Doctor Who: Vanderdeken's Children

Eighth Doctor Adventures #14

by Christopher Bulis

It is 3123, and traveling in the Tardis into deepest space, the Doctor and Sam find three spacecraft. One is a Ximosian warship, the other an Emindaran civilian starliner, and the third a ship of strange allen design. Both Ximosian and Emindaran crews want to discover what cargo this strange structure holds.In attempting to discover where these vessels come from, the Doctor and Sam unearth a terrible truth. The aden ship is caught in a closed loop of time, being neither created nor destroyed, constantly circling the vortex. The Doctor wants the ship to be destroyed, but the Ximosian and Emindarans are caught in a wrestle for power, and both desire to possess the spacecraft and transform its power into a source for their own political ends.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Fantasy, Ebooks

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 3, 1999

About the author

Christopher Bulis is a writer best known for his work on various Doctor Who spin-offs. He is one of the most prolific authors to write for the various ranges of spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who, with twelve novels to his name, and between 1993 and 2000 he had at least one Doctor Who novel published every year.

Bulis' first published work was the New Adventure Shadowmind, published in 1993 by Virgin Publishing. This was the only novel Bulis wrote featuring the Seventh Doctor, and his next five books were all published under Virgin's Missing Adventures range: State of Change (1994), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1995), The Eye of the Giant (1996), Twilight of the Gods (1996), and A Device of Death (1997).

When Virgin lost their licence to publish novels based on Doctor Who, Bulis repeated this pattern writing novels for the BBC - with one novel written for the current incumbent Doctor as part of BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures range, and then all of his other novels published as part of the Past Doctor Adventures range. Bulis' novels for the BBC were The Ultimate Treasure (1997), Vanderdeken's Children (1998), City at World's End (1999), Imperial Moon (2000) and Palace of the Red Sun (2002).

Bulis also wrote the novel Tempest as part of Virgin's Bernice Summerfield range of novels, and also a short story for Big Finish Productions' Short Trips series.

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Astonishingly clever...if only I could work out what actually happened.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

When The Doctor materialise the TARDIS in deep space, him and Sam find a huge derelict alien craft which has become the subject of a dangerous confrontation between starships from a rival systems.

The Doctor and Sam find themselves accompanying an expedition into the vessel, the party soon find that the ship isn’t quite as empty as it first appeared.

I slightly struggled to enjoy this EDA novel, there’s some good creepy and atmospheric moments, but it didn’t quite grab me as much as the others.

Both The Doctors and Sams characteristics were well written.

Not one of the most memorable entries in the series, but enjoyable enough.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine for a moment that Rendezvous With Rama and the movies Ghost Ship and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within decided to come together and have a convoluted, unsatisfying, pseudo sci-fi jargon filled child- that would be this train wreck of a novel; Vanderdeken's Children. We start off with a promising premise; a large, abandoned alien vessel in space that is happened upon by two different civilizations already on the brink of war, and they are trying to figure out who owns the thing for salvage rights. The Doctor and Sam don't do much here, and are rather swept along on the sea of side characters, most of whom serve no purpose to the plot, are set in their own self-sabotaging ways or end up being fodder to the larger story at hand. Please tell me why it's necessary to tell the story of a side character named Lester and his abusive-I-wear-the-pants-for-both-of-us wife, especially when their existence serves zero point to further the plot? The author tries to be so clever, wrapping us up in a spatial-bridge and time loops and future ghosts, that he forgets to actually pull the plot together and make it coherent to the reader. There were several points where I had to reread sections making sure I didn't miss anything- I hadn't, it's just that the text made no sense. The idea was there, but the execution simply wasn't. I hope if a Who author chooses to do a Ghost Ship type story in the future, it's better than this- although, the bar isn't very high.

[James Barnard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lambasted the novel which came before this one – Placebo Effect – for an over reliance on continuity references and familiarity, I ought to commend this one for its ability to tell a traditional sci-fi tale without using any hooks (i.e. cheats) to do it. And I do commend it – it’s a good story well told. And yet, for a book where the overriding motif is a kind of ghost ship, this one is distinctly forgettable.

