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Eighth Doctor Adventures #44
Doctor Who: Vanishing Point
An Eighth Doctor, Anji and Fitz novel. The planet Khnemu is a closed system, where space travel is prohibited by the white and black holes that distantly ring the galaxy. Each person on the planet carries in their genes a hereditary 'Godswitch' which enables 'God' to monitor their every move.
278 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 2, 2001
About the author
Stephen Cole
234 books150 followersSee also: Steve Cole.
Stephen Cole (born 1971) is an English author of children's books and science fiction. He was also in charge of BBC Worldwide's merchandising of the BBC Television series Doctor Who between 1997 and 1999: this was a role which found him deciding on which stories should be released on video, commissioning and editing a range of fiction and non-fiction titles, producing audiobooks and acting as executive producer on the Big Finish Productions range of Doctor Who audio dramas.
Stephen Cole (born 1971) is an English author of children's books and science fiction. He was also in charge of BBC Worldwide's merchandising of the BBC Television series Doctor Who between 1997 and 1999: this was a role which found him deciding on which stories should be released on video, commissioning and editing a range of fiction and non-fiction titles, producing audiobooks and acting as executive producer on the Big Finish Productions range of Doctor Who audio dramas.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 30, 2023
Finally getting around to this gap in my 8th Doctor reading. I'm rounding this up to 4 stars from a 3.5 rating. It's unrelentingly dark and grim, but it pushes boundaries to tell a sophisticated SF story within the Whoniverse, and succeeds more often than not. There is also an excellent command of the 8th Doctor/Fitz/Anji team on display...which is doubly impressive as I don't find Anji the most empathetic or enjoyable of characters. This is a cut above the average Stephen Cole novel, so colour me impressed.
July 10, 2022
There has been something interesting about the last grouping of BBC Books 1990s/2000s Doctor Who novels that I have been reading. Bunker Soldiers was the standout, brimming with great ideas and characters plus an interesting style of narration injecting something great into it. Outside of that Escape Velocity was a fairly average end to the Earth arc, but was promising in the way that it ended reflecting the end of An Unearthly Child and EarthWorld just focused on telling a solid Doctor Who story. But Rags took out quite a lot of my enthusiasm for the range and consuming Doctor Who things in general, resulting in a rage filled review, which while popular, is not the type of review I wish to write nor do I enjoy it. This meant that Vanishing Point, the next book published and the third Eighth Doctor Adventure to feature Anji as a companion, may have had an uphill battle to get the book to come together, especially as it becomes clear that the editing situation at BBC Books was not conducive to actual editing. Vanishing Point is perhaps a book that desperately needed the hand of an editor in focusing what it wanted to do. The book is all over the place, starting in media res from the perspective of a supporting character which is not a bad way to start a novel although author Stephen Cole doesn’t give enough time to the character to explore who she is or really even establish much of the setting before the Doctor, Fitz, and Anji are introduced and the plot attempts to move forward.
The ideas at their heart should work and be an introspective science fiction tale. It’s a tale all about the mixing of science and religion, with the religion all about this society where genetic engineering is heading towards a mythical “vanishing point” and the society’s God is a literal person. There are also undercurrents of eugenics within the novel, something that reads as almost cynical fears about the burgeoning genetics research of the early 2000s which hasn’t exactly aged well and is just one of the many ideas. Nathaniel Dark is one of Cole’s more interesting characters throughout the novel, though he isn’t actually the villain of the piece, but honestly he should be. The character’s name is already one that fits a villain and there are implications that possibly the Daleks might be behind this somehow with “the Creator” being an expy for Davros which doesn’t work. The Doctor, Fitz, and Anji are fine, Stephen Cole was the editor of the range before this point after all (even though editor doesn’t really edit and more gets all the Doctor Who releases from the BBC: books, VHS, audiobook, and DVD in order) and he clearly understands the Doctor and Fitz, though Anji might need more work and consistency as her only trait is dealing with the grief of losing Dave in Escape Velocity…despite EarthWorld doing such a good job of working the character through her grief in a clever way that managed to show it happening over the course of the book and not just saying it. Now that doesn’t mean it can’t be mentioned, but her being in grief seems to be the one character trait Cole can pin down which is a shame.
Overall, Vanishing Point is a book with a lot of problems, possibly from the fact that Cole was writing another book at the same time. There are moments that are really good and the ideas are solid behind the book, but it lacks a sense of identity and falls flat in opening with a good hook to bring readers in so there is a lack of a hold to keep going. 5/10.
