So tonight I went through I listened to all of the Dorian Gray audios I'd picked up for free over the last year or so. This included:
This World Our Hell,
Frostbite,
Trick or Treat and
Isolation.
I'm not sure I really have a handle on the character, despite that. That each story was pretty short probably doesn't help matters....
Personally I found
This World Our Hell to be the strongest of the lot, particularly the first half.
Frostbite was just weird, and contingent, I think, on my being familiar with Dorian's evil girlfriend, or something; and
Trick or Treat featured a pretty yikes line where Dorian comes across as a bit of a pedo.
Isolation is the odd one out: probably not a good choice for an introduction to the range, given that it seemingly ends with Dorian being trapped (by the devil he originally bargained with, it seemed?) in some kind of purgatory.
That said, it was still an enjoyable story, even if the resolution left a bit to be desired. I loved the epistolary approach to storytelling (always fun in audio), and the scene of Dorian waking up on a train filled with nothing but blood was great, and very evocative of
Final Fantasy VII. His commentary on the pandemic also resonated with me a fair bit--I, too, have marveled at the strange sensation of seeing so many people the world over bend over backwards to accommodate themselves to a lifestyle that has long been my own, or very nearly; likewise, lockdown necessitated very little adjustment for me, yet there was still a period early on where I chafed at the stress of leaving being absolutely verboten--though it's really hard to empathize with a protagonist who spends his time during a pandemic traveling.
Yes, yes, Dorian's soul is trapped in the portrait--but his body can still act as a carrier for the virus, right? This is some pretty evil ****, is all I'm saying.
Anyway, I found the actor playing Dorian to be very engaging, and would definitely like to hear him in more stories, though at this point I've still no idea, really, what kind of person this Dorian Gray is (a villain? an antihero? amoral? immoral? alien?) or what the range as a whole is like (supernatural? mystery? adventure?). I might try out any other free stories, but at this point I don't really see myself spending money on more given the sheer quantity of other Big Finish releases in my wishlist.
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