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Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures #17
Doctor Who: Birthright
'I feel like a pawn in a blasted chess game, Ace.'
'I know what you mean. Trouble is, they keep changing the chess-players.'
The TARDIS has died. Stranded in early twentieth-century London, Bernice can only stand and watch as it slowly disintegrates.
In the East End a series of grisly murders has been committed. Is this the work of the ghostly Springheel Jack or, as Bernice suspects something even more sinister?
In a tiny shop in Bloomsbury, the master of a grand order of sorcerers is nearing the end of a seven-hundred year quest for a fabled magic wand.
And on a barren world in the far-distant future the Queen of a dying race pleads for the help of an old hermit named Muldwych, while Ace leads a group of guerrillas in a desperate struggle against their alien oppressors.
These events are related. Perhaps the Doctor knows how. But the Doctor has gone away.
'I know what you mean. Trouble is, they keep changing the chess-players.'
The TARDIS has died. Stranded in early twentieth-century London, Bernice can only stand and watch as it slowly disintegrates.
In the East End a series of grisly murders has been committed. Is this the work of the ghostly Springheel Jack or, as Bernice suspects something even more sinister?
In a tiny shop in Bloomsbury, the master of a grand order of sorcerers is nearing the end of a seven-hundred year quest for a fabled magic wand.
And on a barren world in the far-distant future the Queen of a dying race pleads for the help of an old hermit named Muldwych, while Ace leads a group of guerrillas in a desperate struggle against their alien oppressors.
These events are related. Perhaps the Doctor knows how. But the Doctor has gone away.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 1993
249 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Robinson
84 books11 followersNigel Robinson is an English author, known for such works as the First Contact series. Nigel was born in Preston, Lancashire and attended St Thomas More school. Robinson's first published book was The Tolkien Quiz Book in 1981, co-written with Linda Wilson. This was followed by a series of three Doctor Who quiz books and a crossword book between 1981 and 1985. In the late 1980s he was the editor of Target Books' range of Doctor Who tie-ins and novelisations, also contributing to the range as a writer.
He later wrote an original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Apocalypse, for the New Adventures series for Virgin Publishing, which had purchased Target in 1989 shortly after Robinson had left the company. He also wrote the New Adventure Birthright, published in 1993.
In the 1990s, Robinson wrote novelisations of episodes of The Tomorrow People, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Baywatch and the film Free Willy. Between 1994 and 1995, he wrote a series of children's horror novels Remember Me..., All Shook Up, Dream Lover, Rave On, Bad Moon Rising, Symphony of Terror and Demon Brood.In 1996 he continued to write the Luke Cannon Show Jumping Mysteries series,containing four books, namely The Piebald Princess, The Chestnut Chase, The Black Mare of Devils Hill and the last in the series, Decision Day for the Dapple Grey. By 1997 he had also penned a trilogy science fiction novels First Contact, Second Nature and Third Degree.
His most recent work was another quiz book, this time to tie in with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
He later wrote an original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Apocalypse, for the New Adventures series for Virgin Publishing, which had purchased Target in 1989 shortly after Robinson had left the company. He also wrote the New Adventure Birthright, published in 1993.
In the 1990s, Robinson wrote novelisations of episodes of The Tomorrow People, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Baywatch and the film Free Willy. Between 1994 and 1995, he wrote a series of children's horror novels Remember Me..., All Shook Up, Dream Lover, Rave On, Bad Moon Rising, Symphony of Terror and Demon Brood.In 1996 he continued to write the Luke Cannon Show Jumping Mysteries series,containing four books, namely The Piebald Princess, The Chestnut Chase, The Black Mare of Devils Hill and the last in the series, Decision Day for the Dapple Grey. By 1997 he had also penned a trilogy science fiction novels First Contact, Second Nature and Third Degree.
His most recent work was another quiz book, this time to tie in with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 5, 2020
Nigel Robinson "Who" writing is aways a pleasure. If memory serves me well he was the editor for the original television adaptions.
A very good story let down by one problem that infects this series... NO DOCTOR, or in this IS there no doctor, mmmmm.
Recommended.
A very good story let down by one problem that infects this series... NO DOCTOR, or in this IS there no doctor, mmmmm.
Recommended.
Read
July 26, 2020There is a bitter streak running through The New Adventures. Its focus is often the Doctor himself, who is usually seen through the suspicious eyes of companions who believe he is ruthlessly calculating, capable of betrayal and prepared to make any sacrifice to get his own way. Bernice seems to read up on him in a few Doctor Who annuals, as she implausibly references with encyclopaedic completeness any companions who left under a cloud (the obligatory trio of Katarina, Sara and Adric suggests she has been using Peter Haining as a primary source) - she also ungenerously considers companion Victoria to have been ‘abducted’, when a helpless innocent kidnapped and then orphaned by the Daleks might, I feel, be more accurately considered to have been ‘rescued’.
Of course, if you start to analyse the Doctor’s actions as depicted across several decades, he does indeed come across as a complete psychopath - but is that really what this franchise needs? Whilst mistrust of the Doctor’s motives might have made for a neat arc in the background of Season 26, it fundamentally doesn’t work in these novels because it never goes anywhere - Benny and Ace walk through the stories full of simmering resentment (not just with the Doctor in fact but with each other, for reasons never adequately explained) but still cheerfully get back into the TARDIS on the last page - is it Stockholm syndrome? Like Ace’s persistent refusal to grow out of her teenage angst, it is an artificial tension with absolutely no depth at all, a pale imitation of something that worked well on TV (a complaint that could be levelled against so many of the New Adventures’ weaknesses).
As if that’s not enough to sour your fun, there’s always the New Adventures’ propensity to crap all over your memories of the series. Bask in the nostalgia as we meet the Grandfather of beloved original companion Barbara, drunk and with a prostitute! Relive those rosy memories of a classic Troughton adventure as the relative of a major character is horribly gutted and the Doctor is generally held responsible!
