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Eighth Doctor Adventures #73
Doctor Who: The Gallifrey Chronicles
The Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey has been destroyed. The Time Lords are dead, their TARDISes annihilated. The man responsible has been tracked down and lured to Earth in the year 2005, where there will be no escape. But Earth has its hands full - a mystery signal is being received from a radio telescope, there's a second moon in the sky, and a primordial alien menace has been unleashed. The stage is set for the ultimate confrontation. Now, the last of the Time Lords must ensure that justice is done. The Doctor and his companions Fitz and Trix will meet their destiny. And this time, the Doctor isn't going to be able to save everybody. This is the last in the continuing series of original adventures of the Eighth Doctor.
283 pages, Paperback
First published June 2, 2005
12 people are currently reading
521 people want to read
About the author
Lance Parkin
84 books96 followersLance Parkin is an author who has written professional Doctor Who fiction since the 1990s. He is one of the few authors to write for both the 1963 and 2005 version of the programme — though much of his fiction has actually been based on the 1996 iteration. Indeed, he was notably the first author to write original prose for the Eighth Doctor in The Dying Days. He was also the author chosen to deliver the nominal 35th anniversary story, The Infinity Doctors, and the final volume in the Eighth Doctor Adventures range, The Gallifrey Chronicles. More recently, he has written for the Tenth Doctor in The Eyeless.
He is further notable for his work with Big Finish Productions, where he is arguably most known for writing the Sixth Doctor adventure, Davros.
Outside of Doctor Who, he has written things like Warlords of Utopia and (with Mark Jones) Dark Matter, a guide to the author Philip Pullman.
He is further notable for his work with Big Finish Productions, where he is arguably most known for writing the Sixth Doctor adventure, Davros.
Outside of Doctor Who, he has written things like Warlords of Utopia and (with Mark Jones) Dark Matter, a guide to the author Philip Pullman.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 17, 2013
And so it ends, as we all knew it must. From 1997 to 2005 the BBC continued the work started in the movie and gave us on a regular basis the adventures of Paul McGann's sharply dressed Doctor. But the times were changing and eventually what was once thought unthinkable happened . . . the BBC decided to bring back the old show of yesteryear, gussied up with new(ish) production values and a bold new Doctor who was dressed like he was ready to roll with the rougher boys. Which meant it was time to put the Eighth Doctor out to pasture and make way for new guy, as every Doctor one day must. So the BBC sought to give him a momentous and fitting conclusion for the character who had served as the Doctor for potentially the longest out of all of them. Thus everything was brought to a rousing yet bittersweet fin-
Er, not quite. In fact, it seems that the BBC went out of their way to not wrap anything up and were it not for the fact that you had probably turned on your TV at some point and seen the new Doctor palling around with a charming working class girl (at least the British got to, us Yankees had to pirate the thing until it got a proper showing) you may not have realized that the winds were changing.
The signs are all there. They brought in Lance Parkin to write this final Eighth Doctor adventure, and those with long memories will remember that Mr Parkin was the one who wrote the first novelized Eighth Doctor adventure back when Virgin was allowed to do whatever they wanted. There's more notice paid to the long-running subplot about the Doctor's missing memories and the destruction of Gallifrey like forty books back. Fitz and Trix appeared to have started a relationship between books and are thinking of leaving and settling down. All the elements are there to draw a firm line in history and denote the end of one era and the beginning of another.
And yet. And yet. We don't. The plot mainly concerns a bunch of separate elements all moving simultaneously without really connecting. The Doctor and company romp around saving the Universe from various threats. An old science-fiction writer dies and wakes up looking younger and talking about the planet Gallifrey and Time Lords. Fitz and Trix start going all domestic on us and begin to make plans for their life outside the TARDIS, perhaps together. In the early stages of the book it's not even clear what's at stake, until the Time Lord Marnal captures the Doctor and decides to get to the bottom of what happened to Gallifrey and delve into the real reason why the Doctor seems to have forgotten everything. That alone could have been an interesting premise, to explore the Doctor's guilt over what he did and the ramifications for his psyche, especially with an impending regeneration. It could make the case that being unable to deal with the outcome of his own actions, or wishing to amend for them in the only way how, he gets himself into a situation where he can undergo a metaphorical death and thus absolve himself in some fashion.
