Customer Reviews

Dominion (Doctor Who Series)

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

 

 

Nick Walters makes a stunning debut in his first solo Doctor Who novel. With its dark, contemporary Earth setting and sinister, mysterious military figures, this is maybe the closest a Doctor Who story has felt to an X-Files tale. Separated from Sam and the TARDIS, the Doctor and Fitz have to rely on their wits alone as they try to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances plaguing a small area in Sweden.

Between the previous book (Revolution Man) and this, Fitz has really come into his own as a character and a companion. This story nicely follows on from events in Revolution Man, while still being a strong story on its own, and leads nicely into the next book. This series is finally starting to feel like a series, rather than a collection of separate adventures, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Dominion was the kind of Dr. Who novel that begins off by throwing the reader straight into the action and proceeds to tell a good story, but is let down by it's ending which is sudden and expected. The characterisation of the Doctor feels a little too much like the 4th Doctor in places and not enough like the 8th that the series has developed. Although I think the main hero of this novel is Fitz, who possibly has his best story yet. It was also a pity that Krestin didn't join the TARDIS crew, as that would have led to some interesting future plot lines. The book that followed Paul Leonard's Revolution Man was always going to be a disapointment, but Dominion succeeds in being good, if not outstanding.

Hey, a new writer! And he seems to know what he's doing!

With the cast growing larger and the Eighth Doctor books starting to form more of a serial as opposed to a bunch of standalone adventures that merely took place one after the other, it's clear that the dynamics of the line were starting to shift somewhat and being that the majority of the stories were good but nothing special probably meant that it was getting time to shake things up a little. And while we don't really get that here, certain things are clarified or brought into a stronger focus before we had to move toward whatever grand plan the line was beginning to envision.

Walters does shake things up right away by having the action happen pretty much on the first page, with Sam being snatched away from the TARDIS by something mysterious, throwing off Fitz and the Doctor to such an extent that neither of them seems to recover fully until the book is nearly over. Sidelining Sam was probably a good idea as Fitz was still new and we needed to see what his character could do without her relative experience to balance out the fact that often he didn't know what the heck he was doing. So far he works out well, lacking Sam's overriding sense of superiority that she could often irritate with and more prone to be sure about the mistakes he was making, he provides a necessary change from Sam's lockstep trusting of the Doctor. Fitz doesn't automatically want to do things his way, even if the Doctor's tends to be right. For most of the novel he's on the wrong foot but manages to stay afloat anyway, though he's still got far to go.

Meanwhile the Doctor is really off-balance and almost ineffectual for most of the novel, dazed by Sam's sudden absence and fretting about the TARDIS, this is the most unnerved we've seen him in a while and Walters showcases this incarnation's compassion and openness well, but also highlights why he's not really as formidable as, say, the Seventh Doctor as for most of the time he's making this up as he goes along and if he's right it's often by accident. And yet his humanity helps him relate to the people around him probably better than any Doctor we've seen since the Fifth.

You'll noticed I haven't said much about the plot yet. That's because it's no real great shakes. People are disappearing and strange aliens are attacking folks in the woods. The aliens are admirably grotesque and Walters does get some mileage out of the gruesomeness (with one rather well done and out of left field scene in the hospital, even if it does homage a certain movie with Sigourney Weaver somewhat) but once it's clear that nobody is talking to them you'll know that they actually don't mean any harm. Then it's up to the Doctor and crew to save the day from the headstrong humans who just want to wreck everything.

So far Walters ideas are interesting, but more the sum of his influences than anything new. The aforementioned "Alien" reference notwithstanding, the alien Dominion, once we reach it, reeks more than a little of Asimov's "The Gods Themselves" but lacking that novel's sheer alienness in how one universe is unwittingly screwing the other over. The interactions between the Doctor and the military are almost rote by now, with soldiers getting in the way simply to keep the plot going for a few more pages. There's good material here (the alien world is fascinating and does feel sharply off-kilter from what we've seen before) but a lot of it is spent on secondary characters or the Doctor arguing with yet another soldier about the narrowness of the military mind. It's interesting but there's no real sense of urgency involved.

And yet Walters does show signs of not wanting to be a standard Who writer . . . the resolution is remarkably imperfect and oddly lyrical at the same time (all the authors seem to like using the butterfly room, to good effect), representing the Doctor salvaging what best he can out of a failure and the actual ending is surprisingly downbeat, if a bit rushed (it's clearly trying to make room for the next novel, spinning us off already into the next plot with this danger barely over).

