Just War (The New Doctor Who Series)

Rating:
Summary: Love and War
Review: Doctor Who had, of course, already produced stories set during WWII, but JUST WAR would prove to be something different. While Nazis had appeared in TIMEWYRM: EXODUS, they were cartoonish, and one could easily imagine each and every one of them being played by Bernie Kopell (ah, split screening technology). But JUST WAR takes its central premise seriously, and the payoff is incredible. Doctor Who has dealt with similar themes before (usually in allegory), but rarely so effectively, and never in such stark terms.

World War II is raging through Europe. The Nazis are making enormous technical advances. Germany occupies British soil. But the back cover informs us that this is not a parallel universe story, nor is there any indication of alien interference. (In fact, JUST WAR would appear to be a rare example of a purely historical story in the New Adventures.) The Doctor and company must deal with the menace on its own terms. As is typical in the books of this era, each of the regulars has his/her own part in the Doctor's grand scheme to play. The mission here is comparatively easy: find out what is going on.

Although the plot is very cleverly constructed, whenever I think back upon the story, I think of it as more of a collection of excellent set pieces held together by an adequate storyline (more on this later). Many of those set pieces involve characters giving lengthy speeches about Nazism, racial purity, or warfare. These speeches, while stagy in execution, are genuinely chilling.

I mentioned the plot as being adequate, and I should elaborate on that. The storyline does feels a little awkward at times. But I hasten to add that overall it contains a lot of surprises and some genuinely effective material. Any minor problems certain don't harm the book, but it does give it the feel of a book more reliant on themes and characters than on plot and events. And there's nothing wrong with that.

JUST WAR is notable by both what it says, and by what it leaves unsaid. Despite the long passages dealing with such topics, the words "Dalek" and "Hitler" never appear, and the book is stronger for its subtleties. I wish I could say the same for the passages dealing with the racism faced by Roz in 1940s Britain. Yes, such attitudes are realistic for that time and place, but they feel slightly overdone. A very similar thing was executed better in Paul Leonard's TOY SOLDIERS, and JUST WAR just feels like it's rehashing the same ground without bringing anything new to the table. Fortunately, for every example of that, there is something shockingly effective to counter it. The scene of Roz contemplating her own cultural heritage is that kind of sequence that propels the book towards its lofty reputation.

JUST WAR was Lance Parkin's first New Adventure, but you wouldn't know that from the maturity of his writing and the confident way he handles the regular characters. I would happily hold up JUST WAR as example of what Doctor Who does best. It deals with serious themes, while putting a human face on horrific suffering. It also never comes across as being unbearably grim despite the topics that Parkin is dealing with.

Rating:
Summary: Love and War
Review: Doctor Who had, of course, already produced stories set during WWII, but JUST WAR would prove to be something different. While Nazis had appeared in TIMEWYRM: EXODUS, they were cartoonish, and one could easily imagine each and every one of them being played by Bernie Kopell (ah, split screening technology). But JUST WAR takes its central premise seriously, and the payoff is incredible. Doctor Who has dealt with similar themes before (usually in allegory), but rarely so effectively, and never in such stark terms.

World War II is raging through Europe. The Nazis are making enormous technical advances. Germany occupies British soil. But the back cover informs us that this is not a parallel universe story, nor is there any indication of alien interference. (In fact, JUST WAR would appear to be a rare example of a purely historical story in the New Adventures.) The Doctor and company must deal with the menace on its own terms. As is typical in the books of this era, each of the regulars has his/her own part in the Doctor's grand scheme to play. The mission here is comparatively easy: find out what is going on.

Although the plot is very cleverly constructed, whenever I think back upon the story, I think of it as more of a collection of excellent set pieces held together by an adequate storyline (more on this later). Many of those set pieces involve characters giving lengthy speeches about Nazism, racial purity, or warfare. These speeches, while stagy in execution, are genuinely chilling.

I mentioned the plot as being adequate, and I should elaborate on that. The storyline does feels a little awkward at times. But I hasten to add that overall it contains a lot of surprises and some genuinely effective material. Any minor problems certain don't harm the book, but it does give it the feel of a book more reliant on themes and characters than on plot and events. And there's nothing wrong with that.

JUST WAR is notable by both what it says, and by what it leaves unsaid. Despite the long passages dealing with such topics, the words "Dalek" and "Hitler" never appear, and the book is stronger for its subtleties. I wish I could say the same for the passages dealing with the racism faced by Roz in 1940s Britain. Yes, such attitudes are realistic for that time and place, but they feel slightly overdone. A very similar thing was executed better in Paul Leonard's TOY SOLDIERS, and JUST WAR just feels like it's rehashing the same ground without bringing anything new to the table. Fortunately, for every example of that, there is something shockingly effective to counter it. The scene of Roz contemplating her own cultural heritage is that kind of sequence that propels the book towards its lofty reputation.

JUST WAR was Lance Parkin's first New Adventure, but you wouldn't know that from the maturity of his writing and the confident way he handles the regular characters. I would happily hold up JUST WAR as example of what Doctor Who does best. It deals with serious themes, while putting a human face on horrific suffering. It also never comes across as being unbearably grim despite the topics that Parkin is dealing with.

Rating:
Summary: Once again the Doctor flirts with a parallel universe...?
Review: Parkin's first book for the "New Adventures" series is seamlessly plotted and while effortlessly readable, also challenging and highly absorbing. Parkin sets out to avoid most of the usual sci-fi stereotypes in this book set during an apparent German invasion of the Channel Islands during World War II. The Doctor and his companions take seperate paths to investigate the development of a secret German superweapon, leading them all to believe that history has been horribly perverted...but is the Doctor the real cause