Review by Daniel Mansfield

---

The Eternity Club saga continues with this third release in the series, comprising two stories by James Goss.

Opener The Terrible Shame of a Tree is the better of the two, seeing Benny and Derek the Tree (Derek Elroy) travel to the Endless Arboretum, a legendary ark (or bark, geddit?) filled with trees. We get an interesting and somewhat touching backstory for Derek here, but the story itself is nothing to write home about. I did enjoy the idea of lumberjack space pirates, though, and their leader Alkaran (Jaye Jacobs) gets some deft characterisation that elevates her above a one-note villain.

The second story, Mr Pym Has an Adventure, feels a little aimless, with Benny and Pym wandering around some archaeological ruins for most of the runtime. I did like some of the expansion of Pym’s character, and Nickolas Grace plays his childlike wonder at visiting his first alien planet very effectively, but mostly this lacks depth or any interesting ideas.

I did, however, like the way in which this miniseries’ story arc comes back to the fore here, setting up next month’s final instalment in the Eternity Club range. The final cliffhanger is a doozy, as are some of the revelations we get here about what’s been going on in earlier stories.

All in all, this release often feels a little lightweight and throwaway, but there are some gems of brilliance here. I look forward to hearing Eternity Club 4 next month and seeing how things conclude.

The Eternity Club 3 is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com

The Eternity Club continues next month