Doctor Who: Sanctuary

Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures #37

by David A. McIntee, Peter Elson (Illustrator)

The Doctor pointed at Bernice. 'The wench’s mind is addled,' he said. 'Arrest her before she spreads her ungodly heresy.'

The TARDIS is caught in the gravitational field of a dark star. The Doctor and Bernice are forced to evacuate, and find themselves stranded in medieval France - a brutal time of crusades and wars of succession.

As the Albigensian crusade draws to its bloody conclusion, men inflict savage brutalities on each other in the name of religion. And the TARDIS crew find their lives intertwined with warring Templars, crusaders and heretics. While the Doctor begins a murder investigation in a besieged fortress, Bernice finds herself drawn to an embittered mercenary who has made the heretics’ fight his own. And they both realize that to leave history unchanged they may have to sacrifice far more than their lives.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Doctors, France

297 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 1995

About the author

David A. McIntee was a British author who specialised in writing spin-offs and nonfiction commentaries for Doctor Who and other British and American science-fiction franchises.

Reviews

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

TW mentions: Rape, abortion, and religious cults.

-

Like all virgin new adventures for me, they do take a while to get into them with how descriptive they are and the set of tone, but once you are in the novel, 90% time it picks up after half-way through.

This one took a while for me to pick up. I tried reading it on my kindle a few times, but I couldn't get into it, so I ended up ordering the physical copy and I'm so glad I did because I ended up flying through this book.

Historical settings in Doctor Who are some of my favourite eras/settings, especially when done right. I can clearly tell that David A. Mcintee has done his research on medieval France, and the types of armour and religions used and it was actually so refreshing to read there wasn't an alien menace behind the plot, but just terrible human behaviour.

For Benny fans, this is an absolute must read for Benny. I have tabbed this book to death because of how great David understands her character, her traumas from her childhood and during her adventure with Guy. I love Bernice; she's one of my favourite companions in Doctor Who. She's slightly older than your average companion and from the future, and i love her sense of humour and the fact she's not afraid to be a little unhinged? This book is especially important as it talks a lot about Benny dealing with grief and how she's still not forgiven herself for her mother's death and how she and Guy talk about each other's trauma and understanding one another is beautiful.

I really liked how Guy was done here. How neutral he was but an extremely skilled swordsman for the time period and I liked the friends he made along the way. I also loved how he became so important to Benny, she names her son after him.

I loved the paragraph about Guy reflecting how the Doctor was like an owl, hunting his prey in darkness.

I will write more about this book, but my brain is just !!! at the moment.

Over all, 4/5 stars.


Mr. Mcintee? How rude of you to give us a good, juicy Benny novel with emotional trauma and angst? With a very well-done historical setting?

How am I going to recover from this?

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another slog. I hope that there are some Who fans that love these kinds of stories.

[Scurra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I noted in a previous review that McIntee had carved out a nice little niche within the NAs, by doing "historicals" - well-researched backgrounds with plausible historical fits. However, this is most definitely the first true "historical" in the NA series, with not a science fiction element to be seen (well apart from a couple of minor medical incidents.) This was something that the early tv stories did, but it gradually died out as the SF took over; this story proves that they can still work.

And he has chosen a very intriguing setting - the fall of the Cathars in medieval France. Most people who know of this story will know it through its key role in Holy Blood, Holy Grail since this was where the fabled treasure of the Templars was supposed to have been hidden.

McIntee finds a nice alternative but similar idea, and has a bit of fun with some other things (a Library of Alexandria idea at one point), some good Grail references (I liked the appearance of Saint-Clair), and, naturally, some fantastic Who throw-aways (to both some early Hartnell historicals, and to the much later Davison story, The King's Demons.)

And the main new character, Guy, is excellent. He acts as a perfect guide to the political and religious turmoil without feeling too unlikely, and a very nice touch with his sword that works very cleverly. (By an odd coincidence, I visited the Science Museum in London just before rereading this, and they have a Damascus-steel sword on display with notes about how technologically advanced it is.)

