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Past Doctor Adventures #42
Doctor Who: Asylum
Oxford, 1278 -- the Doctor is keen to put a stop to the pioneering scientific experiments of Roger Bacon. Bacon has developed ideas for submarines, explosives, telescopes and aeroplanes -- history will be cast into chaos if any of these ideas see the light of day.Bacon is living among Franciscan friars who consider him to be a heretic embarrassment. When a friar is found dead in suspicious circumstances, they are keen to implicate Bacon and have him locked away for good.However, more and more murders are being committed and it's increasingly obvious that Bacon cannot be held responsible for them all.
254 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 7, 2001
227 people want to read
About the author
Peter Darvill-Evans
14 books6 followersPeter Darvill-Evans is an English writer and editor.
He was born and lived in Buckinghamshire until he went to university, graduating in 1975 from University College, London with a degree in History.
In 1976 Darvill-Evans joined the staff of Games Centre, a specialist games shop in London. He became the manager of a branch of the shop, then manager of wholesale sales, selling board games and eventually role-playing games.
In 1979 he became employed by Games Workshop, becoming first its Trade Sales Manager, then General Manager, responsible for purchases, sales, distribution and magazine publishing. When Games Workshop relocated to Nottingham, Darvill-Evans left the company, preferring to stay in London. He then wrote his first of three Fighting Fantasy gamebooks for Puffin Books.
In 1989, he became the a junior editor at W. H. Allen Ltd, initially overseeing the Target Books imprint. He also oversaw the Nexus imprint of erotic fiction for men, redesigning its logo and cover style as well as changing its editorial direction.
Target's main output was novelisations of the popular science-fiction television series Doctor Who, and when Darvill-Evans arrived he immediately realised that there were very few Doctor Who stories left to novelise. This problem was exacerbated by the cancellation of the television series at the end of 1989. When WH Allen sold the Nexus and Doctor Who lines to Virgin Publishing, Darvill-Evans went with them. Deciding to go freelance, he was made redundant at his own request, and entered negotiations with the BBC to licence Virgin to produce full-length, original novels carrying on the story of the series from the point where the television programme had left off.
Launched in 1991, this hugely successful line of novels were known as the New Adventures. Darvill-Evans set down guidelines for the writers, and even wrote one novel himself, Deceit. Other output from the Virgin fiction department during his time there included another series of Doctor Who novels (the Missing Adventures, featuring previous Doctors and companions); a series of novels following the character of Bernice Summerfield; the Virgin Worlds imprint of new mainstream science-fiction and fantasy novels. Non-science fiction lines included Black Lace, the first mainstream erotic fiction imprint targeted at women; the Crime and Passion imprint; Idol, a homoerotic fiction imprint for men; and Sapphire, a lesbian erotica line.
Other successes included media-tie in books such as the Red Dwarf Programme Guide, which served as the template for guides about other cult television series, and a series of novelisations based on the Jimmy McGovern-scripted series Cracker starring Robbie Coltrane.
By 1997, however, Virgin Publishing decided to emphasise more non-fiction books by and about celebrities. Their license renewal negotiations fell in 1996, a year in which the BBC was seeking to bring all the Doctor Who licenses back in house. Consequently Virgin's Doctor Who license was not renewed and instead the BBC opted to launch their own series of Doctor Who novels. In 1998, Darvill-Evans managed the editing and production of Virgin’s Guide to British Universities, and personally supervised the copy-editing and proofreading of Richard Branson's autobiography Losing My Virginity.
Virgin closed its fiction department in 1999, with Darvill-Evans departing the company and moving to Southampton. He continued to freelance, writing several Doctor Who novels for BBC Books, amongst various other editing and writing work.
In 2001 he began working for the Inland Revenue, and is currently an Inspector of Taxe
He was born and lived in Buckinghamshire until he went to university, graduating in 1975 from University College, London with a degree in History.
In 1976 Darvill-Evans joined the staff of Games Centre, a specialist games shop in London. He became the manager of a branch of the shop, then manager of wholesale sales, selling board games and eventually role-playing games.