I think that’s my fault rather than the book’s. There’s nothing wrong with it – there rarely was with Christopher Bulis’ books – and it’s a far better book than the one that preceded it. Here we have a solid Doctor Who story, the type of thing fans were no doubt wishing would have formed part of an on-going series of Paul McGann stories.

A neat variation on the base-under-siege theme, we see the story through the eyes of a relatively small group of characters. Despite the overly sci-fi setting, all seems convincing and realistic. And Bulis manages to capture McGann’s speech patterns far better than many of his contemporaries. Even Sam Jones seems to work as a companion here, which was by no means guaranteed by this point!

Ah well. I’m not sorry I picked this one up again, but it’s not really a stand-out, for BBC Books or for Bulis as an author. At least he managed to tick another Doctor off his list! And he achieves all he set out to do very well. That’s the problem, really – the ambition behind it, in comparison with the other books that surrounded it. ‘Placebo Effect’ achieved what it needed to because the ambition was solely to bring disparate elements of Doctor Who together, whilst the following ‘The Scarlet Empress’ was a work in a different league, and of a bold style, so lingers in the memory. ‘Vanderdeken’s Children’ only wants to be a good story – which it is.

Perhaps this is a chance to stand up for the quieter approach…

[Macey · Rating 4 out of 5]

going to be so honest here. when sam got turned into a kid & they had to zap her back i though oh okay so thats foreshadowing then & where the title is going to come from and then i was Barely mentioned again. idk maybe its a metaphor i wasnt quite getting BUT oh my god this was so beautifully written it was realllyyy slow to get going but in a good way very atmospheric & the massive spaceship was awesome & time loop yippee! it was good i really liked it :)

[Mary JL · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book refers to one of the legendary names of The Flying Dutchman. So think basically The Doctor and Sam getting involved with an alien 'Flying Dutchman'.

We have a huge alien derelict ship. We have two starships from rival planets investigating it. And of course, the Tardis crew is soon involved in the alien mysteries and dangers......

An average Doctor Who book. The plot was a bit weak in spot; the characters of the Doctor and Sam were well done. Not on the top of my Doctor Who list, but a pleasant, quick read for passing a few hours. Recommended for any Doctor Who fan or for any reader of general SF adventure who might like to try it.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm just going to come right out and say it. This book was awful. Having read the previous 13 EDA's, i can say without a doubt this is the most boring one i've read. Every page was a chore to get through and i was starting to get a headache by the end.

The doc and sam find a derelict ship that two different planets are fighting over. Then magical time space ghosts start attacking. And i just made that sound way more interesting than it actually was.

Of course, you wouldn't really know this was a Doc and Sam book as they kind of take a backseat to the 400,000 other side characters they have going on. They have the photographer, the actor, the actor's manager, a young boy, his parents, a whipped husband, the whipped husband's wife, the girl the husband was talking to, an army guy who holds the photographer hostage, the two leaders of the ships, the 2 people who try to steer the derelict ship, their superiors, etc etc.

There are so many characters in this book i honestly didn't know who 2/3 of them were and just went. "ah. it's army guy #2. sure. why not?"

You knew every major plot point that was going to happen, and yet it was so dreadfully boring, i had to put it down for a few days and read another book in the middle. The doctor is VERY defeatist in this one, almost like he's tired, and Sam barely does anything other than....well talk to the doctor when he's there. I mean, she rescues a kid once, so there's that.

The whole thing reeks of depressed tiredness. It's kind of got the same vibe as Longest Day, except i actually enjoyed longest day more. The entire plot of the book can best be described as

Doc: Don't do the thing!
Army guy: we did the thing and it was bad
Doc: don't do THAT thing
Army guy: we did that too and it was bad.
Doc: can you stop doing the things?
Army guy: no.
Doc: welp, you're all screwed.

The end.

Pretty much the only side character i gave a remote crap about died really randomly. about 15 pages was devoted to this guy and he literally just...randomly dies. he doesn't even meet the doctor or sam. he honestly seemed like he was part of a different story and bulis didn't know what to do with him so he just exploded him.

