Reckless Engineering

Nick Walters

for the defence: Dominion (EDA); The Fall of Yquatine (EDA)

for the prosecution: Nothing yet!

Bristol is the destination of this latest jaunt into a parallel universe. This time around, a mysterious bunch of alien beings aged most of the world's population to death in 1843, so by the time our heroes drop by 160 years later, society is still fairly primitive. Erm, yes, thrilling...

It's hard to say exactly why it took me a whole fortnight to get through this one. It's not a bad book, and it's certainly a vast improvement on The Domino Effect, but it just didn't grab me at all. The villains' scheme has already played out before the story starts, which means that the book is mostly just exploration and explanation. The exploration of 'alternative' Bristol is all very fine, although probably more interesting if you know the real layout of the city, but the story has so little drama. A very "ploddy" book, and a bit dull. Sorry.

Yet again, the delightful Anji is given some cultural references to tie her back to the 21st Century. As well as comparing her temporary travelling companion, Father Gottleib, to Hannibal Lecter (page 131) we also learn that she paid £129.99 for a Donna Karan denim jacket. Not only is that very expensive, I'm also sure it doesn't suit her half as well as the semi-transparent sari that she sports on page 216. A dream sequence in every sense of the word. Sigh...

Not to be outdone in cultural terms, Fitz' muses over some of his favourite songs on page 265, including hits from The Beatles and The Monkees.

And a strange, green-eyed girl pops up in a TARDIS corridor on pages 254/255, who I have to assume is the still-elusive Trix. Not that I want to form an opinion on so little evidence, but these tiny little appearances are really putting me off her. And if they're lining Trix up to replace my beloved Anji, then I'm even less inclined to like her.

As Fitz' memory returns in the latter part of the book there are references to previous adventures such as Time Zero and Escape Velocity. There is also a nice tie-in to Earthworld when Fitz reminds the Doctor that he can't swim (which he couldn't back then either).

There is enough action set in the TARDIS to clearly establish that (in blatant contradiction to the very odd statements made in Trading Futures) the interior of the machine is big. Really big. You just won't believe how mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you might think...

I.T.M.A.

Not this week it ain't!! Sabbath doesn't appear at all in this adventure, which if nothing else makes for a nice change. I will just use this slot, though, to mention that the Doctor clarifies in this book that they are not dealing with parallel universes, but with quantum universes. Yes, well, thanks for clearing that one up Doc...

Unless I'm very much mistaken, the seventh Doctor NA Blood Heat ended with the Doctor having to 'switch off' an entire parallel universe, one which shouldn't exist, and that book suggested, through his companions' unhappiness with such an action, that the Doctor was rather heartless and 'dark' to do that. Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and Reckless Engineering more or less pulls the same trick. Unfortunately, it still doesn't sit well with the eighth Doctor, who despite everything is still at his best, in my opinion, when he is full of the joys of spring, gushing with enthusiasm and a passion for life. Giving us a whole book where the weight of the universe is on his shoulders, and where he deliberately sets out not to care about the people he meets because he intends to destroy their world, just isn't suited to this Doctor. What he needs is a bit more joie in his vivre!

This more ruthless edge extends to his violent tendencies. Page 113 gives us the Doctor bashing the skulls of mutant children without, it seems, even a momentary qualm. Page 224 goes one further, with the Doctor rough handling Father Gottblieb so as to allow the TARDIS to track a location via the Father's DNA. The character ends up dying from the process, and since the Doctor's first candidate for the process was Anji, it brings into question just how far he's prepared to go to restore order to the timelines. Certainly Anji ends the book not trusting the Doctor, and believing that even she and Fitz are expendable in the Timelord's opinion. I could almost smell the panama hat and see the question-mark jumper...

This Book: A long overdue return to eBay for this one, paying £2.55 plus a very specific £1.18 for postage, giving an overall saving of £2.26.

Running Score: £99.21 against RRP to date.