This is the second short story by Justin Richards that I've reviewed in
this marathon, and neither of them have featured William Hartnell's
Doctor. The first was a "Dr Who" story based on Peter Cushing's
filmography; this one is a character piece featuring Ian Chesterton.
Coincidence? I think there's more to it than that.
Richards is a prolific writer who has a long history of association with
the book line. Since 1994 he has written more than 25 novels, at least
24 short stories, 16 audios, several non-fiction books, and two graphic
novels - and that's not including a number of items due to come out
later this year, or his non-Who work! He has also acted as BBC
Books editor (as well as editing two of the Virgin Decalog books), and
is currently creative consultant for the line. In all that time he has
not written for the first Doctor. I think this must be down to
preference: he's not written for the third Doctor either, and his only
seventh Doctor piece was Theatre of War, his first novel (and so the book that got his foot in the door at Virgin).
Fair enough. Everyone has their favourites. But if so, why write this? I
am particularly puzzled because I have always found Richards to be a
solid writer and this is, frankly, not very good.
The thing is, if you're going to write a character piece featuring Ian
Chesterton, the main character needs to feel right. He doesn't. It's set
before An Unearthly Child and people change, but not like this.
Ian is willing to see a fortune-teller (unlikely), and when he doesn't
like what she tells him he decides to withhold payment (more unlikely) -
but she grabs the money, so he steals her crystal ball (out of the
question)! It is also implied that he later becomes more open to the
supernatural.
Barbara, meanwhile, appears briefly as the animated hostess of a party,
with a reputation for never keeping still. Possible, I suppose, but it
doesn't match up with my picture of her.
I can only find one way of reading this and making it fit at all with
the characters I have in my head, and that's making use of the idea of
the unreliable narrator. Even there, it would require Ian to be going
through a period of depression (I almost said "self-loathing"), since
the flaws he describes in himself make him sound like an insensitive
git. And while he isn't perfect, even in my mind, a git he most
certainly isn't! What could have brought about this foul mood? I've one
thought, virtually incompatible with a statement in The Sarah Jane Adventures. But more on that in my next review.
Sadly, I only thought of this after I'd finished the story; and its
power in retrospect was too little to improve my enjoyment. On the plus
side, I found the prose well written, and there are some nice images.
But I can't help thinking that they are the wrong images.
Published:
Date: March 2003
ISBN: 1-84435-006-1
Rating:
2.5/10.
Next Time:
Hopefully the next part of Ian's Tale, though there might be a short delay.
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