Recommended Prerequisites

PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse

TV: Inferno

Timewyrm: Revelation

This book was interesting and entertaining throughout, but like the first three Timewyrm books, it's still just missing something. I absolutely loved the deep dive on Ace. I feel this is the first time we've actually examined her as a character, and the different names for different versions of her throughout her life was so sick. We also saw the Doctor in a bit of a darker light, where he has literally taken the physical manifestation of his conscious and tied it to a tree, like a Christ-like figure. I know Ace and the Doctor have issues going forward and I think their dynamics in this book really add to what will be coming soon.

However, we're also introduced to a number of just really pointless characters. Trelaw, Emily, Saul, etc. At first I thought they must be from a classic series episode that I haven't seen, apparently not. Were introduced to these people like we're meant to know them, then they do nothing for 90% of the book except look around confused st each other. It wasn't the most engaging reading.

Quote

"You live in paradise, you start to wonder who empties the bins"

A bit hard to follow plot-wise at points, but an incredible character study of my personal favorite character in all of Doctor Who: Ace McShane.

Paul Cornell immediately establishes himself as THE Ace writer here, a title that he definitely keeps up as time goes on. Cornell's Ace feels like the most natural development of her character from the TV show -- she's action-oriented and tends towards impulsivity, but is tempered by her kindness, virtue, and intelligence. She's a perfect foil to the Doctor, sharing many of his feelings and emotional experiences (particularly in relation to both of their pasts) while handling them in wildly different ways, bringing them head to head. They're a powerful match here in particular.

Much of Ace's arc here -- having her experience stripped away, her past altered, and finally her entire life replaced with sanded-down, perfect, painless version before reclaiming her self-knowledge and rising up, victorious -- really resonated with me as a queer fan. It brought me to tears at a couple points, which hardly ever happens. Ace's name is a tool of self-determination for her. She's Dotty to the childhood bully that nearly destroys her entirely, she's Dorry when she's been stripped down and reupholstered as a perfect, popular girl, and when she rises up again, bloody knuckled and wreathed in flame and victorious, she's Ace again, the name she picked for herself. Her clothes as well (her jacket of course) show her taking back her power and identity, going from pink sweaters and ungainly stilettos to her own boots and anorak.

She reclaims her identity at the same time that she regains control over her gender presentation. This isn't the really the main plot of the book, but it is the heart of it. It's the thing that allows her to help the Doctor (another character who picked their name for themself...) to save himself, and to become a better version of himself, which in turn allows him to defeat Ishtar once and for all.

Cornell sets the standard for Ace's characterization in this series -- a standard that is sadly rarely met. Revelation should, quite honestly, be considered one of the most successful queer empowerment stories in all Doctor Who media, whether created intentionally or not. This one earns an 8/10 from me.

I have mixed feelings on this novel.  It is easily the best experience I had reading any of the Timewyrm books, but that isn't saying much.  These four books were a tough and slow read compared to pretty much anything Doctor Who I've read before.  Each were like this for different reasons, and in the case of Revelation I found the book a bit dense and meandering, to say the least.  I basically had to force myself through a huge chunk of the middle, and I think that is explicitly because the nature of this story is so vague and esoteric.  Here we travel into the mind of the Doctor, and while there are lots of interesting details to this, I had a very hard time dealing with a story this surreal and untethered to anything resembling reality.  It's hard to have an emotional investment for something kind of just going on entirely in the Doctor's imagination.

Still, this book does have moments.  There's a scene where the Timewyrm has apparently created the embodiment of Death itself, a Grim Reaper that enjoys a dance with the Doctor, killing him in the process.  It's captivating and a little unforgettable, but then it never really comes up again.  Stuff like that are what both works and doesn't work about the book.  The three dead companions - Adric, Sara, and Katarina show up as terrifying demons that haunt the Doctor as figures of guilt.  So a big part of this story becomes about the Doctor reconciling with these things and learning to accept what happened to those he has lost along the way.  That's good, and a part of the novel that really works, but we don't actually end up dealing with the Doctor's feelings much along the way.  It ends up being expressed as Ace freeing a mental picture of the Fifth Doctor, who plants a flower and everything kind of starts to fix itself over time.