In 1979 he became employed by Games Workshop, becoming first its Trade Sales Manager, then General Manager, responsible for purchases, sales, distribution and magazine publishing. When Games Workshop relocated to Nottingham, Darvill-Evans left the company, preferring to stay in London. He then wrote his first of three Fighting Fantasy gamebooks for Puffin Books.
In 1989, he became the a junior editor at W. H. Allen Ltd, initially overseeing the Target Books imprint. He also oversaw the Nexus imprint of erotic fiction for men, redesigning its logo and cover style as well as changing its editorial direction.
Target's main output was novelisations of the popular science-fiction television series Doctor Who, and when Darvill-Evans arrived he immediately realised that there were very few Doctor Who stories left to novelise. This problem was exacerbated by the cancellation of the television series at the end of 1989. When WH Allen sold the Nexus and Doctor Who lines to Virgin Publishing, Darvill-Evans went with them. Deciding to go freelance, he was made redundant at his own request, and entered negotiations with the BBC to licence Virgin to produce full-length, original novels carrying on the story of the series from the point where the television programme had left off.
Launched in 1991, this hugely successful line of novels were known as the New Adventures. Darvill-Evans set down guidelines for the writers, and even wrote one novel himself, Deceit. Other output from the Virgin fiction department during his time there included another series of Doctor Who novels (the Missing Adventures, featuring previous Doctors and companions); a series of novels following the character of Bernice Summerfield; the Virgin Worlds imprint of new mainstream science-fiction and fantasy novels. Non-science fiction lines included Black Lace, the first mainstream erotic fiction imprint targeted at women; the Crime and Passion imprint; Idol, a homoerotic fiction imprint for men; and Sapphire, a lesbian erotica line.
Other successes included media-tie in books such as the Red Dwarf Programme Guide, which served as the template for guides about other cult television series, and a series of novelisations based on the Jimmy McGovern-scripted series Cracker starring Robbie Coltrane.
By 1997, however, Virgin Publishing decided to emphasise more non-fiction books by and about celebrities. Their license renewal negotiations fell in 1996, a year in which the BBC was seeking to bring all the Doctor Who licenses back in house. Consequently Virgin's Doctor Who license was not renewed and instead the BBC opted to launch their own series of Doctor Who novels. In 1998, Darvill-Evans managed the editing and production of Virgin’s Guide to British Universities, and personally supervised the copy-editing and proofreading of Richard Branson's autobiography Losing My Virginity.
Virgin closed its fiction department in 1999, with Darvill-Evans departing the company and moving to Southampton. He continued to freelance, writing several Doctor Who novels for BBC Books, amongst various other editing and writing work.
In 2001 he began working for the Inland Revenue, and is currently an Inspector of Taxe
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 26, 2022
This was one of the few Past Doctor Adventures that I had zero recollection aside from the Timey-Wimey aspect of this TARDIS team.
The idea of a former companion reunited with the Timelord but prior to their original meeting from his timeline is such a cool concept, but frustratingly doesn't get really used to its full potential as an older Nyssa meets the Fourth Doctor post The Deadly Assassin.
The story itself also plays around with time as history is being messed with and the duo head back to Oxford 1278 and are trust upon a murder mystery.
The author really sets the scene of this adventure with plenty of research and whilst it felt like a really enjoyable historical from the earliest era of Doctor Who, the whole novel really didn't hold much substance.
I can see why this one didn't really stick with me back in the day.
The idea of a former companion reunited with the Timelord but prior to their original meeting from his timeline is such a cool concept, but frustratingly doesn't get really used to its full potential as an older Nyssa meets the Fourth Doctor post The Deadly Assassin.
The story itself also plays around with time as history is being messed with and the duo head back to Oxford 1278 and are trust upon a murder mystery.
The author really sets the scene of this adventure with plenty of research and whilst it felt like a really enjoyable historical from the earliest era of Doctor Who, the whole novel really didn't hold much substance.
I can see why this one didn't really stick with me back in the day.
