To most, the entity known as the Celestial Toymaker is an abstract pan-universal force, whose powers, origins and intentions are unknown. To a select few the Toymaker is a god, a being to be worshipped, without whom there would be no existence. But to others, the Toymaker is the embodiment of evil, a force to be thwarted at every possible juncture. Aeons past, the Time Lords of Gallifrey tried to comprehend the Toymaker, and the role this force played in the cosmos. To one group of young Time Lords centuries later, understanding the Toymaker represented a goal, a mission.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Continuity ad nauseum,
By
This review is from: Divided Loyalties (Dr. Who Series) (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel starts off quite encouragingly. Russell seems to have captured the Fifth Doctor perfectly, including much of his sarcasm. The initial glimpses of the Celestial Toymaker are also very reminiscent of Michael Gough's performance. 'Divided Loyalties' is also quite short, running to only 252 pages, which makes you think that someone has finally seen sense, and restricted the page numbers to fit the story. But Gary Russell's afterword rings all too true. He seems to have been originally planning a meeting between the 6th and 8th Doctors. Two Doctors feature in this novel too, with an episode from the First Doctor's life to explain why he'd been expelled by the Academy. This is quite enjoyable, although the presence of a large furry animal gives the lie to the thought that Russell might have dropped some of his more irritating habits. The monsters in Doctor Who were never supposed to be cute: only the budget restrictions made them that way (like the giant rat in The Talons of Weng Chiang). If any era deserved a Russell novel, then it would have to be Davison's. Doctor Who's producer at the time, John-Nathan Turner, loved continuity even more than Russell seems to do: 'With an exaggerated sigh Tegan straightened up and smoothed down her uniform. (Nyssa had promised to go through the TARDIS wardrobe... so that they could both choose something new to wear instead of forever getting the TARDIS to work its overnight magic on her lilac air hostess outfit.) His grammar could do with some work too! Well, at least there's only one villain. Koschei does feature, but he's still in angelic mode. The Toymaker does have a nasty henchman, but we can hardly take him seriously, because he's called 'Gaylord'. In like manner, and as an internal continuity to recent Eighth Doctor novels, Russell speculates on the nature of the Guardians - 'The Great Old Ones'. Could these be Lawrence Miles' Time Lords from another universe invading our own? Unfortunately, Russell chooses to spoil their majesty by giving them some very silly names: 'Raah, Nah and Rok, who together would one day cause the end of this Universe'. Although this might just be another reference, this time to the televised adventure 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'. But Russell is such a slave to continuity that he spoils his own book. It appears that he became too concerned about the portrayal of the Toymaker in Graham Williams' 'The Nightmare Fair'. In this unrealized script, the Toymaker was rather less fun than he'd been in his debut in the 1960s, so Russell dully contrives to explain this (I mean 'dully'). By the end of 'Divided Loyalties', the Toymaker is thus transformed into a 'Nuthink in this world can stop me now!' type caricature. In order to explain this transformation, Russell feels obliged to disrupt continuity by introducing new characters and events (I don't think William Hartnell's Doctor knew of the Toymaker beforehand). The 'divided loyalties' of the story refers to the Fifth Doctor's companions, and Russell here uses the word 'divided' to its fullest extent. Nyssa, in particular, has a reason to be aggrieved with the Doctor, but Russell chooses to dwell rather too long on her dilemma. The Toymaker's games are also quite banal. Gary Russell could have done with the helping hand of Christopher Bulis here, in devising some really devious puzzles, just as he could learn from Lawrence Miles the way to write a complex plot which grips you all the way.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Middle of the Road Review,
By A Customer
This review is from: Divided Loyalties (Dr. Who Series) (Mass Market Paperback)
I won't be quite so acerbic and say this was the worst story, nor will I proclaim this to be the world's greatest DW story. Truth be told it was a run of the mill tale.I'm always a sucker for a Peter Davison tale and I normally pick up those adventures because I really enjoyed that era. I believe that this story could have (SHOULD HAVE)progressed without the crew of spacestation Little Boy II. I found them shallow wastes of space. The Doctor, his companions and us readers would have been better off in the long run had the cardboard cut-out crew members of the Little Boy II been missing. I will say that I really enjoyed the portion of the Academy-years Doctor. It was fun trying to envision that part of the story. It was once said that you never make the same caliber of friends than the ones you met in school. Gary Russell excelled in bringing this aspect of the Doctor's life across. The fleshing out of Nyssa, Adric and Teagan was very refreshing. I hope we can see more of it in future 5th Doctor novels. Personally, I'd like to read the same style of fleshing out for the more-or-less newly regenerated Doctor. If we're going to read adventures taking place so soon after Castrovalva, this would only make sense. Not to mention a good read. If this were an episode, it would be on par with Four to Doomsday and Time Flight. Not the greatest ones, but watchable.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Adric bashing aplenty - yay!!!!,
By Daniel Firli (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Divided Loyalties (Dr. Who Series) (Mass Market Paperback)
In mid-flight, the Doctor receives a telepathic dream message from a long lost friend, begging for help. The friend was overtaken by the cosmic force known as the Celestial Toymaker. The Doctor goes looking for revenge and, along with his companions, end up once again playing the Toymakers deadly games.This novel is really two interlinking stories in one. In the second part of the book we go back into the Doctors past to when he was still in school on Gallifrey and visit an adventure he had with his first ever TARDIS jaunt which leads him to his first Toymaker meeting. This is by far the best aspect of the novel and it would be great to get another story set around this period. The fifth Doctor's parts tend to be pretty bland. The Toymakers games that try to persuade the Doctor's companions to doubt him are excellent and are issues that were not ever touched on in the series. But one of the best reasons to read this book is for all the Adric bashing - yay!! He whinges a lot but he does get put back into place. All in all, the book is RECOMMENDED for a no brainer read and especially for the insight into the Doctor's past.
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