The Review… of Rassilon!

This was a book that took a little while for me to get into (and in fact I was really pushed into reading it out of wanting to join the book club (https://forum.tardis.guide/t/book-club-cats-cradle-times-crucible/2380), and the book club conveniently being on it), but in the end, it was also a book I rather enjoyed.

Ace’s journey through the book was really interesting to read, and I’m rather glad that we got to spend some time in her head and get to know some of her thoughts about the Doctor and the situation in general. It’s easy to get frustrated with the Doctor at times, and especially when we’re seeing how he acts or doesn’t act, or withholds information and gives off an air of distrust with Ace while he is still in the Wilby state of his mind, and I think it was a very sweet moment when Ace has just seen her guard counterpart fall off the tower and die, and the Doctor comforts her and promises never to let it happen to her. It emphasises the paternal and comforting charm I think the Seventh Doctor holds for a lot of people, and I would have loved to have seen it on screen.

Something about Doctor Who that has always fascinated me, and that i’ve always really wanted to learn more about, is the history and politics and culture of Gallifrey, and I think Time’s Crucible does a nice job at introducing concepts which (as of writing this, I’ve not read any further in the VNAs other than CC:TC) I believe get explored later in other books including Looming, the Other, and other aspects of the Cartmel Master Plan. What I learnt in this book surprised me a bit, as I’m much more used to modern Doctor Who, and so seeing an ancient Gallifrey being ruled by a Priestess, which has slavery and an empire and Gallifreyan sacrifices had me absolutely enthralled. I want to learn more about it, and genuinely would be happy to read some of the ancient Gallifreyan history books if they existed in real life.

As it happens, I’m also a pretty big fan of Ghost Light, which is also by Marc Platt, and while I found this story pretty confusing at times (even now I’m struggling to picture what the TARDIS World City looked like, and trying to get an accurate mental image of the Processes), it was thoroughly a Doctor Who story, and if it was something that was able to be translated to screen I’d be more than happy to give it a watch.

One part in particular stands out to me, and that is when the Older Shonnzi(?) is being made into a guard:

‘The younger Process spat Shonnzi Phazel’s scream of anguish out of its mind like chewed bones. It pulverised his thoughts with its own. Their content was irrelevant. It was still hungry.’

This little passage just left me feeling a tiny bit chilled, as I really can’t get the thought out of my head that the Process ate and destroyed his soul. (I understand that we learn later this doesn’t happen, but the feeling remains) On the Process, I enjoyed its weird way of speaking, and got the thought later on (I imagine this is meant to be the case, but I’m thick) that perhaps that it might be linked to the Pythia as she spoke in a similar way a few times.

Anyway, with all of this said the final judgement: 3/5!

I did enjoy this book a decent amount, but it took me a long time to get started on it as the beginning was not that interesting to me, but in fairness that might be my own fault.