Doctor Who: The Shadows of Avalon

Eighth Doctor Adventures #31

by Paul Cornell

The Brigadier, mourning the loss of his wife Doris, is called to help find a nuclear weapon that's gone missing over the Wiltshire Downs. The Doctor is on his way there too, to pick up his companion Compassion, after her holiday on Earth. But when the Doctor's TARDIS explodes, he, the Brigadier, Compassion and Fitz are thrown into the other-dimensional world of Avalon. Magic faces down science, dragons duel with jet fighters.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Ebooks

274 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 7, 2000

About the author

Paul Cornell is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy prose, comics and television. He's been Hugo Award-nominated for all three media, and has won the BSFA Award for his short fiction, and the Eagle Award for his comics. He's the writer of Saucer Country for Vertigo, Demon Knights for DC, and has written for the Doctor Who TV series. His new urban fantasy novel is London Falling, out from Tor on December 6th.

via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly it's been over two years since I last read an EDA novel, but with such a strong story arc that has been running through the last few books in the series it was easy to pick up from where I'd last left off.

It really felt like a culmination for Compassion who's been travelling with The Doctor since Interference.

Not being the biggest fantasy reader I wasn't sure how I'd find this story being set in a magical parallel world to Earth, but against the backdrop of The Brigadier struggling to deal with the loss of his wife Dorris it worked surprisingly well.

[Devanshi Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to confess that in the starting I had no idea what was happening, who was who, what they were going through because neither have I watched a single episode of Doctor Who nor have I read the previous parts, which by the way were not mentioned anywhere. I had no idea which series this book belonged to, and where I could find the previous parts because I would be really interested in reading the story.
But as for the story, it was really awesome! Just the sort of material I like. And by the end as things became a little clearer, I began holding my breath and was on the edge of my seat!

[Anne-Laure Tuduri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. I don't usually write reviews but I've been meaning to start, so I'll try for this one!

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this books as I've heard a lot of mixed feelings about it, and very few positive feedbacks, so coming in I was a bit wary, and joy, did in it expect what was coming.

It's really slow to start honestly and it take a long time to find its footing, it feels longer than 270 something pages it is, and that put me off a bit to begin with. We have a great introduction to the brigadier and his main conflict, that of his grief of his wife's death, the Doctor's loss of his tardis and compassion upcoming change, all being reflected in a way in Avalon. And Avalon itself is such an interesting realm! I always like it when doctor who books go wild with fantasy elements and I was served right here! Dragons, faeries, magic, it's all there.

And once it gets going, it's just so interesting! The whole war aspect and the brigadier internal conflict being again reflected in the war, Mab being awesome, Cavis and Ganvar being absolute nerds (horrifying ones yes, but honestly, nerds nonetheless. They are basically edgy teens, gallifreyan style) and the general sense of hope running through the books, I loved all of that honestly.

And when finally the brigadier accept his loss and pain and starts wanting to live again, it's such a beautiful scene!

Even a really silly element (compassion becoming a tardis let's be honest, this is a silly concept) is well played out and executed in such a way that makes compassion an even better character. Plus I really like how Paul Cornell writes fitz and the eight doctor.

Plus romana is there a bit and has a wonderful wardrobe that I need to draw ASAP so yeah, overall a good book that could have used better pacing.

But it has dragons and Celtic legends and those are 2 of my favorite things in the world, so I'm easily pleased quite frankly. Anyway, for the first EDAs I read in physical prints (I read the others via ebook) well it was a good pick.

Uh didn't mean to ramble that much and to generally make this little sense but yeah.

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

for the record I would like it to be known that this is in actual fact a 4.5 (goodreads sort your rating systems out asap pls)
this is so good! another great and really well written fantasy novel in this range..myth and magic and fairies and battles… all in doctor who. brilliant
*and* the brigadier!!
paul cornell really knows how to write great, complex and, ultimately heartfelt, doctor who stories. bring him back maybe? we could definitely do with another human nature right now..

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is absolutely off the wall, I love it and hate it, what did I just even read. Magnificent.

Compassion has also now gone from potentially being one of my all-time favourite Companions, to DEFINITELY beign one of my all-time favourite Companions. Gosh.

Ridiculous book. Excellent. The dragons aren't even close to being the strangest thing about this book. What did I even just read. Maybe that's the point, the whole thing feeling like some sort of fever dream, it's meta.