I know I keep banging on about how these pretensions towards maturity keep misfiring, but it is especially jarring in what is otherwise a cracking story, essentially in the old fashioned mould. The majority of the story, set in Victorian London, is as atmospheric as the picture on the cover, moving at quite a pace and with Benny proving herself once again by far the biggest asset in this series. The sections with Ace are weaker in every respect but don’t outstay their welcome. The elegant four-part structure leads satisfyingly to a denouement which, anticlimax included, could have been written for a television adventure. So tonally it’s only the unnecessary attempts to be ‘grown up’ that feel out of place - the bitterness, the swearing, the graphic violence or degradation (there’s lot of excrement and rotting meat in this one) and, most egregious of all, the whiff of sexual perversion that hangs over any encounter between any female and male character (the Doctor being the one exception, which is surprising given how much his companions suspect him of every other kind of wrongdoing).
Also in the book’s favour is a bold decision as regards the part the Doctor plays, which even in the light of comparable choices made in various media more recently, still feels like a startling departure from the norm - and a successful one at that. It is clearly setting something up for future novels to resolve, without going overboard. Perhaps if Robinson had dropped the wasted efforts to be ‘adult’ and had just let himself (and his readers) have fun, this might be more fondly remembered - it certainly has the makings of a minor classic, but the realisation falls short. Nevertheless, it stands up as an enjoyable yarn and much more in the spirit of the series which inspired it than most New Adventures have managed so far.
Of course, if you start to analyse the Doctor’s actions as depicted across several decades, he does indeed come across as a complete psychopath - but is that really what this franchise needs? Whilst mistrust of the Doctor’s motives might have made for a neat arc in the background of Season 26, it fundamentally doesn’t work in these novels because it never goes anywhere - Benny and Ace walk through the stories full of simmering resentment (not just with the Doctor in fact but with each other, for reasons never adequately explained) but still cheerfully get back into the TARDIS on the last page - is it Stockholm syndrome? Like Ace’s persistent refusal to grow out of her teenage angst, it is an artificial tension with absolutely no depth at all, a pale imitation of something that worked well on TV (a complaint that could be levelled against so many of the New Adventures’ weaknesses).
As if that’s not enough to sour your fun, there’s always the New Adventures’ propensity to crap all over your memories of the series. Bask in the nostalgia as we meet the Grandfather of beloved original companion Barbara, drunk and with a prostitute! Relive those rosy memories of a classic Troughton adventure as the relative of a major character is horribly gutted and the Doctor is generally held responsible!
I know I keep banging on about how these pretensions towards maturity keep misfiring, but it is especially jarring in what is otherwise a cracking story, essentially in the old fashioned mould. The majority of the story, set in Victorian London, is as atmospheric as the picture on the cover, moving at quite a pace and with Benny proving herself once again by far the biggest asset in this series. The sections with Ace are weaker in every respect but don’t outstay their welcome. The elegant four-part structure leads satisfyingly to a denouement which, anticlimax included, could have been written for a television adventure. So tonally it’s only the unnecessary attempts to be ‘grown up’ that feel out of place - the bitterness, the swearing, the graphic violence or degradation (there’s lot of excrement and rotting meat in this one) and, most egregious of all, the whiff of sexual perversion that hangs over any encounter between any female and male character (the Doctor being the one exception, which is surprising given how much his companions suspect him of every other kind of wrongdoing).
Also in the book’s favour is a bold decision as regards the part the Doctor plays, which even in the light of comparable choices made in various media more recently, still feels like a startling departure from the norm - and a successful one at that. It is clearly setting something up for future novels to resolve, without going overboard. Perhaps if Robinson had dropped the wasted efforts to be ‘adult’ and had just let himself (and his readers) have fun, this might be more fondly remembered - it certainly has the makings of a minor classic, but the realisation falls short. Nevertheless, it stands up as an enjoyable yarn and much more in the spirit of the series which inspired it than most New Adventures have managed so far.
August 19, 2008
This book basically explains what Bernice and Ace were up to while the Doctor was off fighting the Cybermen in 'Iceberg'.
Bernice is stranded in victorian England with a broken Tardis and a mystery, while Ace is fighting giant bugs on an alien world.
Nice to see the companions get the spotlight. One of the few examples of the New Adventures line trying something different that actually works.
Bernice is stranded in victorian England with a broken Tardis and a mystery, while Ace is fighting giant bugs on an alien world.
Nice to see the companions get the spotlight. One of the few examples of the New Adventures line trying something different that actually works.
April 16, 2020
Whoa, so different to the audio version! Very much enjoyed this vna.
August 29, 2025
Comme les français disent, c’était pas terrible.
September 14, 2023
One of the better ones in the range so far. Also known as "The Benny and Ace Adventures".
March 22, 2019
Behold, the first Doctor-lite story. Move over, Love And Monsters.
Birthright focuses on Bernice and Ace, trapped outside a broken TARDIS in Victorian England and a strange ruined planet overrun by bipedal cockroaches, respectively. Bernice investigates a series of killings and Ace foments a rebellion. Both places have someone connected to the Doctor, most notably a sinister figure who has been trying to nab him over the years but keeps missing. I love that idea - I wish it had been possible to sneak him into earlier books.
Birthright’s two settings aren’t quite equal. The Bernice section is more interesting, in no small part because Bernice is more interesting. She’s a gift of a character and it’s rare that an author can’t make her entertaining; Nigel Robinson is no exception. The story is although quite gripping. Ace suffers in a blander setting. It ends in the kind of mental battle we saw in Timewyrm: Revelation, with lots of cool imagery.
Birthright makes a good case for (occasional) Doctor Who stories that don’t feature the Doctor. The story feels his absence and uses it. Nigel Robinson stuffs it full of ideas, even though once again he uses a Target-like word count.
This book is a quick, colourful read. It would benefit with room to breathe, and not all its settings and ideas are equally good. Still, it’s Robinson’s best New Adventure.