The book doesn't want to go that dark, however and other than one or two scenes that suggest at the tone that the Virgin novels used to take, things are more or less kept fairly light and swiftly moving. There's a nod toward the concept of all the incarnations residing in his head, but you know, retired, and while the Doctor's head remains a mysterious place, it remains mysterious to both he and us. If there's one complaint to be made about this Doctor, it's that we never really got to know him in the way we got to know the Seventh. With rare exceptions he remained at arm's length throughout his tenure and those times we did get a peek inside, it didn't give us any revelations. In a way it's probably best that the plot of the novel gets sidetracked and Parkin takes the tone that he does, as most of the scenes involving or discussing Gallifrey run into the same dilemma that vexed the knights with Camelot: it's a silly place. Once all the odd but not odd enough names show up and the people with the funny hats are invoked it feels like cheap science-fiction. The Virgin run, especially closing novel "Lungbarrow" was able to imbue Gallifrey with a sense of age and decaying grandeur, the weight of a place that could never be fully understood, even by its inhabitants. The Gallifrey of the BBC era mostly imbues BBC set design budgets, for better or for worse.
Fortunately a threat comes out of nowhere (although nicely hinted on the cover) when the insect-like Vore show up and start devouring everyone in sight, while slaughtering thousands. It gives the novel a sudden sense of urgency and menace rather late in the game, even if it has only a tenuous connection to what has gone before and a lot of the explanation regarding their behavior comes down to "It's bugs!", but Parkin is able to give them a fitting oddness and a special ability that allows him to neatly have his apocalyptic cake and gobble his happy ending as well.
But when it's over, it's over, regardless of whether the story itself is actually over. I get where they're going with it, Parkin giving us the sense that the Eighth Doctor could have many more adventures in him before he has to don a hot leather jacket but the way it's handled is to literally cut us off mid-adventure with the current situation not resolved, the feelings of Trix and Fitz regarding further TARDIS travel unresolved and not even a hint that the bad times are coming. Instead of this Doctor sailing off into the sunset, the page is merely turned and we don't see any more. I didn't expect the funereal and elegiac feel of the last few Seventh Doctor adventures, which were old and wise and tired in turn, mindful of mortality, the race to get things done before time ran out and the relief that the burden of getting things done would finally be removed. But some kind of conclusion to a series that had run seventy-plus books and almost eight years would have been appreciated. Maybe it's a lot to ask for but it's not like they didn't know it was coming. They can't even claim the license was yanked away . . . judging by the publishing dates they had plenty of time to prepare.
Long time fans will appreciate all the callbacks. Parkin is good at inserting nods to continuity both from the TV show and the book series, with stray lines and situations recalling fun times that were shared. The casual reader probably will get lost but if you've stuck with the series for this long, the term "casual reader" probably no longer applies. He has a lively writing style that addresses pop culture without becoming a slave to references and a deft touch with the smaller moments, not overwhelming with them but making them count where he can. Unfortunately, those are rare here. His explanation as to what happened with the memories is graceful as well, making sense without insulting us or descending into a lot of babble. It's a little thing here, but it's something.
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine Eighth Doctor adventure. But it makes for an unsatisfying final adventure and the Eighth Doctor probably deserved a better going-away present than this, which merely strands him on a cliffhanger never to be resolved. Again, I get the "road goes ever on . . ." vibe but that ignores the fact that the road does indeed go and we could turn on our TVs and see where it headed. It makes for a bittersweet sendoff because we know this will be the last time we see these characters in this form as new things, as the New Adventures of Doctor Who. There is one more Eighth Doctor adventure but it gets relegated to the Past Doctor line, and has a story during the Fitz and Anji years. Maybe McGann will never get that proper regeneration scene (apparently the comic series did have one scheduled but Davies vetoed it because he didn't want to show the Ninth Doctor with anyone but Rose . . . although if you poke around the Internet long enough you can probably find the artwork for that scene somewhere) and that's probably fitting for a Doctor that will forever be known as "the other one" or "the one who starred in that movie with Eric Roberts". But I think every Doctor needs to have that moment when they stop being "the Doctor" and become "the nth Doctor", just another one in a past line, his story all done. It's the end of an era here, even if the book doesn't want to quite acknowledge it. Not just the end of the Eighth Doctor BBC line but the end of an experiment rarely tried in the history of television . . . taking a character who had originated on the small screen and forging new ongoing ground through a series of novels. From 1991 to 2005 Virgin and the BBC had been giving us new Doctor adventures with no limits and nothing to interfere and frankly it was intoxicating. From here on when the Doctor appears in books, he's beholden to the TV continuity, unable to contradict or take risks, with tales fit awkwardly in between televised episodes that are just meant to satiate an audience that wants more Doctor Who. Arguments about canon aside, what they did here was unprecedented and kept a character alive who should have been relegated to fond childhood memories. I don't think the novels get enough credit for that, for showing a new generation of writers what was possible with the character and maybe inspiring them (it definitely inspired Davies).