A good entry in the series then. Unfortunately, it was to be overshadowed by the next one, which is still one of the best.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one I disliked more than a lot of other people, and reading it in sequence hasn't increased my opinion.
I found going into it I only remembered the beginning, the end and the fact that Benny had a romance with a possibly doomed knight in medieval Southern France. The reason it turned out is because that is more or less all there is to it. The Doctor has a locked a room mystery and there is some faffing about with an artifact people want. But that isn't what it is about.
Really this is a piece historical fiction where Benny gets to have a romance, like Doctor Who doing Outlander*. However, McIntee is nothing like Gabaldon. I get no sense of place or atmosphere. The inevitible ending is not only obvious but manages to lack the sense of impending doom many Doctor Who stories do so well.
I know a lot of people like that Benny gets a starring novel but this doesn't really serve her well or give her more depth. It's for her to have a terrible time in order to setup the events of Human Nature, aping what was already done with Ace in Love and War.
Now it is not terrible, just a bit meh. The action scenes are well written, the virgin range gets to do their first pure historical and staying prior to 19th century for the entire adventure. A sign of better things to come.

*A book I have other problems with but I do not deny how well written it is.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

David A. McIntee's Sanctuary presents itself as a pure historical story, a rarity for Doctor 7. There are no aliens, no time paradoxes, no lost extraterrestrial devices. Instead, the story proceeds much like the Hartnell era historicals. Thus, the plot runs mostly this way: something strange happens to the TARDIS, forcing the TARDIS crew to abandon the TARDIS. They find themselves in southwestern France, Landuedoc (or Langue d'Oc), in the early 1200s, just in time for the most horrific parts of the Albigensian Crusades. Doctor and companion get separated, and the first half plus of the story involves them trying to get back together. Once they do, the plot changes to part The Name of the Rose and part Ivanhoe. Bernice falls in love with a disgraced Templar Knight, Guy de Carnac, which of course prepares the reader for the tragic ending. Although McIntee has apparently done quite a bit of research about the period and its historical events, he ends up playing Shakespeare with history, creating characters as standins for one and sometimes two real historical figures, condensing events that cross years into a couple of weeks, and conflating events into single scenes.

Some problematic areas for me are the overly long descriptions of combat, especially dwelling on the physical details of death, the lack of a clear plot, and the telegraphing of the ending from very early in the story. The detailed descriptions of death really put me off. In each case, we have to be told exactly which limbs were hacked off, which body parts were gauged out, which weapon caused each death, how much blood one could see, and on and on and on. I don't know why McIntee insists on devoting so many pages to gore, other than that it acts as padding to swell an otherwise rather slim story.

So, this book is entertaining in that we get plenty of Medieval fighting (all very exciting), a love story that is at least believable enough (de Carnac being very much like Bernice), dastardly nobles stabbing each other in the backs (or hiring someone to do it), and a Doctor 7 who for the first time in a long time seems to be actually doing something.

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the Virgin New Adventures is a range that has always been mixed with fans, we have so much to thank it for, after all, if we didn't have these novels we might not have had the revival series. This range of books has a lot of duds, but also a lot of classics to make up for it. Sanctuary is one I've been meaning to read for a long time but because I was hoping for it to be a classic, I was afraid it'd end up being a dud.

The Tardis is caught in a gravitational field of a black star. The Doctor and Bernice are forced to escape via the Pagoda. They arrive in medieval France, a brutal time of crusades and wars of succession. Here the two will be separated, The Doctor right in the thick of corrupt religion and Bernice in the very embrace of what appears to be another chance at romance, but will Guy de Carnac her new lover survive this terrible conflict?

David A. McIntee has written a bloodthirsty, pure-historical that shows history at its ugliest. It's a story filled to the brim with violence, corrupt politics intertwined with corrupt religion, conspiracies, and treachery. But it's also a deep and meaningful love story for Bernice Summerfield. The characterization in this novel is superb, the bond between Bernice and Guy De Carnac is incredibly moving and it's easy to see why they fall in love.

