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Doctor Who: Missing Adventures #10
Doctor Who: The Menagerie
"It is said that this city rests over the great menagerie. Men who felt tempted to meddle in science were cursed and turned into beasts."
A nameless city on a primitive, rain-sodden planet. The ruling Knights of Kuabris strive to keep order as hideous creatures emerge from the sewers to attack the populace. It seems that there might be some truth in the prophecies after all.
While Jamie languishes in the castle dungeons, the Doctor is forced to lead an expedition beneath the city to search for the fabled Menagerie of Ukkazaal. Meanwhile Zoe has been sold as a slave to a travelling freak show - and one of the exhibits is coming to life.
A nameless city on a primitive, rain-sodden planet. The ruling Knights of Kuabris strive to keep order as hideous creatures emerge from the sewers to attack the populace. It seems that there might be some truth in the prophecies after all.
While Jamie languishes in the castle dungeons, the Doctor is forced to lead an expedition beneath the city to search for the fabled Menagerie of Ukkazaal. Meanwhile Zoe has been sold as a slave to a travelling freak show - and one of the exhibits is coming to life.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
3 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Martin Day
43 books13 followersMartin Day is a screenwriter and novelist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and many episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and Family Affairs.
Day's first published fiction was the novel The Menagerie in 1995, published by Virgin Publishing as part of their Doctor Who Missing Adventures series. Following the withdrawal of Virgin's licence to produce Doctor Who novels, Day moved to BBC Books, who published the novel The Devil Goblins from Neptune in 1997. The novel (co-written with Keith Topping) was the first of BBC Books' Past Doctor Adventures series, and was quickly followed by The Hollow Men in 1998 - again written with Topping. 1998 also saw the publication of Another Girl, Another Planet by Virgin Publishing. Co-written with Steve Bowkett (under the pseudonym Len Beech), this was one of the first books in Virgin's line of Bernice Summerfield novels.
Following these novels, Day returned to solo writing, and to the Past Doctor Adventures range in 2001 with the novel Bunker Soldiers. This was followed in 2004 by the novel The Sleep of Reason, one of the final Eighth Doctor Adventures to be published and perhaps his most popular novel. Between 2000 and 2001 Day wrote nine episodes for Five's Family Affairs, and in 2005 he started writing for BBC One's Doctors. In 2008 he was lead writer on Crisis Control, a new series for CBBC; Day storylined all thirteen episodes.
As well as writing fiction, Day has also written several unofficial guide books to television series such as The X Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Avengers. These were published by Virgin, and co-written with Keith Topping and (with the exception of Shut It!, a guide to The Sweeney and The Professionals) Paul Cornell. Cornell, Day and Topping also wrote the extremely popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, published by Virgin in 1995 as a light-hearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The first book written by Cornell, Day and Topping was Classic British TV, which was released by Guinness Publishing in 1993 and 1996.
In recent years Day has continued his work on Doctor Who, with the play No Man's Land for Big Finish Productions' audio adventures range, the bestselling novel Wooden Heart for the BBC's range of New Series Adventures, and comic strips for Doctor Who Adventures. The Jade Pyramid, an original Doctor Who audiobook for the eleventh Doctor,and a novelisation of an episode of Merlin,are both due for release in 2010.
Day's first published fiction was the novel The Menagerie in 1995, published by Virgin Publishing as part of their Doctor Who Missing Adventures series. Following the withdrawal of Virgin's licence to produce Doctor Who novels, Day moved to BBC Books, who published the novel The Devil Goblins from Neptune in 1997. The novel (co-written with Keith Topping) was the first of BBC Books' Past Doctor Adventures series, and was quickly followed by The Hollow Men in 1998 - again written with Topping. 1998 also saw the publication of Another Girl, Another Planet by Virgin Publishing. Co-written with Steve Bowkett (under the pseudonym Len Beech), this was one of the first books in Virgin's line of Bernice Summerfield novels.
Following these novels, Day returned to solo writing, and to the Past Doctor Adventures range in 2001 with the novel Bunker Soldiers. This was followed in 2004 by the novel The Sleep of Reason, one of the final Eighth Doctor Adventures to be published and perhaps his most popular novel. Between 2000 and 2001 Day wrote nine episodes for Five's Family Affairs, and in 2005 he started writing for BBC One's Doctors. In 2008 he was lead writer on Crisis Control, a new series for CBBC; Day storylined all thirteen episodes.