Can't wait to read the next one and find out where the HELL the go from here cos WHAT THE HELL 😂

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking at the cover, you'd think, "finally! DW authors are doing something super cool! No more 60's London, no more WWII!" While this is accurate, it's still not what I was hoping for or expecting. It's a fine installment of the EDA's, to be sure, but it could have been so much better. This story involves portals to the dream dimension (Avalon), Lizard people, dragons, rogue time lords, President Romana, and the Brigadier himself. There is a lot going on, to be sure, but somehow, it still gets boring in parts. Lethbridge-Stewart is constantly pining over his dead wife, there's politics galore (Avalon and the Unseelie Court, Avalon and Earth/British troops) and everyone seems to have their own agenda. There are some confusing parts, like the sleeping King whose dream version shows up in the real world and the goddess Brigida who keeps being mentioned that we never actually see. We don't get enough of the setting described to us of Avalon, which is a missed opportunity. Dragons come and go from the battle arbitrarily as the plot demands. There were some aspects that didn't make sense, like the existence of the vortex that the Doctor got sucked into, and Romana's 180 degree character flip (yes, she regenned, but still) as well as her motivations for sending Garda and Cavis in to do her dirty work (she explained it, but I'm not buying it- there could have been another way).
There are some good things here, of course. Changes are overtaking Compassion, and the reader doesn't find out what they are until the end. It's wild, and I'm curious to see where this story arc goes. I truly enjoyed Queen Mab, and I like how the Doctor played off of all these characters from the dream world. I'm happy that the Brigadier finally figured himself out, even if it took almost 200 pages to do it. I also appreciated the straightforward nature of Cornell's writing; I didn't need a master's degree to decipher it.
All in all, an okay installment. On to the next!

[Basicallyrun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I adored this. Some of the EDAs are mediocre (a few downright bad), most pretty good, and some outstanding. This one? Definitely the latter.

I may have already mentioned that I have a big thing for mythology, and oh look, it has the word 'Avalon' on the cover and a nice picture of a dragon mauling a helicopter. You've already sold me, Paul Cornell. Added to that you've got (in no particular order): Crazy Interfering Time Lords (TM) (and not just the Doctor this time!), tortured Brigadier (poor Brigadier, seriously I just wanted to give him a hug and feed him tea for most of this book, not that he'd appreciate that), the Doctor riding a dragon, I'm sorry, let me repeat that, THE DOCTOR. RIDING A DRAGON. OK, better now. Oh yeah, and Fitz and Compassion get to do a bit of day-saving too.

OK, SPOILERS FROM HERE ON.

Harking back to what I said in my Mark of the Horse Lord review, I *like* books that don't have the simple Light and Dark sides. So here, for instance, your sympathies naturally start of with the human Catuvelauni and against those nasty, baby-eating Faeries. But as things go on, you realise that actually, the Faeries do kind of have a point - the humans started this war (oh, and they don't actually eat babies, apparently). And the humans get rather less sympathetic when they start making dodgy deals with the British Government. But the *individuals* on both sides are still pretty decent people (especially Mab. I love Mab. I wish I could draw, just so I could do a picture of her with her sword. Oh, and poor messed-up Margwyn.) Everyone's sort of trying to do the right thing (with a couple of notable exceptions), but it's all 'Politics will not allow it!' doom. Which I like.

OH AND ALSO. (Again, going back to TMotHL. Spoilers for that too.) I adored the way Mab was totally cool with being killed as a hostage if it meant her people would win. So in character as befits her soldier mentality (because I can see the Brig doing something similar if he had to). Like Phaedrus' sacfirice in TMotHL, it just *works* for everything I think I understand about the ancient Celtic mentality - that the individual doesn't matter, it's the symbol of power that matters, and the well-being of the tribe. <3

OK, couple of things that irked me. 1) I'm still not entirely accustomed to Fucking Scary Romana III (like I say, she's scary, and also, what the hell happened to my adorable 'let's fly down from the Eiffel Tower!' Romana? :( ). And 2) Wow, that was an extraordinary lot of trouble to go to just to nab Compassion for your shady Time Lord dealings, Cavis and Gandar. I'm sure there must've been easier ways, right? (Although actually, possibly not, given the TARDIS had to be destroyed when the wormhole opened before Compassion could start experiencing all those ~feelings that led to her eventual change. Which, um, was kind of awesome, NGL. Really bizarre, but kind of awesome.) 3) Still Romana. :( I am so disappointed in her, and you know the Doctor is too. His 'former friend' indeed. :(

[Alex Sarll]

A story of love and loss. Judging from the reviews and interviews, Julian Barnes' latest covers the same emotional ground - but while I like some of Barnes' books a lot, he's not the Brigadier, and if his book contains a scene where he shoots down a dragon, it's been strangely absent from the press. A lot of this is quite difficult going; the Doctor has lost his TARDIS and the Brigadier his wife, and they spend much of the book at loggerheads, and the two of them fighting makes me feel like a child faced with impending parental divorce. But this is emotional territory that should be difficult, and it feels real and raw, not tacked-on or cheap.

