Ozymandias

The fifth instalment of Magic Bullet’s Faction Paradox series, Ozymandias, takes as far from the worlds presented in the first four parts. We now travel to Mars circa 5000 BC, to what, for us and the Faction, is history. Most of this story is concerned with the Osirian court convening to hear Sutekh’s challenge to his brother Horus to prove his divinity and therefore his right to rule their people. Horus, by now, is a hybrid of Osiris and Cousin Eliza, and Sutekh clearly plans to avenge his defeat in battle with a challenge to Horus’ purity.

The other strand of the story sees Corwyn Marne and Finton (from the first and second stories) travelling from 1764 to Mars via the time tunnel left behind by Justine and Eliza. Corwyn has been having dreams compelling him to travel to another world. With Finton in tow, he travels to Mars and discovers its native insect species. Attacked by the insects, Finton is rescued by a clone of Justine whilst Marne meets Lolita.Little else happens but the story is still absorbing as we get an insight into Osirian culture hinted at in Pyramids of Mars.

Edward de Souza joins the cast as Geb, a gloriously working class Osirian, father to Sutekh, Osiris and Nephthys. Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh continues to ooze evil as he challenges Horus to battle and it is a welcome return for David Bickerstaff as Finton and Robert Lock as Marne.

Historically there is little of fact (being as much of it is set on Ancient Mars) but the naming of the story – Ozymandias – refers to the famous poem by Percy Shelley which is about the inevitable decline of all leaders and the empires they build. A suitable reference for a series of audios all about the decline and fall of the Osirian court, and Sutekh in particular.

To be honest, very little actually happens in the story – it’s an awful lot of talking about things that have happened and things that will happen. There is some great dialogue though (I particularly liked Lolita’s line about eating something that didn’t agree with her (i.e. the War King)) and that is what maintains an audio that is essentially just set up for the final instalment, The Judgement of Sutekh.

It will be interesting to see how this all ties into Pyramids of Mars and how satisfying as a whole the series has been. If I’m honest, the middle instalments have been treading water slightly with a vague sense of simply manoeuvring characters into place for a great final showdown. But then, the scripting has been thoroughly absorbing and the dialogue so strong that it hasn’t been blatantly obvious. The fact that this series is populated by such a strong calibre of actor helps enormously and I can only shudder at the thought of what this series would have been like with a BBV Faction Paradox cast (who were fine, just not as impressive as the actors gathered by Magic Bullet).