Don't mistake me, I'm glad that the show is back but despite how great the show is (at times) it's hard sometimes to feel that in going from "stories too big for the small screen" back to the small screen itself, we're not taking a step backwards in a way. "Doctor Who" belongs on television, born and raised there, but this was nice too, for a while. On a personal note, reading these was something I started doing in early 2007 and while it's hard to believe it took this long it's also weird to reach this novel and realize there's no more Eighth Doctor adventures and if want to see the story continue, I have to reach for a DVD. Watching the giant pile diminish little by little over the course of six years, I can look back and see that even if the BBC stories never quite scaled the heights that the best Virgin New Adventures did, there was some fine work in there. The vision never quite seemed as strong (I'll leave space for the pro- and con- Cartmel Masterplan arguments to commence) but it was nice to see a sustained run of books where there didn't have to be limits and the best of these stories were ones that could only have happened with the Eighth Doctor ("Crooked World", I'm looking at you). I'm not quite done yet (there's still a handful of Past Doctor adventures left to sift through) but the story that started with "The Eighth Doctors" finishes here and even if the show gets canceled again, with the ways the world has changed since the end of the show and the end of this series, I doubt we'll ever see the likes of this again. So let's admire it for what it was, agree to disagree on what it wasn't, and be glad that it exists all the same. Which seems like a sentiment the Eighth Doctor would profess. Fair enough.
Er, not quite. In fact, it seems that the BBC went out of their way to not wrap anything up and were it not for the fact that you had probably turned on your TV at some point and seen the new Doctor palling around with a charming working class girl (at least the British got to, us Yankees had to pirate the thing until it got a proper showing) you may not have realized that the winds were changing.
The signs are all there. They brought in Lance Parkin to write this final Eighth Doctor adventure, and those with long memories will remember that Mr Parkin was the one who wrote the first novelized Eighth Doctor adventure back when Virgin was allowed to do whatever they wanted. There's more notice paid to the long-running subplot about the Doctor's missing memories and the destruction of Gallifrey like forty books back. Fitz and Trix appeared to have started a relationship between books and are thinking of leaving and settling down. All the elements are there to draw a firm line in history and denote the end of one era and the beginning of another.
And yet. And yet. We don't. The plot mainly concerns a bunch of separate elements all moving simultaneously without really connecting. The Doctor and company romp around saving the Universe from various threats. An old science-fiction writer dies and wakes up looking younger and talking about the planet Gallifrey and Time Lords. Fitz and Trix start going all domestic on us and begin to make plans for their life outside the TARDIS, perhaps together. In the early stages of the book it's not even clear what's at stake, until the Time Lord Marnal captures the Doctor and decides to get to the bottom of what happened to Gallifrey and delve into the real reason why the Doctor seems to have forgotten everything. That alone could have been an interesting premise, to explore the Doctor's guilt over what he did and the ramifications for his psyche, especially with an impending regeneration. It could make the case that being unable to deal with the outcome of his own actions, or wishing to amend for them in the only way how, he gets himself into a situation where he can undergo a metaphorical death and thus absolve himself in some fashion.
The book doesn't want to go that dark, however and other than one or two scenes that suggest at the tone that the Virgin novels used to take, things are more or less kept fairly light and swiftly moving. There's a nod toward the concept of all the incarnations residing in his head, but you know, retired, and while the Doctor's head remains a mysterious place, it remains mysterious to both he and us. If there's one complaint to be made about this Doctor, it's that we never really got to know him in the way we got to know the Seventh. With rare exceptions he remained at arm's length throughout his tenure and those times we did get a peek inside, it didn't give us any revelations. In a way it's probably best that the plot of the novel gets sidetracked and Parkin takes the tone that he does, as most of the scenes involving or discussing Gallifrey run into the same dilemma that vexed the knights with Camelot: it's a silly place. Once all the odd but not odd enough names show up and the people with the funny hats are invoked it feels like cheap science-fiction. The Virgin run, especially closing novel "Lungbarrow" was able to imbue Gallifrey with a sense of age and decaying grandeur, the weight of a place that could never be fully understood, even by its inhabitants. The Gallifrey of the BBC era mostly imbues BBC set design budgets, for better or for worse.
Fortunately a threat comes out of nowhere (although nicely hinted on the cover) when the insect-like Vore show up and start devouring everyone in sight, while slaughtering thousands. It gives the novel a sudden sense of urgency and menace rather late in the game, even if it has only a tenuous connection to what has gone before and a lot of the explanation regarding their behavior comes down to "It's bugs!", but Parkin is able to give them a fitting oddness and a special ability that allows him to neatly have his apocalyptic cake and gobble his happy ending as well.