There's a lot in this (from 2000) which Cornell has reused in subsequent work; the idea of the British military in Avalon cropped up again in Wisdom, the humanity whose collective unconscious was crumbling in Fantastic Four: True Story, and so forth. But who cares? They're great ideas, they deserved another outing.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Brigadier is still grieving for his wife. A gateway to the magical country of Avalon opens, and a war is about to begin. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Fitz and Compassion get separated when the TARDIS explodes. Something strange is happening to Compassion. This is the Brigs book, a really good look at his character and how grief can affect a person. Oh, and there's dragons, fighting and time lords.

[Andrew Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 'wilderness years' between the 1996 TV movie and the 2005 revival, Doctor Who lived on in a series of books - first, the Virgin New Adventures, which continued Sylvestor McCoys run, then, laterally, the BBC books. These new books followed two formats. PDAs (Past Doctor Adventures) and EDAs (Eighth Doctor Adventures). The latter of these focused on the continuing adventures of the Doctor we knew least about - Paul McGann, after his movie was poorly and unfairly overlooked.

I picked up this single book in the range for one reason, and i'll come to that later. Before this point i had read the frankly bonkers "The Blue Angel" and realised, with a heavy heart, that maybe the EDAs were 'not for me'. They weren't just 'episodes' of Doctor Who in written form, they were actual science fiction novels. Often with sprawling narratives, in depth characterisation and adult themes.

We learn early on that the Brigadier has lost his wife, Doris. He then encounters a mysterious young woman who is waiting on the TARDIS arriving. All around the same time a nuclear bomb has gone missing and the mad pilot said he saw a dragon. So far, so Doctor Who. It turns out the bomb has been taken into the dream dimension of Avalon, where a great king summons up this sub-reality in his sleep. The TARDIS has been destroyed, the Doctor is stranded, two time agents are on the run and the world is about to go to war with this fairy dimension.

Following me?

No? Okay, thats fine. Its not as complicated as it sounds, and Paul Cornell does a good job of keeping it all coherent. I have no problems with the book in this regard. My issues lie with its unfortunate running arc. You see, with the BBC books the authors were given the chance at creating their own show, from scratch. Taking Doctor Who in new modern directions to appeal to the old guard but also keep the franchise fresh. Hence, we have the ultimate destruction of the Doctor's TARDIS. We have a newly regenerated Romana as the overall antagonist. We have a running arc revolving the Doctor's companion Compassion, as she starts to change metabolically into something else. This is the final story in a series of running stories with many elements i found myself scratching my head at. There are constant allusions to earlier adventures i knew nothing about. Sure, the Avalon plot was fairly standalone, but there was just so much more going on in the bigger picture that i felt somewhat confused. However, my pragmatic side doesn't allow this to ruin the book for me. Its part of a series, one which i may well hunt down and complete one day.

But we come to my main complaint, and unfortunately the reason i sought this book out. You see, in 1989, in Doctor Who's final TV season, we had the episode Battlefield. Probably one of my all-time favourites. Medieval knights with laser guns, the Doctor is actually Merlin and a great blue monster called the Destroyer. It even had the hammiest laugh of all TV ever. It was perfect. So, on the back of a recent re-watch i googled "is there a sequel to Battlefield?" ie do we ever return to the other dimension? And the answer was Yes. In Shadows of Avalon.

Only, we don't. Despite the obvious choice to do so, Paul Cornell chooses to invent an entirely new dimension - a dream dimension - called Avalon. Full of celts, medieval knights and dragons, but not the same dimension as the one visited in Battlefield. Which strikes me as really odd. Sure, i get the appeal of being original and creating a dream universe; that in itself is cool. But in a universe where we've already been introduced to a world so similar to this one... its just bizarre that they didn't go down that route. Its made criminally obvious when they even reference Battlefield in this one, with the Doctor claiming that he is Merlin, and Queen Mab not knowing who that is.

I don't know how to give an analogy. If this was any other franchise, or indeed a standalone science fiction, id be fine with it. But because its Doctor Who its such a blatant misstep to have a story set within the world called Avalon with all the appropriate characters, and not make it Avallion.

A wasted opportunity, if you ask me. Its not a sequel at all, but it sort of wants to be, and it will baffle me to the end of time why it isn't.

