“The death of billions is as nothing to us Doctor, if it helps defeat the Daleks.”
The Great Time War has raged for centuries, ravaging the universe. Scores of human colony planets are now overrun by Dalek occupation forces. A weary, angry Doctor leads a flotilla of Battle TARDISes against the Dalek stronghold but in the midst of the carnage, the Doctor’s TARDIS crashes to a planet below: Moldox. As the Doctor is trapped in an apocalyptic landscape, Dalek patrols roam amongst the wreckage, rounding up the remaining civilians. But why haven’t the Daleks simply killed the humans? Searching for answers the Doctor meets ‘Cinder’, a young Dalek hunter. Their struggles to discover the Dalek plan take them from the ruins of Moldox to the halls of Gallifrey, and set in motion a chain of events that will change everything. And everyone.
George Mann has the equally enviable and unenviable task of bringing to life the one Doctor who has the least television time of all our heros incarnations, an incarnation that exists neither in earlier prose nor audio from Big Finish.
The War Doctor is a blank canvas and Mann does a fine job of bringing the character to life with sufficient differences from other portrayals, retaining the darkness and occasional humour of John Hurts performance while managing to show flashes that he still is the Doctor we know, despite his instance on not being referred to by that name.
And this is definitely the War Doctor of The Day of the Doctor as opposed to the man who rose on Karn, dealing with the War Doctors decision to deploy the moment as opposed to his early days after his regeneration. Fans hoping for a broader history of this most elusive of Doctors may then be left disappointed but for those wanting more of the same that we saw at the 50th anniversary will certainly be delighted, Engines of War very much the companion piece.
For those familiar with the concepts of the Time War and the new series stylings in general, Engines of War will offer little in the way of surprises as the War Doctor crashes on the planet Moldox following a battle between a flotilla of battle TARDISes and the Daleks. Teaming with the novels substitute companion Cinder, a young Dalek hunter, Engines of War takes on a growing inevitability as to what will transpire.
Investigating the mystery as to what the Daleks are up to on Moldox, the Doctor and Cinder must take the terrible truth of the Daleks new weapon to Gallifrey and on to the Eye of Tantalus, facing threats from not only the Daleks but the Time Lords along the way as we find out what exactly the Skaro Degradations were, the depths of horror that the Time War sank to, the true insanity of Rassilon and take a trip into the Death Zone.
George Mann has produced a fast paced and taut adventure with little in the way of padding, heavy on continuity references without them feeling unnecessary or gratuitous. Engines of War is a tale of darkness and sadness (yet with that eternal Doctor Who sparke), it is a tale of the Doctors failures to Gallifrey, the universe, Cinder and himself, a tale of the inevitable mutually assured destruction of senseless war.
Engines of War is a fine novel debut for John Hurt’s War Doctor and sits comfortably within the new series’ mythos. While probably not pushing new ground and with a sense of inevitability about proceedings as what you know must happen finally does happen, the prose is engaging and brings to the page Moffat era Doctor Who with resounding success. While this may be the final chapter in the life of the Hurt Doctor, there is certainly room for expansion and further novels in his timeline set prior to Engines of War and if they are all of this quality, we can’t wait to add them to our collection.
Engines of War is available now from BBC Books and can be ordered via the Amazon link below.
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