Customer Reviews

Interference Book Two (Dr. Who Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

(Be warned that INTERFERENCE Books I and II are not actually separate, distinct books. This is not a story and its sequel. This is one story split across two books. This should be read straight through as though it were one 600-page book. Do not be expecting a large cliffhanger at the end of Book I because there isn't one there. Book I simply sets up the story and gets us halfway to the conclusion. Do not buy Book I and expect a complete work.)

INTERFERENCE is a startlingly vast undertaking. It pushes the limits of what can and cannot be discussed in a Doctor Who story, and the book is all the richer for it. And while it doesn't manage to quite grasp everything it reaches for, what it does achieve is both powerful and thought provoking.

The book definitely has an epic feel to it, although as it's the "first ever full-length two-part Doctor Who novel" it would be a disappointment if this were not the case. The story reaches over several thousand years and intersects the Doctor's personal timeline twice. It's complicated and told from several viewpoints. It has fairly heavy themes and the attitude running through it gives it a very important feel. The atmosphere that becomes built up (particularly effective in the opening sections) makes for a spellbinding and captivating read.

This enormous, two-book, six-hundred page marathon is divided into two sections which are then split roughly in half. The first section deals with the Eighth Doctor's adventures on Earth, and the second is centered around the Third Doctor being taken out of his normal time-stream and placed on the planet Dust. The Eighth Doctor segments are also divided up into smaller pieces, each slice not necessarily taking place at the same time as the others. At times, it can be a very confusing read, although ultimately the experience is very rewarding. During a few points I had to stop reading and make mental notes about how exactly the story was unfolding and which pieces were occurring in what order. While the book definitely made me work harder at reading it than others in the EDA line, this change was quite welcome and the pay-off well worth it.

As I mentioned, this story is dripping with atmosphere. The tone is set right from the very beginning -- this is a very dark story. It's also a very well told story. Lawrence Miles isn't interested in what technological nonsense the Doctor will use to escape from a prison cell; he wants to go deeper than that. He isn't interested in having Sam repeat some clichéd Save The Whales slogan; he wants to explore her mind and her mentality. He's using the conventional tools of Doctor Who to tell a story that reaches outside of the normal parameters of what we expect when we see the blue logo on the cover. But he's not kicking down the ladder of Doctor Who after he's climbed up it; Sam's beliefs and experiences form the very heart of the book. Sam's politics aren't just a springboard for Miles to say Bigger and Better things about Politics, they remain under the microscope during the entire book. Miles has merely taken everything that we know about Sam and drawn them out to their logical conclusion. Who would have guessed that the result would make for such fascinating reading?

As in ALIEN BODIES, this story is packed full of great ideas and new pieces of excellent continuity. Here they all fit together much better and work at forming a cohesive work. The little asides and narrative passages that dragged the plot of ALIEN BODIES to a standstill work rather effectively here. Despite its massive length, there's very little (in the Earth sections) that doesn't contribute to the overall tone of the work. Everything just feels right, even the passages where the Doctor comforts a tortured and dying political prisoner with stories about a fantasy world of TARDISes and Time Lords. I think that in the hands of a lesser writer, this section could really have turned out to be rather embarrassing, but fortunately Miles knows what he's doing and treats the subject with the delicacy it deserves. Extra points are given for not tiptoeing around the subject matter.

In my opinion, the biggest flaw is that the themes and atmosphere don't translate properly from one part of the story to the other. The Eighth Doctor segment is about the effect of media and culture upon society, the way perceptions change people, and how close perceptions of people come to reality. With only a few exceptions, these themes are totally absent from the Third Doctor segments. The only thematic link between them seems to be Fitz's ruminations on how he is perceived (and how he will be remembered by others) and a character in the Third Doctor segments who is proud of the fact that no one will ever be able to get close enough to know the real her. The jumps between the Earth and the Dust segments seemed much more jarring because of this. If the themes had been held together more coherently, I think this would have ended up being one of the best (if not the best) Doctor Who stories written. As it stands, it's still extremely good, but somewhere well below perfection. The difference in tone between the two segments is unfortunately distracting.