Overall: An incredibly bleak novel that really gives you an idea of just how brutal this time in history was for France, and the many heartbreaks it no doubt caused. 9/10

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable pure historical that really put me in mind of the pure historicals of the First Doctor's era. As is often the case with historicals, it doesn't shy away from the uglier aspects of the past, and with a story like this it would be impossible to. While I've struggled before with some of the New Adventures writers delving into being grim and 'edgy', this is one story where these aspects are handled well and it never feels like McIntee is just trying to revel in the suffering of the characters for the sake of it, which is always a big plus.

It's also very good for how it handles Benny, as we get to see a side of her that we haven't really had much of before as she gets to know Guy de Carnac. They both have a really interesting dynamic with one another and it feels very genuine and engaging to read. The Doctor feels like he takes a bit of a backseat in proceedings, but he's still characterised well, if a little weary considering recent developments.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved pretty much all the stuff set in the TARDIS for the first 50 pages. The Doctor and Benny continue to have some decent stuff throughout the whole book, and I actually quite enjoyed Benny and Guy's relationship. Pages 150-200 were a major slog for me but the last 50 pages went by fairly quickly. I enjoyed the ending, and for principle alone this book deserves at least 2 stars. Doctor Who should do more pure historicals in all media. Shame the VNAs only have two. Overall, a decent read; worth sticking with, and I didn't mind the change of pace from the standard VNA storyline at all. Would recommend for Benny's storyline alone.

[Arthur B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I rather bounced off this one - the treatment of the historical side of this story won't engage people who know the history of the Albigensian Crusade significantly better than the readership McIntee is aiming for do, and the handling of the Doctor and Benny doesn't quite work for me, since the story really would suit the First Doctor and the approach of his early historicals more than the Seventh. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I wasn't completely enamoured of the Guy/Benny relationship, but that's always a difficult thing to handle when covering such a small amount of time and I thought it worked alright, all things considered. Sort of wish we didn't have the implied rape, although of course that sort of thing probably happened - it just felt a bit clumsy and uncomfortable. Overall, though, definitely a solid book.

[Paul Waring · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know enough about the period this VNA is set in to comment on the historical accuracy, but it certainly felt like the author had put some effort into researching it. The story was pretty good, the temporary companion an interesting addition to the team, and the hint of romance believable. Definitely one of the better VNAs.

[City Mist · Rating 4 out of 5]

David A. McIntee's writing remains dense and wordy, but I prefer this attempt at a pure historical over First Frontier's glossy pulp science fiction. Unrelatedly, Sontaran is spelled "Centauran" multiple times in this book. Very strange.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor Who pure historical is a curious piece of its history and legacy. A format that fit into a vaguely educational intention behind part of the show’s original premise, it also came to be discarded as the science fiction elements and monster gradually overtook them for audience attention. Even though there hasn’t been a pure historical on TV since January 1967 (not including the 1920s mystery pastiche Black Orchid), the format has retained some love among fans. Something that perhaps made it inevitable that the format would surface when the fans took the series over off-screen in the 1990s. With Sanctuary, the late David A McIntee made a solid stab at bringing the format into the present day.

Or he did once he came up with an in-story reason for having the Seventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield become stranded in France in 1242. To do so, the novel goes hard and fast into sci-fi technobabble to justify it involving a dark star, the TARDIS, and the need to use the Jade Pagoda for a quick get away. It’s a contrived opening, to put it mildly, but given how far Doctor Who (and the Virgin New Adventures novels that this was part of) had gone done the science fiction route, perhaps somewhat justified. Good grief, though, does it eat into the pace and page count at a valuable point early in the novel.

Once they arrive in 1242 amid the Albigensian Crusade and the Cathars, McIntee hits his stride. The Doctor and Benny are split up soon enough and on opposing sides of a bloody conflict. They offer an outsider’s more modern perspective on events, something very much in the tradition of those early Hartnell historicals. By splitting them up, of course, McIntee also presents the chance to see the machinations and intentions, ill and otherwise, present on both sides. Indeed, McIntee uses that to paint in words the world of medieval France in rich details. It’s a worldbuilding exercise that, as a reader and writer of historical fiction, I was almost envious of while reading the novel.

