Last month, I discussed Paul Darrow’s novelized sequel to the television series Blakes 7 titled Lucifer. In the TV series, Darrow played Kerr Avon, a computer genius who was recruited from a prison ship by the series’ title character Roj Blake to fight against the oppression of the oppressive Earth Federation. By the time the series reached the end of its fourth and final season in 1981, Avon was one of the two characters who appeared in the largest number of episodes. Perhaps surprisingly, Garreth Thomas’s Blake was not the other one. Instead the other was talented thief Vila Restal played by Michael Keating.

As noted in my review of the novel Lucifer, we learn that Avon is the only member of Blake’s band of freedom fighters to have survived the series. At the end of that novel, Avon was reunited with the supercomputer Orac and had confronted his nemesis and one-time Federation President Servalan. As the sequel opens, Avon and Orac are on the run from just about every power faction in the known galaxy, including mercenaries sent by the leaders of the Federation and Chinese agents who are seeking to take power when the Federation inevitably falls. Both power factions want to get their hands on Orac for their own purposes. However, Orac is exactly the thing that gives Avon an edge with so many people after him. Orac helps him infiltrate a pirate stronghold to get fuel for his ship, which doesn’t endear him to the pirates at all.

In effect, the first of the sequels is the story of Avon and Orac on the run while the galaxy’s powerful and elite conduct their machinations to see who will ultimately control the galaxy and exercise control over the vast panoply of humanity. The machinations feel like the stuff of Shakespearean drama as the rich and powerful unleash plots to take down their rivals and send assassins against each other. Meanwhile, Avon does what he can to stay out of anyone’s crosshairs while ultimately trying to figure out what his ultimate objective really is.

All of this really sets up the final and best book of the trilogy, Lucifer: Genesis. The final novel picks up where the second one left off. Avon is on the run and those who survived the political maneuverings of the previous book want to get their hands on Orac. Of those in power, only the Chinese seem to take the philosophical perspective that they might ultimately build an even better computer given time. Still, they don’t want Orac to fall in anyone else’s hands before they can accomplish that feat. At this point, the novel steps back in time to the beginning of Blakes 7.

Now we’re taken back before the beginning of the series. We learn how a young girl is born to a band of pirates. The band is destroyed by the president of the Europa Federation Kyril Alan and his daughter takes the girl to raise as her own. She’s named Seraph Alan but comes to be known as Servalan. Of course the Europa Federation becomes an integral part of what will be the Terran Federation. Meanwhile, Blake recruits his freedom fighters, including Avon. As the book proceeds, we are treated to scenes not shown on the series. We have conversations between Blake and Avon that examine their relationship. Later, when Blake is gone, Vila and the others try to decide if they’re still even in the freedom-fighting business under Avon. Of course, Avon and Servalan confront one another and realize they are two sides of a similar coin.

At last the book returns to where it started. Avon decides the only thing left for him to do is return to Earth. Of course, given all that’s happened, Avon is unlikely to be welcomed as a hero and we soon realize that in the end, his only friend and companion is none other than the AI, Orac.

All in all, I found Darrow’s novels a fitting and satisfying end to the tale of Blakes 7. That said, it’s certainly not the only possible ending and if I explore others, I might find there are others I would enjoy more. Still, if you’re a fan of the series, I think this trilogy is worth a look. If anyone reading this has read them and perhaps other sequels, I’d enjoy hearing what you thought and what other sequels you might recommend.

This journey of a heroic outlaw growing old and then returning to Earth reminded me of my Space Pirates’ Legacy series. In the first volume we meet pirate Ellison Firebrandt and his crew. In The Pirates of Sufiro, he’s marooned on a planet and builds a life there. As events in the galaxy transpire around him, he ultimately must act to save the Earth that abandoned him. You can learn more about my series at http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#pirate_legacy