7/10
Birthright focuses on Bernice and Ace, trapped outside a broken TARDIS in Victorian England and a strange ruined planet overrun by bipedal cockroaches, respectively. Bernice investigates a series of killings and Ace foments a rebellion. Both places have someone connected to the Doctor, most notably a sinister figure who has been trying to nab him over the years but keeps missing. I love that idea - I wish it had been possible to sneak him into earlier books.
Birthright’s two settings aren’t quite equal. The Bernice section is more interesting, in no small part because Bernice is more interesting. She’s a gift of a character and it’s rare that an author can’t make her entertaining; Nigel Robinson is no exception. The story is although quite gripping. Ace suffers in a blander setting. It ends in the kind of mental battle we saw in Timewyrm: Revelation, with lots of cool imagery.
Birthright makes a good case for (occasional) Doctor Who stories that don’t feature the Doctor. The story feels his absence and uses it. Nigel Robinson stuffs it full of ideas, even though once again he uses a Target-like word count.
This book is a quick, colourful read. It would benefit with room to breathe, and not all its settings and ideas are equally good. Still, it’s Robinson’s best New Adventure.
7/10
November 17, 2017
This Seventh Doctor novel is unusual for being mostly Doctor-free, focused on companions Benny and Ace, who spend most of the novel separated into two different locations in space-time. (You can see what the Doctor was up to in Doctor Who: Iceberg.) I was looking forward to this one, based on the plot summary... but unfortunately, this was one of those cases where the summary was better than the actual story. The problem is the writing - fine for the most part, but every once in a while something annoyed me, such as the weak (or non-existent) foreshadowing of certain plot twists, or Benny's convenient knowledge of the Doctor's history, or tiny lurid bits that didn't need to be there, or most of the TARDIS sequences towards the end. All in all this isn't a terrible novel, but it certainly doesn't live up to its potential. (B-)
April 7, 2020
4.5/5
I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! Definitely a big improvement on the last Robinson VNA I read. There were a few comments about female characters' bodies I didn't like and this is one of those New Adventures that really doesn't manage to handle sex workers in any sort of respectful way but otherwise I was a big fan. I think having Benny and Ace on their own (with a large portion of the book focused on Benny's point of view) was an idea that paid off. Plus while there are a fair number of gratuitous continuity references in this one they didn't interrupt the plot in the same way as the Second Doctor flashbacks in Timewyrm Apocalypse, of which I think maybe the first one was relevant to the story being told and that was it.
Also I've realised that all of my favourite VNAs so far have had weird dreamscape sequences so...maybe that tells you something about me.
I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! Definitely a big improvement on the last Robinson VNA I read. There were a few comments about female characters' bodies I didn't like and this is one of those New Adventures that really doesn't manage to handle sex workers in any sort of respectful way but otherwise I was a big fan. I think having Benny and Ace on their own (with a large portion of the book focused on Benny's point of view) was an idea that paid off. Plus while there are a fair number of gratuitous continuity references in this one they didn't interrupt the plot in the same way as the Second Doctor flashbacks in Timewyrm Apocalypse, of which I think maybe the first one was relevant to the story being told and that was it.
Also I've realised that all of my favourite VNAs so far have had weird dreamscape sequences so...maybe that tells you something about me.
January 17, 2012
The rough thing about the New Adventures which continued the story after Classic Who collapsed is that it seems like every great book is followed by a sucky one. Since Shadowmind was kinda sucky, Birthright had to be good, right? Well, it was actually excellent. This is really Benny's book and I can totally see how she's become one of the greatest companions ever without ever appearing on tv. She and adult Ace carry the novel with the Doctor pulling the strings in the background. The TARDIS is actually a bigger character than he is, but his presence is felt throughout. Very mysterious, I loved it, and it didn't take much more time than Resurrection Casket did (2 days). Of course now the next book in the series will suck.
January 30, 2011
An unsung triumph from the past. Before post-2005 TV Doctor Who introduced us to the concept of Doctor and/or Compantion-lite episodes, Nigel Robinson gives us a novel that doesn't feature the Doctor until the very end of the book. Yet his presence and legacy weaves through every fibre of plot...a plot that is surprisingly concise and compact for not one, but TWO companions. "Birthright" is definitely worthy of far more praise and attention than it currently receives...
August 2, 2011
I really loved this book! The chapters are short so it's a relativly quick read. Fans of the TV show will enjoy it because it is similar to the TV stories, "Blink" and "The Deadly Assassin". It's a good story and one where The Doctor is not the driving force for the plot. Instead the companion characters, Ace and Professor Bernice Summerfield get a chance to shine and be the ones to solve the mystery in the plot of the novel.
August 27, 2009
The first "Doctor Lite" novel. Benny and Ace are left to piece together a puzzle in, respectively, Edwardian London and a far future planet after the TARDIS disintegrates and the Doctor disappears. Benny and Ace take the lead and cooperate with each other towards a solution, without getting overly surly with each other (for a change!). A very short, but amusing read.
May 6, 2021
This was weird to read, having listened to the audio story previously. I much prefer the novel as I prefer Ace to Jason Kane, but otherwise the story is pretty similar. So it was weird to read sort of knowing what was going to happen. It was nice seeing Benny on her own for awhile, as well as Ace in her element leading some humans in revolt.
June 29, 2021
I actually really enjoyed this book. The New Adventures series seems a wee bit hit and miss
August 11, 2023
I am completely baffled by the generally positive reception given to Birthright. To me, this is a pretty awful novel on many levels, and the more I think about it, the worse it gets. The story is that The Doctor tricks Benny and Ace and strands each in different time zones without telling them that he is going to do this, why he is going to do this, or what they are supposed to do. Then, we get a Benny story set in London 1909 involving secret societies and mysterious insect invaders appearing out of nowhere and carving up women. Next, we get an Ace story of her in the far future placing herself as the leader of some humanoid "mammals" that are beset by some intelligent insects using the mammals for food. The insects are being helped by a mysterious know-it-all who is probably a far-future incarnation of The Doctor. He calls himself Muldwych. Then, the two halves collide together, two stranded TARDIS shells become one, sort of, there is battle, dead bodies all over the place, the TARDIS crew reunited, and the companions just accept what The Doctor has done to them.
