Last of the Time Lords
The Story of Martha
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Last of the Time Lords |
BBC Books The Story of Martha |
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| Author | Dan Abnett |  |
| ISBN | 1 846 07561 0 | |
| Published | 2008 |
| Synopsis: The Story of Martha details Martha Jones' journey around the Earth during the Master's reign. Along the way, she encounters different people who survived the initial decimation of the Earth. |
A Review by Joe Ford 7/10/09
Colour me impressed, that was one of the very few Doctor Who stories that is allowed to have a completely bleak and horrifying endings. It's an NSA that talks of mass graves, savage dogs being shredded by bullets, car chases, bullets screaming through windows, the Earth being forced to bleed fire, and entire citied being destroyed on a whim. The death toll is amazing; it must match any Jim Mortimore book that isn't Beltempest. It is a gripping and tense Christmas present from BBC Books.
The Story of Martha does two things really, really well. It takes one of the most ball-scratchingly irritating scenes of the series and gives it some real gravitas and impetus. Yes I am talking of the moment when pixie Doctor (one of Davies' moments of utter insanity) is miraculously recreated due to the love and wonder of the human race all calling out his name at the same time. Pass the sick bucket. Talk about fan wank. Brilliantly, Dan Abnett manages to stress the suffering the Master's reign has wrought and bring the hopelessness of the entire world into light. Martha travels from continent to continent like a beacon of hope, spreading stories of the Doctor's magic. I watched The Last of the Time Lords after reading this and I no longer laughed at the ridiculous idea of hope saving the human race; it felt like a monumentous moment with this book chronicling the year that took place between the two episodes. Adding layers to existing television episodes was something the PDA could excel at when they were on form and The Story of Martha really does succeed in this sense.
BBC Books have (slowly) discovered a winning formula over the last ten years. Unfortunately only three books have managed to use it but in doing so they have exposed a method of telling short stories without boring me stupid. I don't like short stories very much; I prefer something to get my teeth into and all those Big Finish anthologies turn me right off: disparate snippets of adventures with a recurring theme. It's just personal taste. The Story of Martha includes some (mostly fine) short stories but it weaves them into its overall narrative which is gripping in its own right. Alien Bodies was the first to take a stab at this structure and nailed it; it's an audaciously small scale book with huge ideas, only escaping its stifling location during its brief look into its characters' past. The Tomorrow Windows took the same idea and spoofed it. Whilst the main narrative saw the Doctor and co following the trail of an alien auction, stopoffs on devastated worlds provided some real laughs and chills, and a bucketful of imagination.
The Story of Martha exploits this formula, Martha desperately moving from place to place, hunted by the sadistic UCF officer Griffin but telling tales of her adventures with the Doctor with each resistance cell she meets, spreading the word of the coming revolution. The short stories pepper the tense main narrative with some magic and imagination which makes for a winning passage.
What do The Sword of Forever, The Glass Prison, Life During Wartime and The Domino Effect have in common? The Story of Martha takes the best of these and incorporates them into its narrative. You have the detail and worldbuilding of Jim Mortimore's holy grail epic; go read chapter eight of The Story of Martha which is packed full of detail that makes the wartorn Earth that bit more realistic. Jac Rayner's claustrophobic thriller saw Bernice trapped in prison with the enemy; Griffin and Martha end up incarcerated together with surprising results. Like Paul Cornell's wartime anthology, this has an underlying feeling of dread, like the enemy has the upper hand at all times. As for The Domino Effect, one of the weaker eighth Doctor adventures, this takes the same idea of a facist state with armed patrols and the feeling that you could be arrested and tortured around every corner and gets it right.
London, France, Japan... the scale of this book is marvellous. Places mentioned in Last of the Time Lords and skipped over for budgetary reasons we are able to visit. It is amazing how much mileage there is in Martha being on the run. Her treatment is shocking and brutal; she is pursued physically and psychologically and refuses to allow herself the luxury of crying no matter how bruised or terrified she is. It pushes the character to new heights and proves she has the interest to hold up a book on her own. It is the birth of the kick-ass Martha who showed up Torchwood and proved such an asset in series 4. There is an astonishing moment where Martha is imprisoned in a labour camp and given torturous work to do. It captures her despair beautifully but instead of giving in she sees this a task to get through and to say she achieved that on the other side. Amazing character.
