Dreamstone Moon by: Paul Leonard

Paul Leonard’s Genocide was one of the earliest Eighth Doctor Adventures to show that there really is a potential to tell expansive and thought-provoking stories even with a companion like Sam Jones being as bland as ever.  Giving him a second Eighth Doctor Adventure while Sam is missing should have allowed Leonard the opportunity to rise above Genocide’s already high performance as a book into something great.  Like Genocide, Dreamstone Moon is a story with a political slant: this time going up against the corporate elite and an anti-drug lesson with another hint of environmentalism for good measure.  These messages are nothing new and there is nothing wrong with implanting a message, yet Leonard’s novel falls into cliché traps of ‘the planet is alive’ so don’t damage it and a standard using drugs are evil message.  The ‘drug’ in question is dreamstone, a metal mined from the titular moon, which enhances one’s dreams into an LSD-like trip.  Leonard’s descriptions of the trips taken with dreamstone are fascinating, especially the prologue which uses a gimmick of being dictated to a machine to generate genuine tension.  The plot of the novel itself is nothing special, it’s a standard Doctor Who romp where protestors from many races are attempting to stop a mining colony from taking the dreamstone while the Doctor gets involved.



Much like Dancing the Code and Genocide the real villain of Dreamstone Moon is a bit more abstract, if cliched at this point.  The twists Leonard includes can be seen coming a mile away and unlike Genocide, the characters are all pretty bland.  There are several alien races which all have about one or two character traits, yet it is difficult to tell them apart.  The Doctor and Sam both have their own little side plots while not affecting much of the novel.  The writing style feels like Dreamstone Moon was heavily edited from its initial pitch to fit into the arc and include the character of Sam.  Leonard is unable to successfully juggle the two plotlines of the novel making both fall flat.  The editing makes it feel as if Sam was added in at the last minute due to her absence in Legacy of the Daleks.  Her plotline takes up the least amount of pages and doesn’t actually develop her as a character.  She hasn’t learned anything from running away from the Doctor in Longest Day: she’s still in love with the Doctor and only wants to go back because she seems to think she can make a relationship work or at least keep her feelings in control.



Having the Doctor appear about 50 pages into the novel does make Dreamstone Moon have a feeling of an attempted Virgin New Adventure with little of the charm that makes the Virgin New Adventures work as books.  The Eighth Doctor’s characterization is reverted closer to a standard Doctor for most of the book.  Leonard destroys his Volkswagen Beetle and has him preoccupied with finding Sam, as if he has been searching for her for a long time.  It is made clear however that the Doctor has only just finished the events of Legacy of the Daleks which is immediately behind Longest Day so there isn’t much time that has past since Sam left.  The Doctor acts like his search is hopeless and while the final scene has some satisfactory rage it is not earned by the characters.  This is also the penultimate installment in the arc and it does not actually set up any finale.  Dreamstone Moon can be described as a novel with a lot of wasted potential, a rare black mark from a great author.  3/10.