Also. The two evil time agents talk openly of sex. There is copious amounts of gratuitous violence - beheading, dismemberment, showers of blood. Theres even a short scene where Queen Mab mistakes the doctor's comment for wanting sex. This isn't my Doctor Who. This is an adult novel with adult storytelling with the Doctor Who plot shoehorned on.

And did the fairy creatures of the dream world need to be Silurians? I mean, i am all for returning villains but these were entirely unnecessary. Fan service is one thing. But fan service inside a book that has already dumped on fan-service by ignoring the obvious direction to take just takes the edge off it.

That said, the Eighth Doctor is so markedly different to his previous incarnations, and very reminiscent of the Eighth Doctor as portrayed in the Big Finish audios by Paul McGann himself, it wasn't difficult to picture his eccentric enthusiasm and more reflective character. The Brigadier, too, gets a good bit of character development. But this doesn't save the book from being a bit disappointing.

[Peter Camenzind · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://peterswhoreviews.wordpress.co...

[Jacob Licklider · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Lawrence Miles seemed to be the author to bring in when the Eighth Doctor Adventures wanted to usher in an era of changes with Alien Bodies and Interference being the big game changer novels, though with his leaving of Doctor Who (for the first time), the task came to Paul Cornell with The Shadows of Avalon. The Shadows of Avalon boldy proclaims on its back cover that this is the end of an era and the beginning of another, though unlike other ‘event’ books, this one waits until the very end to bring the changes right into the resolution of the novel. That revelation involving the ultimate destiny of Compassion, changing her from an agent of the Remote into something far more powerful, yet surprisingly more human in the end. While I will not spoil that particular change for those who haven’t read the book, I will say that the final scenes with her are absolutely brilliant. In the background of the novel is a rather important subplot involving a couple of Time Lord assassins sent to kill the Doctor and Compassion on the orders of Time Lord President Romanavoratrelundar. Romana has regenerated and this third incarnation is ready to fight the War in Heaven, becoming more of an ice queen than Mary Tamm’s Romana ever was. Attributing her bloodlust to becoming the President, this Romana feels like a sane version of Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She only appears in the bookends of the novel, but when she does appear she steals the scene. Making Romana a villain also goes a long way to show how companions can change once they leave the Doctor.

Companions changing is a major theme in the novel as Paul Cornell picks up with the Brigadier post rejuvenation in Happy Endings, exploring just what it means to have an artificially extended life. Doris Lethbridge-Stewart is dead, and Alistair cannot cope. He’s begun to see visions of her whenever he is alone, and they are slowly finding their way into every point of his life. In the hands of a lesser author this would be the result of some alien interference, however, Cornell plays it as simply a symptom of the character’s grief and aging mind. The grief is used to make the Brigadier throw himself back into working for UNIT as a nuclear bomb disappears into the mists of Avalon, a realm ruled by the fae and the Queen Regent, Mab. Cornell draws on Celtic mythology for the main plot, wrapping science fiction concepts into the fantasy as the entire realm is powered by the psychic energy of a sleeping king. The book undergoes several genre transformations, all showing the Brigadier’s journey of grief. This book starts out as an Arthurian legend (though one distinct from the Avalon mentioned in Battlefield and Happy Endings) with political intrigue in the court of Mab as the Doctor and the Brigadier become trapped in Avalon with a dead TARDIS, before turning into a war story as UNIT intervenes to keep the peace, but of course this fails quite quickly, and finally a political thriller as the Doctor has to escape the Time Lord assassins. The Brigadier and the Doctor have some of their best interactions, being most at odds with one another in this book as the Brigadier makes several damaging, yet very human, mistakes. They don’t even see each other at the end of the book with the Brigadier staying behind in Avalon while the Doctor just leaves him. This is a conscious decision made to keep these characters apart.

The Doctor, Fitz, and Compassion here feel for the first real time to be working as a team. The Doctor, in stark contrast to his previous incarnation, has a plan to stop something horrible happening to his friends and failing at almost every moment. The time he spends at Court is absolutely brilliant as he fits in with the fantasy setting and his flighty nature makes everything worth it. Cornell even slips in a Lungbarrow reference with the looms being name checked as a definite origin as well as being womb born. Fitz is also excellent here as the human who nobody seems to care about. The Shadows of Avalon deals with big players as the War in Heaven looms and Faction Paradox is implied to be in the background while Fitz is really just trying to survive in a world that is much bigger than himself. He feels like Fitz again and maybe, just maybe he’ll find his way back. Compassion is really the standout here as she finally breaks down. Gone is the ice queen and in her place is someone who is witty and sarcastic and friendly. Compassion has to give in to what has been happening in her head, something that takes her beyond her origins into something that cannot be changed back. This becomes the book where she is the one involved.

