★ JohannesVIII's Doctor Who liveblogs archive: The Last Resort

Some highlights of the latest EDA I’ve read (The Last Resort).

I took these screens while reading, along with my reactions. As usual, this is full of spoilers.

What happened. No seriously, what happened.

I should love this book. It's written by Paul Leonard. His "worst" EDA so far was Dreamstone Moon, and I rated it 7/10 and even made fanart about it. His previous books were full of emotion, examined what it means to be human, what made a person a person even when they looked completely alien, talked about cosmic tragedies viewed from a small, personal angle. And now, here's a book where the stakes are higher than ever, and suddenly, nobody cares about anything.

From one scene to the next, we're following different versions of the same characters interchangeably. People die again and again, and little to no weight is given to any of it. We're told Sabbath and maybe the Doctor have a plan to solve the whole situation, but we can't parse what it is, so we don't really care. There's a lot of technobabble. About a third of the way into the story, it gets obvious that all of this is going to get hit by a big red RESET button at the end, so you're just waiting for it to happen. Thankfully, there's some very good imagery near the end, but it's too little too late.

It took me two years to get through The Last Resort. It's experimental, exhausting, convoluted but not complex, weirdly one-dimensional for a thing about multiple realities colliding, and more than a bit nihilistic. I want to care about things again, please. 3,5/10

Should I be scared

Oh ok that looks like a headache and a half

GODDDDD STOP IT

Oh, Time tourism! What could possibly go wrong

Wow okay apparently we're starting with self-murder

Hello Fitz, who's apparently currently working at a tourist trap. Also I'm surprised you don't want a cigarette instead of a beer, my guy

Just picturing Fitz trying to use excel makes me smile

And it's a shitty job too!

Oh so it's a direct continuation of the previous book!

Oh my god

UH OH

Me whenever nostalgia hits me and I forget how horrible that year actually was for teenage me

What's going onnnnn

UH OH 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

And now we're in a completely different setting

Fuckin hell

This is starting to feel like a Fredric Brown novel

fuckin hell 2: the fuckinhellening

DOO EEE OOOOOOOOOOO

I'm gonna be perfectly honest, I didn't expect the two threads to connect so quickly

What a nightmare

Suddenly I feel really old

HELP

Brand new sentences

They're gonna kill that kid aren't they

He's dead he's dead he's so dead

CALLED IT

Hold on.What

Ok, that's new. Not gonna lie I was scared we were going to repeat that entire chapter

This is getting complicated

Not that I'm complaining but still

I swear to god if it repeats that same structure again in the next chapter

I know this is supposed to feel clever but it feels like padding

COME ON

[at this point I basically put the book down for an entire year]

Ok let's try this again

Ok. Ok. So now we have a version of the first chapter 2 where the kid doesn't die. Hopefully we're getting somewhere.

Yes, actually

Ok so Fitz saved this version of the kid

I was about to say "He changed a lot since his first books" and now I remember he's a clone and that's it, I'm sad once again. I will never, ever be over this

Very helpful

REAL

Oof??

Not to be mean or anything, but so far it was better the first time around

Oh no it's a different Anji

jesus christ, kid

Fitz no

Thanks for explaining the plot I guess

Not Sabbath again

Very funny description

Ohhhhh new location?

What now

I love this description

This is all very Dreamstone Moon

Wait. Were they living on the moon

I assume this is the regular Anji?

I missed you Anji

Cute

Well that explains some things

Have I mentioned I really like Iyeeye

Ok this time we're REALLY getting somewhere. I hope

Credit where it's due, this is the first time I'm picturing the Jonah clearly

I must admit I never thought about that before

Are they going to dethrone Cheops by recruting Akhenaton

Wait what the fuck

Must protect Iyeeye at all costs

Iyeeye feels like she's being treated like a tool not a person and now I'm sad too

Ohhhhhh. It's the mystery stowaway again. I had forgotten about that

Not Anji's proudest moment right there

I think I'm ready to call it: this book is a mess

jesus

Also known as Jakhenaton

Please don't do that

What now

Not sure, uh?

Cool imagery

MANYKHENATON

I don't care that much because people keep dying and not dying again and again in this book, but Fitz's reaction makes me really sad

Thank you for explaining stuff to me, Anji's journal, cause I'm starting to lose the plot a little bit. Or more accurately, I never really grasped the plot

Yeah I also need an aspirin

Nooooooooooo Fitz nooooooo

Oh we're getting more info on the stowaway?

I love this entire discussion

Okay

Your name is now officially Tix

YES thank you Eight for interrupting another repetition of the same scene. And also where were you

Basically same cause you lost me again

I hate to be that kind of guy, but Caerdroia did this kind of thing so much better

Thanks, Eight, very helpful

He doesn't even care anymore

Yeah same, Anji, everything felt so weightless I stopped reading for six months. Again. But now we're back

Welp, nevermind, just like that I want to draw Doctor Who fanart again. What a cool concept for a TARDIS room! I love it

Why is this funny

YESSSSSSSSS welcome back suicidal Eight I've missed you

I mean, same

Really cool description of time-travel

That's bleak and I feel kind of burnt out by this entire plot not even two-thirds into this book

Okay but if you all don't care and if the story doesn't care and if I no longer care who's flying this TARDIS

FACTS

Akhenaton at the burger place, what will he get

Time-travel racism. Or timeism. Or something

Yeah Ak I also like that Enter Shikari track why are you asking

This could have been such a good book

Well this is even harsher currently

Well congrats, you turned Akhenaton into a nihilist

Brand new sentences

Me trying to make friends

Yeah soooo everyone's character is kinda unravelling at this point

GO IYEEYE

Ok so. This book came out in 2003, but after talking with my friends it turns out there were already plans for another trilogy back then. So it's not a prediction or anything, but it's still pretty cool

Yeah same

Ok so on one hand this plan to steal his own dead body is all very diet coke Alien Bodies. On the other hand I like the idea of the identical guards. Like you decided one guy was very good at his job and decided you needed a second one so you just recruited the same guy again in a different reality