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Cat's Cradle: Warhead (The New Doctor Who Adventures)

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"Warhead" is apparently highly controversial among Whovians--I even read a comment somewhere that it ruined the New Adventures because subsequent writers emulated it. Don't let that fool you--this is a great book. It is rather dark and depressing at times, but that isn't necessarily a reason to criticize it.

Like some of the televised stories produced while Cartmel was script editor, "Warhead" has a complex structure that forces the reader slowly to deduce what is going on, and thus to envy the Doctor's superior knowledge about it all. As in other New Adventures, the Doctor already has a masterplan of how to deal with the situation at the beginning of the story, and manipulates the characters in very elaborate ways to accomplish his goals. The book contains a conversation--between Ace and Justine--which is, I feel, one of the finest in "Who" history and is a lovely expression of some of the general ideas of the "Cartmel Masterplan," although it doesn't make any startling revelations about the Doctor's past.

There are only a few problems with the story. When one finally realizes what the storyline is, and what the Doctor and Ace are fighting against, the threat seems relatively insignificant compared to its big buildup--one might have hoped for something truly horrifying. There is also one sequence, set in an abandoned McDonald's, which does seem a bit too gratuitously depressing and gloomy. However, from the rich detail of the dystopian future it depicts to the heartbreaking reality of the minor characters it conjures up in only a few pages, and from the fascinationg and sad guest appearance by a character from McCoy's era on television to the astonishing moment--one of "Doctor Who"'s creepiest scenes ever--where a supposedly dead character turns out to have survived in a quite unexpected way, this is a book that deserves a far better reputation than it has. "Doctor Who" at its most intriguing.

"Warhead" is apparently highly controversial among Whovians--I even read a comment somewhere that it ruined the New Adventures because subsequent writers emulated it. Don't let that fool you--this is a great book. It is rather dark and depressing at times, but that isn't necessarily a matter for critisicm. Like some of the stories produced while Cartmel was script editor, "Warhead" has a complex structure that forces the reader to slowly deduce what is going on, and thus to envy the Doctor's superior knowledge about it all. As in other New Adventures (or so I've heard--this is the only one I've read), the Doctor already has a masterplan of how to deal with the situation at the beginning of the story, and manipulates the characters in very elaborate ways to accomplish his goals. The book contains a conversation--between Ace and Justine--which is, I feel, one of the finest in "Who" history, and is a lovely expression of some of the general ideas of the "Cartmel Masterplan," although it doesn't make any startling revelations about the Doctor's past. There are only a few problems with the story. When one finally realizes what the storyline is, and what the Doctor and Ace are fighting against, the threat seems relatively insignificant compared to its big buildup--one might have hoped for something truly horrifying. There is also one sequence, set in an abandoned McDonald's, which does seem a bit too gratuitously depressing and gloomy. But, from the rich detail of the dystopian future it depicts to the heartbreaking reality of the minor characters it conjures up in only a few pages, and from the fascinating and sad guest appearance by a character from McCoy's era on television to the astonishing moment--one of "Doctor Who'"s creepiest scenes ever--where a supposedly dead character turns out to have survived in a quite unexpected way, this is a book that deserves a far better reputation than it has. "Doctor Who" at its most intriguing.

The future is a grim place in CAT'S CRADLE: WARHEAD. Breathing is difficult without the use of special masks. Police silently patrol the night streets in their hovercars. Shady corporations comb the local parks and sidewalks looking for unclaimed bodies (some still living) to perform dastardly experiments upon. Only one man and his contractually obligated silver cat can save the human race from itself.

We hadn't really seen a desolate future portrayed in quite this realistic fashion before in Doctor Who. Apart from the constant bleak sense of a world gone sour, we also see elements of cyberpunk cropping up here and there. While this aspect isn't as overplayed as one might fear, it does cast a fairly long shadow over the tone and feel of the book. The writing is particularly powerful in places and some of the scenes are surprisingly chilling. There are loads of little asides and passages that make the book spellbinding. It's an extremely well written tale.

The first part of the book deals with the pieces of the puzzle. At first it's not altogether clear how these different sections interrelate to each other. It's quite fun to work out what's going on. A name crops up from an earlier section, a scene links from something that was referenced to earlier. When you finally do figure out what's happening, it's quite rewarding. Personally, I loved putting all of those pieces together. Many times during reading I was finding myself flipping backwards and forwards impressed by the ease in which Andrew Cartmel made everything fit together just so. The Doctor's presence hovers over the many passages that he is absent for. Even during the fairly long stretches where he isn't to be seen, his fingerprints are visible. The plot is careful and calculated, with a lot of attention to detail.

Fortunately, the second part of the book also maintains a high quality of the first. Naturally, the Doctor's plan doesn't seem to unravel quite as expected, so rather than the plot falling into a predictable format, there is still an element of surprise to be had. The future that we had glimpsed in the earlier portions is fleshed out more here. Parts of the story here are trippy and mess with your head in the best possible way.

One of the few things I didn't like about the story was the seemingly shallow portrayal of the main villain. We don't really learn too much about him, about his plans, or about his motivations. But most importantly, we don't really find out why it is that the Doctor is so hell-bent on making sure that his schemes are defeated; we just have to take it on faith. Sure, putting people's souls inside machines to avoid the responsibility of having to clean up the environment does seem to be a bit shortsighted, but it doesn't quite carry the assumed weight that one would expect. It feels a bit of a let down after seeing the Doctor's intricate plan.

Overall, this is one of the better Doctor Who books. The prose is captivating, the story is unpredictable, yet seamlessly logical, and the Doctor has never been more powerful. WARHEAD demands multiple rereads.

In the near future, the Doctor and Ace become involved in the covert operations of the Butler Institute, who are seeking psychic subjects for their plans to replace human bodies with artificial ones. And then they meet the psychics...

The second in the loose Cat's Cradle trilogy, and the first in the War trilogy (the three books in which occur a long way apart), this story portrays a much darker future than those traditionally shown in the Doctor Who TV series.

Back in 'Planet of the Spiders', the Doctor was investigating psychic abilities. This research makes a long delayed return, and in the hands of the manipulative Seventh Doctor, you can be sure that something nasty is on its way.

Not likely to be well received by people who want a simple continuation of the TV series, it is however a valid view of what Doctor Who could be like.

I like Doctor Who. I like cyberpunk novels, but like ice cream and spaghetti they shouldn't muddle together on the same plate. This book has all the elements of a decent William Gibson book except for the devilish glee that Gibson takes in his dystopian universe. Instead there is a lot of gibberish that is supposed to make me feel depressed, and I am depressed reading it. But only because I have a hundred more excrutiating pages left