hist's Full Review: Justin Richards and Stephen Cole - The Shadow in t...
The Shadow in the Glass, by Justin Richards & Stephen Cole
A Brief Description of Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a science fiction adventure series about the Doctor and one (or more) of his companions. They travel around in the TARDIS, which looks like an English police box, but is really a time travel machine. It's bigger on the inside then on the outside. The Doctor is a Time Lord, a race of beings who can regenerate when their current body is dying. So far, the Doctor has regenerated seven times, which means he's on his eighth incarnation.
The book series consists of two lines: a line about the Eighth Doctor and his companions, and a line that consists of "past Doctors" (Numbers 1-7). The past Doctors are from the TV series that ended in 1989, while the Eighth has only been seen on television in a movie on the Fox network in 1996.
The Shadow in the Glass is a novel starring the Sixth Doctor and the Brigadier
A lot of historical time travel scenarios involve World War II and Hitler. Dr. Who has had its share of these stories, especially during the book series. It seems like there have been so many adventures taking place during the war that all the various incarnations of the Doctor should probably run into each other at one point. Still, done well, World War II stories can carry a lot of weight with them. The Shadow in the Glass isn't one of those books, but it has its own strengths. This book is great, even more so because it was written in such a short time and yet managed to maintain that fun sense of adventure. Nobody will ever confuse it with literature, but if you want a fun read, this is it.
First, a little bit about the Brigadier. The Brigadier used to be the head of UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), the UN "army" that was supposed to deal with alien invasions. The Brigadier has always been associated with the Third Doctor, who was stranded on Earth for a long period of time, serving as UNIT's scientific advisor. However, it has become standard for each incarnation of the Doctor to meet him at least once. The Sixth Doctor meets up with the Brigadier, and hijinks ensue. Since the Sixth Doctor has already met the Brigadier in the book series (in one of Gary Russell's books), there is no need to have yet another initial meeting between the two. Instead, Justin and Stephen can get on with the story.
And what a story it is. Did Hitler survive the events of the bunker at the end of the war? What's going on in that strange house? Why has an entire English village been cordoned off since World War II? All of these mysteries come together in a delightful fashion. Meanwhile, a journalist stumbles upon a horrifying ceremony, an evil long thought dead that may rear its ugly head and terrorize the world once again. How do all of these tie together? The Brigadier is called out of retirement to help with a sinister conspiracy and a historical mystery. Needing some help, he calls on the Sixth Doctor. Together, they work to solve the mystery of the demons in the glass, traveling back to the Second World War for the ultimate answer to their problems, and a meeting with destiny.
Both Justin Richards and Stephen Cole can be noted for their characterization of the Who regulars, especially Richards. Colin Baker *is* the Sixth Doctor in this book. I could see him perfectly in this part. The Brigadier is perfect as the wise old soldier who's still got the will to go on an adventure even though his body may not agree. The "companion" role is taken by the television reporter who is also well characterized. She's got a nose for a mystery, and it shows. What happens to her in this story actually surprised me, though it was almost poetic when I thought about it afterward. It's something that Cole and Richards couldn't do if they had been forced to use a real companion from the series. The Brigadier's familiarity helps ease the fact that there is no known companion.
Unlike Steven Spielberg, Richards & Cole have not forgotten that Nazis can make fun villains, especially Nazis straight out of The Boys from Brazil. It's even funner when the Brigadier and the Doctor head back to the war to complete their investigation. Watching the Brigadier meet Hitler and feel the force of his personality was quite interesting. The Brigadier has always represented the voice of authority in Who (which might explain why he was sometimes portrayed as a doofus if the particular episode's writer wanted to make a point about fighting authority), so to see him meet the ultimate voice of authority was intriguing. He gets even better characterization when he's at a Nazi bigwig party, undercover, and has to look like he's having fun. Ever the pragmatist, the Doctor tells him he'd better look like he's enjoying himself, but the Brigadier has a tough time doing it. As he says, he knows who's paying for all of this champagne and good food.
There's also a wonderful use of continuity in this book. I love continuity as long as it's used well (for an example of how not to use it, see The Quantum Archangel, which I may have to review one day). This book references the television series, a previous BBC book and also a previous Virgin book (the company that held the book license before the BBC took it back), which surprised me a bit. It brings to a conclusion a story arc that doesn't even look like it was planned. In a previous Virgin book, the Seventh Doctor interacted with Hitler, and the Sixth Doctor has to improvise when Hitler talks about the other Doctor that had advised him four years ago. It's wonderfully convoluted, but don't worry about being confused if you haven't read the previous books. Everything that's important to this story is included here, summarized in such a way as to not detract from this story.
This book is a lot of fun. Don't expect anything truly deep and meaningful out of it, but it's a nice, straightforward adventure that will make you smile. The only minor problem is the bit of sadness at the end doesn't really fit the light nature of the book. However, it's a minor quibble in an otherwise great book. Give it a try.
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