and I hope to see more of this sort of work again!