Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Shadows of Avalon

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Popular Doctor Who author Paul Cornell makes a welcome return to the series with this volume, which also features the return of popular supporting character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

When the TARDIS is destroyed, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in the mythic land of Avalon, caught up in a war between the Celts and the Fair Folk. When a portal is opened up into our world, the British military becomes involved, and the story begins taking some very dark turns.

As usual, Paul Cornell's true skill lies in his ability to get to the hearts of his characters. This time around, the focus is on the Brigadier, grieving for his lost wife, convinced that life holds nothing more for him. Naturally, this despair affects everything and everyone around him, including his relationship with the Doctor, showing their friendship in a new, different, and sometimes upsetting light.

While this isn't Mr. Cornell's greatest Doctor Who story--there's a little too much running around and confusing battle sequences for my tastes--it's still a fun book. More importantly, big things are afoot. The end of this book took me completely by surprise, and should give this series a new focus and direction for the next year or so. Most licensed fiction is content to tread water, telling variations on the same story over and over again. With this book, Doctor Who really looks like it's trying to escape that fate.

While this novel wraps up a story arc that has been running for the last six months, this book gives enough information that new readers familiar with the Doctor Who series can jump right in. One thing is for sure: these characters don't end up in the same place they started, and Doctor Who fans won't want to miss this volume.

I've missed the Doctor. This is the first 8th Doctor adventure I bought. I was not disappointed. All of the Doctor Who elements are here. However,the fate of a planet doesn't hang in the balance.This time,the entire dimension of the Catuvalani is in jeopardy. The Doctor is stranded in Avalon after the destruction of his TARDIS. He fears Fitz and Compassion perished with it. It was good to see the Brigadier again. He gets involved while investigating the disappearance of a nuclear missile. I also liked the Gallifreyan agents.They are the fly in the ointment. The true nature of their mission was spectacular. It affects the life of the Doctor and his friends in a way I would have never expected. This book was not only a new beginning for the Doctor and his friends but me as well. It was the best place for me to start reading his adventures again. I don't think you'll be disappointed-enjoy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Why? Well, it is well-paced, sheds new light on an old character and deals with some large events ably. Throw in some great bad guys, a shock or three and stir in a liberal dose of magic and you have a cracking book. Recommended!

This is a very good adventure with the 8th Doctor. The Brigadier is a wonderful addition to this story. Cornell is a great writer and thank goodness he is a writer on the new 2005 TV series. There is also a great pair of mastermind villains behind the whole thing. Cornell writes a quick-paced story with lots of emotion and energy. There were only a couple parts where things got a little slow, and my interest waned.

The one "problem" I had with the book was the references to so many things that typical fans wouldn't know about. Cornell refers to things such as the Faction Paradox and politics on Gallifrey with President Romana. Average TV fans like me have no clue about these things. Only the most dedicated and involved Whovians would understand Cornell's numerous, repeated references to spin-offs, web-casts, BBC audio stories on CD, other novels, etc. I found these quite distracting and distancing. It was frustrating because I didn't feel like I was getting the most out of the book.

Overall, great book. Thanks, Paul!

Wow!! This has to be one of the best 8th Doctor books i've read yet. This is one of the 'must read' books if you're enjoying the whole 'End Of Gallifrey' arc. One good thing about the book, is that Paul Cornell has decided to retain continuity that was set in the Virgin 'Happy Endings' book where the Brigadier has de-aged to mid-30's. Every character in the book is well presented - the best, of course, being the Brigadier. The ending is a corker as well - one of the best. WELL RECOMMENDED!!!!

Good show; wonderful story.
I must say this book was very hard to put down even when sleep called desperately.
While the eighth Dr. is not my favorite, I purchased this book as the story line mentions Avalon of which I am most interested in.
To my delight Paul Cornell has written this book so that it reads like a fourth Doctor adventure and that was a welcomed surprise.
The intertwining of the Brigadier, dimension shifting, fairies, mages, et. al. is a rare mixture that is a treat for the mind and has you constantly wondering what will happen next. The problems and possibilities all mix well and make you wonder, "what if".
All 'round a must read. Bravo!