But when it's over, it's over, regardless of whether the story itself is actually over. I get where they're going with it, Parkin giving us the sense that the Eighth Doctor could have many more adventures in him before he has to don a hot leather jacket but the way it's handled is to literally cut us off mid-adventure with the current situation not resolved, the feelings of Trix and Fitz regarding further TARDIS travel unresolved and not even a hint that the bad times are coming. Instead of this Doctor sailing off into the sunset, the page is merely turned and we don't see any more. I didn't expect the funereal and elegiac feel of the last few Seventh Doctor adventures, which were old and wise and tired in turn, mindful of mortality, the race to get things done before time ran out and the relief that the burden of getting things done would finally be removed. But some kind of conclusion to a series that had run seventy-plus books and almost eight years would have been appreciated. Maybe it's a lot to ask for but it's not like they didn't know it was coming. They can't even claim the license was yanked away . . . judging by the publishing dates they had plenty of time to prepare.
Long time fans will appreciate all the callbacks. Parkin is good at inserting nods to continuity both from the TV show and the book series, with stray lines and situations recalling fun times that were shared. The casual reader probably will get lost but if you've stuck with the series for this long, the term "casual reader" probably no longer applies. He has a lively writing style that addresses pop culture without becoming a slave to references and a deft touch with the smaller moments, not overwhelming with them but making them count where he can. Unfortunately, those are rare here. His explanation as to what happened with the memories is graceful as well, making sense without insulting us or descending into a lot of babble. It's a little thing here, but it's something.
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine Eighth Doctor adventure. But it makes for an unsatisfying final adventure and the Eighth Doctor probably deserved a better going-away present than this, which merely strands him on a cliffhanger never to be resolved. Again, I get the "road goes ever on . . ." vibe but that ignores the fact that the road does indeed go and we could turn on our TVs and see where it headed. It makes for a bittersweet sendoff because we know this will be the last time we see these characters in this form as new things, as the New Adventures of Doctor Who. There is one more Eighth Doctor adventure but it gets relegated to the Past Doctor line, and has a story during the Fitz and Anji years. Maybe McGann will never get that proper regeneration scene (apparently the comic series did have one scheduled but Davies vetoed it because he didn't want to show the Ninth Doctor with anyone but Rose . . . although if you poke around the Internet long enough you can probably find the artwork for that scene somewhere) and that's probably fitting for a Doctor that will forever be known as "the other one" or "the one who starred in that movie with Eric Roberts". But I think every Doctor needs to have that moment when they stop being "the Doctor" and become "the nth Doctor", just another one in a past line, his story all done. It's the end of an era here, even if the book doesn't want to quite acknowledge it. Not just the end of the Eighth Doctor BBC line but the end of an experiment rarely tried in the history of television . . . taking a character who had originated on the small screen and forging new ongoing ground through a series of novels. From 1991 to 2005 Virgin and the BBC had been giving us new Doctor adventures with no limits and nothing to interfere and frankly it was intoxicating. From here on when the Doctor appears in books, he's beholden to the TV continuity, unable to contradict or take risks, with tales fit awkwardly in between televised episodes that are just meant to satiate an audience that wants more Doctor Who. Arguments about canon aside, what they did here was unprecedented and kept a character alive who should have been relegated to fond childhood memories. I don't think the novels get enough credit for that, for showing a new generation of writers what was possible with the character and maybe inspiring them (it definitely inspired Davies).
Don't mistake me, I'm glad that the show is back but despite how great the show is (at times) it's hard sometimes to feel that in going from "stories too big for the small screen" back to the small screen itself, we're not taking a step backwards in a way. "Doctor Who" belongs on television, born and raised there, but this was nice too, for a while. On a personal note, reading these was something I started doing in early 2007 and while it's hard to believe it took this long it's also weird to reach this novel and realize there's no more Eighth Doctor adventures and if want to see the story continue, I have to reach for a DVD. Watching the giant pile diminish little by little over the course of six years, I can look back and see that even if the BBC stories never quite scaled the heights that the best Virgin New Adventures did, there was some fine work in there. The vision never quite seemed as strong (I'll leave space for the pro- and con- Cartmel Masterplan arguments to commence) but it was nice to see a sustained run of books where there didn't have to be limits and the best of these stories were ones that could only have happened with the Eighth Doctor ("Crooked World", I'm looking at you). I'm not quite done yet (there's still a handful of Past Doctor adventures left to sift through) but the story that started with "The Eighth Doctors" finishes here and even if the show gets canceled again, with the ways the world has changed since the end of the show and the end of this series, I doubt we'll ever see the likes of this again. So let's admire it for what it was, agree to disagree on what it wasn't, and be glad that it exists all the same. Which seems like a sentiment the Eighth Doctor would profess. Fair enough.
