The plot of the story
picks up right where Head Games left
off with the fallout between the Doctor and his companions brings them to the
Worldsphere for a vacation where they eventually get embroiled in a murder
mystery. That is the outline for the
entire novel of The Also People and
on the surface it shouldn’t really work as a story, but because of how
Aaronovitch writes everything to be so enticing, it becomes one of the best
Virgin New Adventures out there with some concepts that really come across well
and even more adult content that Aaronovitch actually writes well. I’m going to get the supporting characters
out of the way first as none of them are human.
The cast is made up of a race of artificial intelligence known as the
People who are watched over by God who on this planet is another piece of
artificial intelligence. They all come
across as truly alien beings which is extremely difficult to pull off which is
emphasized by their interactions with Benny, Chris and Roz. Chris and Roz in particular as they both get
respective lovers in this novel which has love scenes done really well. It isn’t pornographic as taking the route of Love and War handles the sexual elements
by explaining what the characters are feeling and not trying to make you feel
stimulated in a sexual way. I’m not
going to go into the supporting cast individually as while they do have
extremely different character, Aaronovitch doesn’t make it easy to type their
names with random capital letters and punctuation marks denoting the weird
grammar of this novel.
I’m instead going to take
a minute to reflect on the main cast as it is extremely important to notice
just how much the characters have grown.
Let’s begin with the Doctor who after the events of Head Games has realized that his duties as Time’s Champion should
be over and he needs to start respecting his companions more to make their own
decisions. The problem is that he has
embodied Time’s Champion for such a long time he isn’t able to become the
Doctor again which is a terrifying implication that doesn’t bode well for the
Eighth Doctor. He wants to allow Benny
to make her own decisions, but ends up almost accidentally manipulating her
into saving Kadiatu, who has completely gone mad after the events of Set Piece which just terrifies him to
pieces. He has an interesting stance on
Chris who it is subtly implied that they are of the same feather as the Doctor
wants to have the naivety of the young Adjudicator. Roz actually scares him more as he finds her
to be the soldier who while not always agreeing with him, doesn’t question him
which scares the Doctor to no end.
Aaronovitch uses The Also People
to have the third person omniscient narration get into the head of the Doctor
which is great. There is some great
imagery which can be seen on the cover which makes the novel as a whole feel
like it is written by Douglas Adams.
Benny is handled much
better in The Also People when
compared to Transit as here she is
allowed to be her usual character. Her
interactions on the Worldsphere with the People are interesting as she just
uses this as a vacation which of course means to get drunk and have a good
time. She eventually gets to have more
to do which is good as she tries to keep Kadiatu sane for the second half of
the novel is great. There is also a
chapter devoted to her dream where she, a Dalek, a Cyberman and a Sontaran
called Grinx have a philosophical debate which is just hilarious to read and
serves as another example of Douglas Adamsian humor which just works for the
novel. This also gives a great segue
into Kadiatu Lethebridge-Stewart who really doesn’t appear much in the story,
but when she does she works as a foil for Benny. She has gone insane, but is allowed to change
over the course of the story and become a female version of the Doctor,
travelling time much like Ace had in the end.
Chris actually gets to
have some of his best material as he expresses just how childlike he actually
is. He finds travelling with the Doctor
amazing for just how imaginative the universe is. His bedroom in the house they stay in
actually floats around according to his brain patterns allowing for his imagination
to run wild. He gets to have a sexual
relationship with one of the People obsessed with airplanes who serves to make
him feel better after the events of Head
Games. It is really difficult to
describe the portions of the book dedicated to Chris without giving away some
of the funniest scenes that come from the novel. Roz on the other hand doesn’t get much time
in the novel, but when she gets the focused it is done extremely well to
explore her past. She is ashamed of her
middle name, but not of her heritage.
She had an affair with Martel before his death which the novel explores
and her scenes with Benny are just hilarious.
To summarize, The Also People really should be adapted
for audio, but without anything dumbed down for the adaptation process. I could easily see Ben Aaronovitch himself,
Andrew Cartmel or even John Dorney adapt it into the form. 100/100
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