20 - The Dimension Riders

The Dimension Riders is a strange entry in the series.  Like some of the earlier novels, it feels somewhat directionless and unpolished, but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy myself.  At the very least, it’s definitely not boring, and what it lacks in organization it more than makes up for with compelling side characters and a rich setting.

Hoping for a change of pace, the Doctor visits Oxford to check in on a professor friend of his, but alien involvement pulls him into a bizarre time-bending adventure.  These portions of the book take a lot of inspiration from Shada, and they have a lot of soul; just as Douglas Adams studied at Cambridge, Blythe is clearly drawing upon his time at Oxford to add depth to the homely setting.  Although the story starts to focus on the Doctor and Ace’s eventual escapades in the future, the most fun part has to be Benny’s hijinks in the present with a local student named Tom.  Her fish-out-of-water persona is done particularly well here, constantly reminding the reader that she’s just as much out of place in our present as Ace would be in the 1400s.

Where the book starts to lose its way, in my opinion, is the convoluted plot that takes place in the future.  The space station Q4 has been attacked by a creature called the Garvond which feeds on the creation of paradoxes in time, and which was created as an abstract amalgamation of Time Lords’ dark thoughts within the Matrix.  When a rescue vessel called the Icarus arrives, the Garvond and its soldiers attack, sending the Doctor and Captain Romulus Terrin back in time a week.  The college President, a Time Lord in disguise, abducts Ace, Terrin, and the Doctor, who tricks the Garvond into entering his TARDIS and traps it within a Gallifreyan book.  The President is erased from history by a paradox, and the distress call which began the adventure also unhappens.  There are some great ideas in here, and some of them are written quite well, but I found all the time-hopping and overlapping paradoxes to be far too much for a single book.  The ending is also handwavey, with the Doctor shrugging off a paradox just as big as the one that erased the President with a simple “It works out.”

Even if it’s a step down from Blood Heat, The Dimension Riders is a fun, light read that has some genuinely great moments.  This alternate universe arc is ramping up, and I’m excited to see where it goes!

This book is kinda weird to me, it feels like a nothing burger, it’s not a boring book but at the same time does nothing interesting, Aces rising tension with the doctor and her trying to figure him out are cool and Benny wanting to leave due to rising tensions between ace, 7 and even herself at points are nice, there are a few cool scenes scattered throughout (specifically the bar scene with 7 in the Q4) But other than that this book just kinda feels lackluster and forgetable, I don’t see myself really looking back on this book or remembering much from it in the next few weeks let alone when I’m done with the NAs