The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Doctor Who the Missing Adventures)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Doctor Who in a fantasy novel setting
Review: I'm sure the original creators of Doctor Who would have been rather wary of this story, had it been presented to them as a proposed television production. It is envisaged to occur very early in the first season of the series, where the story lines essentially alternat between historical and science fiction. How a story featuring magic, elves and dragons would have gone over is a good question.

I found the story quite enjoyable. The setting is an excellent change of pace for Doctor Who, and Christopher Bulis populates the story with a variety of memorable characters. The crew of the TARDIS are thrust into a world that shouldn't exist, and cannot re-enter the TARDIS due to some automatic defence mechanism which has activated for no apparent reason. (There is a reason, of course - but it is so integrally tied up with the conclusion of the story that I won't say any more about it!)

Needing to re-enter the TARDIS to leave, the Doctor is obliged to study magic in order to learn the way in which this world works. Kidnapped by Marton Dhal, Susan too gains some magical skills. However, as you'd expect, there's more to all this magic than meets the eye as the travellers and the inhabitants of Elbyon discover at the climax of the book.

Mr Bulis has a good descriptive turn of prose which makes it easy to envisage what this story might have looked like, but not if made with the technology used when this stories supposed contemporaries were made. I'm sure it would have been a visual treat.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent fantasy quest
Review: It seems like Christopher Bulis never fails to produce a winner when he sits down to write a "Doctor Who" book. By the time of this book, his third "Who" novel, his style of plotting is firmly established: the Doctor and his companions encounter a number of seemingly inexplicable mysteries which they and the reader must try to figure out. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" sees the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara, fresh from their encounter with Marco Polo, land on a planet where, it seems, magic really works and magical creatures such as dwarves and fairies actually exist. However, a party of space marines and military scientists from Earth's crumbling Empire also lands on the planet, for they believe it holds a weapon of such power that it could be used to bring the Empire to greatness again. Thus fantasy and science fiction are fused into a fascinating story that poses and ultimately resolves the question: How can magic exist in the usually rational "Doctor Who" universe? As always, Bulis' characterizations of the Doctor and his companions are excellent and one truly cares about the supporting characters as well. The book also displays Bulis' fondness for satisfyingly astonishing plot twists. This book is so enjoyable that I finished it far more rapidly than I do most "Doctor Who" books, and I recommend it highly.