So, here are the things that are so wrong about this book. First, the only idea Robinson seems to have for the character of The Doctor is "manipulative." He has no other meaningful characteristics. The only idea he has for Benny is "sarcastic." The only idea he has for Ace is "violent." Thus, none of the TARDIS trio is remotely likeable. The Doctor manipulates the whole thing from behind the scenes, appears at the last minute, and justifies nothing that he has done, absolutely nothing. He even turns his back on Benny when she tries to talk to him about it. What a jerk! Ace, early in the novel, watches The Doctor trick Benny and says nothing about it. Later in the novel, she herself tricks and lies to Benny for no good reason that I can fathom, by placing sedatives into a cup of tea. What a jerk! And who the hell carries around sedatives solely for the purpose of spiking cups of tea? Benny spends her time moaning about being manipulated and generally annoying on purpose nearly everyone she meets. What a jerk! With both of these characters, it is even worse. Ace shoots a bank guard and "hopes" that she set the gun on stun. And that is the last she thinks about it. She has no remorse or second thoughts about possibly killing a man who was only doing his job. Benny, late in the novel, is glad that some annoying guy she didn't like is among the many dead. That is right, she is happy that someone who is merely annoying is dead. Are these really our heroes? Even Turlough would not have sunk so low in morality.
The next bad thing about the book is the clunky writing. There is line after line of telling rather than showing. Villains rant and rave in their heads: All power will be mine! and similar ridiculous things. The story works along the plot by convenience model: something shows up or happens because it needs to. Many elements simply appear and then are discarded. This is especially true of characters. They appear, do useful things, and then when no longer needed they vanish. Robinson spends quite a bit of ink trying to get the reader interested in Popov and Charlie and many others. What happens to them after the main plot is over? We don't know and Robinson doesn't seem to care.
And then there is the huge amount of fan-candy thrown in, the many, many needless references to characters and stories from the Doctor Who TV show in a plot that would get along without any of them.
So, it should be pretty clear that I do not like this book.
So, here are the things that are so wrong about this book. First, the only idea Robinson seems to have for the character of The Doctor is "manipulative." He has no other meaningful characteristics. The only idea he has for Benny is "sarcastic." The only idea he has for Ace is "violent." Thus, none of the TARDIS trio is remotely likeable. The Doctor manipulates the whole thing from behind the scenes, appears at the last minute, and justifies nothing that he has done, absolutely nothing. He even turns his back on Benny when she tries to talk to him about it. What a jerk! Ace, early in the novel, watches The Doctor trick Benny and says nothing about it. Later in the novel, she herself tricks and lies to Benny for no good reason that I can fathom, by placing sedatives into a cup of tea. What a jerk! And who the hell carries around sedatives solely for the purpose of spiking cups of tea? Benny spends her time moaning about being manipulated and generally annoying on purpose nearly everyone she meets. What a jerk! With both of these characters, it is even worse. Ace shoots a bank guard and "hopes" that she set the gun on stun. And that is the last she thinks about it. She has no remorse or second thoughts about possibly killing a man who was only doing his job. Benny, late in the novel, is glad that some annoying guy she didn't like is among the many dead. That is right, she is happy that someone who is merely annoying is dead. Are these really our heroes? Even Turlough would not have sunk so low in morality.
The next bad thing about the book is the clunky writing. There is line after line of telling rather than showing. Villains rant and rave in their heads: All power will be mine! and similar ridiculous things. The story works along the plot by convenience model: something shows up or happens because it needs to. Many elements simply appear and then are discarded. This is especially true of characters. They appear, do useful things, and then when no longer needed they vanish. Robinson spends quite a bit of ink trying to get the reader interested in Popov and Charlie and many others. What happens to them after the main plot is over? We don't know and Robinson doesn't seem to care.
And then there is the huge amount of fan-candy thrown in, the many, many needless references to characters and stories from the Doctor Who TV show in a plot that would get along without any of them.
So, it should be pretty clear that I do not like this book.
April 29, 2021
Distinctly average outing from the New Adventures series. A bit better than the previous novel in the series, but not by much. This one also suffers from basically not having the Doctor as a major character, he being entirely absent throughout the story. This leaves the narrative to Ace and Benny who, while fine companions and characters in their own right, are just not the Doctor - and who spend a good deal of the book complaining about him. There's also a load of angst about "the Seven Planets" here, and a surreal - but ultimately pointless - segment where Benny enters a dreamworld to communicate with the TARDIS. I imagine this kind of stuff was quite popular in the 90s when the novels were exploring how to be different from the TV show, but here it doesn't serve any real purpose and ends up being surrealism for surrealism's sake. There's also a fair few "interludes" that don't add anything to the storyline and which a good editor ought really to have left on the cutting room floor.
And then there's Muldwych. I spent the majority of the book assuming he was the Meddling Monk - and to be frank, it feels as though Nigel Robinson was initially of the same view when he started writing the book - but I have since discovered online that he's supposedly a future incarnation of the Doctor. If so, the novel doesn't make this at all clear. Like so many other characters in the book - including Khan and Popov - he is built up only to be summarily dismissed in the final denouement. It felt like a wasted opportunity to have done something more.
Nigel Robinson also indulges - perhaps a little too much - in "fan service" by dropping in Who canon references somewhat gratuitously, sometimes tripping over his own feet in the process. Barbara's grandfather is a particularly grim example, but we also have Benny somehow knowing about former companions who died, and even a Coutts bank account that bizarrely has signatories like Sarah Jane Smith on it who haven't even been born at the time the novel is set. As for the treatment of Victoria Waterfield's aunt, that felt especially cruel and unnecessary. While I do like the occasional knowing wink at Who history within the New Adventures series, there are so many in this already short novel that it felt a bit overdone.
