The Bloodchild Codex (2013)

The penultimate story of the series sees the story arc starting to get real interesting. The story centres around a book which can help people last forever. It’s a plot device that’s been used before but I find it interesting. It’s something that might sound good to begin with but is clearly something that has its disadvantages. The main threat in this story from Guinevere Godiva (played by Raquel Cassidy) and she is a very good villain and is one of the best written that I can remember for sometime. There are other well written characters such as Dreislav (played by Ken Bones) and Summer (played by Anna Tolputt). Both these characters were (especially Dreislav) were characters that I thought worked very well and were made even better thanks to the actors. Going back to the story it starts off with a rather mundane situation of the Professor doing a book inventory and its perhaps a bit obvious that there is going to be something in that collection that’s going to get people into trouble and that is the case.

Raquel Cassidy gives a great performance as Godiva. She has appeared in many Big Finish audios over the years but this has to be her best performance. It’s a very subtle yet creepy performance. For the central performances I think the Benjamin and Baxter give strong performances yet it was Lisa Bowerman that I thought gave the best offering. She’s been a solid and noticeable individual throughout these stories but this was another one where she was integral to the story and pretty soon the series will have to include Ellie in the title. After the previous adventure which seemed to split them up and then reunite them in the final part of the story, its nice that they have gone back to normal with an adventure and the dynamic helps the story. It’s hard to say who had a better time in the story.

The Bloodchild Codex apart from being a great title has a fast story feel to it and it moves along at quite a good rate. I think that Colin Brake is a good writer and has a good track record in the main range and its good that the series is getting new writers to keep it fresh. I thought that the cliffhanger was unexpected as it carried on after I thought the story had finished. It was a really good cliffhanger and sets up the final story brilliantly. I am finding this series to be fantastic as it manages to get back to have the same style as the earlier series have whilst at the same time feel fresh. I think/hope the final story will be as fitting climax to this series.