Overall, The Shadows of Avalon is a Paul Cornell book, meaning that it packs an emotional punch and elevates the characters into a story. It takes a lesser loved VNA’s premise (in this case Cat’s Cradle: Witch Mark) and makes it work with the Eighth Doctor, developing the companions and setting things up to the future while still telling a complete story. An emotional roller coaster from start to finish it hits all the right boxes. 10/10.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot figure out why this book was so hard to read. It's not like it was written in a complicated fashion like "Beltempest" or "Man in the Velvet mask". it was like there was some kind of weird haze over my brain that wouldn't let me read it. this is why it took me 2 1/2 weeks to finish it.

So, what's my issue with this book? well, where do i begin?

This book SHOULD be great. it's about the doc in a fantasy realm with magic and stuff. Problem? it's just not good. There's too many side characters that i don't care about, Fitz and compassion are with the doc for like.. 10% of the time, the villains are terrible, and the plot makes absolutely no sense.

Oh yes, and the brigadier's wife is dead so he's whinging about it threatening to off himself for the entire novel. So that's fun.

The Tardis just happens to explode in the first few pages also. there's not even a big fanfare about it. it just kind of explodes and they move on from there.

There's a weird amount of violence too in this book which i can't say i'm a big fan of. like a lot of people exploding and burning. like i said, not a fan. Just like this review, the book feels very disjointed. But at the same time, it's hard to concentrate. It was actually quite hard for me to sit down and read this. and this is coming from a guy who JUST finished an 1100 page book.

I think the biggest issue with this was lost potential. We could have had a fun fantasy story, but instead we dealt with war and the brigadier whining. Also, quite possibly the WORST mischaracterization of Romana i've ever seen. like, i'm not normally one to say "someone was out of character" but HOLY CRAP was Romana out of character. like, to the point that it wasn't even the same character. To the point that it would have made more sense to replace her with a random person. There was no heartfelt reunion with romana and the doc, and she acted NOTHING like romana in the past. and also, she was barely in it. So all in all, just an awful take on the character.

Not to say there weren't a FEW good things in here. I liked the ending with the Brigadier, and it read okay and i liked the concept. but overall..man this was a hard read. I'm giving this a 2.5 out of 5, but i CAN'T give it a 3. i just can't. any of previous 3's i've given i MAYBE could read again, but with this one i just can't. between the mischaracterization, the confusing story and the terrible villains it's getting a 2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2. Ugh, Yquatine better be better than this one.

2.5 rounded down to a 2.

[Susan Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real emotion shattering story for the Doctor, who has had his TARDIS destroyed, and The Brigadier who has recently been widowed.

This story follows on from Happy Endings. The rejuvenated Brig is now back at UNIT as a General.

Doris is dead, after an accident that was partially Alistair's fault. He is riddled with guilt and deep grief. While alone on a walk, about to commit suicide, a rift is blown into a barrier between two parallel universes and he is dragged through it into a world that is about to go to war.

The Eighth Doctor's TARDIS has been destroyed and this has caused the rift. He and his companions ends up in the same universe as the Brigadier. Initially the Doctor is overjoyed to be reunited with his old friend. Unaware that Alistair is in such a dark place the Doctor is dismayed to find he can not work with him any more, as they are no longer connecting.

When UNIT is dragged into the ensuing war between two mythical tribes they find themselves working to different agendas. Especially as Alistair's agenda is to get himself killed, honurably, in battle while fighting in alliance with the Queen of the Celts.

This is really a Brigadier story. It involves a journey though crippling grief. You learn a lot about Alistair, the man, here.

Paul Cornell handles the Brigadier's love for his late wife, and his grief so well, but it is not an easy read. The times when, in his darkest moments, he is interacting with hallucinations of Doris are heartbreaking.

A lot of characters in the novel are very superficial, but Compassion and Queen Mab are both interesting and well developed throughout the story. The psychiatrist, Cronin, who the Brigadier has been ordered to see, is also well used.


There are some great Doctor scenes, like when he gets to fly on the back of a Dragon or is swinging into the battle Errol Flynn style.

It's a complex story with some nasty Gallifreyan characters manipulating event to their own ends. A better than average read.