All in all this is a really excellent book that is unfortunately let down by a few flaws. While the book does fall slightly short of some of it's goals, it must be commended for daring to aim so high. With the publication of INTERFERENCE, the bar has been raised for all other Doctor Who books and stories. Thank you, Lawrence.

Well, a fairly mixed bag of opinions it seems. I agree with some of the reviewers below, the whole revisionist, re-write the 3rd Doctors regeneration setup left me a little uncomfortable, but in defence of Lawrence Miles he IS the author, and he can do whatever the heck he wants with the Doctor. The BBC didn't have to publish this project, after all. Dr. Who has never been noted for it's dillegent attention to continuity (in fact, check out The Discontinuity Guide)and frankly re-writing such an important part of the Doc's past is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the on-going Faction Paradox plot. I for one found this 2-part novel to be well structured, engrossing and a worthy addition to the series.

It's very interesting that Doctor Who has gone on for 36 years without exploring the ramifications of messing around with the Doctor's past. The introduction of Faction Paradox, a thoroughly amoral group dedicated to undermining the Time Lords and their "renegades," breathes an air of menace into this story that has been lacking for some time. We finally have a protagonist who is both more powerful than the Doctor _and_ intelligent and ruthless enough to succeed in their schemes. Other standouts in the novel include the best of use of Sarah Jane and K9 in a long time, the first wholly sympathetic and understandable version of Sam Jones, and the misadventures Fitz goes through (believe me, you won't believe it until you read it). Best of all, the events in this story set off a chain of subplots which will presumably roll through the series. Highly recommended.

Interference by Lawrence Miles is undeniably one of the most engrossing WHO novels of the BBC line.The ideas it presents are imaginative and daring, though some of them are admittedly not necessary in the context of the series' mythology. The true identity of IM Foreman is interesting but certainly not something that NEEDED to be addressed as the author has suggested. What's more, the Doctor in both forms is seen to be deliberately put into "realistic" situations where he is overwhelmed, as if the author is commenting that the character could not function in a real-life situation. True, but not necessary to illustrate; James Bond, Batman or any other fictional hero couldn't possibly cope either, that's why they exist in fantasy worlds tailored to their personalities. The concept of Faction Paradox is an excellent one, although it was handled markedly differently in the earlier novel Unnatural History by Orman and Blum. It's an idea that keeps you reading and therefore successful. The new character Compassion is clearly built in the "Seven-of-Nine" mold, but that said it's nice to see the long-running Samantha Jones step aside to allow a new dynamic in the series. There is a dramatic alteration of established WHO continuity at the end of Book Two that can be seen coming from chapters before, but is no less disturbing when it actually occurs. It was a bold thing to do, and sums up a book that in itself symbolizes the difference between earlier televised Dr. Who and where the series stands now. It's a good lesson for other authors as it demonstrates how one need not be burdened with the restrictions of established mythology. Interference should be required reading for any Who fan; it shows that after 36 years of adventure we still don't know what's lurking around the corner.

(Be warned that INTERFERENCE Books I and II are not actually separate, distinct books. This is not a story and its sequel. This is one story split across two books. This should be read straight through as though it were one 600-page book. Book II builds off of the foundation that's been put down in Book I. You won't be able to follow anything that's going on in Book II without having read Book I. Do not buy Book II and expect a complete work.)

INTERFERENCE is a startlingly vast undertaking. It pushes the limits of what can and cannot be discussed in a Doctor Who story, and the book is all the richer for it. And while it doesn't manage to quite grasp everything it reaches for, what it does achieve is both powerful and thought provoking.

The book definitely has an epic feel to it, although as it's the "first ever full-length two-part Doctor Who novel" it would be a disappointment if this were not the case. The story reaches over several thousand years and intersects the Doctor's personal timeline twice. It's complicated and told from several viewpoints. It has fairly heavy themes and the attitude running through it gives it a very important feel. The atmosphere that becomes built up (particularly effective in the opening sections) makes for a spellbinding and captivating read.

