Original Sin

• written by Andy Lane
• Review: In the 30th Century, the many tentacled arms of Earth's Empire stretch across most of the Galaxy. Both the willing and unwilling cultures are incorporated into the ever growing web of assimilation. At the center of this web sits Earth itself, like a hungry arachnid, slowly devouring all who dare enter her parlour. The new spaceport cities float on massive anti-gravity devices over the ruins of old Earth. All manner of races must come through these overcities on their way on or off the planet. But, just as it is today, so it is 1000 years from now - Foreigners are treated poorly, disliked, and mistrusted, for no better reason than they are not Human.

  Somewhere in Spaceport Overcity Five, a madman is releasing a dangerous form of radiation which is driving people to kill and not remember their attacks afterwards. This man has lived for over 1000 years, growing increasingly insane in his thirst for revenge on the man who had caused him pain - who thwarted his his plans for conquest so many years ago. He wants his revenge on the Doctor, and his desire to own the TARDIS clouds his mind with every waking moment...

  The Doctor and Bernice have just finished an adventure on Oolis, where a member of the sluglike Hith has warned them away from Spaceport Overcity Five. Told them that events there could lead to their deaths. Of course, only one action could follow such a warning: Immediate investigation of the nature of this danger. It is not long after their arrival on Earth that they run into a homeless Hith, who appears to have been brutally tortured. This Hith, though, remembers nothing of what happend to it, and upon being questioned by the Doctor, runs off in a state of severe distress. Returning to the TARDIS, they find it is no longer where they had left it, and the Doctor cannot even sense it nearby. Worry sets it, and their search for the cause of this mystery begins.

  Meanwhile, on this future Earth, these senseless murders are being carried out, and the local constabulary has no idea as to the cause. Two of these Police, or Adjudicators, as they are known - Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester - capture one of these amnesiac killers, and give her a brainscan to check on the where and why of the crime. There is, however, an anomaly in the scan, leading them to believe it has been tampered with. This points to a possible conspiracy, pointing to some of the highest levels of the law. Continuing the investigation further, off duty, they are stunned to find that the culprit was not the woman they captured, but the Doctor and Bernice. They appear on the brainscan as plain as day, and seem to be bragging about what good killers they make.

  The two Adjudicators follow the suspects to the planet of the Imperial Landsknecht, where the laws are made, and lawmakers are trained. After a short time, the Doctor is found out not to be who he was claiming to be, and arrested. The man in charge of the planet, coincidentally, is not actually who he appears to be, and orders the two infiltrators to be executed. This goes horribly wrong when the squad sent to kill them end up killing each other. Roz and Chris arrive just after the assassins go kamikaze on each other, in order to arrest their two suspects, and find the Doctor poking around in the steamy remains of one of the dead attackers' skulls. He discovers strange traces of this radioactive effect, and upon further investigation, determines that all the people who have been killing others back on Earth have recently passed through Spaceport Overcity Five. Now the Doctor and Bernice are left with questions: who is responsible for this radiation? And why have they been framed?

  This was a fun book to read. After the spectacular exploits in the previous New Adventure Human Nature, (which, in short, I give a 9 out of 10) I didn't expect to get another good one so soon. The dim view of humanity is not quite the Starfleet model, yet it doesn't surprise me to see xenophobia as the main behavioral trait on Earth in the 30th Century. I mean, after all, isn't that what it is like now? Wasn't it like that 1000 years ago? The more things change...

  Now, the evil mastermind (this is not a hint) behind this twisted plot, is none other than...

  You'll have to read the book to find out. I didn't expect it to be who it turned out to be, due to his apparent demise, but what a comeback he made! The two Adjudicator characters, Roz and Chris, are the new companions. Roz is a street-hardened cop (much more believable that a street-wise Dalek killer...) whose past history is one of a priveleged upbringing by rich parents. And Chris Cwej (pronounced sh-vey, but he says to call him Cwej as it avoids confusion) is another in a long line of Adjudicators in his family, and is a trifle green when it comes to street-smarts. We shall see how these two find life on board the TARDIS.