Rob Shearman's The Frozen Wastes was a beautiful piece of writing, bringing focus and development to both the Doctor and Martha. The moment the Doctor reveals what he dreams of is astonishing. That was my favourite of the short stories but David Roden's The Wasting would come a close second. Again sensitively written with some wonderful imagery, this would make a decent novel in its own right. Weird how many twists you can pack into 20 odd pages. Breathing Space thrilled me the least but it does have the rather wonderful idea of the Doctor bringing down an invasion in an hour but mostly this just felt like running about with a bit of technical jiggery pokery. Star Crossed hits the ground running and proves how world-changing a visit from the Doctor can be, with the fighting ending but lots of unanswered questions needing exploration. Overall the standard was very high, and each explored the Doctor's energy and imagination and solutions in fresh and exciting ways.
The last third of the book is both the least and most interesting. When we realise with certain irony that the Master has actually saved the world whilst destroying it, there is a moment where we have to pause and wonder if all the sacrifice was worth it. Introducing another race of aliens might have been one idea too many but their method of invasion is insidiously brilliant. It is the last few pages that pack the biggest punch, with an offhand mention in The Last of the Time Lords proving one of the most memorable novel scenes in recent history. In the face of such devastation, Martha cannot hold back the tears any longer.
There little treats littered about too. A child character that works and actually reminds Martha of the mistakes she is making. A breathtaking description of a dead city topped with snow. A superb recreation of Martha's landing on Earth from the Valiant and her view of the Earth being decimated. The fact that you are desperate to watch what was my least favourite episode of season three afterwards.
The Story of Martha is a real success for the ever-improving NSAs. In the last few batches we have had Sick Building, Peacemaker, The Doctor Trap... marvellous tales for children and adults. The Story of Martha would probably be my favourite so far though, I was pushed to finish this in two days and found it as gripping as the EDAs at their height, without any of the padding.
If you only read one NSA, make it this one by Robert Smith? 13/8/11
It's been a while since I reviewed a Doctor Who novel, but I'm making a rare comeback for this story. It's that good.
The NSAs have mostly been drab, occasionally entertaining, but never stellar. Their problem, fundamentally, is that they simply have nothing to hang their hat on. Almost every story has the TARDIS materialise somewhere, the Doctor does his usual hyperactive schtick (which is even worse on paper than it is when Tennant does it), the companions refer back to their lives on Earth a few times, they defeat an alien and they go their merry way. That's pretty much the formula and it's made Justin Richards the sinecure he's become today.
Oh and there's usually a kid in there somewhere, because the authors have no other ideas about how to write a novel that should appeal to children. None.
The Story of Martha is different. It does something quite radical for the NSAs: it fills in a gap. So it's basically a Missing Adventure, in the old money, but it's fresh and exciting because a) we haven't seen this in ages b) it's doing it for the new show, not the Classic Series c) it's filling in a gap that the show left really wide open and d) it has the story within story format so that nothing gets stale. Oh, and it's bloody fantastic.
The short stories, with one exception, are easily the book's biggest failure. Not that they're bad, they're just dull. But they don't last long and they fulfill their function. The exception is Rob Shearman's, which is fantastic and worth the cover price alone. But you probably guessed that already.
However, what really makes this is, well, the story of Martha. The linking story is utterly fantastic because it's not just a linking narrative, it's a gripping story in its own right. It has its own dramatic arc, with friends and enemies, and it has things to say. There's even an alien menace to be foiled, which is quite amusing.
By focusing on Martha's journey and just how difficult it is, this part really shines. In fact, I wish the entire book had been just this and they'd jettisoned the interior stories altogether. I'm a bit surprised they didn't actually do that. Someone get Dan Abnett to write a full-length NSA and give him unfettered access to Cardiff. Right now, please.
In fact, I don't understand why the NSAs aren't doing more of this. There's a brand-new show on TV with plenty of gaps to explore. Since they're officially licensed, why aren't they taking advantage of that to shade in what we know of the show and give it the thoughtfulness that only novels can? Nothing about this would prevent their appealing to children and they'd have the advantage of building on top of a juggernaut of a show that their target demographic is unquestionably watching. All it would take is a little effort and...
Okay, question answered. Never mind.
The Story of Martha is an unusual NSA. It's the first one to actively tie into the series and it's also the first one that's genuinely worth your time. The interior stories are mostly a bit boring, but they're not actively bad, while the linking story and Rob Shearman's balloon adventure are amazing. If you only pick up one NSA, make it this one. Just don't expect the others to be as good...