Having read several of Chris' books, i know he likes to kill a lot of rando's. That's kind of his thing. and honestly, it's getting a bit dull.

In the past though at least the story was INTERESTING. Sorcerer's apprentice had a neat concept, i LIKED city at world's end. Imperial moon was tolerable. but THIS? This was just the death of fun. Everything was dreary, dark, and just sad. There was NO fun to be had here. The invulnerable ghost villains weren't scary. they were annoying. It was like the writer just turned on god mode for his baddies. When the good guys can't fight back AT ALL it doesn't make it scary, it makes it boring.

That's really the only real word you can use for this book. BORING. BORING BORING BORING.
I didn't care about ANYTHING that was going on, i didn't care if 95% of the people lived, and the science technobabble was overdone and the reveal of the ship was ridiculous.

I felt every single page as i read this. Normally when i zone out i go back having missed something. towards the last 60 pages i just said "Screw it" and didn't even go back to reread. I just didn't care. and that's the thing. i'd rather a book be BAD than boring.

This was the safest story you could possibly tell and then do it poorly. it's like a sandwich of wonder bread and yellow mustard. only the bread is stale and moldy but it's all the food you have.

I REALLY didn't like Seeing I, but at least the doctor was IN it. at least he TRIED to do stuff. This was more than half space politics. FRUSTRATING space politics. I didn't care, and the times i did, i was just incredibly frustrated.

This is the worst EDA i've read. it's going below Seeing I.

1.5 out of 5, rounded down to a 1.

[Daniel Cork · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels like forever since I've tried reading the EDAs in order, but I've decided to rectify that by picking up the next book in my marathon Vanderdeken's Children. I have very mixed opinions on Christopher Bulis' work, Shadowmind in my opinion was a dull novel whereas Eye of The Giant and City at World's End were both a lot of fun but both had their fair share of problems. I never know what I'm going to get with this author but that makes it all the more exciting, doesn't it?

The Doctor and Sam in The Tardis find themselves drifting in the middle of space where an unknown spacecraft derelict is being watched by two passing spaceships belonging to two separate humanoid species that have been on and off in conflict with one another for a century. Both sides immediately find the ship intriguing and perhaps it might help their homeworlds. But who will win the price and at what cost? One ship is a passenger liner and the other is a cargo ship so the stakes are high, but the potential casualties are worth it if it means saving their homeworlds isn't it? Deep within the relic, something dark and sinister is waking up. The ghosts are coming.

Christopher Bulis has honestly blown my mind with this novel. It's a very haunting and bleak story with a sense of horrible foreboding and a demented sense of horror. It's a story that seems hopeless and the atmosphere is impeccable. The mysterious ship is wonderfully spooky and alien, whereas the growing conflict between the two species is wonderfully unsettling and unpreventable.

This is a terrific novel for the character of Sam as we see her put through an uncomfortable situation that tests her to the limit. The Doctor is wonderfully charismatic and charming as always but the sheer hopelessness as the story unfolds is heartbreaking to see as he tries his best in an impossible situation. I like how we get a great many different perspectives throughout the story from a politician, the crew of both ships and the guests onboard the passenger liner. It gives you a solid idea of how the ongoing situation affects both the small and big people in this situation and whilst some of the characters are despicable, you really for those who are trying to do the right thing.

Overall: An incredibly underrated novel that is wonderfully terrifying, atmospheric, and bleak. A haunting story with a brilliant conclusion. 10/10