This wasn't perfect but it was decent. Walters gets a lot of details right (the Doctor shouting off a plan number to Fitz like he used to do with Sam, only to have Fitz stare at him blankly and force the Doctor to explain, is priceless) and with a bit of plot tightening and a little accentuation of the horror/strangeness of it, this could have been pretty excellent. As it is, it's promising and if the line doesn't get too caught up in a grand overarcing scheme and subplots, this could be an interesting direction.

There are a number of places in which DOMINION demonstrates the fact that this is Nick Walters' first solo novel. The narrative is a little unsure in areas, as if he isn't absolutely certain how to express his story properly. And yet in other portions, the prose seems almost effortless, as if he's swinging back and forth between doubt and confidence. Despite these problems, this is quite an enjoyable, if relatively simple, tale.

It's obvious that Walters has put a lot of thought into the characters and world he has created, and the results are well worth it. There are a few places where the characterization appears slightly off and a little unrealistic, but overall the effect is quite good. With the exception of a few UNIT soldiers, each person's motivations are carefully considered. Back-stories are worked into the narrative with meticulous detail making even soon-to-be-brutally-killed characters seem interesting. The plot is a little thin and there is an awful lot of diversionary material present. Fortunately, while the padding may be thick in places it's all padding of the highest quality.

As I mentioned there are a few new-author problems with the book. One of the more irritating aspects of the story was the "information dump" that kept cropping up. Upon encountering someone who had not been present for a sequence, a character would be quickly brought up to date with what was going on. This was usually handled in the clumsy, "X quickly told Y about their adventures while Y looked incredulous" manner that got a little irritating after the fourth or fifth repetition. There are better ways of structuring novels to avoid this sort of thing, and at these moments I was reminded of the old Target novelisations. Still, this is a just a minor concern and something that will surely disappear after Walters gains more experience as a writer.

As for the regulars, the characterization of the Doctor is something that I found to be something of a mystery here. He's much edgier here, bringing out the rougher, harsher aspects of Paul McGann's TVM portrayal, yet he stands by the wayside here and gets almost nothing done. On the companion side of things, Fitz gets most of the face-time and Sam is sidelined for the majority of the book; these two things are definitely a positive development.

All in all, this was a good read despite the minor quibbles that I mentioned here. Recommended.

This is a bright beginning for Nick Walters. The TARDIS has landed in Sweden in 1999, near the epicentre of a wormhole which has already invaded the ship, taking Sam with it. But Sam is not the only missing person who has disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The Doctor and Fitz help the Swedish police, who puzzle over the equally strange appearance of alien bodies.

Who on Earth has created the wormhole? What has happened to Sam? These are the challenges facing the Doctor. However, with the absence of the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, the Doctor is incomplete, unprepared to face the reappearance of a familiar force... In creating the world of the Dominion, Nick Walters has certainly been creative, as this is one of the most fascinating arenas in any Doctor Who story. Despite such innovative elements, the novel does seem a bit too long, as it forces Walters to rely on a lot of clichés. At times, the plot is quite reminiscent of 'Terminus' and 'Alien', and he could have been a bit more original with the naming of the 'Dominion', and the way characters constantly change their minds is quite irritating. But Walters proves that he does have the scope to create powerful new worlds.

Dominion was the kind of Dr. Who novel that begins off by throwing the reader straight into the action and proceeds to tell a good story, but is let down by it's ending which is sudden and expected. The characterisation of the Doctor feels a little too much like the 4th Doctor in places and not enough like the 8th that the series has developed. Although I think the main hero of this novel is Fitz, who possibly has his best story yet. It was also a pity that Krestin didn't join the TARDIS crew, as that would have led to some interesting future plot lines. The book that followed Paul Leonard's Revolution Man was always going to be a disapointment, but Dominion succeeds in being good, if not outstanding.

Dominion was the kind of Dr. Who novel that begins off by throwing the reader straight into the action and proceeds to tell a good story, but is let down by it's ending which is sudden and expected. The characterisation of the Doctor feels a little too much like the 4th Doctor in places and not enough like the 8th that the series has developed. Although I think the main hero of this novel is Fitz, who possibly has his best story yet. It was also a pity that Krestin didn't join the TARDIS crew, as that would have led to some interesting future plot lines. The book that followed Paul Leonard's Revolution Man was always going to be a disapointment, but Dominion succeeds in being good, if not outstanding.

Good story. Inventive. Fast paced. Evenly paced. Style and substance.

The ending was a bit....... confusing/silly/jumbled/improbable

Still, a worthy addition to your Doctor Who library