June 28, 2014
After over 70 plus books, I really was hoping for a better ending to the Eighth Doctor Adventures. It wasn't a bad book, but it just didn't have the scope and drama I had hoped for. Still, there were finally some answers to some very long term questions about The Doctor and Gallifrey, and an ending that while not fully satisfying, fuels the imagination for future adventures for The Doctor and his companions.
Just as a suggestion, The Gallifrey Chronicles is not the book to read if you haven't read any of the other EDA's. You don't have to read the whole series to appreciate the ending, but you will enjoy it far more if you have read at least some. And prior reading of Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell would also be useful, just to help you tie it all together.
Just as a suggestion, The Gallifrey Chronicles is not the book to read if you haven't read any of the other EDA's. You don't have to read the whole series to appreciate the ending, but you will enjoy it far more if you have read at least some. And prior reading of Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell would also be useful, just to help you tie it all together.
April 24, 2022
This is probably the second best ending to a doctor who book series; it's not quite on a par with Lungbarrow, but it's still utterly excellent, beautiful, poetic and profane, high and low brow, just lovely. It's a fabulous bookend to the entire EDAs, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Bravo.
Read
April 8, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/1102824.html[return][return]I thought at first that this was going to be a too-clever-by-half tale of intersecting rival continuities. It's better than that, I'm glad to say. A lot of the plot features another Time Lord exiled to Earth, who has been writing science fiction novels over the last century or so (these are the Gallifrey Chronicles of the title, a beautifully developed concept); he bears a grudge against the Doctor, and triggers an invasion of Earth by loathesome insects to get even. (I loved the idea of the insects spraying goo which doesn't actually kill people but makes everyone else believe the victim is dead.)[return][return]There are some slightly baffling bits of continuity. I still don't have the backstory abouit the destruction of Gallifrey (in EDA continuity, that is; I have enjoyed the Big Finish version) but it's not as relevant to the plot as I expected. Likewise the Doctor's adopted daughter Miranda makes an appearance, the first time I had encountered her. [return][return]This was also the first book I've read with companion Trix, who has replaced Anji as female sidekick to Fitz (though Anji makes a welcome cameo appearance). Trix and Fitz take advantage of the approaching end of the sequence of novels and fall in love, after travelling together for some time - I think the most overtly physical relationship between two companions in the whole extended canon before New Who, though it's not particularly explicit and is abruptly interrupted. [return][return]The ending is not really as conclusive as you would have liked for the termination of a series of more than 70 books. Of course, this is probably Russell T Davies' fault more than Lance Parkin's, but it's a bit of a shame.[return][return]Anyway, once again Lance Parkin has produced a mildly confusing if generally readable book. Once again, I find myself thinking that I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point for anyone wanting to get into the Eighth Doctor Adventures; but I have to admit I haven't really identified such a starting point as yet.
March 3, 2010
One thing going through this list of books for this website has done has made me realise how much I miss the BBC novels of old, the new ones just are not the same. I know the target audience is now slightly different but the sooner this type of Doctor Who book is back on the market the better it is for all fans of Doctor Who fiction.
August 30, 2025
Book 347 - Lance Parkin - The Gallifrey Chronicles
In the early 2000s, Doctor Who had been off air for several years...1996 was the McGann movie broadcast... the 'Classic' series had ended in 1987 and as the 40th anniversary approached there was little sign of the programme retuning. Then just as the anniversary hit, the BBC announced it would be back in 2005... a proper continuation of the original and Christopher Eccleston would be the Doctor. What did this mean for the ongoing BBC approved novels ? Well... they had to be wrapped up and this was a challenge... the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey was gone...destroyed in an earlier novel... the Doctor himself had no memories of his past lives and had been living on earth for over 100 years. This is where we find the Doctor at the start of this book.
Early in this story we discover another Time Lord is still out there and he has just regenerated for the 12th time... and suddenly he knows what he must do... find the Doctor... and kill him for his genocide against his own people.
The Doctor is traveling with Trix and Fitz. Two companions that are both very different to the norm and as their relationship grows and grows throughout the book, it looks like they are being set up to leave. As the Doctor is kidnapped by Marnal... the other Time Lord... he is judged and sentenced to death in the ultimate trial by a Time Lord.