The ideas at their heart should work and be an introspective science fiction tale. It’s a tale all about the mixing of science and religion, with the religion all about this society where genetic engineering is heading towards a mythical “vanishing point” and the society’s God is a literal person. There are also undercurrents of eugenics within the novel, something that reads as almost cynical fears about the burgeoning genetics research of the early 2000s which hasn’t exactly aged well and is just one of the many ideas. Nathaniel Dark is one of Cole’s more interesting characters throughout the novel, though he isn’t actually the villain of the piece, but honestly he should be. The character’s name is already one that fits a villain and there are implications that possibly the Daleks might be behind this somehow with “the Creator” being an expy for Davros which doesn’t work. The Doctor, Fitz, and Anji are fine, Stephen Cole was the editor of the range before this point after all (even though editor doesn’t really edit and more gets all the Doctor Who releases from the BBC: books, VHS, audiobook, and DVD in order) and he clearly understands the Doctor and Fitz, though Anji might need more work and consistency as her only trait is dealing with the grief of losing Dave in Escape Velocity…despite EarthWorld doing such a good job of working the character through her grief in a clever way that managed to show it happening over the course of the book and not just saying it. Now that doesn’t mean it can’t be mentioned, but her being in grief seems to be the one character trait Cole can pin down which is a shame.
Overall, Vanishing Point is a book with a lot of problems, possibly from the fact that Cole was writing another book at the same time. There are moments that are really good and the ideas are solid behind the book, but it lacks a sense of identity and falls flat in opening with a good hook to bring readers in so there is a lack of a hold to keep going. 5/10.
July 14, 2013
The core ideas of this novel would have made for a very thought provoking SF novel even without the Doctor Who element. However, Cole spins these ideas out into a distinctively Whovian adventure, packed with cliffhangers, wild improvisations and the Doctor as moral compass.
May 31, 2026
This EDA surprised me. I have not really *enjoyed* any of Cole's works in the past- I've found them to either be miserable or just passable. This installment, however, had me turning pages and completely invested in the story. Yes, the narrative is a little complicated (would it really be DW if it wasn't) but overall I really enjoyed the characters, the setting, and the plot of this novel. Nathaniel Dark and Ettianne Grace are instantly likeable, and the mystery that they find themselves embroiled in is intriguing and has enough twists and turns to keep the reader invested.
Again we're faced with a plot that involves genetics and DNA (a popular theme in the EDAs if not DW in general) and religion. Keeping it brief, it involves eugenics, a 'godswitch' on the genes, reincarnation, and a religious order that attempts to explain the meaning of your life to your loved ones after you pass. The Doctor gets to the heart of the conspiracy, as usual, rights what has gone wrong on this world. Fitz gets hurt, beds the girl, and eventually proves himself useful. Anji is becoming more confident and accepting her role on the Tardis team.
Yes, the villain here is comically evil, and beyond redemption. Yes, the Doctor gets hit in the head several times and disappears for pages. Yes, he uses a gun. If you can get beyond these items, you're going to have a pretty good time here. The team works together for the majority of the book, and they all know what they are doing. This is a refreshing change from most EDAs where most of the time they are separated.
All in all, this was a fun surprise, and I honestly had a good time with it, especially after the drag that was Fear Itself.
Again we're faced with a plot that involves genetics and DNA (a popular theme in the EDAs if not DW in general) and religion. Keeping it brief, it involves eugenics, a 'godswitch' on the genes, reincarnation, and a religious order that attempts to explain the meaning of your life to your loved ones after you pass. The Doctor gets to the heart of the conspiracy, as usual, rights what has gone wrong on this world. Fitz gets hurt, beds the girl, and eventually proves himself useful. Anji is becoming more confident and accepting her role on the Tardis team.
Yes, the villain here is comically evil, and beyond redemption. Yes, the Doctor gets hit in the head several times and disappears for pages. Yes, he uses a gun. If you can get beyond these items, you're going to have a pretty good time here. The team works together for the majority of the book, and they all know what they are doing. This is a refreshing change from most EDAs where most of the time they are separated.
All in all, this was a fun surprise, and I honestly had a good time with it, especially after the drag that was Fear Itself.
July 18, 2024
Plot: 2.5-3? There are some really fun action sequences, but also many that drag on way too long, and I found the villain and his motivations uninspired.
Homoeroticism: off the scale. Cole ships Eight/Fitz so hard and their dynamic in this is absolutely insane. Jaw on the floor, I snipped and sent many screencaps.