Not a bad story overall, but the lack of Doctor and the use of a number of quite irritating 90s tropes makes it fairly forgettable in the end.
And then there's Muldwych. I spent the majority of the book assuming he was the Meddling Monk - and to be frank, it feels as though Nigel Robinson was initially of the same view when he started writing the book - but I have since discovered online that he's supposedly a future incarnation of the Doctor. If so, the novel doesn't make this at all clear. Like so many other characters in the book - including Khan and Popov - he is built up only to be summarily dismissed in the final denouement. It felt like a wasted opportunity to have done something more.
Nigel Robinson also indulges - perhaps a little too much - in "fan service" by dropping in Who canon references somewhat gratuitously, sometimes tripping over his own feet in the process. Barbara's grandfather is a particularly grim example, but we also have Benny somehow knowing about former companions who died, and even a Coutts bank account that bizarrely has signatories like Sarah Jane Smith on it who haven't even been born at the time the novel is set. As for the treatment of Victoria Waterfield's aunt, that felt especially cruel and unnecessary. While I do like the occasional knowing wink at Who history within the New Adventures series, there are so many in this already short novel that it felt a bit overdone.
Not a bad story overall, but the lack of Doctor and the use of a number of quite irritating 90s tropes makes it fairly forgettable in the end.
January 1, 2023
I couldn't put this down BUT I also read half of it today because I could get it done by the end of the year. So... that caveat is out of the way.
Birthright is a terrific experiment within the Virgin New Adventures, being a proper "Doctor-lite" tale some 13 years before RTD brought it to television with "Love & Monsters". While I found it strained me at a certain point (notably around the 70% mark), it really is a hell of an endeavour and one that pays off in spades.
I don't really know what else to say about it here, except that I want to check in and appreciate that while the last few novels really haven't done it for me (since "Love and War", unsurprisingly), this was a real proper shot in the arm for what these books can do and it hits me at a point where I'm starting to get excited for the show again now they're entering its 60th anniversary year. It's also fun that the major plot point at the climax of this book (the villain wants to take over/become the TARDIS) is basically the central conceit of "The Doctor's Wife", only there it's the catalyst for the story rather than the final problem everyone has to solve. And that leads directly into some psychedelic, trippy cyberpunking as Benny interfaces directly with the TARDIS's brain.
Man I really did love this. It's not the best this series has done so far (rankings below, as ever), but it was fun little yarn. God willing this is an upwards climb of quality as I start to pick up the pace for this year, and even more exciting that the next one is a book I've been looking forward to for many, many, many years.
4.5 stars (rounded down)
Doctor Who Book Ranking
1) Love and War
2) Timewyrm: Revelation
3) Timewyrm: Exodus
4) Birthright
5) Lucifer Rising
6) Transit
7) Cat’s Cradle: Warhead
8) Timewyrm: Apocalypse
9) The Highest Science
10) Timewyrm: Genesys
Birthright is a terrific experiment within the Virgin New Adventures, being a proper "Doctor-lite" tale some 13 years before RTD brought it to television with "Love & Monsters". While I found it strained me at a certain point (notably around the 70% mark), it really is a hell of an endeavour and one that pays off in spades.
I don't really know what else to say about it here, except that I want to check in and appreciate that while the last few novels really haven't done it for me (since "Love and War", unsurprisingly), this was a real proper shot in the arm for what these books can do and it hits me at a point where I'm starting to get excited for the show again now they're entering its 60th anniversary year. It's also fun that the major plot point at the climax of this book (the villain wants to take over/become the TARDIS) is basically the central conceit of "The Doctor's Wife", only there it's the catalyst for the story rather than the final problem everyone has to solve. And that leads directly into some psychedelic, trippy cyberpunking as Benny interfaces directly with the TARDIS's brain.
Man I really did love this. It's not the best this series has done so far (rankings below, as ever), but it was fun little yarn. God willing this is an upwards climb of quality as I start to pick up the pace for this year, and even more exciting that the next one is a book I've been looking forward to for many, many, many years.
4.5 stars (rounded down)
Doctor Who Book Ranking
1) Love and War
2) Timewyrm: Revelation
3) Timewyrm: Exodus
4) Birthright
5) Lucifer Rising
6) Transit
7) Cat’s Cradle: Warhead
8) Timewyrm: Apocalypse
9) The Highest Science
10) Timewyrm: Genesys
December 28, 2022
Mixed feelings on this. Well paced, kept me engaged the whole way through, I managed to finish the majority of the book in one day, which I practically never do, especially when I'm not sure if I like the book. I didn't like the way ace and benny were written a lot of the time, and there were multiple times especially near the beginning that the writing felt awkward, but I liked the direction the plot went in the end. It's not the worst of the VNAs, but it's not the best, but it's also not middling. It's sure something
February 27, 2024
Fun, fast paced, doctor lite adventure. Benny and Ace are each thrown into different locations to solve different problems that turn out to be connected. If the post license books are as good as this, I'll be happy to read them.
My main complaint is that I wish certain characters could be more fleshed out or gotten more of a finale, the fast pace means some things had to be left behind. Tho I wonder if the book wouldn't read as well if it were longer, so maybe that was the correct decision. Who can say.
My main complaint is that I wish certain characters could be more fleshed out or gotten more of a finale, the fast pace means some things had to be left behind. Tho I wonder if the book wouldn't read as well if it were longer, so maybe that was the correct decision. Who can say.
September 3, 2015
This was an interesting book, but a puzzling one. This may be because I'm coming into the middle of things; this is the first Virgin New Adventure I've read.