When he escapes... he takes back his damaged and incomplete TARDIS and slowly learns what happened to the Time Lords ... without spoiling the dramatic final third of the book... we have the deadliest of alien invasions... the Doctor is missing and his companions threatened with death. The denouement is brilliant... the solution incomplete and yet it perfectly sets up what was to come from the return of the televisual stories in 2005. Welcome back Doctor... we have missed you and you are exactly the one we expected.
In the early 2000s, Doctor Who had been off air for several years...1996 was the McGann movie broadcast... the 'Classic' series had ended in 1987 and as the 40th anniversary approached there was little sign of the programme retuning. Then just as the anniversary hit, the BBC announced it would be back in 2005... a proper continuation of the original and Christopher Eccleston would be the Doctor. What did this mean for the ongoing BBC approved novels ? Well... they had to be wrapped up and this was a challenge... the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey was gone...destroyed in an earlier novel... the Doctor himself had no memories of his past lives and had been living on earth for over 100 years. This is where we find the Doctor at the start of this book.
Early in this story we discover another Time Lord is still out there and he has just regenerated for the 12th time... and suddenly he knows what he must do... find the Doctor... and kill him for his genocide against his own people.
The Doctor is traveling with Trix and Fitz. Two companions that are both very different to the norm and as their relationship grows and grows throughout the book, it looks like they are being set up to leave. As the Doctor is kidnapped by Marnal... the other Time Lord... he is judged and sentenced to death in the ultimate trial by a Time Lord.
When he escapes... he takes back his damaged and incomplete TARDIS and slowly learns what happened to the Time Lords ... without spoiling the dramatic final third of the book... we have the deadliest of alien invasions... the Doctor is missing and his companions threatened with death. The denouement is brilliant... the solution incomplete and yet it perfectly sets up what was to come from the return of the televisual stories in 2005. Welcome back Doctor... we have missed you and you are exactly the one we expected.
March 25, 2020
Not the best Dr. Who tale I've read by a long shot
There are very abrupt shifts between the axcounts of both the Doctor & Marnal, another Time Lord, who regenerates in front of the nurse he hired, Rachel. It is very difficult to track the switches, and when the Doctor's 2 companions go out on their own for a while, it gets more complex. Pkusbthere is an episode where the nurse is, as a child, somehie involved wirh Dr. Who, but the purpose of this recall to the story is never enumerated, it seems to have nothing wharmtsiever to do with the plot.
The book could have at least had dividing lines between these sections...some clue that there was a swap in subplots.
The story is also a bit wordy, leaves out a great deal of background, drags in spots, & involves semi-sentient giant locusts the size of a human male. While part of the problem is solved, the ending shows nothing but the Doctor going in to save the day...but it doesn't tell you what he does nor how, when, or even if he defeats them.
All in all, a very poorly put together tale with too many loose ends and a very gross secondary plot. My take? Don't waste your time on this slop.
There are very abrupt shifts between the axcounts of both the Doctor & Marnal, another Time Lord, who regenerates in front of the nurse he hired, Rachel. It is very difficult to track the switches, and when the Doctor's 2 companions go out on their own for a while, it gets more complex. Pkusbthere is an episode where the nurse is, as a child, somehie involved wirh Dr. Who, but the purpose of this recall to the story is never enumerated, it seems to have nothing wharmtsiever to do with the plot.
The book could have at least had dividing lines between these sections...some clue that there was a swap in subplots.
The story is also a bit wordy, leaves out a great deal of background, drags in spots, & involves semi-sentient giant locusts the size of a human male. While part of the problem is solved, the ending shows nothing but the Doctor going in to save the day...but it doesn't tell you what he does nor how, when, or even if he defeats them.
All in all, a very poorly put together tale with too many loose ends and a very gross secondary plot. My take? Don't waste your time on this slop.
June 28, 2020
Overall, I really enjoyed The Gallifrey Chronicles! It was probably the first time since The Left-Handed Hummingbird a few months back that I managed to read an entire book in pretty much one go.
It's not perfect overall - it feels slightly disjointed in parts, but then it always seems to course correct and get back on track again as if it knew that I was feeling that way as I read it, but for the most part it's still a very strong entry to the series overall.
At the same time, some of the conclusion (I don't even really know if that's an accurate term to use in this case to be honest) feels a little too convenient, and in some ways it really feels like it's setting the stage for a "proper" finale to conclude the series, but it still ends on a relatively satisfying note for the most part if you're happy filling in some "what happened next" gaps in your own headcanon.
It's not perfect overall - it feels slightly disjointed in parts, but then it always seems to course correct and get back on track again as if it knew that I was feeling that way as I read it, but for the most part it's still a very strong entry to the series overall.