March 14, 2016
When you look at the length of this book, it is misleading. 75% of the book is the story written by Peter Darvill-Evans. The last 25% is an essay by him about writing historical fiction. Once you finish the book, you should read the essay.
This plot is about the Doctor and Nyssa (more on her later) looking into an anomaly in time. They go back to 1278 and get involved in a murder mystery which has an outcome of affecting history. This plot is a very simple plot and is a nice change from the regular science fiction we get with Doctor Who. On top of that it does show how time travel can be just as simple as going back in time.
The writing style is great. Darvill-Evans not only brings 1278 alive, he also bring the secondary characters alive as well. You learn more about their motives and thoughts than in other books. You can tell he has done his research on the time period.
As far the Doctor and Nyssa, he creates a great team here. The catch with Nyssa is for her that it is after she left the TARDIS. How this encounter is written works within the Doctor's time line and has a simple reason why he acts when he does meet her in The Keeper of Traken.
We see how travel with the Doctor has affected Nyssa. She is not part of the action till the end, but her story deals with how she is due to the travel. We also get a chance to see the Doctor react to how travel with him affects someone. This whole sub-plot brings a level to the Doctor companion relation not seen in the books. Maybe with Liz Shaw's departure in The Scales of Injustice.
A great quick read for anyone, even those not of Doctor Who fandom. The added bonus is understanding how one author approached writing a historical fiction as well. Great insight.
This plot is about the Doctor and Nyssa (more on her later) looking into an anomaly in time. They go back to 1278 and get involved in a murder mystery which has an outcome of affecting history. This plot is a very simple plot and is a nice change from the regular science fiction we get with Doctor Who. On top of that it does show how time travel can be just as simple as going back in time.
The writing style is great. Darvill-Evans not only brings 1278 alive, he also bring the secondary characters alive as well. You learn more about their motives and thoughts than in other books. You can tell he has done his research on the time period.
As far the Doctor and Nyssa, he creates a great team here. The catch with Nyssa is for her that it is after she left the TARDIS. How this encounter is written works within the Doctor's time line and has a simple reason why he acts when he does meet her in The Keeper of Traken.
We see how travel with the Doctor has affected Nyssa. She is not part of the action till the end, but her story deals with how she is due to the travel. We also get a chance to see the Doctor react to how travel with him affects someone. This whole sub-plot brings a level to the Doctor companion relation not seen in the books. Maybe with Liz Shaw's departure in The Scales of Injustice.
A great quick read for anyone, even those not of Doctor Who fandom. The added bonus is understanding how one author approached writing a historical fiction as well. Great insight.
July 31, 2017
The 4th Doctor accidentally meets up with an older Nyssa who is researching history. Something has disappeared in history, so the Doctor goes to 13th century Oxford. This is a murder mystery style novel and has an interesting dynamic with the older Nyssa. The historical setting is well done, and has a slight Cadfael feel to it. A good read.
August 5, 2022
Asylum is a word with many meanings. Perhaps most prevalent in popular culture is its description of a mental health facility, bringing up horrific stories of the past where people with mental illness. The word itself comes from the Greek sulon, meaning right of seizure, with a prefix a, indicating lack of, literally meaning taking away the right of seizure. This brings to mind political and religious asylum, refuge given to seekers which has evolved into the modern sense of political asylum for refugees. Asylum is the third and final Doctor Who novel written by editor of the Virgin New Adventures, Peter Darvill-Evans, and the first to not be a Seventh Doctor novel and the first not to be a story set in the far future. Instead, Darvill-Evans has crafted a narrative set in 13th century Britain, where an unnamed alien race has found itself living amongst monks, possessing bodies, and causing a murder. This sounds like it should be a great example of a novel and there should be an interesting story here, however, the book falls down on several fronts. First it’s length, it’s actually the shortest installment of the Past Doctor Adventures, only coming to 226 pages with the rest of the book being filled out by Darvill-Evans dedicating over 30 pages to an essay on the historical context of the novel, what he changed from history for the book and this is honestly the best part of the novel. It gives an interesting insight into the creative process and how Darvill-Evans has to alter history for a contemporary novel and made efforts to write characters in a way that sounds like they are distinctly from the past and are translated into English.
