Time-twisting Who
Written: Jul 07 '02 (Updated Oct 23 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Creepy atmosphere, weird time tricks
Cons: wooden characters
The Bottom Line: A great plot makes up for the wooden characters. Certainly an interesting read, I think even a non-Who fan would be able to pick this up and be interested.
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| hist's Full Review: Jonathan Morris - Anachrophobia |
Anachrophobia is a plot that's searching desperately for some interesting characters to inhabit it. Fortunately, unlike the previous Who book, Hope, this plot is interesting enough to compensate for it.
A Brief Description of Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a science fiction adventure series about the Doctor and one (or more) of his companions. They travel around in the TARDIS, which looks like an English police box, but is really a time travel machine. It's bigger on the inside then on the outside. The Doctor is a Time Lord, a race of beings who can regenerate when their current body is dying. So far, the Doctor has regenerated seven times, which means he's on his eighth incarnation.
The book series consists of two lines: a line about the Eighth Doctor and his companions, and a line that consists of "past Doctors" (Numbers 1-7). The past Doctors are from the TV series that ended in 1989, while the Eighth has only been seen on television in a movie on the Fox network in 1996.
The Story
This is a Doctor Who adventure starring the Eighth Doctor, Anji, and Fitz.
The Doctor, Anji, and Fitz arrive on an unnamed planet after the TARDIS is forced to land by some unknown force. The crew gets taken to Isolation Station Forty, an outpost in a very strange war. Neither the Plutocrats nor the Defaulters have been able to make any progress in the war in over 100 years.
Another unusual thing about this war is that Time itself is used as a weapon. Areas of accelerated time (where a person can age, die, and turn to dust in the space of seconds) and decelerated time (where a second of time can last days) dot the landscape. Isolation Station Forty is a research base where the residents are trying to send soldiers back in time to break the impasse. Unfortunately, something appears to have come back with them during the tests. Something that could make the war itself meaningless.
What Did I Think?
I loved Jonathan Morriss first Who book, Festival of Death. It did wonderful, twisty things with time and causality. This time, Morris tells a more straightforward tale, and it's not as good. The lack of interesting characters detracts from the plot instead of the wonderful plot making up for the lack of good characters. Don't get me wrong: the story contains plenty of strange, interesting things. It's still a good book. But Morris' weakness for original characters asserts itself. Hopefully, if he writes a third book, he will be able to rectify this weakness. He does try to give some of them a bit of back story, but it just doesn't seem to work.
The main characters are a bit better. The Doctor is the best of the bunch, with his manic energy manifesting itself as he tries to solve the problem. He's a virtual dynamo as he goes from situation to situation. Unfortunately, there are times where he's not like this, where he's instead tired and weak. This ties in with the ongoing storyline about his illness, and makes a nice counterbalance to his energetic periods. It also provides a nice clue to the ending.
Anji and Fitz aren't nearly as good, but they are passable. There is a brief reference to Hope, which gives some nice moments to Anji. But mostly, they are pretty basic. They react to events, wondering what's going on, and having to have the Doctor explain it to them. There isn't a lot that is new to their characters. However, they are definitely in character, and what there is of them in this book is pretty good.
The highlights of this book, though, are the wonderful ideas that it contains. Throughout the entire series, I can't remember Time ever being used as a weapon like it is in this book. The idea of intentionally accelerating and decelerating time is great. This also provides some nice imagery, as the Doctor and friends journey through parts of this world in vehicles that are insulated from the effects. They stumble upon a decelerated scene where a man is in the process of being shot, and it's chilling. Then there is the idea of getting part of a body into one of these fields. It can really make you shiver.
Then there are the creatures that end up invading the base. They can do so many things with time that it seems they are impossible to stop. Some of the things they can do defy logic, but they are so interesting that you don't mind. This forces the Doctor to come up with new and creative ways of dealing with them, which just adds to the sense of impending danger. While the characters aren't very interesting, the fact that there's so few of them does add to the menace as the station is attacked.
One neat aspect of the book, at least for long-time Who fans, is that this is basically a base-under-siege story. Early in the TV series, there was almost an entire season where the Doctor and companions arrive at some sort of base just as it's about to be attacked. It became a bit of a cliche. Fortunately, Morris puts enough of a spin on it that you don't really notice it. He also adds to it, as they then leave the base to prevent an even greater catastrophe.
Ultimately, this book is a satisfying read. While good characters are missed, the plot more than makes up for it. The beginning has a marvelously creepy feeling, and the tense atmosphere continues to a very surprising conclusion. It's definitely a must read for fans of the series, and it's still a pretty decent read for non-fans.
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: David Roy
Location: Vancouver, BC
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