This enormous, two-book, six-hundred page marathon is divided into two sections which are then split roughly in half. The first section deals with the Eighth Doctor's adventures on Earth, and the second is centered around the Third Doctor being taken out of his normal time-stream and placed on the planet Dust. The Eighth Doctor segments are also divided up into smaller pieces, each slice not necessarily taking place at the same time as the others. At times, it can be a very confusing read, although ultimately the experience is very rewarding. During a few points I had to stop reading and make mental notes about how exactly the story was unfolding and which pieces were occurring in what order. While the book definitely made me work harder at reading it than others in the EDA line, this change was quite welcome and the pay-off well worth it.

As I mentioned, this story is dripping with atmosphere. The tone is set right from the very beginning - this is a very dark story. It's also a very well told story. Lawrence Miles isn't interested in what technological nonsense the Doctor will use to escape from a prison cell; he wants to go deeper than that. He isn't interested in having Sam repeat some clichéd Save The Whales slogan; he wants to explore her mind and her mentality. He's using the conventional tools of Doctor Who to tell a story that reaches outside of the normal parameters of what we expect when we see the blue logo on the cover. But he's not kicking down the ladder of Doctor Who after he's climbed up it; Sam's beliefs and experiences form the very heart of the book. Sam's politics aren't just a springboard for Miles to say Bigger and Better things about Politics, they remain under the microscope during the entire book. Miles has merely taken everything that we know about Sam and drawn them out to their logical conclusion. Who would have guessed that the result would make for such fascinating reading?

As in ALIEN BODIES, this story is packed full of great ideas and new pieces of excellent continuity. Here they all fit together much better and work at forming a cohesive work. The little asides and narrative passages that dragged the plot of ALIEN BODIES to a standstill work rather effectively here. Despite its massive length, there's very little (in the Earth sections) that doesn't contribute to the overall tone of the work. Everything just feels right, even the passages where the Doctor comforts a tortured and dying political prisoner with stories about a fantasy world of TARDISes and Time Lords. I think that in the hands of a lesser writer, this section could really have turned out to be rather embarrassing, but fortunately Miles knows what he's doing and treats the subject with the delicacy it deserves. Extra points are given for not tiptoeing around the subject matter.

In my opinion, the biggest flaw is that the themes and atmosphere don't translate properly from one part of the story to the other. The Eighth Doctor segment is about the effect of media and culture upon society, the way perceptions change people, and how close perceptions of people come to reality. With only a few exceptions, these themes are totally absent from the Third Doctor segments. The only thematic link between them seems to be Fitz's ruminations on how he is perceived (and how he will be remembered by others) and a character in the Third Doctor segments who is proud of the fact that no one will ever be able to get close enough to know the real her. The jumps between the Earth and the Dust segments seemed much more jarring because of this. If the themes had been held together more coherently, I think this would have ended up being one of the best (if not the best) Doctor Who stories written. As it stands, it's still extremely good, but somewhere well below perfection. The difference in tone between the two segments is unfortunately distracting.

All in all this is a really excellent book that is unfortunately let down by a few flaws. While the book does fall slightly short of some of it's goals, it must be commended for daring to aim so high. With the publication of INTERFERENCE, the bar has been raised for all other Doctor Who books and stories. Thank you, Lawrence.

Hazah and Kudos to Lawrence Miles. Once again he broke through all of the other trappings of the Doctor Who universe. Though the two book story could have been shorted, the main themes of his story are definate and not clouded. Like his last Doctor Who novel, he redefines the Eighth Doctor, and even changes the Third Doctor so you could never view the Third Doctor's last adventure in the same light again! The two reasons that other readers could have a problem with this is that it's not a normal Doctor adventure. It's complex, and makes a reader think about what's going on. It's not an easy read for regular readers. The another thing is that he changes the two Doctors for better or worst, and fans of the show may not like that. I had been disappointed that both Doctors also had less time in the books, but that just made the time with them better. So, in the end, Interference has changed Doctor Who, wheither you like it or not.

