The Infinity Doctors by: Lance Parkin

The Infinity Doctors is a novel released for the thirty-fifth anniversary of Doctor Who, technically as part of the Past Doctor Adventures range of novels, yet Lance Parkin’s novel leaves the identity of the Doctor and the novel’s place in canon ambiguous.  There are some indicators as to the appearance of this Doctor, he looks like Paul McGann and Parkin does characterize him as the Eighth Doctor, but overall there is no real confirmation that this is an Eighth Doctor novel.  If it is there are also several places to which this novel could have been placed, each with their own pros and cons, which is a testament to Parkin’s intentional ambiguity in writing the book.  Ambiguity in something as vast as Doctor Who is difficult to maintain for any significant length of time so it is a feat that Parkin manages to pull it off.  The plot of The Infinity Doctors, like the other three Parkin novels, deal with complex themes about society and Doctor Who lore.  It involves the Doctor on Gallifrey at some point in its history living as a member of the High Council, facilitating a peace treaty between the Sontarans and the Rutans hoping to bring their endless war to an end.  There are also a series of murders and break ins occurring on Gallifrey whose culprit leads to an ancient secret of the Time Lords hidden throughout infinity.



Parkin’s portrayal of Gallifrey may just be the novel’s greatest accomplishment.  Throughout the thirty-five year history there have been several portrayals of the planet from the clean and sinister portrayal in The War Games, to the bureaucracy of stories like The Deadly Assassin and The Invasion of Time, to the Shakespearean nature of Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible, and the mystical science fantasy realm of Cold Fusion and Lungbarrow.  These portrayals are incredibly disparate and The Infinity Doctors easily could have gone for showing off a single one of these and it would be fine, but Parkin opts for blending each of the disparate versions of Gallifrey and melds them into a cohesive whole.  There is the sterile architecture and dark attitudes throughout the novel, but descriptions of technology and several of the characters match the science fantasy aspect.  Even the extreme bureaucracy is paid tribute to with several scenes of the High Council attempting to make decisions and several characters only being referred to through their titles such as the Castellan, the Lord President, and the Magistrate (who we promise isn’t just the Master).  The planet Gallifrey feels almost alive in this novel, as Parkin does an excellent job of integrating the setting into the novel itself.  Gallifrey is not just the stage where the story is set, it is almost a character in its own right with a bustling society with customs, cultures, and classes.  The society is a complete entity throughout the novel and the sheer amount of worldbuilding of this book alone to explore could take hours to get to every nook and cranny.



The characters of The Infinity Doctors also are some of Parkin’s best and this section of the review is where I will be going more in depth into spoilers.  The Infinity Doctors is still a book which relies on quite a few twists so please before continuing track down a copy and read it for yourself before coming back here and continuing the review.  The most significant character of the book is Parkin’s stand in for a companion, Larna.  Larna is a new Time Lady adjusting to her new upper class lifestyle while being one of the Doctor’s pupils.  She actually doesn’t share many scenes with the Doctor, yet there is the sense that she is the companion of the story due to the way Parkin characterizes her.  Larna has an inquisitive mind and spends much of the novel investigating the murders and attempting to get to the bottom of what exactly is happening on Gallifrey, and it is a shame that the book doesn’t end with her and the Doctor going off together.  Their few scenes together are excellent, showing just how close a Paul McGann Doctor and companion team can be, which helps reflect on the poor nature of the relationship between the Eighth Doctor and Sam over in the Eighth Doctor Adventures.  The Sontarans and Rutans, while not the villains or even essential characters in the novel (the peace treaty subplot could have been between any warring factions) both are welcome additions to the prose.  Parkin goes into depth with the mentalities of the races and why this one time they’ve decided that maybe they should try working towards some sort of peace.  It’s a hopeful message that even the most deadly of enemies have that slight sliver of a chance of giving peace a chance.



The only concrete aspect of The Infinity Doctors to be placed in the main continuity of Doctor Who is the inclusion of the Time Lord Savar, a minor unnamed character from The Invasion of Time who is explored in Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum’s excellent Seeing I.  Savar is one of the villains of The Infinity Doctors and Parkin characterizes the Time Lord as being driven insane by his experiences with the “I”.  Savar is revealed not to be the main villain, as Parkin uses The Infinity Doctors to remind readers of books like Cold Fusion and Lungbarrow, bringing in Omega as the main villain.  This version of Omega seems to be pre-The Three Doctors, still having his form in his anti-matter world and being generally less insane.  His motivations are the same and it is implied in this book that the events here are what drives the ancient Time Lord to madness.  The sequences with the Doctor in Omega’s anti-matter universe are excellent and are a great deconstruction of The Three Doctors as a story, while maintaining the menace of Omega as a character.  Parkin also leaves one last surprise in the final third, bringing back the character of Patience in all but name stuck in Omega’s realm.  The climax of the story is almost a version of the Orpheus myth which is plain fascinating with Patience, in a new regeneration post-Cold Fusion I believe, in the role of Persephone and Larna put in the Eurydice role.  Parkin somehow manages changing the ending to the myth of Orpheus, with a real happy ending and the Doctor going off to feel like it’s starting some new era of Doctor Who.  Overall, The Infinity Doctors might just be the absolute best anniversary celebration for Doctor Who, beating all the television and audio celebrations to date.  10/10.