For reasons that aren't entirely his fault, Paul Cornell "Who" novels tend to be viewed with slightly higher expectations than the other authors. One reason is that the quality tends to be fairly high, as Cornell has more than proven himself to be more than a decent writer (those following his comics career, or who wept uncontrollably duting his contributions to the new TV series, can attest that he hasn't lost too much in recent years). The other reason is that somehow he wound up becoming the go-to guy for Virgin Publishing whenever they needed a big emotional event. The last Timewyrm book redefined the character of the Doctor in terms of his incarnations. "Love and War" introduced fan-favorite Bernice Summerfield (sort of a cooler River Song, with the romance aspects subtracted and alcohol consumption introduced), among other things. "No Future" wrapped up the whole Alternate History storyline that was going on. "Human Nature" was so good they wound up remaking it into a TV episode.

So, needless to say, bringing him on-board to write an Eighth Doctor adventure is going to raise expectations that Something Important is about to happen.

Generally, this winds up being Lawrence Miles' job, but this isn't exactly a story that Miles could have done. Miles' novels are bursting with ideas, so many that it takes the BBC years to even figure what to do with them. But his stories tend to have more knotted and prickly concerns, dealing with politics and its interrelation to the adventure at hand. If you want someone who can get to the heart of things, you go to Cornell. He may not be as "out there" in the idea department as Miles could be at his finest (in fact, portions of this are bringing things that Miles started to their conclusion) but he gets the job done and stands a good chance of making you cry while he does it. Unless you're made of stone.

As you can probably guess from the title, this story involves the Merry Olde England of fantasy dreams, the Lord Dunsany type England that is populated with endless summers and faerie folk. This isn't the first time some version of faeries have shown up in the Who stories and I'm still not quite sure it works entirely, you generally have to jump through some fairly convoluted hoops of logic to classify them as anything other than pure magic (unless you go with "science so advanced it might as well be magic" theory) so when all the higher dimension talk is over and done with, you really have an excuse for the writers to inject some pure fantasy into their typically science-fiction oriented franchise. How you feel about this may depend on your tolerance of stories not involving spaceships or threats from beyond Earth . . . I actually like this stuff better than when they start dragging Lovecraftian Old Gods into things, so once in a while I can tolerate it.

All the faerie happenings almost obscure the most radical event that happens in the novel: the TARDIS gets destroyed. Almost off-screen but its impact still hovers over everything, probably the most recognizable aspect of the series, the one thing that stayed constant even when the lead character didn't . . . it's a gutsy move on the part of the BBC, and may reflect either an actual intent to try something new or they just figured nobody was paying attention by this point.

But with that out of the way, Cornell goes one step further and brings in a special guest star: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Lethbridge-Stewart, being more or less ordinary, was always sort of our gateway character, moreso than even the regular companions, who traveled with the Doctor enough for it all to become normal. Alastair might get used to it, but he'd never find it less than strange. Except this time, he's lost his wife Doris in a boating accident and is not handling it well at all. Which means our main character is a near-suicidal and constantly grieving soldier. Considering how well-known and beloved a character he is, scenes of the Brigadier actively contemplating ending his life and being massively existential are unsettling as he starts to veer toward a person we barely know. Of all the radical moves the novel takes, that may be the ballsiest.

The plot, meanwhile, involves Britain gaining access Avalon, and in short order the government has annexed it. Not too long before that, they're going to war with the other inhabitants of the realm, causing a big magic versus science rift that the book clearly has fun with. The faerie folk are portrayed as like us, but a bit skewed, but they're still recognizably people operating under their own rules of logic. Meanwhile, matters aren't aided by Gallifrey deciding it wants to interfere in things and is secretly sending agents to mess with everyone. Gleefully mess with everyone, as it turns out. Oh, and did I mention Romana has regenerated, is Lord President, and is apparently mean?