There are a ton of other plot points going on here.  Other past incarnations of the Doctor show up, there's a sentient church that gets moved to the moon, and a particularly creepy sequence where a village of people ambush the Doctor, led by a returned Hemmings (a character from the Timewyrm: Exodus novel).  And Ace really gets to shine here.  We delve into her past, contemplate her future, and she digs deep in a way few if any other companions manage to.  Even that rings as a bit flawed, though, as Ace spends a lot of time angry at the Doctor in this novel for reasons that feel forced and unnecessary.  A lot of this stuff I did enjoy, but it felt like a long road to get there with a lot of plot points that took forever to explain themselves.  We don't actually learn we are in the Doctor's head until very near the end of the story, and I think that doesn't help matters as the mystery makes everything we see up until that point feel like a lot of confused nonsense.  All told, I definitely wouldn't recommend the Timewyrm series overall.  Two of the books were outright bad reads and the other two were just barely passable.

i feel like i need to reread this already to understand wtf is happening... the 5th doctor... oh my god

Essential reading.

With this book, I wondered whether I should revise my ratings system. It's transcendentally good; even if you have no plans to read the VNAs as a whole, even if you had no interest in reading any of them, this one is a must read if you like Doctor Who. Even casual fans would do well to read this book, it's that good.

There's a small reference to the very first Doctor Who story, which I have excluded from the extensive background for the reason that it's a reference to one line of dialogue. If you're a new series fan, you may still get the reference, since the line was referenced once again in the Moffat era. I think this, and a few moments and ideas across the Davies and Moffat eras of the new series, were in fact due to both showrunners really liking this book.

The first three books of the VNAs were an attempt to do some more Doctor Who, in prose form. This one explored just what Doctor Who could be, if it was free from constraints of budget and time, and did a story that was aimed squarely at the adults in the audience—not by deploying gratuitous sex or violence, but by being a legitimately mature and nuanced piece of science fiction. And it is absolutely goddamn mental.

Essential background: Timewyrm: Exodus (VNA \#2)
Extensive background: The Daleks' Master Plan (season 3 - 9/12 parts missing), Inferno (season 7), Earthshock (season 19), Remembrance of the Daleks (season 25), the Greatest Show in the Galaxy (season 25), Ghost Light (season 26), Survival (season 26)

In my reviews, particularly of the Virgin New Adventures, I prefer to use a 4-tier system of grading:
Essential reading - If you want to read all the best VNAs, get all the most memorable story arc beats, and generally enjoy the VNAs without having to trudge through the mediocre/bad books, or perhaps even if you just want to pick up a good Doctor Who book with no intention of reading the entire series, look for this rating.
Worthwhile for extensive reading - Not outstanding, but I won't outright tell you to skip it if you want a sense of the VNAs overall. If you're determind to only read the best, skip these, but for a read-through of the series, I wouldn't skip them. They're the worthwhile, good-but-not-amazing books. You'll get a stronger sense of character arcs, story arc beats, and the growth of the VNAs as a range if you read these, but it will also take you a lot longer.
Not recommended - Not very good. If you really want to maximise your experience of the VNAs, you could read this, but it's definitely not advised.
Avoid at all costs - An irredeemable lump of human fecal matter. Do not waste your time with this insult to the franchise.

In addition, I list Recommended background that you may find necessary for understanding the story in full, as well as Extensive background for some additional details you may find interesting.

Virgin New Adventures: Timewyrm Arc

#004. Revelation ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

Virgin Publishing had previously relied on experienced writers only. The theory being that they could hit deadlines and create some decent stories… the latter of which John Peel failed miserably at! Peter Darvill-Evans, the editor of this range, soon realised that they’d eventually run out of these established authors and need to open the door to new talent.

Enter a novice writer who would spend the next three decades making a name for himself in the Doctor Who community, writing several novels for this range, a fair few audio adventures for BigFinish, and even two stories for the television series. This is where it all began for Paul Cornell, and what a brilliant first impression he made on the fandom.