Finding something to say about part two of this novel is not the world's easiest task, especially as most of the praise and criticism that was said about volume one can just as easily apply to volume two, as both books are of a piece and not exactly made to be read separately. In fact, reading one without the other would be rather silly, in all honesty. What Miles has done here is written a six hundred page Who novel that doesn't seem to drag at all and in fact justifies its rather epic length, even if the ultimate ramifications of what occurs within its pages we wouldn't see until later books in the series.

What he gives us here in the conclusion is good enough for the moment, however. As much as the book fails to come to an adequate conclusion in some respects, where Miles succeeds is by utterly shaking up the status quo that we had seen thus far. Before we get to that point, however, we get a more politically slanted Doctor, political in the sense that he's concerned about the interactions and relationships between people. It's that sense that informs the novel in both its books and in the parts that divide it. If anything reading the book you get a sense of how Miles feels that Who should be and in parts that tends to overwhelm the plot, leaving it more coasting on fascinating ideas that other writers would pick up and run with, almost as if Miles would rather set the dominoes up and let someone else come along to knock them down.

But what he does handle, he handles well. His Eighth Doctor seems rather ineffectual at times, often contemplating or getting the crap kicked out of him when he should be doing something, but his Third Doctor is masterful, striding right out into the face of the enemy without any evident fear. His Sam is almost tolerable and even though Fitz doesn't get as much face time as he should, his descent into Faction Paradox and what it ultimately turns him into worms its way into the heart of the book, almost giving it a sense of pacing on its own. Sarah Jane Smith is the person we all remembered, and probably better than the version we later got in the new series, the one who still carried a torch for the Doctor. Here she has moved on and learned, investigating and getting the story where no one else can, but still shaped by her time on the TARDIS.

Miles' imagination astounds throughout the novel, from the ultimate location of the city of Anathema to the revelation of who/what IM Foreman is, the various permutations of the machinations of Faction Paradox, his ability to come up with outlandish SF ideas and make it fit into the context of the show gives the novel a tone that is both unearthly and yet oddly grounded . . . for the first time in a while aliens and their situations seem actually sinister because there's a chance that no matter what, we're not going to understand them. His inclination to try every literary technique in sight is also full force, as he shifts gears with differing viewpoints and styles (including decent attempts at TV scripting).

All this serves to give us a fantastic package on top of a plot that is for the most part fairly ordinary. Don't get me wrong, when the big punches come they arrive hard and the final twist of what happens to the Third Doctor doesn't bode well for the Eight Doctor at all. But the Eight Doctor scenes don't necessarily build up to a satisfying conclusion so much as promise one down the line and while the book does swagger through with a fair amount of verve, ultimately it should receive credit for knocking down canon and serving as a guide to a sea change in the BBC novels. Before this, things were fairly standard, afterwards the notions of what the concept could do was altered quite a bit, and we have Miles to thank for that. His two part behemoth may be too clever for its own good in parts, but easily stacks up against the others in terms of ambition and style. His vision of what the show should be may clash horribly with what everyone else wants (curious readers should go read his "About Time" series of guides that he co-wrote to get more of a feel for his vision of the show) but when the results are as interesting as this, we can deal with the fact that it's not totally perfect. He gives us a Who universe that feels dangerous, and that's a rare feat.

And here we go. The big one. Lawrence Miles' rather polarizing reputation in the Who field of novels tends to rest on a small number of books that wound up having a big impact (giving plenty of interviews about his opinions on the show and helping to write the "About Time" series) and regardless what you think of the man's ideas and opinions toward the show in general, you have to admit he certainly had a different way of looking at things. "Alien Bodies", his first book for the BBC line, was an interesting look at something the show or series had never really tackled . . . the Doctor as a finite being and forcing the series to deal with the idea that the Doctor was eventually going to bite it. It also introduced several concepts like Faction Paradox and so on that the book itself didn't actually deal with, instead letting other authors string it along and develop it a little more.

Looking at it now, it seems like they were just killing time until they reached this novel, as Miles starts to yank it all together to something resembling a culmination.