Asylum, the novel, isn’t a very good book. The interesting premise doesn’t really feel like there is any time to flesh it out in any real way and all of the characters, especially the monks, are incredibly generic. Some of them are historical figures, Robert Bacon being the most prominent, and there are some pieces of genuinely beautiful prose, but that’s about it. This is also an odd choice of TARDIS team as it is the Fourth Doctor set immediately after The Deadly Assassin while he meets a Nyssa post-Terminus. Neither of their characterization actually works with Nyssa coming the closest to her television characterization but this is a shame as by this point The Land of the Dead, Winter for the Adept, and The Mutant Phase were all released to the public so there really isn’t a reason that Darvill-Evans has to fall back on this naïve girl, despite the fact that she is supposed to be quite a bit older than in Terminus. The Doctor is technically close to the Season 18 portrayal with a sense of age and wisdom and less of the wonder and quirky nature of the character. Here he just kind of exists and sulks and that doesn’t really make for a compelling character.
Overall, Asylum is a book from someone who really should have just stayed as an editor, the BBC Books range certainly could have used his expertise when it came to commissions and published books. It’s far from the worst book in the range, Rags still takes the cake, and there is a really nice 30 page essay on the historical context. I’m not kidding. 3/10.
Asylum, the novel, isn’t a very good book. The interesting premise doesn’t really feel like there is any time to flesh it out in any real way and all of the characters, especially the monks, are incredibly generic. Some of them are historical figures, Robert Bacon being the most prominent, and there are some pieces of genuinely beautiful prose, but that’s about it. This is also an odd choice of TARDIS team as it is the Fourth Doctor set immediately after The Deadly Assassin while he meets a Nyssa post-Terminus. Neither of their characterization actually works with Nyssa coming the closest to her television characterization but this is a shame as by this point The Land of the Dead, Winter for the Adept, and The Mutant Phase were all released to the public so there really isn’t a reason that Darvill-Evans has to fall back on this naïve girl, despite the fact that she is supposed to be quite a bit older than in Terminus. The Doctor is technically close to the Season 18 portrayal with a sense of age and wisdom and less of the wonder and quirky nature of the character. Here he just kind of exists and sulks and that doesn’t really make for a compelling character.
Overall, Asylum is a book from someone who really should have just stayed as an editor, the BBC Books range certainly could have used his expertise when it came to commissions and published books. It’s far from the worst book in the range, Rags still takes the cake, and there is a really nice 30 page essay on the historical context. I’m not kidding. 3/10.
April 1, 2024
Out of all the times that I've reread books, this re-read provided the drastically change in how I've felt about the work, and I'm not sure if I want to know what that says of my sophistication as a reader. Regardless of that elusive sophistication, I first read *Doctor Who: Asylum* in middle school after buying it off eBay, and I was not impressed; it lost me and went down in my memory banks as a boring read. I reread it on the eve of the 60th anniversary return of *Doctor Who* and after rewatching Russel T Davies' original era and would up appreciating it a bit more... unlike a lot of the others who have read and reviewed this book. I see where their complaints are coming from, but I can't help but think that *Asylum*'s unique form and relatively well-drawn view of medieval Europe warrant at least a solid and enjoyable rating.
The book starts with a strange scene of an old, begging friar being drawn to a box seething a bunch of unearthly voyages, while the second prologue introduces us to post-"Terminus" Nyssa who is currently working as an instructor of technography and on a thesis about Roger Bacon, a thirteenth-century man whom she believes was the father of technography. Her mental state is burdened by the universe being at war and her not getting a break ever since the Doctor picked her up years ago, which see seems to dwell on as part of her daily routine; and then, something strange happens: the subject of her thesis moves from Roger Bacon to a different 18th-century(?) architect. And then something even stranger happens: the Fourth Doctor, before ever meeting Nyssa, appears thanks to the TARDIS responding to a space-time anomaly. He says he's going back to Medieval times, and Nyssa thinks that sounds relaxing, so she sneaks into the TARDIS is hitches a ride back her him. They seek to investigate Roger Bacon since he seems to be the anomaly's main concern and meet him in the middle of the friary before meeting the supporting cast, which ranges from Oxford's recently-arrived knight Richard and Friar Alfric (who is the head of the friary's stooge, as it were) Lady Matilda of the nearby castle to Friar Whatshisface, who was a verbal-dueling partner with and rival of Friar Otherwhatshisface, who's been murdered. The head friars are trying to pin the murder on Roger Bacon because they fear he's still continuing his research, but the Doctor's not convinced, so he decides to find out if Mr. Bacon could really have committed the crime for himself...