Hooked me right off with the Thomas the Rhymer angle, which came back both through Thomas/Khan and the roads at the end during the TARDIS dream sequence (that's what I'm calling it anyway). I love that poem/ballad (and I've read a few others usually put in anthologies it's in, such as the Norton Anthology of English Literature and that one Oxford ballads book, so I recognized the reference to Usher's Well at least, also during the TARDIS dream sequence). It also pulled in the specters of Jack the Ripper and Springheel Jack in the Victorian parts, and that of the mystery of the Tunguska Event, plus a future Earth which has forgotten it was ever called Earth in the first place (with, again, echoes of the past: in this case, old inspection tunnels). More echoes of the past came with constant harking back to past companions and incarnations of the Doctor: Margaret, the beneficiaries of the London bank account, and (once more) the manifestations in the TARDIS dream sequence. Just some fun stuff with all this sort of mythic resonance of the past.
I just wish the plot had been...tighter? Better resolved? The book dragged rather during the part with Benny kicking about in early 1900s London trying to solve a series of murders; this is pretty typical DW fare, with not much real suspense, since a lot of the actual mystery part is pretty obvious. Ace fomenting rebellion in the future Earth was also interesting, although I feel the rebellion was mostly a way of getting Ace to find out more about the Charrl - Seeba was one of those ineffectual/mostly just annoying secondary antagonists. Still, the separate needs of Hairies, Charrl, 1900s Earthlings, Khan and Muldwych did create a difficult problem to solve. Unfortunately, most of that tidied away pretty quick.
The most interesting part of the book - the heart of the story, for me - was Khan's search for eternal life. He's got an interesting story: a young man doomed to die soon from some ailment, sent by a meddling Scottish(?) lord to follow the "broad, broad road," where he meets (I assume) the Queen of the Charrl. In exchange for extending his life, he is to help her. I kind of missed some of the details of his story, though. Was it the Doctor who sent him to meet the Charrl's queen? Why? Was his quest from her to find the TARDIS, or was that his own personal quest? In any case, he lives for centuries, growing old but not dying, always just missing the TARDIS. And, in the end, he tries to take over the TARDIS, projecting his mind into her.
Benny and Ace realize the TARDIS splitting into two was part of a plan, and they assist in pulling it off, but in the end it's mostly the TARDIS who defeats Khan, performing a dangerous maneuver in the Time Vortex and expelling Khan, along with the second TARDIS. The TARDIS containing Khan explodes over Siberia - the Tunguska Event, which also opened the Great Divide, the space-time rift the Charrl are exploiting throughout the novel. A fun note, though this book was obviously written well before New Who: the TARDIS victorious is described as a Wolf, and due to her plan, Khan's timeline creates itself, his final death setting off the chain of events that leads to him being saved/made immortal early in his life. A late-in-the-game explosion of the TARDIS creating a space-time rift that's been plaguing them throughout the plot is another bit that reminds me of New Who.
The rest is tied up, as much as it is, by Muldwych, the biggest enigma of the book for me. The Hairies and the 1900s Earthlings both get their Earth for themselves because Muldwych - revealed to be a Time Lord or otherwise experienced time traveler who feels himself entitled to a TARDIS - tricks the Charrl into letting him transport them to an "unspoiled alternate Earth" which is really a dimension inside the TARDIS. This is all accomplished very quickly - bit of an anticlimax, after the Charrl have been as strong antagonists as Khan. I did want them settled somewhere, rather than all killed, so that's good, but it was just...so quick, and move on. And then Muldwych is forced to return to his exile on the future Earth.
Epilogues: Wtf?? One of the women infected by the Charrl's seed gives birth to one. Hello. BENNY WAS INFECTED. DOES THIS MEAN BENNY IS REALLY GOING TO HAVE A CHARRL BABY OR IS THAT JUST GONNA GET DROPPED. More wtf: Who is Muldwych? I feel like the final epilogue (tea with the Doctor and Muldwych) was supposed to tell me by implying very strongly, but I don't have enough information on what's going on at this point with them. Whoever he is, Ace knows him, and he thinks Ace is gonna have to know about the time of Madame Bovary very soon.
Which, of course, has whetted my appetite. I need to know more. I need to know EVERYTHING. Who is this dude? Does Ace really end up needing that book soon? I also need to know so much more about Benny (I've only met her in Death in the Family, one of the Big Finish audios, I think). And everything that happened to Ace that made her so bitter in this book. This is what happened when I listened to Protect and Survive. This is how I ended up listening to all the Ace and Hex audios. SO DANGEROUS.
(This always happens with Ace. Ace, I love you. I need to watch your actual episodes sometime).
Hooked me right off with the Thomas the Rhymer angle, which came back both through Thomas/Khan and the roads at the end during the TARDIS dream sequence (that's what I'm calling it anyway). I love that poem/ballad (and I've read a few others usually put in anthologies it's in, such as the Norton Anthology of English Literature and that one Oxford ballads book, so I recognized the reference to Usher's Well at least, also during the TARDIS dream sequence). It also pulled in the specters of Jack the Ripper and Springheel Jack in the Victorian parts, and that of the mystery of the Tunguska Event, plus a future Earth which has forgotten it was ever called Earth in the first place (with, again, echoes of the past: in this case, old inspection tunnels). More echoes of the past came with constant harking back to past companions and incarnations of the Doctor: Margaret, the beneficiaries of the London bank account, and (once more) the manifestations in the TARDIS dream sequence. Just some fun stuff with all this sort of mythic resonance of the past.
I just wish the plot had been...tighter? Better resolved? The book dragged rather during the part with Benny kicking about in early 1900s London trying to solve a series of murders; this is pretty typical DW fare, with not much real suspense, since a lot of the actual mystery part is pretty obvious. Ace fomenting rebellion in the future Earth was also interesting, although I feel the rebellion was mostly a way of getting Ace to find out more about the Charrl - Seeba was one of those ineffectual/mostly just annoying secondary antagonists. Still, the separate needs of Hairies, Charrl, 1900s Earthlings, Khan and Muldwych did create a difficult problem to solve. Unfortunately, most of that tidied away pretty quick.