  I give this book an unprecidented 9/10! I am bombarded lately with really good Who, and let's hope the trend continues! Now, hopefully the next review won't run on and on, like this one did. It just came spewing out, and I'll be damned if I was gonna try and stop it!

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner

Sky Pirates!

• written by Dave Stone
• Review: In a dark region of what is not our Universe, sits a creature that, thanks to the Time Lords, never existed. Sitting in the heart of a Sun, it watches over millions of other creatures who never existed, infiltrating their minds and actions, out of sheer boredom.

  Somewhere, an ancient Time-weapon is detonated, causing the TARDIS to be torn from the "real" Universe, and be dragged into this separate, quite silly place, where the "thing inside," as it is called, is waiting. Separated from the TARDIS, Bernice and the Doctor are captured by pirates, who are influenced into searching for the legendary Eyes of Schirron. These four "eyes" apparently do something special when they are brought together and taken to a certain special place - according to the legends, that is. One is hidden on each of the four planets in the system, and are guarded by ingenious traps of sinister design!

  Roz and Chris are captured by the Sloathes, which are shape shifting amoeba-like creatures that talk stupid, and take the shapes of totally ridiculous objects (toad with tank treads, lamp with a moustache, dog wearing a top hat, the trim you find on any car...). These Sloathes are also looking for the "eyes," with the help of some nutter called Solan.

  This whole book is filled with sad puns, jokes that are not funny, long-winded descriptions of bodily functions, and a writing style that makes Douglas Adams look like a Poet Laureate! Writing a Sci-fi book is one thing, but writing a funny Sci-fi book does not always work! In this case, the characters we know (the Doctor, etc...) suffer horribly at the hands of this author, and the characters created by the author seem to have motives which defy all logic.

  Now, I'm not saying that the ideas posed in this book are bad, it's just the prose used to get the ideas across that offends my senses. There were a few genuinely funny moments, but for every one of those, there were ten that made me roll my eyes into the back of my skull. I do have to say, though, it is better than Infinite Requeim, which stank due to the sheer ineptitude of the writer. Dave Stone can write, but I just wish he hadn't made the thing so damn silly! It makes City of Death look like a heavy drama!

  Halfway through reading this book, I was sure I was going to give it my lowest rating ever. But, it did actually keep my interest, and, for the most part, made sense. I knew it was too good to be true...the last bunch of books have all been great, and then along comes a dud.

  If this book vanished from this Universe, and was sent to the Universe that doesn't exist, I wouldn't miss it one bit. 6 out of 10.

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner

Zamper

• written by Gareth Roberts
• Review: In a pocket-dimention some time in the future is the planet Zamper. For hundreds of years it has been flawlessly and expertly run by the mysterious Management as an extremely profitable ship-building enterprise. Zamper will supply any race of creature, with enough money, battleships of superior design, which will outlast and outblast all other ships in the Galaxy. These ships are much sought after, as they have the ability to tip the balance of any war to the owners favour. There are only two problems on this world:
  
  1. The Management is not what he appears to be, and he...it...is apparently dying.
  2. The Doctor has arrived.

  The latest customers of Zamper's wares are the Chelonians, who have sent two representatives to purchase a Battleship. The sparsely employed planet has done everything to make their customers comfortable, although a couple of badly timed power failures have bruised the unmarred reputation of this planet and has lowered the Chelonians' confidence in humans even more.

  The Doctor, with his party of three, arrive on Zamper quite by accident (of course), and on a planet that has never had unannounced visitors, this has raised some concern.

  There is a lone scientist in the employ of the Management, and her job is to study the Zamps, a slug-like race of creatures with enormous telekenetic powers, and the only natives of this planet. These Zamps have a job as well, and that is as the builders and designers of the ships sold here. But the Zamps are slowing down, and this scientist has yet to discover any reason why.

  That is all I am going to reveal about this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and periodically felt as if I was reading a novelisation. It is one of those stories which, given a BBC budget, could've worked a treat on the small screen. There are very few characters (less actors to pay) and the true enemy protagonist(s) are kept secret until very near the end. I got a huge kick out of the Chelonians' interactions with each other, and with the humans (or "Parasites" as they call us). Apparently we smell like sour milk and are not very smart, in comparison to giant turtles anyway.