In this orientation of the past, Bacon has an assistant: Friar Thomas. He helps his master make it to lectures, which the Doctor quickly attends. He concerns himself with the friary's recent business while Nyssa goes and stays at Lady Matilda's castle in order to get some of her precious relaxation. That serenity is interrupted by Richard's ceaseless vowing of his heart to her, which is charming untli it quickly becomes uncomfortable. Things get more uncomfortable when .
The first thing I must remark around is the unique characterization of the TARDIS team. The Doctor and Nyssa encounter each other out-of-order, which seems rather Nu-Who to me, and it could've centered around a great revitalization of Nyssa's career where . Instead, she pouts about how she's not getting enough alone time for the whole time... I'm not going to pretend that I've seen any of her original episodes, but I don't need to see them to know that her character is being wasted here. The Doctor's characterization fares better; everything that he does is in character and admirable, but I must say that his dialogue is strangely... bad. Like, not bad for the Doctor, just poorly written in general. This is especially strange since the rest of the dialogue is pretty competently written. Must just be hard to capture that Gallifreyan whimsey...
The supporting characters end up closer archetypes than well-rounded individuals, but that's not terribly surprising or disappointing to me with a tie-in novel, especially one with this big of a cast. The majority of the book is told from the auxiliary cast's perspectives, and that helps frame this engaging and slightly complex story. The time period was a nice change of pace, and the essay that Darvill-Evans put in the back of the book about how he wrote medieval Oxford was interesting and worth the twenty minutes of reading. It was probably a bit underutilized (the settings' effects weren't brutal enough, etc), but it worked for this tale.
Finally, *Asylum*'s prose is surprisingly good for a Doctor Who book. Maybe it's because I haven't read many 90's-00's Past Doctor Adventures, but it was good and solid writing that, if slightly shlocky, never made me role my eyes and didn't obsess itself with strange action-framing. It was an easily digestible read, and it was pleasantly subtle in its use of its villains... at the end of the story, , which is a bold choice for a Doctor Who story. If you're not the kind of reader who needs everything spelled out for you, it's a good narrative choice that helps set this book apart from its peers, especially in conjunction with its atypical TARDIS team.
I think that the unusual form of the story may be a reason why a lot of people don't really like this book, but whether that's it or not, I'll go against the grain and give this book a solid 7/10. It's better than the 5/10 I remember and it's encouraging me to read some more Doctor Who novels; I've even started buying lots on eBay when I come across them. And while I don't know when I'll get around to Baker's TV stories, I know I need to watch them so I can talk about these tie-in novels more intelligently. All that being said, I do have a lot of more serious science fiction I need to form the base of my palette with, so this fluff will wait until its time. If this book interests you, I encourage you to give it a whirl and see if its form is for you or not. I guess I'll see you next time I write one ofmy disproportionally dense Doctor Who novel reviews through Goodreads. Til then, enjoy your day, your week, your future, and your past. Goodbye; adios; vale.