The most interesting part of the book - the heart of the story, for me - was Khan's search for eternal life. He's got an interesting story: a young man doomed to die soon from some ailment, sent by a meddling Scottish(?) lord to follow the "broad, broad road," where he meets (I assume) the Queen of the Charrl. In exchange for extending his life, he is to help her. I kind of missed some of the details of his story, though. Was it the Doctor who sent him to meet the Charrl's queen? Why? Was his quest from her to find the TARDIS, or was that his own personal quest? In any case, he lives for centuries, growing old but not dying, always just missing the TARDIS. And, in the end, he tries to take over the TARDIS, projecting his mind into her.
Benny and Ace realize the TARDIS splitting into two was part of a plan, and they assist in pulling it off, but in the end it's mostly the TARDIS who defeats Khan, performing a dangerous maneuver in the Time Vortex and expelling Khan, along with the second TARDIS. The TARDIS containing Khan explodes over Siberia - the Tunguska Event, which also opened the Great Divide, the space-time rift the Charrl are exploiting throughout the novel. A fun note, though this book was obviously written well before New Who: the TARDIS victorious is described as a Wolf, and due to her plan, Khan's timeline creates itself, his final death setting off the chain of events that leads to him being saved/made immortal early in his life. A late-in-the-game explosion of the TARDIS creating a space-time rift that's been plaguing them throughout the plot is another bit that reminds me of New Who.
The rest is tied up, as much as it is, by Muldwych, the biggest enigma of the book for me. The Hairies and the 1900s Earthlings both get their Earth for themselves because Muldwych - revealed to be a Time Lord or otherwise experienced time traveler who feels himself entitled to a TARDIS - tricks the Charrl into letting him transport them to an "unspoiled alternate Earth" which is really a dimension inside the TARDIS. This is all accomplished very quickly - bit of an anticlimax, after the Charrl have been as strong antagonists as Khan. I did want them settled somewhere, rather than all killed, so that's good, but it was just...so quick, and move on. And then Muldwych is forced to return to his exile on the future Earth.
Epilogues: Wtf?? One of the women infected by the Charrl's seed gives birth to one. Hello. BENNY WAS INFECTED. DOES THIS MEAN BENNY IS REALLY GOING TO HAVE A CHARRL BABY OR IS THAT JUST GONNA GET DROPPED. More wtf: Who is Muldwych? I feel like the final epilogue (tea with the Doctor and Muldwych) was supposed to tell me by implying very strongly, but I don't have enough information on what's going on at this point with them. Whoever he is, Ace knows him, and he thinks Ace is gonna have to know about the time of Madame Bovary very soon.
Which, of course, has whetted my appetite. I need to know more. I need to know EVERYTHING. Who is this dude? Does Ace really end up needing that book soon? I also need to know so much more about Benny (I've only met her in Death in the Family, one of the Big Finish audios, I think). And everything that happened to Ace that made her so bitter in this book. This is what happened when I listened to Protect and Survive. This is how I ended up listening to all the Ace and Hex audios. SO DANGEROUS.
(This always happens with Ace. Ace, I love you. I need to watch your actual episodes sometime).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2024
OK, sure, the fact that it is in theory a Doctor-light story is interesting, but Nigel Robinson's uninspiring prose style fails to hook me - or to make up for the goodwill he lost from Timewyrm: Apocalypse. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
January 28, 2023
A fun read, but constructed from familiar Who tropes. There are a lot of thinly developed villains who are dealt with in a flurry of action. Interesting to see a 'Doctor lite' episode not motivated by actor availability though.
November 22, 2024
Nigel Robinson succeeds in crafting a well structured, involving Doctor Who story that barely features or relies upon the Doctor at all, but certain segments of its narrative, especially Bernice's, are far more interesting than others.
August 1, 2017
Fairly solid science fantasy story based around psychic links across time (like a classic 3rd doctor story), but with a trippy space odyssey sequence set in the mind of the tardis.
October 27, 2025
very good throughout. future part is a bit dull but all that happens in 1909 is great
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2009
This was an early experiment in exploring how to do a Doctor Who adventure that didn't feature the Doctor. Instead, we get the two main companions having their own side jaunt for a change. Meanwhile, in Iceberg the Doctor has his own adventure, occurring in parallel (even though, as the books note, "parallel" is a rather tricky term when you're dealing with time-travelling.) In many ways, this is more "not a Doctor Who" novel than Shadowmind - but the difference is that this was meant to be that, rather than merely badly-written like its predecessor.
Benny finds herself in Victorian London, in the middle of something resembling Jack the Ripper murders. Ace finds herself on an alien planet, helping a resistance movement fight a race that consider themselves to be the epitome of civilisation. Naturally, the two stories are interconnected.
I found Benny's story to be be more fun. Partly because the supporting cast were better developed, but probably because of the hilarious interference by the Doctor at every opportunity. Indeed there may be an argument that the Doctor plays more of a role in this particular story than he does in Iceberg, which is theoretically meant to be his own story!
Fundamentally, my complaint is with the character of Khan. There is absolutely no explanation for his story beyond serving as the plot device that makes it all work. And the resolution of his story-line is deeply unsatisfactory, although at least it makes some sense, unlike the way Muldwych is summarily dismissed (albeit he gets the more interesting payoff.)
Overall then, this is more than just a filler in the NA range, but it's less than the sum of its parts. Next up: Iceberg. Well, that's not strictly true. Next up is Bloodheat but hey, time-travelling is confusing...
Benny finds herself in Victorian London, in the middle of something resembling Jack the Ripper murders. Ace finds herself on an alien planet, helping a resistance movement fight a race that consider themselves to be the epitome of civilisation. Naturally, the two stories are interconnected.