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The parishioners of Cheldon Bonniface walk to church on the Sunday before Christmas, 1992. Snow is in the air, or is it the threat of something else? The Reverend Trelaw has a premonition, too, and discusses it with the spirit that inhabits his church. Perhaps the Doctor is about to visit them again?

Some years earlier, in a playground in Perivale, Chad Boyle picks up a half-brick. He's going to get that creepy Dorothy who says she wants to be an astronaut. The weapon falls, splitting Dorothy's skull. She dies instantly.

The Doctor has pursued the Timewyrm from prehistoric Mesopotamia to Nazi Germany, and then to the end of the universe. He has tracked down the creature again: but what trans-temporal trap has the Timewyrm prepared for their final confrontation?

◆ The Seventh Doctor

Paul Cornell was already a recognisable name, having made contributions to several fanzines over the years, but this was his first officially licenced adventure. ‘Revelation’ features the best characterisation of the Seventh Doctor in the novels, so far. I am mightily impressed!

The Doctor would talk about a place called Gallifrey, a home that he didn’t feel good about returning to. In the evenings, he would serve a mug of something hot, and he and Ace would talk about history and politics and science. Then he would say that he had some loose ends to tie up, and bid her good night. Ace once asked what he did at night - “Putting props in place,” he had said, “making sure people know their lines, sometimes leaving notes on the script. All the universe is a stage, Ace. Acting’s not enough for me. I like to direct.” It was never a good idea to miss one of his rare explanations. If there was one talent that the little professor didn’t possess in great amounts it was the ability to express himself, intellectually or emotionally.

◆ Ace

‘Revelation’ also features some incredible characterisation for Ace. Paul Cornell really seems to understand the rebellious young adult from Perivale, and focuses on her a lot in this novel.

Ace was in her early twenties, but had wisdom beyond her years, the instinctive wisdom of a wanderer in the fourth dimension. She had a face that could be soft and beautiful, but would suddenly frown in a dangerous anger, an anger that could blow the world apart for its sins. Ace held certain things to be important. These, in order, were loyalty, street cred and high explosives. So maybes she was a couple of pounds over fashionable, but it was all muscle, and she liked her bacon sarnies too much to care. Ace had to look up what a police box was, because the idea of a copper rushing around the corner to use a phone rather than a walkie-talkie was really strange. She would take a chance over certain death every time.

◆ Story Recap

Arriving in the sleepy village of Cheldon Bonniface, the Doctor and Ace discover that the locals are in the midst of their Christmas celebrations – stuffing their faces with mince pies and sweet mead in the tavern, joyfully singing hymns until they head off to church for the midnight mass. All seems well in the village… until our protagonists find themselves separated, and the trap is sprung on them both!

The friendly landlord of the tavern is revealed to be none other than Lieutenant Hemmings, formerly of the British Free Korps, and from a timeline that no longer exists. He was promised a place in Valhalla by someone posing as a Norse god, but only if he assisted in eliminating the Doctor. Having been made a fool of by the manipulative little Time Lord, Hemmings has no problem in carrying out the order of the gods… he might even take pleasure in it!

Meanwhile, Ace is chased through the woods by a midget in an astronaut suit, until she runs straight past the air-bubble and learns where they really are… on the Moon. She quickly dies from asphyxiation, only to find herself plunged into a mysterious and illogical hell-scape.

The Timewyrm has been conscripting operatives to aide her cause, and her ascension to godhood is nigh. The Doctor is the last thing standing in the way of achieving her ultimate goal, and it all ends with a battle inside his mind!

◆ [We Don’t Need This] Fascist Groove Thang

‘Revelation’ was the first official adventure Paul Cornell contributed to this franchise, and I really enjoyed reading it. He could have easily played it safe and written a generic science-fiction adventure, but I really respect him for being ambitious and cramming this novel with boat loads of content.

There is a great deal to talk about in this review, so let’s kick things off by discussing our antagonists. The Timewyrm has been defeated three times already by her Gallifreyan foe, and clearly wants to level the playing field. To that end, she has conscripted two loyal servants to assist in dealing with her enemies.