The book starts with a strange scene of an old, begging friar being drawn to a box seething a bunch of unearthly voyages, while the second prologue introduces us to post-"Terminus" Nyssa who is currently working as an instructor of technography and on a thesis about Roger Bacon, a thirteenth-century man whom she believes was the father of technography. Her mental state is burdened by the universe being at war and her not getting a break ever since the Doctor picked her up years ago, which see seems to dwell on as part of her daily routine; and then, something strange happens: the subject of her thesis moves from Roger Bacon to a different 18th-century(?) architect. And then something even stranger happens: the Fourth Doctor, before ever meeting Nyssa, appears thanks to the TARDIS responding to a space-time anomaly. He says he's going back to Medieval times, and Nyssa thinks that sounds relaxing, so she sneaks into the TARDIS is hitches a ride back her him. They seek to investigate Roger Bacon since he seems to be the anomaly's main concern and meet him in the middle of the friary before meeting the supporting cast, which ranges from Oxford's recently-arrived knight Richard and Friar Alfric (who is the head of the friary's stooge, as it were) Lady Matilda of the nearby castle to Friar Whatshisface, who was a verbal-dueling partner with and rival of Friar Otherwhatshisface, who's been murdered. The head friars are trying to pin the murder on Roger Bacon because they fear he's still continuing his research, but the Doctor's not convinced, so he decides to find out if Mr. Bacon could really have committed the crime for himself...
In this orientation of the past, Bacon has an assistant: Friar Thomas. He helps his master make it to lectures, which the Doctor quickly attends. He concerns himself with the friary's recent business while Nyssa goes and stays at Lady Matilda's castle in order to get some of her precious relaxation. That serenity is interrupted by Richard's ceaseless vowing of his heart to her, which is charming untli it quickly becomes uncomfortable. Things get more uncomfortable when .
The first thing I must remark around is the unique characterization of the TARDIS team. The Doctor and Nyssa encounter each other out-of-order, which seems rather Nu-Who to me, and it could've centered around a great revitalization of Nyssa's career where . Instead, she pouts about how she's not getting enough alone time for the whole time... I'm not going to pretend that I've seen any of her original episodes, but I don't need to see them to know that her character is being wasted here. The Doctor's characterization fares better; everything that he does is in character and admirable, but I must say that his dialogue is strangely... bad. Like, not bad for the Doctor, just poorly written in general. This is especially strange since the rest of the dialogue is pretty competently written. Must just be hard to capture that Gallifreyan whimsey...
The supporting characters end up closer archetypes than well-rounded individuals, but that's not terribly surprising or disappointing to me with a tie-in novel, especially one with this big of a cast. The majority of the book is told from the auxiliary cast's perspectives, and that helps frame this engaging and slightly complex story. The time period was a nice change of pace, and the essay that Darvill-Evans put in the back of the book about how he wrote medieval Oxford was interesting and worth the twenty minutes of reading. It was probably a bit underutilized (the settings' effects weren't brutal enough, etc), but it worked for this tale.
Finally, *Asylum*'s prose is surprisingly good for a Doctor Who book. Maybe it's because I haven't read many 90's-00's Past Doctor Adventures, but it was good and solid writing that, if slightly shlocky, never made me role my eyes and didn't obsess itself with strange action-framing. It was an easily digestible read, and it was pleasantly subtle in its use of its villains... at the end of the story, , which is a bold choice for a Doctor Who story. If you're not the kind of reader who needs everything spelled out for you, it's a good narrative choice that helps set this book apart from its peers, especially in conjunction with its atypical TARDIS team.
I think that the unusual form of the story may be a reason why a lot of people don't really like this book, but whether that's it or not, I'll go against the grain and give this book a solid 7/10. It's better than the 5/10 I remember and it's encouraging me to read some more Doctor Who novels; I've even started buying lots on eBay when I come across them. And while I don't know when I'll get around to Baker's TV stories, I know I need to watch them so I can talk about these tie-in novels more intelligently. All that being said, I do have a lot of more serious science fiction I need to form the base of my palette with, so this fluff will wait until its time. If this book interests you, I encourage you to give it a whirl and see if its form is for you or not. I guess I'll see you next time I write one ofmy disproportionally dense Doctor Who novel reviews through Goodreads. Til then, enjoy your day, your week, your future, and your past. Goodbye; adios; vale.
August 30, 2022
So this one was definitely NOT as fun as I remembered (as a 16 year old) but still kind of a fascinating effort from the PDA range.