  With the settings limited to but a few places - a couple of bedrooms, a dining room, a cave, and a spaceship, it was easy to get your mind around. It was not 400 pages of multi-dimentional cities, evil plans with 25 phases to drudge through, and inside-out planets hatching like eggs (oh, will the ghosts of Parasite ever fade?). It was, instead, a straightforward Doctor Who-style romp. The only thing that I'm having trouble with is this expanded TARDIS crew. Chris and Roz seem like add-ons, and don't get much good dialogue or roles. I suppose it is early days yet, and when their characters get more fleshed out, they'll get more to do than say: "Really, Doctor!"

  This was another fine example of what a Who book can be. An 8/10 rating by my standards. If I read 4 books a month, for the next 10 months, I will finally get to read an 8th Doctor book! Then I have to keep that pace up for the next 5 years in order to be caught up to date in the world of Doctor Who. Be patient, I'm working on it!

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner

Toy Soldiers

• written by Paul Leonard
• Review: There is a planet where War has raged for 1400 years. Where the opposing forces no longer have any concept of how a War ends, how the war began, or even what the word "peace" means. No, it's not Earth, but most of the unwilling combatants are not only from Earth, but are children. These unsuspecting soldiers are being kidnapped from early in the 20th century, from an alredy War-ravaged europe. The vehicle used to transport the children across Space looks like nothing more than a simple, cuddly teddy bear. The creatures who are employed to lure these poor children to battle are not hideous insectoids, or amorphous blobs, but they too resemble large, human sized teddy bears.

  The disappearing children have not gone unnoticed. Of course their parents are aware their children have gone missing, but so is the Doctor. He and Bernice are in 1920s England, and have gone native in order to blend in with the populace. Bernice has got herself a job in the very factory where these transmat teddy bears are packaged and sent out. It is not a true factory, however, as there is no manufacturing equipment. The already-made bears arrive in the morning by lorry, are packed for shipping, then sent out that night. Millions of them have been sent out, each of them a remote transmat device, and each in the hands of a child. Millions of children, which means millions of new recruits. The Doctor, who has set up business in a pie shop gets daily reports from Bernice, all delivered in a clandestine manner. He is aware that agents of whomever is responsable knows about his curiosity, so subterfuge is the order of the day.

  Meanwhile, Chris and Roz are in France working as private investigators, attempting to aquire as much information about the occurances overseas. They report their findings to the Doctor at discreet meeting places. Their investigations have brought them to a French cottage, where a young girl has vanished. No fresh leads in a few months have begun to discourage both of them, and the mother of the missing girl.

  In Bennyy's eagerness to figure out what exactly is happening, she gets herself captured (surprise, surprise!) by agents of the person who is in charge of the operation. A person who calls himself The Recruiter. When she ends up on the war-torn planet, it is not long before she is given her new orders through a conditioning process (this involves a large drill being shoved into her skull through her forehead). So, who is this Recruiter chap, and what is his plan for the millions of children he needs to abduct? Can the Doctor finally get the answers he seeks? Will Chris and Roz find out who snached the French girl? Will Bernice recover completely from her impromptu lobotomy? Is today the day the teddy bears have their picnic? Thankfully, all these questions are answered. And even more thankfully, they don't get answered in a book called Invasion Of The Bear-People by Gary Russell!

  But seriously...this was another in a series (though not in a row) of fine Doctor Who books. I cannot begin to describe how nice it is to read a book that not only is supposed to fit in a genre, but actually does fit! I've read Star Trek books written by people who don't even appear to know who William Shatner is, let alone Captain Kirk! And how many New Adventures mess around with the Ace character until she finally ends up being a happy/sad/human killing/Dalek killing/violent/loving/bitter/nymphomaniac/celibate/battle weary/bored/girl/woman/warrior?