[said · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strongest stories in the EDA range so far, and no doubt in my mind, this is a huge stepping stone for the entire range leading forward. Packed to the brim with so much emotional substance, we see a whole new side to the Brigadier, Doctor, Compassion and many more. The story centered on a lot of the familiar faces and feelings from the classical TV era and that nostalgia is so clearly evident throughout the book. Avalon is one of the most interesting concepts introduced in the whounverse, with it being a landscape for our dreams, structured with the help of Constantine's everlasting sleep, but as with everything, dreams come with a price. The clashing of ideals with the human entities and the Fair Folk of Avalon, shines light on the stupidity of humans and their incapability to truly fathom the incomprehensible like afterlife and what lies beyond our line of sight. The differences are evidently shown through the Brigadier and the Doctor's difference in approach to solving the war. Decisiveness or recklessness? In which case can either be the justified frame of mind other than in times of war.


Witnessing Compassion's farewell into what she ultimately becomes was handled so well and seeing her live on as a vessel for her companions' travels, is something I would've never seen coming, but ultimately makes sense and provides her with a true and beautiful end to her short 'human' life. Starting out as what merely felt like a side character compared to the other previous companions, she gets the limelight she deserves to show how far she's come ever since her days as an enforcer with the Faction. Cornell absolutely delivers from start to finish, giving us one of the most intricate stories in the EDA range, and one I will surely remember for a long time.  


𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟖/𝟏𝟎

[Leonardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm afraid that this novel will not be of much interest for anyone that is not deeply involved in the world of Doctor Who. Published during the "desert years", this novel requires not only knowedge of Classic Who (via a bleak version of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart) and of several dozens previous Eight Doctor Adventures. Cornell does manage to create an interesting dreamland where UNIT late 2oth-century weapons can convincingly (and brutally) clash with the magic forces of the fairies, while the Doctor and the Brigadier face each other without their usual tongue-in-cheek humour balancing their difference of opinions. Nevertheless... it should not have taken me so long to read this little novel. I actually read the last third of the novel in one sitting, but the early sections failed to catch my attention, despite the grand scale of the conflict and the deep game changing events, both for the characters that were directly involved in the plot as well as its implications for the future history of Gallifrey and the Doctor. As with many events and major changes faced by the Eight Doctor, the ultimate goal of Gallyfrey's intervention in Avalon has been mostly ignored in the revived TV series. Anyway, when the Doctor finally recovers his spirit and his convictions, he is a veritable force for justice and goodness (even if he "casually" loses his shirt... a la Mr. Darcy, I suppose).

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

あらすじ
演習中、核弾頭を搭載した空軍機が突如行方不明となる。程なく空軍機とパイロットは戻ってくるが、核弾頭が消えており、パイロットには行方不明となっていた期間の記憶がなかった。事態の異常さから、アリステア・ゴードン・レスブリッジ・スチュワート准将が捜査を担当することに。しかし、アリステアは最愛の妻を失った悲しみからまったく立ち直っておらず、ひそかに死に場所を探しているような状態だった。そんな折、アリステアは空軍機が消失した現場で迎えがくるのを待っている少女とであう。コンパッションだ。コンパッションは地球でドクターから与えられた８つの課題をこなし、ドクターとの待ち合わせ場所で、最後に残った課題である”詩”をかきあげたところだった。ところがターディスが現れたかと思うと空中で大爆発を起こしてしまう。

 

感想
ドクターがこよなく愛するターディス Type40が破壊され、ドクターはフィズとコンパッションと共にアバロンという異次元の世界に飛ばされてしまう。その異次元とイギリスが繋がってしまったことで、アバロンの戦争に英国軍が干渉し、戦争が泥沼化。そのことでドクターとアリステアは仲違いしてしまう。しかも事件の背後にギャリフレィが関わっており、その指揮をとっているのがかつての旅の仲間であるロマーナで、さらには歴史に積極的に干渉すべきという思想を持つ過激派のタイムロードの暗躍もあり、ドクターはどんどんと孤独に追い詰められていき、あげくに未来に起こる戦争に備えるためという理由でコンパッションの命を奪われてしまう。アバロンでの戦争はどうにかおさめることができたものの、ドクターとフィズはタイムロードからの逃避行を強いられることとなり、先行きはますます暗そうだ。

アバロンのシーンは登場人物の多さと似た名前に途中で誰がどちら側だったかこんがらがってきたりもしたが、アリステアの心情やドクターの心情も丁寧に描かれていたので精神的に辛いながらも、珠玉と思えるいくつかの名シーンや名セリフにほろりとさせられたり、グッと熱くなったりで8thドクターシリーズの中でも読み応えがあったと思う。加えて、この後の"The Ancestor Cell"への前哨戦ともいえる話だったので読めてよかった。

 _φ(･_･

Doctor: You're hugging me.You're happy to see me! 

The Doctor was alive. That meant freedom, hope, maybe even a happy ending, somewhere down the line.

Fiz: Doctor, you don’t know how glad I am to see you!

Doctor: Everything’s going to be all right. I’m back.

