23 - No Future

As the Doctor’s escapades through parallel timelines hurtle toward their conclusion, Paul Cornell brings us back to UNIT in the 1970s for one final showdown.  It’s easily his worst showing so far, mainly because it feels fragmented and wraps up the conflict between the Doctor and Ace far too quickly, but it’s still an enjoyable read with several returning friends and foes.

I’ll start with the bits I enjoyed.  The UNIT family is always a welcome presence, and here they bookend the arc: while Blood Heat saw the Doctor run in with a battle-scarred alternate UNIT, the “real” Brig, Benton and Yates reunite with him at last in 1976.  Mortimus the Time Meddler is exactly who I hoped would be behind these interventions into the Doctor’s timeline, and his bumbling yet charming persona carries over perfectly into prose.  Here he allies himself with the Vardans (The Invasion of Time), who seem to have been included, to my delight, just so that Paul Cornell can make jabs at them.  By capturing a chronovore named Artemis, the Monk has been interfering with the Doctor’s timeline in attempts at revenge, and has used her power to free the Vardans and help them invade Earth.  It’s a lovely collage of classic villains that fit together nicely, and the Monk’s efforts to tempt Ace with promises of a better world are reminiscent of the later audio adventure The Resurrection of Mars, juxtaposing his and the Doctor’s moral systems.

However, it’s in this subplot that the cracks begin to show in Ace’s emotional journey.  The centerpiece of the Monk’s forbidden fruit is a resurrected Jan (Love and War), by whose death Ace is apparently still heartbroken.  This would be a powerful moment if it didn’t seem to backtrack on Ace’s character development, given that she had “consigned him to the lucky escape category of old lovers” by the time she reunited with the Doctor in Deceit.  Other readers may disagree, but I didn’t find her sudden preoccupation with Jan to be quite convincing (although I understand completely why Cornell wanted to connect this novel to his last).  The resolution to the novel involves Ace tricking the Doctor with a very Doctorish scheme, after which they are finally able to put aside their differences.  This was another plot point that I found somewhat jarring, since Ace’s problems with the Doctor at this point have more to do with the collateral damage of his schemes than the way he personally manipulates her.  I also believe I might be too young to fully appreciate this novel - it’s steeped in the culture of 1970s British punk rock, and the generation who grew up immersed in that world will probably love its setting.

While it is flawed (as Cornell himself has said), No Future brings the alternate universe cycle to an exhilarating end which has a lot to love - just don’t expect it to carry forward the momentum of the last two stories.  Onward to a less angry Ace and a meddling-free future!

Well to start off I should say that my experience with this novel was weird, unfortunately due to getting busy I read this novel over a scattered period of days which led the narrative flow of the book not being as smooth for me as well as me not being able to remember many plot points at times, however I will say, character/prose wise this was amazing, it’s definitely Cornell’s worst of the 3 NAs he’s done so far but that’s not fair to say when his other 2 were my top 2 of the range, no future is still great, letting us feel bad for the monk, satisfyingly wrapping up the Alt universe cycle (although the books plot feels a bit all over the place) as well as emotionally wrapping up all the character arcs of the last few books letting our tardis team finally be happy, finally be able to accept eachother , ace is able to manipulate the doctor beat him at his game, the doctor goes from warrior to healer and he accepts ace has grown and is different, they embrace eachother and their future relationships, Benny also comes to terms with both of them, she can’t and won’t leave the doctor. And I can’t wait to see this new friendlier dynamic explored.

"Scream, I'll save you later."

I read 3 Paul Cornell books. I really loved all of them. I read a fourth Paul Cornell book. I really loved it. Big surprise.
As always the man's a great, subtle character writer who does some truly beautiful things with the dynamics here. The prose is gorgeous and punchy. The plot is wonderfully twisty. Cornell is one of those DW writers who gets how to make a story totally saturated with fun and interesting Concepts without letting the plot get bogged down by them, and this one has SO much fun snuck in amongst all the big important plot beats.
I love the Monk in this. This might actually be my first Monk story, in fact. He makes for a great villain with his grand and unbeatable schemes built on a foundation of pathetic, childish motivations, i always love that kind of contrast in a villain (or a hero, as this version of the Doctor dips into that sort of territory pretty frequently, and to great effect).
Ace also does pretty darn well here, starting out sinister and eventually coming back around and revealing her motivations. you get a great sense of just how much she's grown, and how even when she's got the darkness in her soul she's had since returning in Deceit, she's still managed to grow into an adult with a good heart and a good head. I dearly love the knight in shining armor she plays to the Woman in Red here. It's such a romantic role for her, and one that feels just right for the Champion's steward...
Bernice is great here as well, with so much heart and a bit of comedy. We get to see the complexities of her dynamics, caring deeply for her companions, understanding they're imperfect and getting frustrated with them, and still being maybe a bit too quick to forgive them some of their faults.
This is another story in my favorite genre (one that Cornell seems pretty keen on as well), one where the Doctor finds himself suddenly, terrifyingly, stumbling over his obstacles. He's left blind here, and nearly out-gamed if it weren't for the grace of Ace's loyalty. And he knows it too.
The emotional lows here are *low*, and it all wraps up in a happy ending that still manages to be bittersweet. It's hard. And maybe things wont get better in our lifetime. But this turned out alright, so maybe other things will turn out alright for us, too.
And of course I have to shout-out Cornell's returning love for rough and tumble sweetheart anarchists. Can't think of another piece of media that ends with the good guys wishing their buddy good luck with the anarchist revolution. Good for him.
10/10