Parasite by Jim Mortimore
In Brief: A few hundred years in the future the Doctor, Ace and Benny arrive within The Artifact, a world inside-out. Within are spectacular wonders and terrifying creatures that are going through some severe changes.
Nihilism ensues.
I enjoyed Parasite, although it's possibly the darkest and most defeatist slice of Doctor Who ever. Rather than the normal narrative of Doctor & Co Vs. Alien-Threat/Monster this book is a massive example Man Vs. Nature as the main antagonist ends up being the environment itself (well there *is* a minor bad character, but he doesn't do much). With the regulars separated from the Tardis almost immediately after landing and the Doctor essentially in a coma for most of the book, Bernice and Ace are left to suffer in a major way.
By the end of the book Ace will have been blinded, had small creatures burrow under her skin and later break out, almost die from radiation poisoning and end up almost feral snacking on raw meat. Meanwhile Bernice suffers from various infections, a skull fracture, a crushed leg and having her stomach sliced open to remove a large parasite. The minor characters (an expedition into The Artifact comprised mainly of students) fare even worse (there are no happy endings...). While it sounds like the Jim Mortimore is just being sadistic towards his character it very much fits with the sense that he wants the reader to really understand how dangerous nature can really be, an alien nature especially so.
Also it gives both Ace and Bernice a chance to really shine a bit as they are forced to deal with the various dangers within the Artifact (the Killer Microwave-Monkeys being the worst). "New" Ace is finally starting to again feel like an extension of the original character rather than some horrible Linda Hamilton in T2 impersonation which is welcome after being so irritating for so very long.
So when I say I enjoyed this book it wasn't out of some perverse pleasure at the suffering but due to the quality of the writing and as a stark contrast to the relatively "safe" environments we normally see (or read about). On-Screen we don't really ever feel that the likes of Jo, Rose or Amy are ever really in serious peril or have to deal with real issues of survival. I can't think of another example of the series where the only real accomplishment for any of the characters is simply to survive. It helps is that Mortimore is one of the better writers of the "New Adventures" so far, with his earlier (co-written) Lucifer Rising and Blood Heat having equally evocative and imaginative settings. The Artifact itself, a zero-gravity environment filled with luminous oceans and impossible (and seriously unfilmable) flora and fauna is expertly realised.
I'm glad to see that the series over the past few books has started to push the possibilities of Doctor Who in written form again after a slump. It's a reminder that it's worth putting up with some sub-par stories since there's normally some quality right around the corner.
Although that's a mantra I have to remind myself of more and more as we slowly work through the 2011 series on TV...
Falls the Shadow by Daniel O'Mahony
In brief: The Tardis is forced to land in a spooky old house. Mix in time-experiments, demented Gods, an intelligent insect from a world which never happened and carnivorous orchids.
Oh, and talking stone heads.
Falls the Shadow is one of the better books in the series so far. It has a depth of character and quality of writing and dialogue which puts it well above many of the New Adventures (particularly the recent run). The book really grabbed hold of the possibilities of a Doctor Who novel and gives the reader an experience they would never get on TV such as an impossibly large house, a view of "interstitial time" and an artificial universe ruled over by a collection of flying stone heads (try to pretend that bit doesn't sound like "Zardoz").
Although there is the minor issue that the book doesn't really have a plot.
Of course when has that stopped a Doctor Who story in the past?
The plot of book can be summed up as: Due to time-experiments being carried out by Professor Winterdawn (based on The Master's work in "The Time Monster", one of the few nods to continuity in the book) a tear in the cosmos has been created which results in the creation of the malicious "Gods" Gabriel and Tanith. However a force from a parallel universe (The Grey Man) brings the Doctor & Co. into the situation in order to assist with their destruction. Now obviously this is a gross simplification of what happens over 300 pages as The Doctor, Ace and Benny roam the interior of the dimensionally unstable mansion and get involved with Winterdawn's team (some of whom don't actually exist, long story) or are randomly tortured by Gabriel and Tanith (in scenes which *definitely* put this in the adult section of the book store). I enjoyed Falls the Shadow for its imagination and scope even if by the end I realised that it really didn't do much other than meander.
Although like much of life meandering can be fun if there are interesting things to see.
The last act of the book does fall apart a bit as the house is completely absorbed by the universe of Cathedral and we end up in yet another "impossible" waste-land (memories of the tedium of Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible come rushing back, but not too much.) It meant that the final portion of the book lost some of the impetus that had been gathered. Since a good portion of the non-regular characters had been killed off it made the final climax feel a bit hollow; it was hard to really know what the stakes were since everything was happening away from Earth. I suspect it's probably another case of an author writing themselves into a corner and fluffing the ending through being a bit vague (although at least that band-aid for all story-gaps of "timey-wimey" hadn't been invented yet).
With the psychological leaning of the book it's good that the regulars are on fine form. "New" Ace is less annoying than usual and Benny is more pro-active than in recent books (even if she spends a good portion of the book dead). The Doctor, while somewhat in the background, is back to being the more mysterious version of the character. Seeing Matt Smith's more active interpretation of #11 on TV at the moment makes quite a contrast to go back to the days when #7 was very much the background manipulator.
Of course that would be the difference between a 45-minute episode on TV and a 300-page book, you don't have to have everything wrapped up so quickly.
Although that's not to be confused with the HYPER-active #10.
Overall though I liked reading Falls the Shadow. I think I prefer my Doctor Who to have more fantasy/horror aspects rather than the more sci-fi/futuristic stories. It's definitely a step in the right direction for the New Adventures (as in back towards "being good") and is an excellent example of Doctor Who actually managing to be "adult" in the right ways (as opposed to junk like Series 1 & 2 of Torchwood). It's probably best described as a "roller-coaster of a novel"; it's exciting and thrilling and you enjoy the experience even if at the end it turns out you're back where you began.