As well as writing fiction, Day has also written several unofficial guide books to television series such as The X Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Avengers. These were published by Virgin, and co-written with Keith Topping and (with the exception of Shut It!, a guide to The Sweeney and The Professionals) Paul Cornell. Cornell, Day and Topping also wrote the extremely popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, published by Virgin in 1995 as a light-hearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The first book written by Cornell, Day and Topping was Classic British TV, which was released by Guinness Publishing in 1993 and 1996.
In recent years Day has continued his work on Doctor Who, with the play No Man's Land for Big Finish Productions' audio adventures range, the bestselling novel Wooden Heart for the BBC's range of New Series Adventures, and comic strips for Doctor Who Adventures. The Jade Pyramid, an original Doctor Who audiobook for the eleventh Doctor,and a novelisation of an episode of Merlin,are both due for release in 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 25, 2022
This seems to be one of those books that divides fan opinion significantly. I went into it believing it to be a bit of a stinker. I was very pleasantly surprised! A refreshingly straightforward tale that captured the spirit of Season 6 well, and also characterised the TARDIS team excellently. Martin Day did a good job capturing some of the Second Doctor's mannerisms and verbal tics. Jamie and Zoe possibly fare a little less successfully overall, as there seems to be something lacking in their chemistry here. Nonetheless, I think this is a very good entry in to the Virgin Missing Adventures range, and one that I would revisit in the future.
April 23, 2023
I'm going with four stars even though it probably only merits three. I think this is largely because it had been a long while since my previous Who read and I was glad to be back in the Whoniverse. But to give a little credit to the author, I did rather enjoy the storyline and the Doctor was a pretty recognisable Two for the most part.
My main problems with this story were with the writing. The words "whore" and "primitive" were used too often.
My main problems with this story were with the writing. The words "whore" and "primitive" were used too often.
January 24, 2020
Interesting Ideas and concepts but like The Sleep of Reason it suffers through Execution.
September 29, 2013
Nearing the end of the Second Doctor stories and before entering the final story Doctor Who and the War Gamesthis is the Missing Adventure before that story.
One thing during the course of re-reading my Doctor Who books is coming across ones I remember one or two things about and seeing what the story was about. This one I remember because ties IMC featured in a Third Doctor story with the Issigri family from Doctor Who: The Space Pirates. That was one minor sentence in the whole book, and I still remember it, but it is not what the story is about.
As seems common with the Missing Adventures so far we have a brief incident at the beginning, but you don't find out how it is tied to the story until half way through.
Martin Day does a great job with introducing a new world that seems similar to Earth at a certain point in time. Even though we, and the Doctor know it is not Earth, part of the mystery is finding out why it is different.
The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are split up and each wind up working on part of the mystery themselves. The pieces come together to show how the experiments of those in the past affect the present.
The enjoyment of this story is we actually see the affects of an experiment. It is a neat concept showing how the repercussions of something can take time over time.
The story does not develop the TARDIS crew, but gives depth to an adventure they are on. Overall it is a good story to read. It might not be the strongest, but is fun to read.
One thing during the course of re-reading my Doctor Who books is coming across ones I remember one or two things about and seeing what the story was about. This one I remember because ties IMC featured in a Third Doctor story with the Issigri family from Doctor Who: The Space Pirates. That was one minor sentence in the whole book, and I still remember it, but it is not what the story is about.
As seems common with the Missing Adventures so far we have a brief incident at the beginning, but you don't find out how it is tied to the story until half way through.
Martin Day does a great job with introducing a new world that seems similar to Earth at a certain point in time. Even though we, and the Doctor know it is not Earth, part of the mystery is finding out why it is different.
The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are split up and each wind up working on part of the mystery themselves. The pieces come together to show how the experiments of those in the past affect the present.
The enjoyment of this story is we actually see the affects of an experiment. It is a neat concept showing how the repercussions of something can take time over time.