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember having trouble getting through Christopher Bullis' 7th Doctor novel Shadowmind and putting my reading of the New Adventures on hold for more than a year. Faced with Vanderdeken's Children as the next book in my Eighth Doctor Adventures read-through, the same thing happened. But to be fair, this may be Bullis' best Doctor Who book. The Doctor and Sam are well written and the science fiction mystery - a giant spaceship with one end somewhere in some other part of time and space, being fought over by two cultures - is interesting and full of genre-switching twists. That said, Bullis' problem, here as in Shadowmind, is that he's catering to his own characters too much. In this case, they are pretty varied and I didn't get lost despite there being a cast of dozens. And yet, wouldn't it have been better if Sam had been taken by the "ghosts" early on instead of that photographer? Wouldn't that have kept the main characters in the game for a larger portion of the story? Isn't the Doctor a bit of bystander in this one? Throw in an ending that's a little thick with technobabble, and you've got... well, Bullis' best effort, but in no way a standout of the line. I'd even call it skippable.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't understand why this is rated so low, it's one of the best I've read so far. Though, I suppose that depends on what you're looking for in a DW adventure. This is straight up science fiction and the Doctor full on IN his job description of Time Lord*, which is so very nice after all the amnesia stories (I definitely could envision McGann speaking these lines). I even liked Sam in this one! She wasn't over the top at all like she's usually written. So, if you're after deep character growth, or more interpersonal drama, this isn't it- this is solidly in Adventure. It does contain acts of military stupidity, so if that sort of thing throws off your groove in a tale, this might do it you. It's a real chicken or the egg book, and I loved it.

*As far as things like the Doc using his actual, unpronounceable name, I don't know enough Who lore beyond a smattering of books and the show (old and new) to judge if that should be weird or not. I think the "name only given to spouse" bit was made up by Moffatt; need to check on that (eventually). Him being so free with it did land it more in the "this is Serious Business" lane to nice effect. Just, I wouldn't compare it to other scenarios and ask "why not then too if it's okay?" I think that would just breed a headache.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This doesn't have the ostentatiously modern writing of some of the New Adventures, but it's a delightfully timey-wimey adventure of the sort that Doctor Who doesn't do nearly enough. Bulis also keeps tight control of his supporting cast, so that they don't overwhelm the Doctor and Sam, and the adventuring is also of a type unusual for Doctor Who: though there are the typical monsters to fight, this is Arthur C. Clarke SF more than anything. Add all that up with the fact that the story just gets better the deeper you go (and the more you understand) and you have one of the best Eighth Doctor Adventures to date.

[Olga · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book more stars because it's not actually bad? But I failed to invest emotionally for the most part and just kept waiting for the end - which, alas, in my copy of the book is tragically missing.

It could be a very solid horror story in Sci-Fi colours, I think. If only the characters, in all their plenitude, were a bit more alive, and the plot - a bit less tangled. I do love a good timey-wimey, and yet this one, although it did amaze me at one point, didn't grip me at all.

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bulis is an inconsistent writer but this is one of his better books. Similar to interstellar, this deals with hyperspace and time loops. It’s slow burning, atmospheric and high concept with good character stuff in the way the crew members are written and the two warring human colonies try to unite against a common enemy that might be their own future selves.

There is an alien element that we don’t get to know enough but still a decent book

[Gareth · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a decent SF idea at the heart of this spooky “unidentified ship floating in space” mystery, but the mechanics of it are much too vague and the characters too numerous and dull to keep it engaging. The writing for the Doctor and Sam is functional but any charm is AWOL, especially with the Doctor who now revels in incomprehensible technobabble for some reason. A bit of a misfire and a struggle to finish.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this was brilliant - great premise, eerie setting, scary monsters, the characters were a bit bland but they were very well utilised. It's not that the second half lets the first down, just that it gets so high-concept and timey-wimey that I'm not at all sure what actually happened. A strong novel overall and very nicely written, but I do prefer the historical novels in this series as they put a few more limits on the authors' boundless sci-fi imaginations. 3 stars.

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the EDAs spend far too much time fleshing out random characters’ backstories than creating a cohesive story. This was one of them.

[Axel Kloen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy shit deze was daadwerkelijk goed.

[hp · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s okay i suppose, there are some standout parts for sure but I think this is the first book in the series that is completely skippable. the cover and the title are kind of the best parts

[John Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is part of an ongoing narrative, so I didn't recognise the Doctor's companion (Sam, short for Samantha). However, that's ok: it's the equivalent of a new viewer not recognising the current cast. This novel tells a complete story, which is quite interesting, although the ending is a bit disappointing. I suspect that this wasn't originally a Dr Who novel, and the Doctor got shoehorned in later, although I could be wrong.