At the same time, some of the conclusion (I don't even really know if that's an accurate term to use in this case to be honest) feels a little too convenient, and in some ways it really feels like it's setting the stage for a "proper" finale to conclude the series, but it still ends on a relatively satisfying note for the most part if you're happy filling in some "what happened next" gaps in your own headcanon.
March 17, 2020
A scatterbrained mess that finishes off an even messier collection of 70+ hit-and-miss novels, which embraces a lot of beautiful things about the nature of spin-off media. It's not an easy brief, and Parkin does about as well as anyone could.
March 8, 2022
I first read this book about 15 years ago. I'd forgotten the bulk of it. Excellent book
September 15, 2024
A superb ending for the eighth Doctor in print. Lance Parkin knows this character best and this is a satisfying celebration.
October 19, 2009
It’s only fitting that Lance Parkin, the first author to bring the eight Doctor to the printed page be the author who writes the coda to the eighth Doctor’s era. (Well, at least in print)
And with the sheer number of dangling plot threads from the BBC’s run of publishing on-going Doctor Who novels, the fact that the story is comprehensible in any way is nothing short of a miracle. Parkin has a lot of weight to life in this novel and he does it fairly well. But while the book is good, it still falls short.
One thing that really pushed me away from the BBC book line was the need in just about every book I picked up by the author to have some kind of homage to the classic show and some kind of running commentary on the fandom. Oh look, we’ve arrived on a world where everyone watches a show that is exactly like Dr Who. In The Gallifrey Chronicles Parkin at least tries to play with this assumption a bit, by having a character who has written down the entire history of Gallifrey in fictional form. It turns out to be essential to the plot in the later stages of the book but is it really worth it? Is it as clever as Parkin wants it to be?
The answer: not really.
Also, if you’re looking for a satisfying wrap-up of all the threads of the BBC books and tying them to the new series, you’re going to have to keep looking. We don’t see the regeneration happen in the novel but instead leave the door open to more future eighth Doctor novels. In a way, it opens the door to the books leading into the Big Finish continuity.
It the end, it’s not as satisfying an end of an era as it could have or should have been
And with the sheer number of dangling plot threads from the BBC’s run of publishing on-going Doctor Who novels, the fact that the story is comprehensible in any way is nothing short of a miracle. Parkin has a lot of weight to life in this novel and he does it fairly well. But while the book is good, it still falls short.
One thing that really pushed me away from the BBC book line was the need in just about every book I picked up by the author to have some kind of homage to the classic show and some kind of running commentary on the fandom. Oh look, we’ve arrived on a world where everyone watches a show that is exactly like Dr Who. In The Gallifrey Chronicles Parkin at least tries to play with this assumption a bit, by having a character who has written down the entire history of Gallifrey in fictional form. It turns out to be essential to the plot in the later stages of the book but is it really worth it? Is it as clever as Parkin wants it to be?
The answer: not really.
Also, if you’re looking for a satisfying wrap-up of all the threads of the BBC books and tying them to the new series, you’re going to have to keep looking. We don’t see the regeneration happen in the novel but instead leave the door open to more future eighth Doctor novels. In a way, it opens the door to the books leading into the Big Finish continuity.
It the end, it’s not as satisfying an end of an era as it could have or should have been
July 14, 2016
I was looking forward to reading this book so much I held off it for years. So perhaps I built up my own expectations too much. What did I expect? I guess I thought there would be something exciting about Gallifrey inside it- but Doctor Who stories featuring Gallifrey are typically disappointing (with some exceptions) and Gallifrey hardly features anyway.
This is a monster story with a tacky companion romance. The monsters are two-dimensional insects with no rhyme or reason, Fitz and Trix are extremely dull companions (Trix has a mystery which is not even resolved), and the Doctor struggles with his amnesia yet again, a plot device which drags down the 8th doctor novels.
The supporting characters, Marnal and Rachel, seem to have no point whatsoever. Marnal confronts the Doctor over his actions in destroying Gallifrey, but their dialogue is dry and there is never any sense of anything at stake. This Doctor-guilt story over Gallifrey gets done much better a decade later but that's another story (with another continuity).
It would have been better had the Doctor spent the majority of the novel with Fitz and Trix so the reader could enjoy their companionship, instead of splitting the story into Fitz/Trix going to New York (why?) and the Doctor hanging out (albeit against his will) with Marnal, and then pseudo-companion Rachel.
This is a monster story with a tacky companion romance. The monsters are two-dimensional insects with no rhyme or reason, Fitz and Trix are extremely dull companions (Trix has a mystery which is not even resolved), and the Doctor struggles with his amnesia yet again, a plot device which drags down the 8th doctor novels.