 

Fiz: Are you really telling me that you're prepared to go on the run from your own people in this "stolen TARDIS"?

Doctor: Why not? After all...It's worked before!

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Cornell's last Doctor Who novel is the Eighth Doctor Adventure The Shadows of Avalon, an easy sell for me in the sense that I like him as a writer, but a hard sell at the same time because it features magic in the world of Doctor Who, which is one of my bugbears. A sort-of, kind-of, not-really sequel to Battlefield, the Doctor, his companions and the Brigadier (reeling from the loss of his wife) are sucked into a world of Celtic myth and faeries. There are a couple of fun Time Lord villains manipulating events, the TARDIS is destroyed and a new one dreamed up, and Compassion goes through her "big change". But ultimately, this is about "moving on" from grief, or a life crisis. It's true of the Brig, who takes it out on Avalon by suicidally commanding modern forces against the Unseelie Court (it leads him somewhere, but boy, it's tough to read). And it's true of the Doctor who, after several adventures where he questions his own agency, finally gets out of his existential funk. He's much more active in this book and that's what we want from him, writers! With some important events in the series, and the Brig getting a strong final chapter, The Shadows of Avalon is worthy of notice, and its back half is especially exciting.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an ambitious but slightly unbalanced sci-fi-meets-fantasy adventure from popular New Adventures author Paul Cornell.

There are some big ideas that will change the series going forward, and Cornell brings his characteristic soft spot for certain characters, in this case the Brigadier who is going through a tough time. Those are the best bits in what is otherwise a bold but rather thinly sliced adventure concerning two realities. It heralds a fantastic and shocking change of pace at the end but doesn’t spend much time on the characters who will be affected by it, often diverting our attention to a couple of deeply silly villains instead.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically this:



But not campy or fun? The very very end picks up in a way that is at least more interesting -- the Doctor Robin Hood swings on a chandelier -- but, despite being spoiled for the big twist, I was let down by how it was executed, and I really don't like how Romana is characterized in this. I both want an explanation, and also never want this plotline -- non-consensual TARDIS breeding?! -- touched ever again.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad book, not sure what happened to the Brigadier

[Ronnie Linbu · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the rare treats when Doctor Who enters the pure epic fantasy genre

[John Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quoting from the back cover: "This story marks the end of one chapter in the life of the Eighth Doctor and the beginning of a new one." It's definitely part of an ongoing storyline, since it includes companions I haven't heard of before (Compassion and Fitz), and the status quo has changed a bit, e.g. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stuart has been changed back into a young man while still retaining his lifetime's experience. However, that's all fine: the novel gave me the context I needed, so I didn't have to refer to any outside sources, and it tells a complete story by itself.

One of the stranger ideas (apparently established in previous novels) is a type of TARDIS that appears human. This does present a certain logistical challenge: even if it's bigger on the inside, how do you actually get in? It's probably best not to speculate about orifices, otherwise the conversation will rapidly go downhill! Instead, a vortex appears in front of the TARDIS so that people can enter/leave; I imagine that this would look a lot like the dimensional wormhole in Sliders.

This book does throw in a few pop-culture references, but they're handled well. For instance, at one point the Doctor is trying to work out how to use a lift (p139). "Now, how would this activate? I've got to start thinking backwards, get rid of all the science and try to get my head round Constantine's version of magic. Erm... abracadabra? Open sesame? Izzy whizzy, let's get busy?" British readers of a certain age may recognise that last phrase: Sooty used it whenever he performed magic (relayed via Matthew Corbett), so it's being used in a similar manner here. At the same time, it's not breaking the fourth wall because it's entirely plausible that the Doctor happened to watch an episode of that on his travels, in the same way that he picked up the other two phrases. If you don't recognise the reference, it still works; after all, people understood it when Sooty used it, at which point it was original.

More recently, Cornell wrote two episodes of the TV series: "Human Nature" and "The Family Of Blood". I thought they were both good, so I might read the book they were based on (Human Nature). He also writes for comics: I've heard good things about his Captain Britain series (although I haven't read it), and he's done a decent job with Young Avengers: Dark Reign.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1946435.html



This is surely one of the better Eighth Doctor Adventures, in a series that I was somewhat losing confidence in a few volumes back; by odd coincidence, it is set in 2012. We start off with a good chunk of the novel exploring what's happened to the Brigadier recently (last seen, from his own point of view anyway, in the very first Eighth Doctor novel, The Dying Days) and the peculiar dimensional opening between present day England and the magical parallel world of Avalon, where humans and the reptiles sometimes known as Silurians struggle for mastery of the land, and the British Army and two meddling Time Lords get caught up in the local power politics. The opening section is absolutely gripping; it settles down a bit as it goes on, but never lost my attention. The book also brings up the concept of a person becoming a Tardis, and vice versa, which is of course picked up and developed by Neil Gaiman in The Doctor's Wife.