Hemmings was introduced to us in ‘Exodus’ as a loyal servant of the Third Reich, from a timeline where they were victorious in the Second World War. Serving as part of the British Free Korps, he took a great amount of pleasure in torturing members of the ever dwindling resistance movement… or any citizen who dared to speak treason against his masters in Berlin.

The Timewyrm, acting as one of the Norse gods, tasked him with luring the Doctor into her trap – posing as the landlord of the Black Swan, in a fabrication of Cheldon Bonniface constructed on the Moon. The Doctor managed to escape from him twice, and his failure was severely punished, as he got decapitated by his cybernetic mistress!

His consciousness was then sent into the Doctor’s mind. Hemmings took control of the part of the Doctor’s mind which was home to his third incarnation’s personality, creating an idealised Nazi city. He managed to imprison the Doctor and Ace, but his consciousness was drawn back into his severed head… killing him near instantly. Hemmings was an excellent villain in his first novel, and he manages to be just as intimidating and nasty here.

◆ Chad the Psychopath

The Timewyrm’s other servant in this book was a student from Perivale that bullied and tormented Ace throughout her childhood. This version of Chad Boyle comes from an alternate timeline… one where he smashed a brick into the back of Ace’s head and killed her instantly! Did I not mention that this story is incredibly dark, and that said scene with the brick happens very early on in the novel? He is blood-thirsty and psychotic, intent on tormenting the person he murdered before killing her all over again.

Very little actually seems to frighten Ace, but his very presence makes her feel so small and insignificant, makes her feel like the same defenceless kid that he used to bully on the playground. I would honestly argue that Chad is the most frightening villain in this novel, simply because of the effect he has on a strong personality like Ace.

◆ Better Call Saul… The Sentient Church

Thankfully, not all the characters present in ‘Revelation’ are psychotic murderers or jack-booted Nazis. The prologue introduces us to four residents of the actual Cheldon Bonniface, who are spirited away when St Christopher’s Church gets transported to the surface of the Moon!

Saul is the most interesting of these residents, because he happens to be a disembodied sentience that has been in the village for centuries – the Celts believed him to be a local spirit, whilst the Saxons thought him a god. Christian missionaries attempted to exorcise him from the site, but they failed and instead built a church on top of him, declaring him an angel! At one point in his existence, Saul decided to baptise himself with his own font, with the First Doctor and Reverend Dominic Trelaw being the only witnesses… though the cleaning ladies could often hear him humming hymns to himself.

He really feels like a guardian angel during the events of this adventure, attempting to keep the current vicar and two remaining residents safe whilst stranded on the Moon. He is easily my favourite character in the whole novel, and I’m so happy that he is set to appear in another novel further down the line (‘Happy Endings’).

◆ Conclusion

“Remember, that I offered you mercy.”

The Doctor and the Timewyrm are about to have their final confrontation, with the subconscious of the former being chosen as their arena. Chad Boyle has also been let loose upon this battlefield – a bully who made Ace’s childhood a living hell, now armed with superhuman strength and a whole cache of weapons. He is hell bent on making her suffer before delivering the killing blow! If that wasn’t enough to worry about… it appears that Lieutenant Hemmings has also been conscripted by the cybernetic goddess, and he will happily take revenge on the time travellers that humiliated him at Free Korps HQ. The final battle, winner takes all!

‘Revelation’ was the first adventure from one of the franchise’s most popular authors. Three decades on from its original release, and it’s still an incredible read. Paul Cornell has a brilliant understanding of our protagonists, managing to successfully build upon their characters – the Doctor is a master manipulator, but one who is genuinely convinced that he may loose this battle. He is tired of the theatrics and would rather just face death quickly, if that’s the only thing in his future. Ace is also given heaps of character development throughout the novel, as she is forced to face her childhood demons.

I doubt anyone will disagree with me when I say that the Timewyrm arc has been incredibly inconsistent, ranging anywhere from excellent to abhorrent, but Cornell managed to create a really satisfying conclusion. An incredibly inventive setting, pitch-perfect characterisation of our regulars, and a colourful cast of supporting characters to boot. ‘Revelation’ was a really fun read.