It's safe to say that reading this on its own will probably dilute the impact of it, as the novel depends on your understanding of several different plot threads (Sam's relationship with the Doctor and recent events, Fitz's relationship with the Doctor, who the heck Fitz even is, who Faction Paradox is) and themes before going in, though Miles does a pretty decent job of bringing everyone up to speed.

Stylistically, it's similar to what he did in "Alien Bodies" (multiple viewpoints, chapters interspersed with quirky interludes that don't immediately appear to impact the plot at first) only on a bigger scale and with more space, but it's clear from the get-go there's going to be actual stakes here. If anything, the novel has "changing the face of Who" written all over it and that may put some people off who are quite happy with the status quo here. Miles pretty much makes it clear on every page that when he's done things aren't really going to be the same ever again (or at least until someone comes along and reboots it) and if you're not on-board for that sort of thing, then you probably aren't going to enjoy this.

And what is "this"? Basically, Miles drags the show into the real world, showing an intermingling of politics and weird aliens as Sam investigates weapon sales, the Doctor gets captured by people who like torturing for the sheer fun of it, and Fitz winds up in the last place that he really wants to be. Meanwhile, Faction Paradox is lurking about stealing shadows and acting generally paradoxical, implementing a plan that has been a long time coming and really isn't going to end well.

It's nice to read a Who novel that has actual themes and to his credit Miles doesn't get too political. He's not using the show as a hammer to spout off about whatever political manifesto he believes in, but using it to analyze real world themes while not forgetting that it's a show about time travel and exploration and to a great extent isolation. To that end, he crafts something that feels epic, with the plot spread out over a great stretch of time and space, the Doctor sidelined for a good portion of it and the story digging deep into everyone to examine their reasons and motivations. Sometimes this all comes across as far too clever for its own good (the whole sections involving people just believing whatever the media tells them makes its points over and over again, although I'll grant that he might go somewhere different with it) and all the differing techniques and styles might strike people as being somewhat pretentious. "Why can't he just tell a normal story?"

Thing is, he could, but it wouldn't be right. We've entered a universe where the strange and the commonplace intermingle freely and Miles has crafted a narrative that reflects that. About the only place it falls down here is the sudden shift to the Third Doctor . . . it comes out of nowhere and as others have pointed out, doesn't feel as deep as the previous sections, nor do the stakes feel as high.

However, it's also hard to pass judgment on this because, let's face it, it's half a novel. And as that half it succeeds brilliantly, setting up a myriad of ideas that the story is going to have to bring home in the second half. But it sets out to be an epoch-making story, one that will cause a seismic shift in how the series is perceived in the line right after and as it's chugging alone here, it appears that might just happen.

I'm quite sure--I'm not even going to bother getting up and eyeballing my bookshelf--that this is not actually the half-way point in the Eighth Doctor's adventures as produced in the long line of BBC novels. But it feels like the half-way point. It's definitely some kind of crucial nexus point (to resort to cool-sounding words, like "vortex" and "Voord"--well, okay, that's not a real word) in the Eighth Doctor's fluctuating reality...if not all the Doctors' realities. A crossroads. An intro to Book One even states firmly that the Interference novels were an attempt to set the Doctor's life on a new path. But these books--especially Interference: Book Two--feel like an ending. A Big Ending. And they carry all the emotional impact of a Big Ending.

That said, Samantha Jones's exit from the Doctor's ship, and therefore his life, was not as sniffle-and-weep inducing as it was the first time 'round (I have just re-read Interference after about seven years). It had been established that she loved him, but she spends most of this adventure separated from him, in the company of people like Compassion, of the Remote, as they journey towards the Remote's incredible transmitter of mind-manipulating media. There is of course a goodbye scene later on, between Sam and the Eighth Doctor, but it is not the stark tear-jerker our systems were subjected to when Rose Tyler recently parted from the Tenth Doctor in another form of media hopefully not doctored by anyone involved with Faction Paradox (otherwise we won't know what to believe anymore!). The Eighth Doctor's reaction to Sam's reaffirmation of love for him is a classic, despite this more low-key approach to final departure mixed with unrequited...something.