  However, all the people in this book seem, for lack of a better word, real. The Doctor is up to his old tricks. Bernice is, well, happy in her life with the Doctor, doing her jobs for him. Chris and Roz, finally given something to do are relishing their new found freedom, but are still a little uncertain of the Doctors' true nature. Even the Aliens and the humans act within the parameters set for them by design. In books where people die, you know that it's really just words on a page. Yet here, it seems that actual people die. People with lives. Good people. We feel the loss, and celebrate the life given to others. Some people try to forget pain, and others do nothing but live in it. But it's all life. All valuable. The Doctor can't be everywhere at once (or can he?). He can't save everyone from death. He gives the survivors new hope, and a fresh start on life. If our sole purpose in this world is to pass on our wisdom and knowledge to the next generation, to avoid repeats of past injustices and evils, then we've done our job. Life is not just for living, it is the sharing of life which makes us whole, and makes us feel alive. 8 out of 10.

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner

Head Games

• written by Steve Lyons
• Review: Demons. We all have them. Those skeletons we keep in our closets. Our little vices we con ourselves into believing are not bad for us. We all do things that, even if they appear to be rotten, are for the greater good.

  The Seventh incarnation of the Doctor has demons. One in particular. One which he doesn't have to look too far inside himself to find.

  The Valeyard.

  Does his chess-playing with his companions as pawns draw him nearer to becoming the dark version of himself? Or did his last regeneration prevent this from ever taking place?

  This adventure has him playing God once again. However, it is no longer out of a sense of fair play. It is because his constant meddling has screwed up the fabric of time so badly, that it is now out of obligation.

  The doorway to the land of fiction has been opened again, and its former master Jason (Conundrum) is but a puppet to the forces released. The power unleashed is feeding his puerile imagination and giving him a thirst for revenge on his greatest enemies: The Doctor and his companions.

  The Doctor, realising that the door is ajar, sets his traps, plays his cards, lights the blue touch paper and stands clear, hoping for a favorable result. All the companions of the seventh incarnation are brought together (yes, even the infuriating Ace!) by Jason, and are to be imprisioned for their Universal crimes. Mel, Ace, Bernice, Roz, and Chris, all set into play by the Doctor, on his quest to right the wrongs, no matter what the cost. Mel sees through all these machinations, and is disgusted at what the Doctor has become: cark, conniving, and manipulative. He tries to tell her that it is the lesser of two evils. That the alternative would be the Valeyard. Mel wants to hear none of it.

  The Doctor is haunted by the ghost of his former self, who taunts him, asking for his life back. Asking him why he wanted to live so badly that he would kill his sixth incarnation, in a selfish act, just to exist. Did he force his former self to hit his head on the console upon landing on Lakyrtia, causing him to regenerate? Did he really want to live that badly that he could sacrifice his former self in order to exist? Or, was it for the greater good as well? Could he see his former incarnation moving ever closer to becoming the Valeyard, and the only way to protect the future from that situation was by sacrificing himself? Was his former incarnation also a pawn in the seventh Doctor's game? If you unleash your demons, who will be hurt in the wake? Maybe the needs of the future outweighed the needs of the past...

  Even if the Doctor did sacrifice his former self, it was not out of a selfish desire to live. It was out of a sense of duty, so that others would not die. So that he could continue fixing his mistakes. So that right and good have a soldier of time on their side. The Doctor has to live with these demons, keeping them safely bottled up inside.

  Just think of the consequences of the Valeyard roaming the universe instead of the Doctor, and who would survive? 9 out of 10.

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner

The Also People

• written by Ben Aaronovitch
• Review: No two snowflakes are alike. No two people are alike. And, thankfully, no two books about inside-out planets are alike. That's where this New Adventure takes place, on, or rather in a Dyson Sphere. For those of you not familiar, a Dyson Sphere is a hollow ball in space, which has been built around a Sun, the inner surface of which is the livable habitation for whatever life is placed, or decides to live there. This particular Sphere has all kinds of weird and wild life, and not one seven armed flying monkey in sight!

  The Doctor has taken his companions here for a break after the events in Head Games, finding the place to be very relaxing, and the people to be very neighbourly. Now, when I say "people," I don't just mean humans. There are humanoids who resemble regular "people," but there are also robots who are self aware that call themselves people. These robots come in all shapes and sizes, from small marble sized, to giant ship sized, but they don't look like human people, as the human people find it unnerving talking to a robot "person" who looks like a human person. In this world, tables are robots, but only sometimes "people." Houses can also be "people," but can also just be houses, or robots. It can be complicated, but Ben Aaronovitch doesn't let it get that way.