Depending on how one counts Minuet in Hell (and I'd rather not), this is actually the last appearance of the Brigadier in the Doctor's personal timeline, though he remains a constant point of reference and appears in several spinoff stories (including an SJA episode) right up until his departure is reported on-screen in last year's series. It's a good way for the character to bow out.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accident caused the TARDIS to explode, opens a rift to an alternate place called Avalon sending the Doctor, Compassion, Fitz and The Brigadier there. We also have Galifrey involved, with a newly regenerated President Romana. The Time Lords want something so they start a war in Avalon in an effort to get it.

It took some time to get into the book, it started out as a Brigadier book, and spent most of the time with him, I do enjoy the brigadier but I read these books because they are Doctor Who books. My biggest complaint of the Virgin and BBC Who books is the absence of the Good Doctor. Eventually he takes center stage in the book and it picks up. I also didnt enjoy the interventionist Time Lords were annoying. They were too gleeful in their job. What was with the big whole convoluted plan? Seems like a way to pad out the book just for the final plot reveal. I also don't feel they got his voice down right.

I would only recommend this one if you are a fan, and it ties up some plot threads that began in Doctor Who: Interference-Book One, unfortunately it starts some new ones. I liked it.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd already read both Interference novels, which introduced Compassion and her species, the Remote. Basically, they're gigantic receptor dishes, absorbing any media signals and responding accordingly. At some point, the Doctor adjusted her receivers to only respond to the TARDIS. In this novel, the transformation culminates in Compassion's rebirth as a type 102, humanoid TARDIS (which President Romana then attempts to kidnap and force into a breeding program, but I can't judge the rationality of that, as I haven't read how she became evil).
Most of the novel is set in the dream dimension of Avalon, with the Brigadier trying to recover from his wife's death. I'm really glad he had a role in this novel--it made me care about the events of the story more than if the Doctor was interacting with some random character. The author seemed to really understand the Brig's character and how he'd react to loss. The scenes describing battle between Avalon and England tend to drag, but the rest of the story is fairly good.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely not Doctor Who for kids. The story is dark and violent, touching on themes of war, grief, and the psychological damage of trauma. It is also very well written.

The problem with the DW novels is that there are SO MANY OF THEM and they have their own continuity, so it is impossible to pick one among them and not end up feeling slightly lost. I have no idea who Fitz and Compassion are or where they came from. Earlier adventures were referenced that appear nowhere in TV canon. I would love to read them all and catch up, but that prospect is even more daunting than completing the original 26 seasons of television.

Even so, this book is a great example - and any time spent with the Eighth Doctor and the Brigadier may be considered worthwhile.

[Stephen Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought about giving up on this one several times. The writing was good, but...the story had problems. The beginning was bleak. The middle was bleak. The end almost made up for the bleak, but not quite. Characters didn't act like themselves, especially the Brigadier. The war with the dream world (and the fact the Britain kept it hidden from the rest of the world) was hard to swallow. There seemed like there was too much going on. I've never been a fan of Fitz or Compassion, and it was obvious where they were going with the whole Compassion thing. Bad move. Stupid. The writing was good, though, and some scenes were actually enjoyable.

[Don Incognito · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this Doctor Who novel about a decade ago. It simultaneously indicates what was good and what was bad about the Doctor Who novels, including Paul Cornell's. Good: Cornell's writing is emotive and at times poetic. Bad: The use of Doctor Who canon is so silly, if I didn't know better I would guess Doctor Who is being parodied. We have two blatantly goofy Time Lord agents getting beheaded (by what, I forget) and then...growing new heads through regeneration. Please.

This was not the worst Doctor Who novel for campy fangeekery, but...I have never felt the need to re-read it. Cornell's much earlier novel Love and War was better.

[Numa Parrott · Rating 1 out of 5]

As soon as I saw the cover I sighed and resigned myself to reading what was sure to be a terrible book.
It never exceeded my expectations in any way.
Badly written, tacky characters, cliche subject matter, and cheesy magic stuff.
All you need to know continuity-wise is

*SPOILERS*

the TARDIS gets destroyed in a freak accident and Compassion randomly becomes a new TARDIS and then the Doctor and Fitz go on the run from the Time Lords, who want the new Compassion TARDIS.

Even that bit didn't make much sense.
Now you don't have to waste your time reading this one.