Then there's what happens to Fitz, a life-changing experience if ever there was one. True, this cosmic-taffy-pulling of all that is, was, and will be in the past and future the Fitz-man is largely swept under the rug in later books, other than some vague references to his bizarre transformation. But lots of what Lawrence Miles tries to do is subjected to the "Reset" button at the BBC as the books roll on; you just have to enjoy the thrill of it while it's happening, and say later "if I remember it, like in a dream, then it can't be totally erased".

The Eighth Doctor's adventure in 1996 directly relates to some weird craziness that happened to the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith on a forgotten spitball of a planet called Dust--or is that a forgotten dustball of a planet called Spit? (I think it's the first one, but it's so hard to remember...)...oh, you didn't know about that Third Doctor adventure?? Well that's because it was never supposed to happen, but it is presented in these Interference books. And it clearly establishes a kind of informal contest between Lawrence Miles and the BBC, as far as who can erase more of the other's Doctor continuity. If the BBC can erase Lawrence Mile's effects on Doctor history, then it's only fair that Lawrence Miles can erase a big bit of Third Doctor mythos and start inserting his own rewrite. And back and forth. If there's one thing the Doctor Who universe teaches you, it's not to feel guilty about having emotional reaction to stuff that never happened because someone went and blotted it out of the timeline. It still hurts, sometimes, even if it got adjusted later.

All characters in Interference get Big treatment, even supporting characters like Lewis, or I. M. Foreman, or Magdalena, or even Compassion. Reality jolts for everyone. Take a number and wait your turn for a jarring new development in your worldview. No character seems insignificant here, or gets shunted off to the sidelines once the Doctor is free from his prison cell and ready to start affecting affairs again (thank goodness!); I guess that's why this story took so many pages to tell. It's not just that the two main plots are so complex--but also that all the characters contribute, and are affected, so mightily.

The Interference novels do start us on a track that will lead to The Ancestral Cell (another Big-Event book) which propels us on to Father Time (more Bigness), and so on until Sometime, Never(...). But for me, the books mostly function as a satisfying ending to the Sam Jones era. And they also function quite spectacularly as a highly memorable story in and of itself, even if it's tied to so many other pieces of the Doctor's radiant life.

Samantha Jones has been travelling with the Eighth Doctor, but she's not supposed to be. Her timeline was altered by the Doctor's enemies, Faction Paradox. She wants to leave the Doctor, because she loves him but not the lifestyle--not anymore. But she can't leave the Doctor, because he has left her first, during their last mission together: interfering in an arms-dealers convention that has been infiltrated by some aliens who have been shopping some strange stuff to various potential buyers. The most dangerous thing they have to sell is a substance called the Cold, which is all swirling teeth, that bite you till you disappear. Like Fitz, the Doctor's other companion, disappeared, until he came out the other side.

This is Book One of a Doctor Who epic that draws from so much previous material it'll make your head reel. The Third Doctor guest-stars, in an adventure that starts to rewrite his own established history on a planet called Dust, where he confronts I. M. Foreman; that name first appeared on the wall enclosing the junkyard inside which sat the TARDIS back in the first televised Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child. So this novel strikes at the core of the mythos, as well as tackling various ongoing Eighth Doctor dilemmas from previous novels and the TV movie that first gave him life: is the Doctor part human? what is the origin of Faction Paradox? what is the Time War, and will the Time Lords really lose it? what has it all got to do with the era of Rassilon? Meanwhile, longtime Doctor Who fans will get to see a new take on the Ogrons, the return of K9, and an older, wiser Sarah Jane Smith at her finest, as she tries to save a Doctor she was never supposed to meet from torture and death. Even the subplots are BIG; what happens to companion Fitz gives new meaning to "getting separated from the Doctor for a while".

The scope of the Interference books is astonishing. A hundred little details, a hundred explanations for all that has gone before, will try and distract you from the main plot, which is a triumph. Earth is in jeopardy, and a companion who loves the Doctor is planning to leave him. Business as usual.