With all this going on, there barely seems to be any room for the main cast, and the book does suffer a bit for that. It helps that Lethbridge-Stewart is our main focus, but the series isn't called "Strange Soldier Tales". All the shenanigans, oddly enough, winds up giving more time to the Doctor than usual, as he has to solve everyone's problems and needs to be on stage quite often for that. Fitz and Compassion, as usual, kind of get the shaft, barely registering in their scenes. Which also hurts the book because the little subplot about Compassion changing finally comes to fruition here, and her character becomes entirely different. Unfortunately it happens in this novel, which means that as the culmination of a six-novel plot point it works, but in the middle of all this madness it seems to come out of left field. Cornell does his best with it, but he can't help it from feeling shoehorned in.

Fortunately all his skills are intact and all the wacky science magic is made palatable by a good ol' heap of emotional characterization, meaning that the book goes down just fine and actually stands as one of the stronger Eighth Doctor novels thus far. By some miracle he manages to keep all the balls bouncing, and while the end result doesn't delve into the character as deeply or tear out our hearts as much as his earlier masterworks, what we have here is still pretty good. Those looking for him to sharpen or redefine the character like his portrayals of the Seventh Doctor are going to be disappointed, and the novel probably could have done with a sharper focus with all the major events. But his depiction of the Brigadier's despair is almost uncomfortably honest and feels strangely real amidst all the faerie excitement, reminding you of what he's capable of and that no matter how many weird places the show goes, its still about people, and what the world does to us, and what we do back to the world, as both reaction and exploration.

The TARDIS is destroyed.The Doctor finds himself in the Kingdom of Avalon, separated from his companions. He is not alone,however. Soon the Time Lord meets an old friend, Brigadier General Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Together, they enter the court of Mab, Queen Regent of the Catuvelauni.
Meanwhile, Fitz and Compassion have landed in the realm of the Fair Folk, a few miles North as the dragon flies. They believe the Doctor dead, and Avalon about to erupt in war. Confirming their suspicions, Fitz and Compassion discover a nuclear warhead mounted on the wall of the castle.
This is great Doctor Who. Tragedy! Romance! Betrayal! We also see that the Doctor's past actions have consequences both unintended and unforseen. Oh, yes. There are also a pair of Gallifreyan assassins. Along the way, Compassion meets her destiny, and the stage is set for a recurring plotline. This book has everything.
Usually, I end with a quotation from the book I review. This time there are two:
"'Young man!' cried the old woman, trying to stop her bonnet from flying off her head. 'Wait! Who are you? What are you doing here?'
The Doctor grinned at her. 'I'm the Doctor! And I'm here to save the world!'"
"The ending made the story what it was. Made him what he was. Time, death and pain existed so that tiny human beings like him could stand against them. So that they could do the best they could."

Don't let the worst Doctor Who book cover on the shelf fool you! There are no flying alligators in this book! I've just reciently devoured ten of the Doctor Who books - reciently being within the last few months, and the books being eight 8th Doctor books, and 2 past Doctor books. This book was my favorite of all of these! I thought Father Time was the best (I'm not reading them entirely in order), but I was glad to have been showndifferently! The book grabbed me on the first page and didn't let go until I was through, and I am sorry that I finished it. You can see the "Top 500" review for a story synopsis - I'm just popping in to say READ IT. I guess I should say, if you like fantasy vs. reality - myth vs. military - and classic Doctor Who in a faster more modern more sophisticated light... then READ IT! Brilliant treatment of Compassion also, not to mention the Brigadier whose character is explored and made more real within these pages than I've ever experienced it before. Thank you Paul Cornell!

It'd been a long time since I read any DW books. While I was vacationing in the UK I snapped up as many DW books as I could lay my hands on....this being one of the first. I could NOT put it down, even though I had so many other things to do and see, this book sucked me in completely. Paul Cornell is really a topnotch writer. He reaches back into several previous books to pull hints and foreshadowings into a breathless conclusion that will surprise even the most jaded old-school fans. This story answers the question "what's up with Compassion lately?" in an extremely UNexpected way, and the Brigadier's character is fleshed out thoroughly. The fantasy elements are well drawn and the story ties its loose ends neatly without feeling forced, yet leaves you eagerly wondering what will happen next. Since I read this book,I've bought many of the books leading up to it, and the ones that follow it. Keep an eye on Compassion! Bravo Mr. Cornell!