The supporting characters, Marnal and Rachel, seem to have no point whatsoever. Marnal confronts the Doctor over his actions in destroying Gallifrey, but their dialogue is dry and there is never any sense of anything at stake. This Doctor-guilt story over Gallifrey gets done much better a decade later but that's another story (with another continuity).
It would have been better had the Doctor spent the majority of the novel with Fitz and Trix so the reader could enjoy their companionship, instead of splitting the story into Fitz/Trix going to New York (why?) and the Doctor hanging out (albeit against his will) with Marnal, and then pseudo-companion Rachel.
August 22, 2013
I wanted to like this. I REALLY wanted to like this, especially as Lance Parkin has written some of the best (and most iconic) "Doctor Who" novels. But "The Gallifrey Chronicles" is a victim of too little/too late. I was once an avid follower of the 8th Doctor's adventures, but once the initial amnesia arc was complete, I lost interest. The mystery went on too long, the following arc with multiple universes didn't hold my interest, and the new companions ranged from the extremely ambiguous Anji to made-no-impression-on-me Trix. Even Fitz was getting tired and one-note in my eyes. This book should have tied everything up MUCH earlier. It contains sections I simply devoured...but all confined to the Doctor himself. The adventures of Trix and Fitz I found to be an uninteresting side-show, and the invasion of the Vore comes too late in the novel for me to fully invest myself. I understand that this book has a massive reputation, and I can see why some readers embrace it with open arms. But for all its moments of glory, it's just wasn't enough for me. I love Lance Parkin's work...but this novel is too much a victim of circumstances beyond his control...and the end result leaves me sadly indifferent.
November 12, 2014
This book came with a problem....it tells the tale of how the Doctor led to the downfall of Gallifrey...this would have been fine however the fiftieth anniversary episode placed the genocide of the Time lords on a different Doctor!!
However this is Doctor Who some time lines can be written over and consistency between the TV/Book and Audio works can sometimes get stretched..as can the Doctor's personal history.
What this is though is a good book and a send off for this incarnation of the Doctor,It gives a nod to the past and sets the way for the future.
The story revolves around the Doctor's amnesia in regard to the events that led to the fall of Gallifrey and an exiled time lords plan to make him pay for this..that however isn't all... add the return of an old companion and a insect alien life form and you have a Doctor who novel crammed full of ideas.
This was a quick read as its a simple book with ideas that are easily followed the plot and characters are also drawn up well and do retain the interest.
If a fan of Dr who I guess you will enjoy this...if not I doubt you will pick up the book which makes this review obsolete....
However this is Doctor Who some time lines can be written over and consistency between the TV/Book and Audio works can sometimes get stretched..as can the Doctor's personal history.
What this is though is a good book and a send off for this incarnation of the Doctor,It gives a nod to the past and sets the way for the future.
The story revolves around the Doctor's amnesia in regard to the events that led to the fall of Gallifrey and an exiled time lords plan to make him pay for this..that however isn't all... add the return of an old companion and a insect alien life form and you have a Doctor who novel crammed full of ideas.
This was a quick read as its a simple book with ideas that are easily followed the plot and characters are also drawn up well and do retain the interest.
If a fan of Dr who I guess you will enjoy this...if not I doubt you will pick up the book which makes this review obsolete....
January 4, 2015
A very grand finalé to a series I've enjoyed reading for two years. All the characters are on point and resolution of the First Time War plot arc is very satisfying (even though it doesn't really feel like the end).
It speaks a lot to Fitz's character development that I found myself sobbing over a character I once hated. Gonna miss you, bud. I guess I'll never be sure how I feel about Trix.
I'll miss the Eighth Doctor most of all. This series made him my favorite Doctor and there will never be enough of his stories.
It speaks a lot to Fitz's character development that I found myself sobbing over a character I once hated. Gonna miss you, bud. I guess I'll never be sure how I feel about Trix.
I'll miss the Eighth Doctor most of all. This series made him my favorite Doctor and there will never be enough of his stories.
September 5, 2015
An excellent conclusion to the Eighth Doctor's adventures (but wisely, not a "last Eighth Doctor story").
March 8, 2012
Only four stars based on the genre. Great lit it's not. However, it's a great, fun read for Doctor Who fans in a series that, for the 8th incarnation, often got a bit too heavy and convoluted. Still, nice of Parkin to bring it all together with a finale that is pure Who.
Want to read
April 9, 2012NOT SURE IF ALREADY READ...
September 22, 2013
Divertida, pero bastante mala. Por eso no suelo leer libros de franquicias.
February 11, 2016
A good ending to an interesting series. It ties up most of the loose ends without being weighed down by them
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