  There is a controlling influence inside this sphere - a giant computer, who is a "person," that is known as "God." It isn't called God because it is omnipitant, it's merely a term of endearment used by the locals. God creates the weather, manages the night and day cycles, and watches over the goings on inside the sphere. But, unlike the real God, he doesn't see and know all. You see, there has been a murder, and it is a robot "person" who is the victim. God is not sure how it happened, so the Doctor takes charge of the investigation. Using all of his resources (Benny, Chris, and Roz), he begins his usual, not so discreet, snoop around. The mystery that is afoot is full of dead ends, bad puns, and a cameo from a past New Adventure personality.

  Now, this was not the best book in the world. Lately my standards have gone way up, thanks to the brilliant Millennial Rites. I'm not in favour of an author messing about with Doctor Who mythos, or adding ridiculous characteristics to the Time Lord civilization, unless, of course, it is done properly. Here, it is not. I'm not saying that this book was bad. All the integral parts are there in full force: The Doctor is acting like the Doctor. Bernice is doing what she does best. Unfortunately, Chris and Roz take a literary beating. I suppose their characters are still being established, but to shove them both in the sack with aliens seems a bit much. I don't mind the swearing, when it's used in context, and it's mostly only the "S" word. But to throw it around frivolously just becomes ludicrous.

  I'm only going to give this book a 7 out of 10. If I had read this book before Millennial Rites, it would've gotten an 8, but hey, my standards have changed.

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner

Shakedown

• written by Terrance Dicks
• music by Mark Ayres
• also see the spinoff video Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans
• Review: In Lords Of The Storm, a Rutan spy infiltrated the Sontaran ranks. He became aware of the fact that the Sontarans had cracked the Rutan Military codebank and had retrieved information that could turn the tides of the war so much in the Sontarans favor, that the Rutans could be utterly defeated. After a book-long chase, the Rutan spy managed to escape with its life and began its long trek back to the Rutan homeworld in order to warn the Host of the imminent Sontaran attack. Unfortunately, this Rutan spy became trapped in a decompressed spacecraft, thereby freezing it into a dormant state and delaying the delivery of this information, giving the Sontarans time to bring their plans closer to completion.

  The Doctor, who, of course, knows about this spy from his encounters with it on Rudra, has heard of a number of strange deaths on various planets. These deaths match with the way a Rutan shapeshifts into another form, by probing into the bodily depths of the creature to be copied, gleaning all information needed to make an almost-perfect duplicate. This is a messy business, and it leaves a severely mutilated corpse as a side effect of the transmogrification. The Doctor sends in his companions, and ex-Adjudicators, Roz and Chris to find this Rutan and help it get back to its homeworld. The Doctor doesn't know exactly what the great "secret" information is, but by allowing the Rutan to complete its mission, the war will continue, and the Universe will remain as it is. If the Rutans are defeated totally, the Sontarans, knowing only war, will inevitably set their sights on the rest of the Galaxy. By aiding the Rutan, the Doctor will keep both races busy with each other, and out of everyone elses' hair (or scales, or shells, or whatever).

  Meanwhile, Bernice has been sent to the scholarly world of Sentarion, on which a vast, sprawling University has been built. There, all types of students of all kinds of subjects gather in unified learning. Bernice is here to find out all she can about the Sontaran/Rutan conflict, and give this information to the Doctor. Perhaps she can find out something which might lead do the discovery of what this "secret" is. I really could go on, but the Godfather of Doctor Who, Terrance Dicks, does such a great job of conveying this story to the reader that I'm just lessening his great prose by condensing it. Now, although this book is a broadend version of the video Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans, only a small portion of this book is taken up with the events in the video. I love the way that Terrance spares you the long-winded description, and seems to impart a distinct "Britishness" onto the aliens, which is a refreshing change from the usual. Most NA authors, whose cyberpunk attitude causes their characters to react to things with long streams of profanity, seem childish in comparison to the dignified and imaginative words that grace these pages. So yes, another high rating, 9 out of 10. Can it get better? Yes, but only if Robert Holmes rises from his grave.

• reviewed by Jeremy Benner