NA #48 SLEEPY

SLEEPY by Kate Orman

In Brief: The Doctor & Co. must help an Earth-colony suffering from a sudden bought of telepathy. Sentient computers and secret-projects are involved.

SLEEPY was another of the New Adventures of which I remembered nothing from my original read back in 1996. As such it felt really like I was reading a completely new novel. It's not that the book is bad, it's just that with no BIG EVENTS happening not a lot stuck in the memory after 15 years. I was pleasantly surprised to find that SLEEPY is actually somewhat of a neglected gem. Particularly after the heavy-going in Just War and Warchild it makes for a nice contrast.

And it's not to say that the book is by any means filled with just Hugs & Puppies, it's just not as *HEAVY* as some recent reads.

But what of the plot? It involves the Tardis crew trying to help the colonists on Yemaya to try to find out why some people have suddenly developed enhanced mental powers. Finding the truth involves not a forgotten ancient super-race (while there are artifacts on the planet it's a big red herring) but rather a trip into the past for Bernice and Roz. Meanwhile Chris has to cope with his becoming psychic due to what turns out to be a manufactured virus. The cause of that virus leads to the discovery of the titular artificial intelligence SLEEPY.

Another major contrast with the previous book Warchild is that all of the regulars are deeply involved in events, especially The Doctor. Orman again really gets into the psyche of the time-lord, in particular when he suffers psychic attacks from the military troops sent to sort out the problems on Yemaya. While many authors keep the character as the inscrutable outsider here with get a detailed view into his thoughts and a sense that there's a larger game he's playing with the universe, with the lives of his friends hanging in the balance. It really sets up the sense that he'll have to pay a high price down the road.

One joy of re-reading the series is picking up the foreshadowing which I totally missed back in the mid-90s.

Also a positive in SLEEPY is how non-European the colonists are, with most having an African or Australian background. It's a small touch, but one which adds a nice texture to the story. I suspect this is a side-benefit of having non-British authors write for Doctor Who. As well, Orman gives a good chunk of the action to Bernice and Roz as well as other strong female characters throughout the novel. Meanwhile Chris remains somewhat useless.

One could very easily class Orman as the anti-Mark Gatiss, since all of his characters seem to be slight variations on straight army-soldiers from the 1940s.

So while SLEEPY may be a bit of a "small story" in the series it's still a very enjoyable book. Kate Orman gets into the head of The Doctor like no other and really expands the possibilities of the character. It's unfortunate that this richness of character can really only happen in a novel as the 45-minute confines of a TV episode don't really allow for as much depth (particularly with all of the corridor running). It reminds me that in a lot of ways I became a Doctor Who fan as much due to The New Adventures as the show proper.