This story involves a couple of ships that find a huge derelict craft drifting in space. Based on the picture on the front cover, this reminded me of other novels, e.g. Rendezvous With Rama or Eon. Unfortunately, it doesn't really stand up to comparison with them, and I have to say that the writer isn't quite as clever as he thinks he is (thinking particularly of his time-travel logic). Early on (in chapter 3), one of the ships lowers a pod on a cable towards the derelict, and the person in the pod has to give directions for movement. The key point here is that the derelict is sufficiently massive to have its own gravitational pull (which moves around a bit), so directions have to be relative to this. Unfortunately, the writer gets a bit confused, since he only allows for four possible directions rather than six: "Up"/"Down" apparently mean either "raise/lower the cable" or "move me forward/backwards along the hull". Again, it's unfortunate that I wound up comparing this to a better work of fiction, namely Ender's Game. "The enemy gate is down!"

Looking at my last paragraph, maybe that's the real problem here; I used to read a much wider range of fiction, so I'm getting frustrated by the limitations of media tie-ins.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be going against conventional wisdom here...but so be it. This is, by far, Christopher Bulis' darkest "Doctor Who" novel. You wouldn't think a mash-up of old favourites such as "Alien" and "The Poseidon Adventure" would find something new to say. However, throw in some fascinating, grotesque monsters...a cast of passengers far more interesting than "Terror of the Vervoids" provided...some timey-wimey shennanigans worthy of Steven Moffat...a melancholy, downbeat ending...and the end result is something captivting and frightening in equal measure. Only a few character endings that I felt climaxed in less than satisfying manner keep this from a full five stars...but it comes awfully close. It's Mr. Bulis' darkest novel, and also his best. A special mention must go to Mr. Bulis for capturing the young, moody, Byronic 8th Doctor to perfection.

[Numa Parrott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first thing I noticed was Eight's startlingly abrupt change of personality and tone. He was very pompous and self-assured--almost like Six. It really annoyed me, but I got used to it eventually.
Sam becomes a side-note/damsel-in-distress, which was actually an improvement over her usual angstyness.

The story was full of enough plot twists and terrifying monsters to keep me interested. The mini character side-stories were a bit annoying, but tolerable.

The worst thing was that my copy of the book is missing the last few pages . . . :( So I had to read a synopsis to find out how it ended.

Oh well, on to the next . . . .

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing tale of two space-faring civilisations who find themselves contesting possession of a Big Dumb Object, in this case a ship that appears to fade into another universe, with the Eighth Doctor and Sam arriving and getting mixed up in it. There's some good sfnal stuff about time paradoxes, though I was a bit sorry that Sam's character appeared to have lost all the development of the last couple of volumes in the series. Nice Doctory characterisation though, and generally clear writing.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 8th Doctor and Sam get knocked off course by a very large ship. So large that it messes with time and space. Matters get further complicated when a cruise ship and a war ship from rival empires both want to lay claim to it. And then there's the problem of the ghosts.

This is a very atmospheric book, and the plot moves quite quickly. The action scenes are very well done. There's also some fun character bits too. The reason I didn't give it 4 stars is that it all ends I a bit of a muddle which is a shame. A good read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor promises to explain later just a few times too many in this book. I'm not entirely convinced that even Bulis knows exactly what's going on in this mysterious derelict spaceship story. Sam's input is kept to a minimum (smart move) so the story is told from the perspective of the Doctor, supporting characters and even - quite cleverly - some of the minor characters.

[Bron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. It started off a little slowly but it got really intense in the middle and then some of it was genuinely frightening! There was a bit too much technobabble to explain it all though and all the time loops got a bit confusing.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

The "ghosts" at first were written very well - I actually got a bit creeped out. However, as many others have said, by the end of the book, the whole story seemed rushed and disjointed. I had trouble keeping up with the scene changes, and it just kind of.... ended.

[Simon Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who does epic space opera.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Moffatt is after a darker and more complex story he could do a lot worse than this paradox fuelled, blood soaked nightmare (and he has)

[Peter Camenzind · Rating 5 out of 5]

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