Bernice Summerfield: Epoch

Wait, is this the fifth Atlantis in the DWU?

A while ago, I embarked on a quest. There are 5 whole boxsets of Bernice Summerfield stories on Spotify, and everyone I know told me “those are wrapped up late in the Benny canon,” and I responded in a foolish manner, “Well, let’s see if they make enough sense to me, I’ll take a hit and see if others can do it” and this was probably a bad idea, but it’s mostly worked so far, and I have had a lot of fun doing it. I was originally not going to review these (they’ve been reviewed by better people than I, what perspective could I add, especially without context) but I realized that a review for any Benny newcomers or at least, those moderately familiar from NABS or Legacy of Time would be actually helpful for many people, and my perspective, missing out on 11 series of context is unique. So, essentially the fact that I have no context will make these reviews different, so take these with a tiny grain of salt, but not much, as essentially I feel, I did get it. 

The Kraken’s Lament by Mark Wright

This one is our introduction to the immensely surreal world of fake Atlantis that this set takes place in, and It’s all incredibly interesting. Especially because, as I am led to believe, Benny knew what was going on here, but was memory wiped, so her perspective on “where the frick am I” works well for newcomers like me. This one heavily relies on Narration from the cities storyteller to progress the plot. As such, it’s pretty fascinating, as it’s full cast, but the entire environment is intriguing and unlike anything else I’ve listened to, but I’m not sure I appreciated it as much. The Pegasus scene is one of the highlights of the box set, it’s beautifully orchestral and sweeping, and evokes How To Train Your Dragon with only audio. But besides that, the resolution is predictable and the story attempts to set up several mysteries which although used to intrigue, only confuse (Jack in this set is a huge example of such, and I checked the wiki, I know this set is his first appearance, so how is introduction so obtuse) but on the whole, I rather liked it, even if I felt Benny has had better tales. 

7/10

The Temple of Questions by Jaqueline Rayner

This one I didn’t care for. It was all together easier to follow than Kraken’s Lament, but didn’t intrigue, as per the title, it only raises questions (far too many in my mind) And answers none of them. Not one. Usually they throw a dog a bone in this type of story, but Poseidon just seems to me like a whiny “nah nah nah nah, I won’t tell you” kid. And the story doesn’t Even have a very nice payoff at all (they smash the Poseidon computer, so what.) but what it does do averagely well is introduce Ruth and Leonidas, two fun side characters, one of which becomes Benny’s companion, and the other of which is scrapped very quickly. It even attempts to add drama by insisting that one of our two companions is a traitor, which is interesting at first, but is entirely misleading. As in, no, entirely, Poseidon was just lying. Cause he felt like it. Big Whoop: 5/10

Public Enemy No. 1 by Tony Lee

Spellbinding, finally the series is taking some damn chances. Public Enemy No. 1 feels like it has some real effort put into it, a race against time, with the environment of Atlantis slowly becoming even more surreal than ever before, with fantastic character work and dialogue throughout. Weird concepts are afoot, and because the story doesn’t bother with a conclusion, it just raises and raises and raises the stakes until they’re close to breaking. Although Jack is still useless, Leonidas is hijacked by the Epoch, and they’re going to do something villainous, but then the world breaks down before they can do so, in one of the most astonishing “What” moments yet. Ruth and Benny have been made into a fantastic duo already, and the final moments of this story are horrifying. No one knows what’s going on. It’s rare to see Benny so on edge and emotionally vulnerable in such a bleak situation, and oh my god, that ending, that ending holy crap Oh my god oh that ending 9/10

Judgement Day by Scott Handcock

Does this give satisfying answers to what the fuck this set was in any way? No. Did weird stuff just happen because the writers felt like it? Yes. Did I fucking love it? Also Yes. 

The story switches between a copy of Benny and Ruth in Victorian times with our fellow Spring-Heeled-Jack and another in Prehistoric times Where Cavemen have somehow obtained iPhones and GPS, and yet another where Benny and Ruth are forced to choose which is real in a black void. 

At this point, it may be slightly annoying how little if at all is explained, and overall, I think that yes, Epoch probably does require context, but my god, is this story good even without it. It’s so weird. Few stories go this far in The “how much cocaine did this writer take” zone, and you know what, screw it. It’s kind of lovely, and the sequel hook establishes the normalcy for the next two (better) sets, and although Epoch was a mixed bag, I can’t wait to see how it goes. 8/10