I will say though, the final like 26 pages that are the author talking about the genesis of the book and his research and how much he’s fictionalized is a little preachy and also weirdly haughty in points so take all that as you will should you choose to pick this one up. It’s got some neat detailing in it but also kinda cringe occasionally.
BUUUUTTTT, still pretty fun though! It’s got a very neat hook for both its specific Fourth Doctor and where he’s picking up a “future” Nyssa post her tv exit. PLUS all that research and planning (the author is also a game book writer which makes a whole hell of a lot of sense post reading this) pays off because the setting is really alive and fascinating in the ways you want DW historicals to be.
I will say though, the final like 26 pages that are the author talking about the genesis of the book and his research and how much he’s fictionalized is a little preachy and also weirdly haughty in points so take all that as you will should you choose to pick this one up. It’s got some neat detailing in it but also kinda cringe occasionally.
BUUUUTTTT, still pretty fun though! It’s got a very neat hook for both its specific Fourth Doctor and where he’s picking up a “future” Nyssa post her tv exit. PLUS all that research and planning (the author is also a game book writer which makes a whole hell of a lot of sense post reading this) pays off because the setting is really alive and fascinating in the ways you want DW historicals to be.
June 12, 2023
Like Darvill-Evans' previous book in this range, Independence Day, Asylum is a well written book that features a plot that doesn't really need the Doctor to be there. Where this book scores over Independence Day is the setting. ID is a rote SF scenario populated by people who obviously don't have lives when they're not on the page. Asylum, set in 13th Century Oxford, benefits from a massive amount of research into the era and the socialology of the various factions that coexisted. And importantly, that research doesn't drown out the - admittedly somewhat thin - plot. An enjoyable book, but not a great one.
February 27, 2016
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I do not like all the extra stuff that is thrown in; on the other hand, I like all the things this book could have been. The main story involves Doctor 4 investigating a murder in a Franciscan monastery in Oxford. The murder involves Doctor Mirabilis, Roger Bacon. This part of the novel works very well. It is similar to "Name of the Rose" in that the murder involves books and the clash between the unbending Medieval view of the cosmos and a potentially new understanding. Intrigue, local politics, and fear all play their parts in driving this plot. Darvill-Evans has done his history homework, so that life in Medieval Oxford is realistic. I simply do not understand why Darvill-Evans could not have been content with that. Instead, he piles on numerous irrelevancies. The most baffling of these is having an older Nyssa (maybe in her early 30s) meeting Doctor 4 from before they meet in "Keeper of Traken." Why? This device serves no purpose to the story and builds needless complications. And the only out that Darvill-Evans comes up with for this is that the Doctor is just going to remember to forget the next time he meets Nyssa? Surely, a writer as intelligent as Darvill-Evans is, given the evidence of his postscript about historical fiction, would recognize how unsatisfactory that resolution is to this little complication. Why not have the novel be Doctor 5 and Nyssa if he really wants Nyssa in the story? That gets us to problem number two, which is that if he is so keen on using Nyssa, why does he not use her? Instead, she gets sidetracked into a hideaway in a castle converted into a garden, and spends almost the whole of her time in the novel saying "leave me alone." There is a whole side plot with a knight who falls madly in love with her, but only reminds her of the death and terror she has faced, causing panic attacks. Why? What purpose to the story does this serve? Apparently very little given how easily the murderer kills the knight and that Nyssa's only involvement in the main plot is to be threatened by the murderer and stab him instead. This PTSD Nyssa is frustrating because there is no clear rationale for her condition and for this secondary story. The third problem is that to get the Doctor and Nyssa to Oxford 1278, Darvill-Evans creates a flimsy contrivance that something is going wrong with timelines surrounding Roger Bacon's role in history. Surely, if one has a TARDIS one does not need this excuse to have the Doctor arrive at whatever setting one wants. Nothing in the plot actually relates to this time line foul up, no one messing with time machines, nothing of the kind that would warrant placing it in the story. The fourth problem is that there seems to be some sort of stranded alien bit involving Brother Thomas. Why? Unknown. The Doctor never discovers the stranded aliens not even that they exist, and they are not really needed for Darvill-Evans to explain Thomas's behavior. In short, had Darvill-Evans just stuck to his main plot idea and used straightforward means to get the characters there, this would have been a cracking novel. As it is, the novel has too many distracting side bits.
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December 23, 2009"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1280906.html[return][return]A slightly odd Who novel, a bit out of joint with itself: the Fourth Doctor, travelling companionless, meets with Nyssa, years after she has left Terminus, and sets off to track down a time anomaly centred around Roger Bacon in the year 1278. Darvill-Evans (who of course was Rebecca Levene's boss at Virgin when they were publishing the New and Missing Adventures) has worked hard, perhaps a little too hard, at the medieval Oxford setting, and explains how and why in an interesting afterword to the book. It is a very good study of Nyssa as tragic heroine, a line taken also in a couple of the better Big Finish audios; the Doctor / Bacon exchanges are quite fun as well. But the plot is a thin compilation of Brother Cadfael and Inspector Morse, with a pinch of alien menace not very satisfactorily explained. Still, an interestingly different take on where a Who novel can go and a moderate success."
February 10, 2020
Why does the fourth Doctor always seem to have the worst original novels? This book is set in 1278, Oxford, and the Doctor runs around in a mystery straight out of Peter Ellis's Brother Cadfael. The mystery is okay, albeit largely ignored that it involves alien possession. Companion Nyssa has nothing to do but sit in a castle and live the life of a noblewoman while a knight pines for her.
Author Peter Darvill-Evans seemed to be split on what he was intending to do. He wanted to create a Who novel with a mystery, yet at the same time give a behind the scenes jaunt into what life was like back in the day. You could delete every scene with Nyssa and the main story would survive completely. This shows that there are two stories going on, but they don't work as a whole. More proof of the author's intentions are made evident by a 25 page section of notes about the time period. Mr. Darvill-Evans should have read more about Who than history.
Author Peter Darvill-Evans seemed to be split on what he was intending to do. He wanted to create a Who novel with a mystery, yet at the same time give a behind the scenes jaunt into what life was like back in the day. You could delete every scene with Nyssa and the main story would survive completely. This shows that there are two stories going on, but they don't work as a whole. More proof of the author's intentions are made evident by a 25 page section of notes about the time period. Mr. Darvill-Evans should have read more about Who than history.
April 19, 2012
Decent story, aliens mess with the time stream and change the past. In this case, they change the story of Roger Bacon, and the Doctor has to intervene.
But read the afterword. The author spends a great deal of time discussing his research into historical Oxford, and the difficulty in writing believably and understandably about a culture that is, frankly, alien. Medieval England is not like modern England. Attitudes are very different, and the cultural defaults are very different. If you want to describe an alien culture on some distant planet, you could do worse than to base it on medieval England.
But read the afterword. The author spends a great deal of time discussing his research into historical Oxford, and the difficulty in writing believably and understandably about a culture that is, frankly, alien. Medieval England is not like modern England. Attitudes are very different, and the cultural defaults are very different. If you want to describe an alien culture on some distant planet, you could do worse than to base it on medieval England.
March 12, 2023
An interesting tale in early medieval times looking at the beginnings of scientific study in the West with Roger Bacon, as well as the impact of her adventures on a very depressed Nyssa. Sadly, she doesn't get much to do in this tale, but at least at the end she comes out of it a happier person.
It's a shame we don't find out any more about the exiles who live in the minds of others, with even the Doctor seemingly oblivious to their plight.
It's a shame we don't find out any more about the exiles who live in the minds of others, with even the Doctor seemingly oblivious to their plight.
February 23, 2009
This book would have been ok if it wasn't for the constant waffling description about places and buildings. It would have been better if the author had have just got on with the story.
January 22, 2011
Another disappointment from the pen of Mr. Darvill-Evans. Unlike "Independence Day" it's not out-right shlock. It's simply as bland, uninteresting & soul killing as the Sahara Desert.
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