The story does not develop the TARDIS crew, but gives depth to an adventure they are on. Overall it is a good story to read. It might not be the strongest, but is fun to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2019
When the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe materialize at their latest destination, they find themselves on a stagnant world ruled by a group of armored warriors dedicated to holding their society to a medieval level of technology. Arrested soon after their arrival, they soon set out to decipher the mysteries of the place, particularly the lingering presence of an earlier, more advanced civilization of humans upon the ruins of which the existing society was but. As they investigate further they discover that underlying it all is a danger that threatens to wipe out all life on the planet, one for which the inhabitants of the world are singularly ill suited to stop.
Martin Day's novel is a book that is more successful than it has any right to be. The premise and setting draw upon elements from over a half-dozen Doctor who stories, all of which executed them in more refreshingly entertaining ways. The level of bloodshed is almost shockingly high, thanks to a threat that is very atonal for the Doctor Who universe. That Day pulls it off as well as he does is thanks in equal parts to his plotting (which keeps things moving at a decent enough pace and introduces enough elements to engage the reader) and the way in which he layers his antagonists, many of which display a degree of nuance that makes them different form the one-dimensional baddies that they might otherwise have been. While the end result may not rank among the best of the Missing Adventures series, it is one that makes for an enjoyable, if occasionally graphic, read for fans of the franchise.
Martin Day's novel is a book that is more successful than it has any right to be. The premise and setting draw upon elements from over a half-dozen Doctor who stories, all of which executed them in more refreshingly entertaining ways. The level of bloodshed is almost shockingly high, thanks to a threat that is very atonal for the Doctor Who universe. That Day pulls it off as well as he does is thanks in equal parts to his plotting (which keeps things moving at a decent enough pace and introduces enough elements to engage the reader) and the way in which he layers his antagonists, many of which display a degree of nuance that makes them different form the one-dimensional baddies that they might otherwise have been. While the end result may not rank among the best of the Missing Adventures series, it is one that makes for an enjoyable, if occasionally graphic, read for fans of the franchise.
April 23, 2025
Real rating: 3.5 stars; thoroughly enjoyed, but there are small issues.
First off I wanna say this is one of the most conceptually interesting and imaginative sci-fi books I have read, I can 100% imagine it as a television serial. I could almost hear troughton in my ear as I was reading, and jamie's scotsman.
Though I do think generally it was a great story, and very satisfying to read (especially at the beginning), there are some issues I have with it, but they are small.
The main thing, and again this is pretty small, but sometimes the characters knew things they shouldn't have. For example, early in the book I think jamie was with cosmae, and they were going to rescue the doctor from the black castle. Except the problem is, jamie couldn't have known the doctor was in the castle! Small inconsistencies in character knowledge like that popped up a few times, but my theory is martin day was just having so much fun writing it, he overlooked these things. I mean as a hobbyist, if I was writing a book this interesting and fresh, I would do the same thing.
The only other things I dislike I will bullet point here:
- Defrabax's motives at the beginning are extremely weird. he wants to blow up the one source of electricity the city has just to use an old rusty nuclear plant below ground??
- There is far too much sexual description (though still very tame amounts) for a dr who novel, and very vivid descriptions of violence. idk it just doesn't seem to fit in a "60s era" story
- The names are very confusing lol
Things I LIKE:
- the setting, a sort of dark, rainy, medieval city with a religious order of knights ruling over it, who criminalize the use of science, and teach to dwell on the present and only the present. Very dark and gritty.
- Martin day's prose is easy to read, while descriptive and insightful into the characters he is writing about. The emotion he writes into them feels natural and real.
- I love, love, LOVE the prospect of an advanced city that falls to disease caused by genetic monsters they have created, and is practically wiped out, leaving a new and FAR less advanced civilization to eventually evolve above the ruins.
- Zaitabor is an extremely well written villain, and the way he is revealed to be exactly the thing he aims to destroy, a machine cyborg left over from the ruins of the old city, is so brilliant. He gets built up the whole book as this religious zealot who finds science EXTREMELY blasphemous compared to the rest of the knights, and tries to cleanse it by blowing up the whole city from the old nuclear plant, only for the doctor to deduce and reveal that he is simply a machine, with few remaining human parts, because the implants basically replaced him to fight the disease spread by the mecrim. I just wish the reveal scene had more of a bang for zaitabor.
First off I wanna say this is one of the most conceptually interesting and imaginative sci-fi books I have read, I can 100% imagine it as a television serial. I could almost hear troughton in my ear as I was reading, and jamie's scotsman.
Though I do think generally it was a great story, and very satisfying to read (especially at the beginning), there are some issues I have with it, but they are small.
The main thing, and again this is pretty small, but sometimes the characters knew things they shouldn't have. For example, early in the book I think jamie was with cosmae, and they were going to rescue the doctor from the black castle. Except the problem is, jamie couldn't have known the doctor was in the castle! Small inconsistencies in character knowledge like that popped up a few times, but my theory is martin day was just having so much fun writing it, he overlooked these things. I mean as a hobbyist, if I was writing a book this interesting and fresh, I would do the same thing.
The only other things I dislike I will bullet point here:
- Defrabax's motives at the beginning are extremely weird. he wants to blow up the one source of electricity the city has just to use an old rusty nuclear plant below ground??
- There is far too much sexual description (though still very tame amounts) for a dr who novel, and very vivid descriptions of violence. idk it just doesn't seem to fit in a "60s era" story
- The names are very confusing lol
Things I LIKE:
- the setting, a sort of dark, rainy, medieval city with a religious order of knights ruling over it, who criminalize the use of science, and teach to dwell on the present and only the present. Very dark and gritty.
- Martin day's prose is easy to read, while descriptive and insightful into the characters he is writing about. The emotion he writes into them feels natural and real.
- I love, love, LOVE the prospect of an advanced city that falls to disease caused by genetic monsters they have created, and is practically wiped out, leaving a new and FAR less advanced civilization to eventually evolve above the ruins.
- Zaitabor is an extremely well written villain, and the way he is revealed to be exactly the thing he aims to destroy, a machine cyborg left over from the ruins of the old city, is so brilliant. He gets built up the whole book as this religious zealot who finds science EXTREMELY blasphemous compared to the rest of the knights, and tries to cleanse it by blowing up the whole city from the old nuclear plant, only for the doctor to deduce and reveal that he is simply a machine, with few remaining human parts, because the implants basically replaced him to fight the disease spread by the mecrim. I just wish the reveal scene had more of a bang for zaitabor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2020
I was really looking forward to the first 2nd Doctor story in the range, plus the combination of Jamie and Zoe was always a favourite. So I was a little disappointed that The Menagerie is so mediocre. It's so much easier reviewing books that are brilliant or terrible, but mediocre is difficult as nothing really stands out. The prose, to me, feels a little slow and the dialogue at times feels unbelievable. Nearly all the names are difficult to pronounce and quickly start to become an annoyance, slowing things down every time you stumble over them, Ouiquaquil probably being the worst offender. A few parts of the story don't really work, such as when Kaquaan is about to be sacrificed by the Brotherhood of Rexulon, Jamie and Cosmae barge in to rescue her and are subsequently gassed, only later to wake back in the castle, the Brotherhood had no good reason not to just kill the three of them. Confronting Zaitabor, the Doctor seems to know everything about his origins without any real explanation of where he gained this information from. I'm not quite sure how the Time line would work either, if Zaitabor is a survivor from the original weapons development base, why after so long is he only second in command of the Knights, surely after all that time he would have easily become leader. The extracts from the various writings by different Knights don't add anything except unnecessary extra pages. I think killing off Cosmae at the very end was completely unnecessary, and whilst Martin Day was trying to avoid the obvious of Kaquaan and Cosmae walking off into the sunset together, I actually felt cheated of the happy ending. As an enjoyable but very mediocre book, it gets a mediocre mark would be 2.5 out of 5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2026
Overall this book was okay. The first half was quite entertaining with each member of the Tardis team doing something integral to the ongoing story. However it feels like that story kind of peters out around that 75% mark.
The idea of the world was interesting: Dark Age civilisations built on top of the ruins of the advanced Old World. However it isn’t expanded enough. There’s ’The Furnace’ and an ancient underground building centre but that’s it for the most part. The very latter half explores it a bit more but at that point it just feels like padding.
Jamie and Zoe are really nailed down. They sounded like their TV counterparts and make decisions according to their character. The Second Doctor though just feels like a generic version of the Doctor
There isn’t a lot of character investment either. I never found myself rooting for any of the side characters to make it out and when some of them died the book never dwindled on it. However there’s a slower pace everywhere else which makes this a bit disjointed
The book also changes genres from a grimdark to a typical fantasy (with sci-fi elements). Whilst I’m pleased for the change, it doesn’t feel natural for the most part.
Overall it isn’t the worst book in the world. The idea is interesting and some of the characters showed promise. This would have been a good fantasy book, but it isn’t a good Doctor Who book.
The idea of the world was interesting: Dark Age civilisations built on top of the ruins of the advanced Old World. However it isn’t expanded enough. There’s ’The Furnace’ and an ancient underground building centre but that’s it for the most part. The very latter half explores it a bit more but at that point it just feels like padding.
Jamie and Zoe are really nailed down. They sounded like their TV counterparts and make decisions according to their character. The Second Doctor though just feels like a generic version of the Doctor
There isn’t a lot of character investment either. I never found myself rooting for any of the side characters to make it out and when some of them died the book never dwindled on it. However there’s a slower pace everywhere else which makes this a bit disjointed
The book also changes genres from a grimdark to a typical fantasy (with sci-fi elements). Whilst I’m pleased for the change, it doesn’t feel natural for the most part.
Overall it isn’t the worst book in the world. The idea is interesting and some of the characters showed promise. This would have been a good fantasy book, but it isn’t a good Doctor Who book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2019
I couldn't bring myself to finish this actually pretty small book. I could fill you with reasons related to the plot, the characterization and the writing, but the main one is the way the knights go around walking in armor like it's a very convenient thing, permitting full movement, stealth and fine detailed actions. Early in the book there is a scene where a knight picks open a ribbon while wearing gauntlets. It just started gnawing at me and eventually I came across a character walking silently enough to surprise another while in full plate armor and it just ended me.
And then there is that thing with this book series, that when people think the story isn't mature enough they add blood and sex. It's so extra, it becomes boring.
And then there is that thing with this book series, that when people think the story isn't mature enough they add blood and sex. It's so extra, it becomes boring.
December 12, 2021
This book presents a very well realized world of a near medieval society with a high Sci Fi past. Though it does just seem to have a lot of monster fighting it is a bit deeper than it appears. It is a bit bloated with numerous factions that need to be kept track of, some of which are a bit unnecessary. It does use a lot of unique perspectives to tell the story, featuring archived correspondence for example, and I think it adds to the novel greatly.
The characters are well written though the main regulars are a bit off. The Doctor is fine but the companions, Jamie and Zoe, are not quite like their TV versions, or even as they appear in other books.
Overall it is an enjoyable book but a bit messy.
The characters are well written though the main regulars are a bit off. The Doctor is fine but the companions, Jamie and Zoe, are not quite like their TV versions, or even as they appear in other books.
Overall it is an enjoyable book but a bit messy.
March 29, 2025
Not sure that marginalising Zoe or using incredibly ableist language to talk about freakshow performers is really what anyone wanted out of a Missing Adventure set during Season 6. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
September 13, 2019
I really liked this! The characterizations are on point IMHO and, yes, it's cheesy and predictable but it follows the way the show goes. I could see this easily as an episode and isn't that the point?
September 18, 2021
This was one of the better ones. Some of these Missing Adventure books can get odd, and this was no exception. But it stayed very true to the episodic nature of the Second Doctor's series, and Zoe and Jamie were on point!
September 6, 2024
While I was able to finish this book; however, I found this book to be at odds with the series, when Patrick Troughton was The Doctor.
I felt it was more in tone with The New Adventures Series, but also lost are the three main characters voices.
It never really clicked with me.
I felt it was more in tone with The New Adventures Series, but also lost are the three main characters voices.
It never really clicked with me.
May 27, 2022
Was really bored with this one. Never really got the Second Doctor's voice quite right either.
June 18, 2016
The Menagerie is part of Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who - The Missing Adventures paperback original novels series. This one features the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Zoë, and Jaime, which is one of my favorite Doctor and companion combinations. However, the story is just, well, to be frank, pretty awful actually.
The Doctor decides to take his companions to a low-technology world for a nice vacation. The TARDIS lands, and the three wander to the local village and enter the pub. Within minutes, the place is raided, and the three are split up. The village where they have landed is in the iron hands of the Knights of Kubris - technology-hating religious zealots who have not only banned all technology and science, but also live "only in the moment", banning the study of the past, and forbidding any planning for the future.
OK, it may sound like Tea Party paradise, but the problem is the first half of the book is very slow going, as it feels like one grand lecture that goes on and on. The Knights position is completely untenable. to live without science and technology is pretty much impossible - and wrong. But to condemn the study of history, and make it a crime to discuss what you're having for dinner tomorrow, much less your plans for the weekend... It's just not a natural state of affairs.
And if you think the anti-science nature of the Tea Party is just plain wrong, Martin Day's novel comes across as strident preaching to the converted. Science and technology are cool, and necessary, and one simply cannot pretend they don't exist or ignore them. Besides, learning from the past then using technology to develop improved ways of doing things is the only way to prepare for the future - one certainly cannot fight it, or in real life, travel backwards to some "golden era" (especially as there is no "golden era").
Eventually The Menagerie wanders around to explaining what had happened. The planet itself had an underground scientific/military research station. This station was exploring using genetic manipulation to create biologic weapons. They succeed in creating a new creature called a Mercim, but the creature also harbors a deadly microbe. Between the aggressive nature of the Mercim and the deadly nature of the microbe the research team is virtually wiped out. A few escape to the planet's surface and their descendants occupy the planet at the time that the Doctor and his companions arrive.
The research station's home planet sends a rescue/investigation party, but it is more or less too late. In a last, desperate act - the leader of the rescue party, who has contracted the disease spread by the Mercim, is turned into a Cyborg. He leaves the planet in his spaceship, immediately crashes, and this cyborg is the leader who had established the science and technology-hating Knights.
Perhaps the novel would have worked better if it had started with the research station. I can certainly picture the Second Doctor warning the military scientists against "messing with forces they shouldn't", then if it had jumped forward to see the cultural result of the disaster, the story might have worked better, and the first half been less boring and strident.
Overall, the novel something for only the completist to own. I read an e-book version. It's not the worst Doctor Who novel I've read, but it's far from the best.
The Doctor decides to take his companions to a low-technology world for a nice vacation. The TARDIS lands, and the three wander to the local village and enter the pub. Within minutes, the place is raided, and the three are split up. The village where they have landed is in the iron hands of the Knights of Kubris - technology-hating religious zealots who have not only banned all technology and science, but also live "only in the moment", banning the study of the past, and forbidding any planning for the future.
OK, it may sound like Tea Party paradise, but the problem is the first half of the book is very slow going, as it feels like one grand lecture that goes on and on. The Knights position is completely untenable. to live without science and technology is pretty much impossible - and wrong. But to condemn the study of history, and make it a crime to discuss what you're having for dinner tomorrow, much less your plans for the weekend... It's just not a natural state of affairs.
And if you think the anti-science nature of the Tea Party is just plain wrong, Martin Day's novel comes across as strident preaching to the converted. Science and technology are cool, and necessary, and one simply cannot pretend they don't exist or ignore them. Besides, learning from the past then using technology to develop improved ways of doing things is the only way to prepare for the future - one certainly cannot fight it, or in real life, travel backwards to some "golden era" (especially as there is no "golden era").
Eventually The Menagerie wanders around to explaining what had happened. The planet itself had an underground scientific/military research station. This station was exploring using genetic manipulation to create biologic weapons. They succeed in creating a new creature called a Mercim, but the creature also harbors a deadly microbe. Between the aggressive nature of the Mercim and the deadly nature of the microbe the research team is virtually wiped out. A few escape to the planet's surface and their descendants occupy the planet at the time that the Doctor and his companions arrive.
The research station's home planet sends a rescue/investigation party, but it is more or less too late. In a last, desperate act - the leader of the rescue party, who has contracted the disease spread by the Mercim, is turned into a Cyborg. He leaves the planet in his spaceship, immediately crashes, and this cyborg is the leader who had established the science and technology-hating Knights.
Perhaps the novel would have worked better if it had started with the research station. I can certainly picture the Second Doctor warning the military scientists against "messing with forces they shouldn't", then if it had jumped forward to see the cultural result of the disaster, the story might have worked better, and the first half been less boring and strident.
Overall, the novel something for only the completist to own. I read an e-book version. It's not the worst Doctor Who novel I've read, but it's far from the best.
June 13, 2025
February 2021
There's a whole bunch here that I can't really put my finger on as to why it didn't work for me, but the part I definitely didn't like was the integration of sexual content, which had all the tact and sensitivity of a twelve-year-old writing. Maybe I'm just being a little harsh because this is the fourth DW book in a row with a rape threat and I'm getting sick of it!
May 2025
2.5/5
It loses me pretty significantly in its action-packed last third (and I wasn't very emotionally affected by a death I was probably supposed to grieve) but for the most part I think this is actually...fine? At heart it's an ok gothic scifi novel, albeit with some clumsily handled sexual politics, which inexplicably has the season 6 TARDIS team crashing into it. That latter point is probably the big problem that knocks it down half a star, as I felt that it struggled to really justify itself as a Doctor Who novel, with its contrast to late-Troughton tone never particularly being explored or made a point of and its protagonists not particularly strongly drawn, even if there's not much egregious mischaracterisation here.
There's a whole bunch here that I can't really put my finger on as to why it didn't work for me, but the part I definitely didn't like was the integration of sexual content, which had all the tact and sensitivity of a twelve-year-old writing. Maybe I'm just being a little harsh because this is the fourth DW book in a row with a rape threat and I'm getting sick of it!
May 2025
2.5/5
It loses me pretty significantly in its action-packed last third (and I wasn't very emotionally affected by a death I was probably supposed to grieve) but for the most part I think this is actually...fine? At heart it's an ok gothic scifi novel, albeit with some clumsily handled sexual politics, which inexplicably has the season 6 TARDIS team crashing into it. That latter point is probably the big problem that knocks it down half a star, as I felt that it struggled to really justify itself as a Doctor Who novel, with its contrast to late-Troughton tone never particularly being explored or made a point of and its protagonists not particularly strongly drawn, even if there's not much egregious mischaracterisation here.
June 30, 2022
In this novel, Martin Day manages to keep several mysteries going and reveals them at just the right times, though the main mystery, the identity of Zaitabor, becomes clear too soon. The Doctor and his companions are well managed. In particular, it is entertaining to see Zoe handle matters on her own, without always relying on the Doctor or Jamie to get her out of a "situation." The novel might win the award for the funny names in a SF book award: try Mecrim, Defrabax, Zaitabor, and Rexulon, for instance. Not quite as outlandish as Zaphod Beeblebrox, but close, and thus too humorous for an otherwise serious novel. Another problem is the mixed medieval/high tech culture of the main setting. Though there is some justification for the high tech part, feudalism is not the obvious form into which a society would degenerate, and this one is just too close to movie medievalism to be convincing.
May 12, 2013
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2067118.html[return][return]I found this rather a confused and slightly tedious tale, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe landing on a planet where medievalish humans are dominated by an anti-science cult and various subterranean alien races emerge to do battle or otherwise prop up the plot. The is one nice scene with Jamie and Zoe driving a hovercar together. And there is a nice continuity touch: the I in IMC originally stood for Issigri.
January 22, 2011
Martin Day is on record as not being very proud of this novel. Technically, it's his weakest Doctor Who book...but only by comparison, as his later novels were so damned good. It has a forgettable plot, but the main cast is handled particularly well...no small feat, as I believe the 2nd Doctor is the hardest to capture in print. It deserves more praise than it usually receives...if it receives any at all.
December 20, 2012
I must admit I wasn't that fond of this. The setting was just too forced and messy. A planet that was reverting to barbarism but in rather a confusing and not very believable way. There wasn't really enough of the Doctor, Jamie or Zoe and when they were there they were more caricatures than themselves. Zoe in particular seemed poorly written and the Doctor seemed really hard on her much prefering Jamie. I must admit I gave up on this one about a third of the way through.
November 17, 2008
The plot is so-so, the bad guys aren't that interesting and the author doesn't seem to know what to do with the Doctor's companion, Zoe, so she just comes across as either boring or a bit snotty.
Not one of the better 'Missing Adventure' books.
Not one of the better 'Missing Adventure' books.
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