Saw him that night, he means, when the Doctor ran forward and kissed the video screen when Fitz came on the call. You know, normal friend behavior.
The Doctor also princess carries an injured Fitz -- and then uses his legs as a battering ram.
I would pay cash monies to see this filmed.
Homoeroticism: off the scale. Cole ships Eight/Fitz so hard and their dynamic in this is absolutely insane. Jaw on the floor, I snipped and sent many screencaps.
"Do you love Anji?"
Now Fitz burst out laughing. "That's a good one. Er, no. We're not together in that way. We're just friends."
"Then are you lonely?" Vettul asked in her solemn voice.
"I used to be," Fitz said. "But I'm not any more. I met someone special. You saw him tonight, the Doctor."
Saw him that night, he means, when the Doctor ran forward and kissed the video screen when Fitz came on the call. You know, normal friend behavior.
The Doctor also princess carries an injured Fitz -- and then uses his legs as a battering ram.
I would pay cash monies to see this filmed.
January 30, 2026
The Doctor, Anji and Fitz arrive on a planet with an actual God in residence but, perhaps more pressingly, a lot of prejudice, terrorism and kidnapping going on as well.
Vanishing Point is action packed and fast moving, but it seems a little too uninterested in answering its big questions. No one wants to go and meet God, for instance, and the generally anti-disability society is left pretty much to sort itself out in the end.
The best thing apart from the kinetic pace is the characterisation of the leads, which is believable and nicely motivated by the action around them. The supporting characters are sometimes good, but much like the plot there isn’t enough depth to them — particularly the villain.
Vanishing Point is action packed and fast moving, but it seems a little too uninterested in answering its big questions. No one wants to go and meet God, for instance, and the generally anti-disability society is left pretty much to sort itself out in the end.
The best thing apart from the kinetic pace is the characterisation of the leads, which is believable and nicely motivated by the action around them. The supporting characters are sometimes good, but much like the plot there isn’t enough depth to them — particularly the villain.
February 17, 2013
Good one! Very well paced plot, even if there were 7 or 8 too many cliffhangers. Literal cliffhangers. As in--people hanging from cliffs (and *plot twist!* falling off them occasionally).
I loved all the local characters and the Doctor and Co. were well portrayed. The message about the disabled people and the 'souls' was fantastic and wonderfully thought-provoking. (Though perhaps it's a bit awkward that the disabled people literally didn't have 'souls'.)
The bad guy was gross but not particularly scary. The final showdown was less intense than the car crash. If this is a world in the distant future then why is it basically 2001 + hovercars and 'vid screens'? Little bit uninventive.
If you love the Doctor, you should read it.
I loved all the local characters and the Doctor and Co. were well portrayed. The message about the disabled people and the 'souls' was fantastic and wonderfully thought-provoking. (Though perhaps it's a bit awkward that the disabled people literally didn't have 'souls'.)
The bad guy was gross but not particularly scary. The final showdown was less intense than the car crash. If this is a world in the distant future then why is it basically 2001 + hovercars and 'vid screens'? Little bit uninventive.
If you love the Doctor, you should read it.
April 8, 2009
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2145814.html[return][return]A pretty solid Eighth Doctor Adventure, with Doctor, Fitz and Anji pitching up on a planet where the powers that be are engaged in dark manipulations of genetics with a religious cover for their activities. Much more detailed and thoughtful than Cole's base-under-siege stories (which are generally pretty good anyway). Loses a couple of points for inconsistency of setting between blasted heath and robot city. Mercifully free of tedious Doctor amnesia.
October 14, 2017
The Doctor, Fitz and Anji land on a planet and immediately gets involved in saving a local woman from some thugs. This leads to learning that the planet is deeply religious and has a hatred of the unlike. The storyline is clever and has some unpredictable moments. Fitz again has something horrible happen to him. I do wonder what the writers have against the character. The Doctor is becoming more of himself, which is a welcome return after the amnesia run of novels. A good read.
April 27, 2026
You know, just once i'd like to say read a stephen cole book and go "you know, that was pretty good." unfortunately, this specific instance has not happened yet. He's meh at his best and terrible at his worst. This probably leans more towards the 'meh' category, especially after the nonsense that was "Fear Itself" But it doesn't make it any better.
So this one is about Anji, Fitz, and the Doc all ending up on this planet where there's a god like force and cult like people that worship him and basically when you die you either go to him or get reincarnated. people are dying and there's a weird melty old guy who wants a lady so he can see the entity. Yes, my description of the plot isn't very good, but that's because the story itself doesn't make a lot of sense.