I found Benny's story to be be more fun. Partly because the supporting cast were better developed, but probably because of the hilarious interference by the Doctor at every opportunity. Indeed there may be an argument that the Doctor plays more of a role in this particular story than he does in Iceberg, which is theoretically meant to be his own story!
Fundamentally, my complaint is with the character of Khan. There is absolutely no explanation for his story beyond serving as the plot device that makes it all work. And the resolution of his story-line is deeply unsatisfactory, although at least it makes some sense, unlike the way Muldwych is summarily dismissed (albeit he gets the more interesting payoff.)
Overall then, this is more than just a filler in the NA range, but it's less than the sum of its parts. Next up: Iceberg. Well, that's not strictly true. Next up is Bloodheat but hey, time-travelling is confusing...
September 2, 2018
A solid read from the new adventures range if not the most remarkable. The first real example of a modern style doctor-lite story (although Time's Crucible comes close) with classic series freaky monsters. Character work and interesting plot dynamics do leave something to be desired though.
Update 2018: Rereading in order.
Coming back to this now in full context of the series both improves and worsens this book.
On the positive side this is a real step-up after the mediocre to terrible run which happens after Love and War*. Being of much shorter length is beneficial as it really chugs along and the characterization feels in-keeping in this strange transitional period where the TARDIS crew don't know what they are doing or if they can really trust each other.
As I mentioned in my last review one of the real attractions is the Doctor-Lite style which was not a common element at the time. Much like modern ones the Doctor's fingerprints are all over the setup even whilst we watch Ace and Benny try to figure out how to save Earth on their own. Perhaps more interesting is that it is just as much about the TARDIS, what her absence means and questioning if she is as manipulative as The Doctor.
However, in context it also highlights the flaws. Firstly, it has caught the early VNAs epidemic of continuityitis. According to The Cloister Library it averages one continuity every 3.3 pages, most of which have no plot reason at all. Secondly, the return to form is also accompanied by it aping a number of elements of the earlier stories, particularly Timewyrm Revelation.
But a much better story than had been for a while prior to this.
*Looking back over this reread so far I have given only four 4-5* reviews, compared with five 3*, nine 2* and three 1* (including the semi-fictional reference books and comics collections). Giving the series so far a average of 2.6. Generally not had the best start.
Update 2018: Rereading in order.
Coming back to this now in full context of the series both improves and worsens this book.
On the positive side this is a real step-up after the mediocre to terrible run which happens after Love and War*. Being of much shorter length is beneficial as it really chugs along and the characterization feels in-keeping in this strange transitional period where the TARDIS crew don't know what they are doing or if they can really trust each other.
As I mentioned in my last review one of the real attractions is the Doctor-Lite style which was not a common element at the time. Much like modern ones the Doctor's fingerprints are all over the setup even whilst we watch Ace and Benny try to figure out how to save Earth on their own. Perhaps more interesting is that it is just as much about the TARDIS, what her absence means and questioning if she is as manipulative as The Doctor.
However, in context it also highlights the flaws. Firstly, it has caught the early VNAs epidemic of continuityitis. According to The Cloister Library it averages one continuity every 3.3 pages, most of which have no plot reason at all. Secondly, the return to form is also accompanied by it aping a number of elements of the earlier stories, particularly Timewyrm Revelation.
But a much better story than had been for a while prior to this.
*Looking back over this reread so far I have given only four 4-5* reviews, compared with five 3*, nine 2* and three 1* (including the semi-fictional reference books and comics collections). Giving the series so far a average of 2.6. Generally not had the best start.
February 10, 2011
New Adventure (NA) with Benny and some Ace. Worthwhile for a pleasant read, but the book's only noteworthy trait is the myriad ways 'John Smith' influences things. There were many places where I wondered how characters know what they know, and the changes of viewpoint within a scene could be rather trying. The climax and its resolution essentially relies on magic, and magic is not involving and therefore not interesting (the companions end up as bystanders for several chapters, for Pete's sake!). Because the book swings back and forth between intelligent writing and potboiling, I found myself sometimes irked by how easily the characters fit into the author's uses for them. I get the sense this book was supposed to be more complex than it turned out (note the relatively low page count for a New Adventure). Consider the buildup of Popov--who then is reduced to an incidental character and doesn't really do anything. And I found it vexing that the author seems confused as to whether he wants to imply Muldwych is the Meddling Monk or a future Doctor.
March 19, 2011
Seventh Doctor adventure (from Virgin New Adventures series) about alien insects invading London in 1909 - a Doctor-lite story mainly about Benny, featuring also Ace and Victoria Waterfield's elderly aunt Margaret.
I realised a few pages into this that I had already heard an audio version - one of the first Bernice Summerfield plays from Big Finish, which had had some surgery to remove the Doctor (who isn't in it much anyway) and Ace (who I think is mainly replaced in the play by Benny's husband Jason), and co-starred Colin Baker as the mysterious Russian character. I remember enjoying the play; I also enjoyed the book more than I expected.
My expectations were low because the author is Nigel Robinson, whose prose style I find in general pretty clunky. But in fact he is way ahead of his usual output here. There were two chapters which did make me groan but also one (Benny's weird dream) which really made me sit up. I also thought he caught both Benny and Ace very well, as well as having a comprehensible plot. So, for once, a Robinson book which I rate as slightly above average.
I realised a few pages into this that I had already heard an audio version - one of the first Bernice Summerfield plays from Big Finish, which had had some surgery to remove the Doctor (who isn't in it much anyway) and Ace (who I think is mainly replaced in the play by Benny's husband Jason), and co-starred Colin Baker as the mysterious Russian character. I remember enjoying the play; I also enjoyed the book more than I expected.
My expectations were low because the author is Nigel Robinson, whose prose style I find in general pretty clunky. But in fact he is way ahead of his usual output here. There were two chapters which did make me groan but also one (Benny's weird dream) which really made me sit up. I also thought he caught both Benny and Ace very well, as well as having a comprehensible plot. So, for once, a Robinson book which I rate as slightly above average.
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