Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Gods of the Underworld

Bernice Summerfield Novels #2

by Stephen Cole

There's a whisper going round that the long-lost temple of the Argian Gods of the Underworld has finally been discovered on the planet Venedel. There's a still quieter whisper that deep inside it lies the Argian Oracle, an ancient artifact that can pinpoint the whereabouts of any soul in the universe. Benny Summerfield sets out to see if the whispers are true—and to see if it can tell her the whereabouts of her missing lover. She's got nothing to lose. Reaching Venedel, Benny finds it under siege from an over-zealous Federation, alleging human rights atrocities and starving the planet out until its people capitulate to its terms. Despite this, a team of Nishtubi mercenaries are running the blockade to supply aid for the Venedelans. But why? They have nothing to gain. Caught between jingoistic natives, Nishtubi heavies, a plague of ancient killers, and the cold, undying secrets of the Gods of the Underworld, Benny and her allies have nowhere to run—and are left facing nothing but trouble.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

See also: Steve Cole.

Stephen Cole (born 1971) is an English author of children's books and science fiction. He was also in charge of BBC Worldwide's merchandising of the BBC Television series Doctor Who between 1997 and 1999: this was a role which found him deciding on which stories should be released on video, commissioning and editing a range of fiction and non-fiction titles, producing audiobooks and acting as executive producer on the Big Finish Productions range of Doctor Who audio dramas.

Reviews

[Miiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too convoluted for me. The writing wasn't great either. The characters were fine though!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffering from a glut of cliche within the plot and characters, the novel’s strength is that it is always moving forward, even if that is towards something equally predictable. An extra star for Lisa Bowerman’s narration.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pare che il tempio perduto degli Dei degli Inferi Argiani sia stato ritrovato sul pianeta Venedel. Il problema è che, a causa di presunti crimini contro i diritti umani, la Federazione Earthlink ha sancito un embargo intorno al pianeta. Senza la possibilità di rifornimenti e con scarse risorse locali, la popolazione di Venedel soffre la fame. Dei mercenari Nishtubi cercano di forzare il blocco per portare rifornimenti sul pianeta, e sembrano anche interessati al tempio e ai suoi tesori.
Benny e la sua squadra di archeologi sono anche loro interessati a raggiungere il tempio, possibilmente prima che i mercenari con la loro goffa interferenza finiscano per danneggiarlo. Inoltre, si dice che all'interno del tempio si trovi l'Oracolo Argiano, il quale, presumibilmente, è in grado di individuare la posizione di qualsiasi anima vivente presente nell'universo, e Bernice spera di utilizzarlo per poter ritrovare Jason.

Allora, abbiamo di nuovo un pianeta sotto assedio, con Benny che per cercare di superare il blocco finisce per precipitare con l'astronave (è successo giusto giusto nel libro precedente), una popolazione arretrata che inizialmente riceveva aiuti da una federazione interplanetaria, creature parassitarie che vengono incubate nel corpo umano per poi esplodere fuori dall'ospite e la ricerca di un mitico oracolo (ricordiamoci che Braxiatel tiene ancora l'Oracolo dei Perduti letteralmente nel suo giardino sul retro, ma va bene, andiamo a cercarne un altro). Tutte cose, prese singolarmente, che abbiamo visto e rivisto, ma che comunque vengono rimescolate in maniera interessante.
Vengono gettate un sacco di altre cose nel calderone, tra cui numerose specie che non abbiamo mai visto e politiche interplanetarie complesse, con minacce di natura diversa che spuntano fuori da tutte le parti, ma è un bell'ascolto nel complesso.
Lisa Bowerman come al solito è perfetta nel caratterizzare tutte le parti e, anche se ci sono molti personaggi, la narrazione non risulta mai confusa.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I REALLY wanted to like this book...Bernice is a great character and some of the ideas are strong but....

The plot is insanely complicated and it was incredibly difficult to keep all the names straight. that can happen when your reading sci-fi with a lot of alien names but they also weren't always that well differentiated. I liked the ideas but the story was almost too jam packed for it's relatively short length.

I dunno if I'll be reading one of these again...the prose was passable, but the dialogue was good. Not much else to see.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting episode in the life of the great Professor Summerfield. However I found the tale a little predictable in places, full of science fiction cliches that were perhaps put in there on purpose to try to be clever. The writing was good enough however that I could hear the voices of the characters that I already knew from the audio plays, and I look forward to reading more in the series.

[Sara Habein · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just... ok. Honestly, it's the first Benny story that I really was waiting to be done with. It's not without redeeming features; there's the usual humor and Lisa Bowerman does a good job with all the voices, and I was at least invested enough to finish the story, but it's definitely not among the best.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, maybe?

So many of these Doctor Who extended verse books can be .. confusing, at best.

This one was really enjoyable! I loved the characters, and I really got into the plot and the connections between them all. Well done!

[Clare]

A grotesque satire on mobsters with the worst punning title in the world. A lot of body horror and suffering. The continued hunt for Jason with a potential new love interest largely ignored. Why are there so many ignorant almost comedic societies on less developed planets?

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim and bleak and brutal. Excellent novel and loved Stephen style of writing.

[Joseph S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this very hard to follow.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook. I wanted to like this, as I enjoy the Bernice Summerfield character. But much of this was tough to follow.

[Jamieson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second Bernice Summerfield novel from Big Finish sees Benny sent to a blockaded planet to unearth an alien temple and potentially an artifact of great power. In the process, she uncovers a conspiracy to revive a seemingly extinct species. In theory, this should be an excellent novel. Benny doing archaeology, political intrigue, etc. However, I had a hard time wth this one. It was fine towards the start, but as it dragged on, I had a real hard keeping up my interest. It picked up in the middle, but by that point, I'd been listening to other things and completely lost my place. It's not terrible, it just didn't grab me like the previous one. Maybe if I were reading it instead of listening, but the book version is long out of print. Oh well.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first Benny book I had read, and I enjoyed it very much. I've heard some of the Big Finish audio plays but I have always preferred reading books to hearing them. Benny is a great character (although not quite as good as Morgan Swift!) and of course she is an archaeologist.

This book was about a ancient temple discovered on a blockaded and plague-ridden planet - and of course Benny is there to excavate. But it doesn't quite go to plan.

It doesn't pull its punches and the body count ends up pretty high and there are interplanetary villains of all kinds. And ancient ruins. What more could you want?