Here's where i'm conflicted about this one. I enjoy the dialogue and the banter in this one. Fitz, Anji, Doc, and the other characters (including a religious guy named "Dark" who is questioning his religion. he's pretty cool. i like him) are all quite good in this one (Even though 8 is a bit of a jerk in this one and a little out of character) and are interesting enough that i definitely wish to keep reading when they have their dialogue scenes.
The real place where this book fails is the villain and his plan. The world is fine, the characters are fine, but MY GOD does this villain have the most convoluted plan ever. I won't spoil it (i don't know if i could even if i wanted to) but i'll just say that it's one of those (wears monocle) "yesss look how smart i am. i'm talking about genetic codes and specific proteins that affect this god entity."
If this book had a simpler villainous plan that made more sense, i'd really have been a lot more into it. This kind of reeks of "the taint" where he ALSO wrote a story that had okay dialogue and setting, but the villainous plan was entirely convoluted for no reason.
This seems to be a theme with Stephen. Make the villain's story be so incredibly confusing for no reason whatsoever but do decent character work. I don't know why he feels the need to do this? Does he think it makes him sound smart? I don't know, but it made me take 2 weeks on this book. and that's a long time for me and doctor who.
I was VERY torn on rating this one. it's a 2.5 out of 5 for sure, but for the life of me i couldn't tell whether or not to give it a 2 or 3. and since i gave Fear Itself a 2, push come to shove, gun to my head, if i had to pick a re-read, it would be this one over fear itself, so i'll round this one up to a 3, even though it's 100% a 2.5.
The villain was whingy and lame, his plan made no sense, Etty and her kid were VERY irritating, but characters like Vettul and Dark were cool, so it's a mixed bag.
Hopefully eater of wasps is better. 2.5 out of 5, rounded up to a 3.
So this one is about Anji, Fitz, and the Doc all ending up on this planet where there's a god like force and cult like people that worship him and basically when you die you either go to him or get reincarnated. people are dying and there's a weird melty old guy who wants a lady so he can see the entity. Yes, my description of the plot isn't very good, but that's because the story itself doesn't make a lot of sense.
Here's where i'm conflicted about this one. I enjoy the dialogue and the banter in this one. Fitz, Anji, Doc, and the other characters (including a religious guy named "Dark" who is questioning his religion. he's pretty cool. i like him) are all quite good in this one (Even though 8 is a bit of a jerk in this one and a little out of character) and are interesting enough that i definitely wish to keep reading when they have their dialogue scenes.
The real place where this book fails is the villain and his plan. The world is fine, the characters are fine, but MY GOD does this villain have the most convoluted plan ever. I won't spoil it (i don't know if i could even if i wanted to) but i'll just say that it's one of those (wears monocle) "yesss look how smart i am. i'm talking about genetic codes and specific proteins that affect this god entity."
If this book had a simpler villainous plan that made more sense, i'd really have been a lot more into it. This kind of reeks of "the taint" where he ALSO wrote a story that had okay dialogue and setting, but the villainous plan was entirely convoluted for no reason.
This seems to be a theme with Stephen. Make the villain's story be so incredibly confusing for no reason whatsoever but do decent character work. I don't know why he feels the need to do this? Does he think it makes him sound smart? I don't know, but it made me take 2 weeks on this book. and that's a long time for me and doctor who.
I was VERY torn on rating this one. it's a 2.5 out of 5 for sure, but for the life of me i couldn't tell whether or not to give it a 2 or 3. and since i gave Fear Itself a 2, push come to shove, gun to my head, if i had to pick a re-read, it would be this one over fear itself, so i'll round this one up to a 3, even though it's 100% a 2.5.
The villain was whingy and lame, his plan made no sense, Etty and her kid were VERY irritating, but characters like Vettul and Dark were cool, so it's a mixed bag.
Hopefully eater of wasps is better. 2.5 out of 5, rounded up to a 3.
February 8, 2022
I wasn't sure about this book to start with, but I enjoyed it
August 5, 2025
It took a while for this one to grab me but once it did, it worked really well.
August 8, 2025
Solid story. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did!
September 22, 2008
I hadn't read an Eighth Doctor novel before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What a great read, full of twists and turns and dangerous situations for the Doctor and his companions
December 26, 2013
Interesting concept. I'm still getting used to Anji as a companion. 8th Doctor, Fitz and Anji.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews