Doctor Who: Iceberg

Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures #18

by David Banks, Peter Elson (Illustrator)

'Depends on how you define alien,' the Doctor said simply. 'They were human once.'

In 2006 the world is about to be overwhelmed by a disaster that might destroy human civilization: the inversion of the Earth's magnetic field. Deep in an Antarctic base, the FLIPback team is frantically devising a system to reverse the change in polarity.

Above them, the SS Elysium carries its jet-set passengers on the ultimate cruise. On board is Ruby Duvall, a journalist sent to record the FLIPback moment. Instead she finds a man called the Doctor, who is locked out of the strange green box he says is merely a part of his time machine. And she finds old enemies of the Doctor: silver giants at work beneath the ice.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks, 20th Century

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 1993

About the author

David Banks (born 24 September 1951) is a stage and television actor and occasional writer and producer. He is best known to Doctor Who fans for his portrayal of the Cyber-Leader in Earthshock, The Five Doctors, Attack of the Cybermen, and Silver Nemesis. Banks also played Karl in the stage production Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure. As Jon Pertwee's understudy in the production, he played the Doctor for two performances when Pertwee fell ill.

He also wrote Iceberg, a novel in the Virgin New Adventures which featured the Cybermen. He wrote the part non-fiction, part speculative Doctor Who: Cybermen, the in-universe portions of which were adapted for audio (with Banks' narration) as The ArcHive Tapes.

Banks also produced a series of audiocassette interviews with Doctor Who actors including The Ultimate Interview (with Colin Baker), Pertwee in Person (with Jon Pertwee), and Who's the Real McCoy? with Sylvester McCoy.

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when it first came out over 20 years ago, and haven't thought about it since that time. I picked it up again...and came away incredibly surprised by how well it has aged. It's much more of a surprisingly successful Doctor-less book than its more well-lauded partner, "Birthright"...primarily due to the fact that, for 135 pages it's simply a sci-fi adventure set in the "Doctor Who" universe, with a deft handling of continuity. When the Doctor finally shows up, he's more catalyst than centre-stage saviour, but that also work in the context of the Sylvester McCoy 7th Doctor. It starts going into a bit too much over-drive in its final third (especially compared to the slow, almost sensual build-up preceeding it), but it certainly makes for a satisfying adventure all around. Surprisingly enough, age reveals that its adult tone is more due to solid character work, rather than outbreaks of sex & swearing...of which there is far less than I recall. This is definitely a novel that deserves more praise than it usually receives, and it makes me wish David Banks had attempted a few more efforts of "Doctor Who" prose.

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This didn’t read like a Doctor who novel. It read more like a thriller/ horror novel and it was great!

David banks knows how to write characters and develop them. I really enjoyed getting to know Ruby and her character and I love the tie ins of the invasion and Isobel Watkins here.

Tw for body horror though!

There is very little of the Doctor here and he doesn’t really appear until 150 pages in or so but its good nonetheless.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate Banks' cyber-enthusiasm, and I didn't hate this story, but the second half fell flat.

[Scurra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes place at the same time as Birthright, and is theoretically a "solo Doctor" adventure. In fact, the Doctor is absent from the narrative for most of the first two-thirds, and when he does appear, his contribution is surprisingly low-key.

This is really the chance for David Banks to explore his meticulously crafted Cyber chronology, encompassing the various complicated attempted invasions of Earth by the Cybermen. And it does actually work, albeit assuming some dates for the stories that aren't necessarily entirely in agreement with other continuity references. Then again, the true Who anorak has their own chronology so we probably appreciate the effort this sort of thing takes more than other people.

Ruby, our main viewpoint character, is very engaging. The cruise-ship setting is entertaining, albeit rather underused towards the end, and the supporting case are quite good fun, although the whole Mike Brack subplot is horribly clumsily handled, without any proper resolution. Banks has a bit of fun with throw-away references to the world of 2006 as well, which aren't too jarring albeit a little more pessimistic that strictly necessary.

But at the heart of the story are the Cybermen, and they are very good. Perhaps because we mostly only see them in passing, they maintain an excellent sense of menace and are clearly the "old Who" breed.

[And, donning my anorak again for a moment, I could easily see Philip Duvall (Ruby's crippled father) becoming John Lumic, creator of the Cybus Cybermen in "new Who" once he heard Ruby's story... :)]

Overall, I think this is a more successful "Doctor-lite" story than Birthright - his interventions are far more low-key here, and much more enjoyable that way.

Next up: parallel universe ahoy in Bloodheat

[John Parungao · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those oddities that comes with reading part of the Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures. This book was written in 1993 and is set in the "far off" year of 2006! It's interesting to see David Banks vision of a future with poor air quality, water shortages, plaugues and global warming. It is a detailed multi layered picture of a possible future, and it's filled with characters who have human traits and faults.
It's also interesting to have a book from the Doctor Who series which features The Doctor in only a supporting role. He's absent for 2/3 of the story and it doesn't slow down the plot! The story revolves around a voyage to the Antarctic and is told through the eyes of journalist Ruby Duvall.
The main threat in the story comes from the Cybermen. David Banks does a good job of weaving previous Cybermen adventures into the plot of this book, most notably the TV stories, Tenth Planet and the Invasion. Iceberg gives us a glimpse of the consequences of the events of previous Cybermen stories.
David Banks also gives chilling depictions of Cyber-controled humans, who go from passionate feeling humans to zombie like automatons. This is well worth reading.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by the Cyber Leader himself, David Banks, this Cyberman story written in 1993 takes place in 2006 and ties into the other 20th century Cyber-stories, The Tenth Planet and The Invasion, and is infamous for not getting either the Doctor or the Cybermen into the action until page 140 (with 110 pages to go). It features an excellent would-be companion in Ruby, though the Antarctic Base personnel are characterized with too much detail for whatever pay-off they get. And yet... Banks' theme is expressed throughout so I never feel like it's a waste of time. Every paragraph, if not sentence, alludes to all things Cyber (isolation within oneself, mechanics vs. flesh, silver flash and body horror). In fact, the near future he creates is alarmist to be sure, but not very far off the mark, and it's a near future where we're headed for Cyberdom ourselves. Again, the plot takes second place to style and character, which isn't a bad thing. I read this because I really wanted to crack open Blood Heat, the next in the series, but I'm glad I didn't just skip it.

[The Master · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm willing to slog through a slow-moving book, so long as there is a payoff at the end. This was one of those books. For the first two-thirds, Iceberg is almost entirely the story of Ruby Duvall, a journalist on a cruise to the Antarctic, where the Cybermen are secretly at work.

We see very little of the Cybermen and almost nothing of the Doctor for most of this story. But around the two-thirds mark, everything kicks in. Here come the Cybers! Here comes the Doctor! Here comes a forgettable cast of extras!

Banks paints grotesquely vivid images of Cyber-conversions performed on human bodies, and fleshes out (woops!) the motivations behind these metal monsters.

Because the Doctor doesn't do much until the last 50 pages or so, I'd call this the second "Doctor Lite" story in a row for the Virgin Series. A slow read at first, but great images and some lively action providing a good payoff at the end.

[Christopher M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my favourite of the series so far. Like previous entries, it has a large cast of characters and is based in real science, but unlike others allows us to get to know them as individuals and understand what is going on before the quite frightening, 60s style Cybermen arrive en masse. It's very Doctor light, but that just allows not-quite-Companion Ruby to shine.

[KP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh? There was a lot of setup (like half the book) and with some characters who didnt really end up mattering? Very doctor lite - which isn't necessarily a bad thing but i just kept being like when is the doctor coming so we can get some action.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doctor Who authors are so scared that people will mistake their serious adult fiction for kids’ books that they’ll include random digressions about the state of near-future gooning technology. “Teledildonic” virtual reality, indeed.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five years after their last TV appearance in Silver Nemesis, the Cybermen made their novel debut in the novel Iceberg. On top of that who better to write it then the Cyber leader of the 1980's stories David Banks who himself had written a history of the Cybermen back in 1988. The result of this is a novel that is quite tough to read for much of its first half but when it finally gets moving it's as good of a Doctor Who adventure as any other.

Banks starts the novel by taking the reader back to the events of the TV stories The Invasion and The Tenth Planet. While at first this might seem like a sort of irrelevant digging up of Cybermen history is in fact the set-up for what will happen later on in the novel. First off it shows us how those events link into the life of Iceberg's protagonist Ruby Duvall. On top of that we're introduced to the daughter of the base commander in Tenth Planet and the villainous Cybermen. These opening chapters make for an interesting beginning to the novel and show that Banks has skill as a writer.

And then things get rather dull. From page twenty-five on to around page hundred and twenty-nine Banks takes to 2006 (please remember that this was written back in 1993) with events set at the STS base in Antarctica (where the events of The Tenth Planet took place), the cruise ship Elysium and practically no where else. For over a hundred pages we are given the practically clichéd and wooden characterization of everyone at both the STS base and on board the cruise ship. The one exception out of this is Ruby of course who comes across as Banks single best written character in the novel and a great example of the companion that never was. Worse in this section of the novel we get the occasional page or two appearances by the Doctor. While these sections aren't badly written they do seem...out of place. It would almost seem that the editor of the novel made Banks add them in to remind the reader that this was in fact a Doctor Who novel. That said Banks does do some good things with this section of the novel.

Banks goes to town on exploring the world outside of his very limited location in which this novel was set. Banks, presumably taking his cue from the earlier New Adventure novel Cat's Cradle: Warhead, fills this section of the novel with descriptions of a world wrecked by environmental and social havoc. In particular Banks uses this section to explore the effects of those on some of the characters but especially on Ruby and her outlook on the world. Banks also can't seem to avoid throwing in yet another Cybermen reference by having Ruby and a couple of passengers discuss Isobel Watkins and the events of the two stories in the opening of the novel. This makes for an interesting look at not only the Who universe (as it was at the time) but at the consequences of its stories as well. Yet with despite all of the above mentioned material, it can only briefly make this section of the novel seem interesting for short periods of time.

Then the novel finally picks up. The Doctor and the Cybermen finally step into the action and from then on Iceberg is never dull. It instead becomes a fast paced action story where the Cybermen have the menace they lacked following their first TV appearance of the 1980's with Earthshock. This also gives the seventh Doctor (when he's not in bad joke mode anyway, which was not a wise decision) a chance to show some ingenuity in fighting the Cybermen. In some respects Banks (the Cyber leader of the 1980's TV stories remember) uses this to make nice little references to earlier Cybermen stories with some of the sequences. Yet unlike the early part of the novel where these references could almost be considered an irrelevant digging up of Cybermen history, Banks uses these to the advantage of the novel. The result of all this is a hundred or so pages of action packed Doctor Who.

While it has a massive dreadfully dull section in its first half, Iceberg rises above this fault for the most part. It contains an interesting heroine in the form of Ruby, some wonderful exploration of the world of the novel (too bad Banks didn't set events there), some rather interesting views on the Cybermen and a hundred or so pages of action packed Doctor Who. If can make it past the dull section of the novel who will find a rather good Doctor Who novel. It might not be the greatest Doctor Who novel ever but it's certainly worth reading.

[Mary JL · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book #18 in the New Adventures of Doctor Who. It is a bit dated---published in 1993, it is set in the near 'future' of 2006.

Written by David Banks, an actor who played a Cyberleader on the TV series, it is of course largely about the Cybermen---with the Doctor making a late but timely entrance. I personally prefer to see a bit more of the Doctor in a Doctor Who Book. Fans of the Cybermen as villains will find it likeable.



. .

A three star Doctor who--good plot, acceptable characterization and dialog. Not the best of the series but certainly not the worst. Definitely worth reading once or twice.

Note: Read before I joined GR so dates read unknown.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iceberg suffers from first novel syndrome. Actor David Banks, who had played the Cyber Leader on TV a couple of times and written a good non-fiction book about the Cybermen, here tries to write a Cybermen story set, for them, between "The Tenth Planet" and "Tomb of the Cybermen," with a few references to "The Invasion" and one or two oblique references to "The Wheel in Space." Because of the historical setting on Earth, 2006, there are also a few references to later Cybermen stories. Banks relies upon the timeline he created for his "Cybermen" book. As far as the Cybermen go, there is not much original in this novel. They are hiding away with a secret army frozen ready for use, waiting for the opportunity to nab a bunch of humans and convert them into Cybermen. This novel also fits into the Virgin Books story arc for 1993, which is basically that the TARDIS crew can't really stand each other, and certainly can't work together, so The Doctor has, without telling the other two, separated everybody so they can have a good think, while still fighting some monsters of course. In Iceberg, we get The Doctor on his own, sans Ace and Benny. He picks up a new temporary companion in plucky young journalist Ruby Duvall. The story follows the standard 2 1/2 plot lines writing that is usual for long-form TV drama. Plot line 1 involves the impending magnetic flip, Earth's magnetic field swapping poles. To prevent this disaster, Earth governments are using the same base in Antarctica that was the scene of "The Tenth Planet" to launch a new technology called FLIPback. For this mission, they have chosen General Pam Cutler, the daughter of General Cutler from "The Tenth Planet." Plot 2 involves Ruby Duvall, daughter of a crippled computer programmer, now a journalist given the job of writing puff pieces about a cruise to Antarctica. The half is The Doctor confronting what he has become. The novel is reasonably well written, with decent characterization, naturalistic dialogue, and enough energy at the end to make up for some slowness at the beginning.

The problems of this novel rest in all the things Banks wants the novel to do. He has a pretty good idea of what a novel, as opposed to a TV episode, should have. He just cannot quite make it all work. Because this is a novel, Banks feels he has to give his original characters a full background, plus has to show them in normal circumstances. The problem is that he takes too long to do this. Far too much of the novel is made from scenes of life on the cruise ship and life on the base, without the details getting to anything meaningful in terms of the larger plot. Thus, the arrival of The Doctor and The Cybermen is delayed to well after half the novel is already done. There are little vignettes of The Doctor wandering in the TARDIS and the Cyber Controller thinking to itself just to remind the reader that, yes, this is a Doctor Who novel about The Cybermen. Yet, the vignettes serve no other function, and only highlight the idea that maybe Banks was writing some other kind of novel. Banks also tries hard to create thematic connections, such as conceptually linking The Cybermen to the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, and thus having a running Wizard of Oz theme (The Doctor is like the Wizard, an actor dresses as the Tin Man for the OZ-themed costume ball, and so on). He also focuses on the environmental damage humans are doing to Earth, suggesting that similar actions on Mondas are what led those people to turn themselves into the Cybermen. Here, the ideas are sound, but the connections not well made. The tie-ins to previous episodes are first-thought tie-ins rather than carefully worked out plot connections. Why should the commander in Antarctica be the daughter of the original commander? There's not a good plot reason, and once the Cyber plan is in action, the character is pretty much an irrelevancy. Why use the old base anyway? Once again, there is no good internal logic for doing so, just that it makes a nifty tie-in to "The Tenth Planet." There's a side character named Barbara who could be, perhaps, just maybe, but probably isn't, Barbara Wright. Big portions of the plot are there for convenience and misdirection. For example, Mike Brack's ice sculpture in the iceberg is the location of the Cyber invasion force, yet, since he is not, as it turns out, a Cyber agent, and no one on the cruise liner is, how would the Cybermen know that he would use that exact iceberg?

So, while Iceberg has much going for it, the novel still does not hold together well enough for a high rating.

[James Lark]

David Banks is one of the more interesting characters to have graced Doctor’s Who’s illustrious history; the charismatic actor behind the leader of the Cybermen in the 1980s, he also played the good Doctor himself on stage when understudying Jon Pertwee, and wrote what will probably remain the definitive tome on Cybermen (certainly the only one we need, even if it doesn’t incorporate the developments of New Who). His expertise is such that he has even been invited to deliver papers on cybernetics, so it’s unsurprising that in this, his first foray into writing fiction, the Cybermen are his chosen subject.

Well, amongst others. His (not unrelated) interest in ecology is a significant element, battling for space alongside ancient Chinese philosophy, gender politics, modern art and the Wizard of Oz. In a way it’s a shame that Banks only wrote one Doctor Who novel - he certainly has enough ideas for several, and here they feel rather wasted, dwarfed as they are by the weight of Cyberhistory. This story is so explicitly a sequel to no less than two televised Doctor Who stories that it devotes quite a lot of pages to retelling them, initially through some fairly efficient and effective Cybercontroller-point-of-view computerspeak, then as the story goes on through rather less effective swathes of second hand exposition. ‘They covered up the story at the time, but I spoke to and they told me that ...’.

But ‘Iceberg’ doesn’t stop at heavily referencing ‘The Tenth Planet’ and ‘The Invasion’; it simultaneously attempts to resolve the Cybercontinuity of those stories, whilst clarifying other obscure bits of continuity (references to ‘Planet 14’, the inconsistencies viz. Cyber-allergies, and so on). As if that wasn’t enough, half the characters seem to be related to or to have met characters we are meant to recognise from televised adventures. By the time a Canadian character called Barbara arrived I began to panic that I’d missed a detail about the Doctor’s original companion Barbara Wright ending up in Canada.

As if all of that television continuity weren’t enough, the novel introduces a one-off companion who has some quite complex backstory of her own, some of it also tied up with Cybercontinuity. It makes for an exhausting amount of stuff to fit together, for all that the world building is for the most part effectively written, but more to the point it just doesn’t leave enough room for the story to breathe. Having established a vast number of characters through the unfolding initial chapters, Banks abandons them in swathes as his narrative is ultimately reduced to a single character doing a lot of running and dodging. There isn’t even room for the Doctor, for crying out loud - somehow I saw through the trick of peppering the first half of the book with occasional paragraph-long chapters in which the Doctor thinks about maybe going somewhere, and we are literally past the halfway point when he finally shows up. Even then, he need hardly have bothered; this is Ruby’s story, and she resolves it almost entirely without the Doctor’s help (his narrative function is really just to taxi her from one location to the next). Her sudden desire to go off with him at the end is all the more bizarre given how little she has seen of him.

All of which is a pity because there are some great ideas here and what the writing lacks in discipline it makes up for in style. Banks really gets Cybermen, and when he’s not obsessing over their continuity he creates a real sense of dread and horror. His predictions about climate change have proved to be pretty much on the money and he makes his point without ever seeming preachy. He also shows an unusually (for this range) sophisticated approach to sex and gender. It is actually a pretty enjoyable read for much of its length, even if it doesn’t deliver what the detailed set-up promises. Just a pity we haven’t seen Banks build on these strengths with a more mature approach to structure.

[Colin Hoad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than Birthright, the novel which occurs in parallel with Iceberg. This book is the Doctor's story, and introduces the concept of the Jade Pagoda "escape pod" TARDIS. It's an intriguing idea, although it isn't ever fully explained why the Doctor chooses to use it when his own TARDIS is fully operational.

The novel feels a lot more like a Doctor Who story, helped in part by featuring the Cybermen as the villains but also due to David Banks' skilful weaving of prior Cybermen plots into this one, giving it continuity with both the Tenth Planet and The Invasion, as well as a few nods to some other classic Cyber serials. The novel has a solid plot and the Doctor feels a lot more like the actual Doctor as opposed to the increasingly sinister figure he'd become in previous New Adventure novels.

Banks digs into the construct of the Cybermen quite a bit here, particularly in terms of their conversion process. He begins to explore the idea of buried emotions beneath the surface programming, but I felt this could have been pursued further. As it is, he floats the idea before then abandoning it, which is a shame as it is an intriguing premise that adds another dimension to the Cybermen as villains.

I found some of the minor characters a bit irritating - most of the ones on the cruise ship - but Ruby Duvall was an honourable exception. Banks also does a nice job of showing how early 21st Century Earth - with its depleting ozone layer, greenhouse effect, plague pandemics (!) and heavy pollution - runs a risk of following sister planet Mondas to its grim conclusion. The idea of the Cybermen as an alternate but all-too-possible human future is a clever touch.

Overall, a good read and definitely a big improvement on the recent few NAs I've read in the series so far.

[John Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to think of this book. I like some parts, but it's also full of frustrating elements. Like all the characters and their personalities that are set up in the first third of the book that are mostly ignored for the rest of the novel, or the fact that the writer is a huge fan of cybermen so he at times spends pages dryly dissecting their history from their point of veiw. At one point a terrorist is said to be lose, and as far as I can remember it's never found out who the terrorist was or if they were recaptured, it seems like the whole thing only existed to make the lead of the book wary of the doctor when she meets him? Oh and the doctor is in very little of the book as well, he spends much of the story mediating in the tardis and trying to "find his center." I didn't mind the lead journalist girl or her friends, but it felt really strange that the book set up all the characters in the antarctic base and then completely abandoned them to focus on this girl's life instead. I'm starting to think I didn't like this book honestly, but I wanted to. Reading about the book online, it seems the writer had wanted to write it for years, first as a tv serial, then as a chose your own adventure book, then finally after multiple years he got permission to do this novel. I think the whole thing became an obsession and he lost the thread of storytelling, things got left behind in the years long process, that's how it feels to me.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here’s what the Doctor was up to during Birthright. Eventually, anyway - for a surprisingly long time, he isn’t in Iceberg either.

David Banks knows a lot about Cybermen, and means to prove it: Iceberg weaves together TV stories The Invasion and The Tenth Planet, more or less functions as a sequel to the latter, and goes out of its way to show Cybermen in a more horrifying light than you ever saw on TV. If you like Cybermen and body horror, and can’t get enough of The Tenth Planet, fill your boots.

But Iceberg isn’t too well written. There’s padding, particularly concerning would-be companion Ruby as she kills time on a cruise ship. (What book is she reading, and what does she think about it? Prepare to find out.) There’s something lurid about the violence after a while, and if you’re reading this to answer the Doctor’s absence in the last book, he’s not present enough to satisfy that itch. I didn’t love The Tenth Planet all that much, so wasn’t wild about repeating the plot.

It ultimately feels more like an exercise than a story. For big Cybermen fans only.

5/10

[Lee Cushing]

This is one of those oddities that comes as part of the Doctor: Virgin New Adventures. This book, published in1993, is set in the distant 2006.
It is to observe David Banks' vision of a future with air quality, water, plagues and global crises. It is a detailed, multi-layered depiction of future, filled with characters who possess human traits and faults.
It is intriguing to encounter a book in the series where the Doctor only plays only a minor role. He is absent for two-thirds of the narrative, yet does not hinder the progression of plot. The story centres on a voyage to the Antarctic is narrated through the perspective of journalist Duvall.
The primary threat emanates from the Cybermen, and David excels in incorporating elements from previous Cybermen stories particularly "The Tenth Planet" and "The Invasion," into plot of this book. Iceberg provides a glimpse into the repercussions of events from past Cybermen stories.

David Banks provides chilling depictions of Cyber-controlled humans, who transform from passionate, feeling individuals into zombie-like automatons.

[Arthur B · Rating 2 out of 5]

We get it, Dave, you're the Cybermen guy. Wish he'd done a novel about the Greenpeace Doctor instead. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...

[City Mist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from a glaring penchant for the word "paroxysm," David Banks turns out to be a skilled author here, injecting the Cybermen with body horror overtones that help to revitalize them as a threat for the New Adventures.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange, slightly disconnected writing style, but that only serves to reinforce the plot.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well to start with the Doctor seems to be contemplating his navel. It picked up a bit but overall a very dull book

[Arcturus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid book! The writing was a bit flat in places, but overall was still entertaining

[Arcturus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently I forgot to ever review this! I read it last year, but I remember having a good time with it, but not being particularly wow-ed

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is something of an odd book, but you can say that for most of The New Adventures which were never afraid to experiment with … just about anything.

With the Doctor's companions off having adventures in another book, the Doctor appears on only a few pages until 3/5s of the way through the novel. In the meantime we are treated to Ruby Duvall (a journalist) exploring a cruise ship with a few mysteries and General Cutler (not the one from the Tenth Planet, his daughter) taking command of a base where Cybermen once invaded.

Not a great deal happens for most of the book, but we are treated to an interesting take on Cyber-history, a large collection of intriguing red herrings and a rather pessimistic view of the "future" of 2006 (behold the perils of near future science fiction that puts dates on things).

It was an enjoyable read, but is definitely a Cyberman book rather than a Doctor Who book.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems to be a vehicle for David Banks' cyberhistory rather than an actual Doctor Who story. Unfortunately it lacks a real plot, instead just having taoist mythology and Wizard of Oz references.

Update 2018: Rereading in order.
Strangely I had recalled kind of enjoying this in the intervening years. But seeing the above view I didn't like it much then, neither do I now really. It's barely a Doctor Who novel as The Doctor rarely appears and isn't even *that* important. More it is a side story set in the Whoniverse in order to explain Banks' ideas about Cyberhistory (although thankfully they are not as weird as Grant Morrison's).
This time around the thinness of plot and references didn't bother me so much. What did was just how pedestrian the thing seemed and how weak the characterisation was.
At the same time though I finished it much faster than some of the other books and for all the flaws it gets from A to B to C in an understandable if contrived manner.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

April 2020
3.5/5

It certainly didn't blow me away but I enjoyed it. I think David Banks handled the Cybermen very well, and he definitely went much more in for the body horror potential than a lot of stories starring them. There are a few outdated references to race (the Cybermen referring to an Asian character as 'yellow' made me wince, and I'm not sure how I feel about the 'big powerful black man' trope being in play when the Cybermen choose a vessel for their Controller) but otherwise I don't think it's aged too badly.

January 2026
Dropping down to a three this time in part because I find Banks' prose a bit dull going. I still think that Cyber-wise this is pretty strong, with some striking images like the army of them coming out of the brain of the iceberg carved to look like a businessman; where I land is probably that I'd happily read Banks' book on the Cybermen but probably not another of his prose pieces.

[Numa Parrott · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was awful. I gave up after the first two chapters and skimmed the rest, but even skimming through it was torture. This book is a potent blend of immature writing, absurd pseudo-science, gritty realism, pointless extra characters, and about 10 minutes of the Doctor messing things up.

I almost liked the reporter girl, but she was soon buried under the weight of an absolutely terrible story.

Please spare yourself the trauma of reading this. Continuity-wise, I think the only significant development is that the TARDIS is getting weaker for some reason. Again. This is getting almost as tiring as the Eighth Doctor's amnesia issues.

I really hate this series. I've already started the next book.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1689801...

I thought this was an excellent Seventh Doctor novel, achieving the rare feat of writing a decent Cybermen story, in this case by the guy who actually played the Cyberleader on screen in the 1980s; set in 2006 and unifying the continuity of the various Cybermen TV stories set in the twentieth century. The Doctor is separated from his usual companions (who are off having the adventure described in Birthright) and teams up with a feisty investigative journalist called Ruby Duvall; if Big Finish are casting around for more characters to revive they could do worse than her.

[Marcy Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creative use of backstory from The Invasion/The Tenth Planet, but it feels as though Banks would have been more comfortable writing this as a spin-off. When the Doctor does turn out, it descends into little more than a Cybermen runaround that offers little new. However Banks shines in his gruesome body horror description of the Cybermen and his academic level of detail on the Cybermen (owing much to his reference book from a few years earlier.) Fears of climate change and references to Gaia only confirm this is straight out of the "be green!" Captain Planet era. It's skimmable or skippable, depending how much you're interested in the lives of people on a hedonistic cruise.