Alongside Benny comes the sympathetic figure of the period: Guy de Carnac. Guy is a fascinating character, a former Knight’s Templar turned mercenary with shrew sword skills and the weariness of a man who has seen too much of the world. Or, as becomes clear, merely looking for a good cause once more. A cause that he finds and more besides alongside Benny, giving Guy an emotional connection to Benny and the reader that can, of course, only end one way. Like the worldbuilding, McIntee presents a richly drawn character that remains with the reader long after they close Sanctuary for the final time.

All of that richness poured into worldbuilding and into Guy as a character comes at a price. Namely that, for much of its length, Sanctuary isn’t so much a novel as a series of vignettes linked by the Doctor and Benny’s presence. Events which pass from one another without a solid enough through line. That is until, quite late in the day, McIntee throws a murder mystery in as a central plot. One which, while solid in its execution, arrives without the build-up that makes something like Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (which had its murder occur halfway through) effective because the worldbuilding and characters don’t build to the moment. Once the mystery kicks in, the pace goes from slow but effective to breakneck which such speed as to risk literary whiplash. Which is a shame because it rather undermines what McIntee was so clearly trying to accomplish in writing a 1990s take on a 1960s Doctor Who staple.

Even so, by virtue of being a pure historical, Sanctuary remains well worth reading as a Doctor Who novel. One that excels at recreating a historical period and for drawing one of the best supporting characters you’re likely to come across in all of literary Who. It’s a shame that there isn’t enough of a plot to make this into the classic it so richly deserved to be.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2039812.html[return][return][return]A New Adventure novel, with the Seventh Doctor and Benny ending up at the awful end of the Albigensian crusade; a rare case of a purely historical story, with the Tardis crew's presence the only sfnal element.[return][return]I rather enjoyed it. I am a Benny fan, and the fact that she gets a decent, if doomed, romance was cause for cheer. (Apparently there are two other McIntee stories featuring her love interest - one audio, one novel. I shall look out for them.) There is a decent effort at gritty and vivid historical detail, and the Doctor gets to solve a locked-room murder mystery. Benny is surprisingly up-to-date with late twentieth-century Earth culture, but she is a woman of many talents after all. And as a partial reboot of the range, after the departure of Ace, who constituted half of the NAs' continuity with Old Who, it did the job for me.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A entertaining novel about the travels of the Seventh Doctor and Benny, in a little known time period. I enjoyed this and felt as if I were in the middle of one of the 1960s historical serials that Doctor Who was known for. As always loved Benny as a character and really felt for her at the tragic conclusion of the book, which nicely sets us up for Human Nature.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was by far the best David A. McIntee story I've read in the New Adventures series. The story and characters were reasonably well thought out and memorable, and everything moved along at a decent pace.

I still find he tends to use 3 words when 1 will do, and I'm not a fan of long passages describing battles or other action scenes. But I was pleasantly surprised by this title. After reading McIntee's last few entries in the series, I really hadn't been looking forward to this title.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS is a real taste of David McIntee -- it's easily his best contribution to the DW New Adventures line, and perhaps his all-around best Doctor Who novel. Violent, exciting, exhilerating, provocative...this is historical adventure at its most deliciously bloodthirsty and epic. Great stuff all around.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A straight historical adventure with the Doctor and Benny stranded in medevil england.
It starts out interesting, but soon starts to meander and I didn't think the last half was as strong.

Liked Sir Guy. He would have made an interesting companion.
The Tardis escape pod was also quite clever.

[Leela42 · Rating 3 out of 5]

New Adventure (NA) with Benny. A pure historical. Mostly excellent, but I dock it a full star for being so unnecessarily and distractingly graphic at the climax.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great historical detail and good characterization for Benny, but the book is also very slow with not much happening in the way of plot.