Parallel 59 by: Natalie Dallaire and Stephen Cole

 

Parallel 59 is a book.  There are words on each page which eventually come together in a sequence of events that tell a story.  Yet, reading Parallel 59 there is this distinct feeling that the story isn’t going anywhere or doing anything.  Natalie Dallaire and Stephen Cole pitched a Doctor Who novel that is essentially the standard rebellion against a fascist government that the show is known for, and there are great attempts to inject something new into the formula here that all fall flat.  The plot of Parallel 59 spans 282 pages and for great stretches very little actually happens.  Now this does not always mean that a story where little plot happens is bad: under the right author these types of stories can be brilliant and leave the reader with a greater understanding of the world and how everything works.  Dallaire and Cole do attempt to hone in on characterization, which in the case of Fitz and Compassion does work, but the Doctor here is bland and we spend a lot of time away from Fitz and Compassion in an attempt to worldbuild, but that worlbuilding doesn’t do much of anything.  The idea of the several “Parallels” on this planet which is supposed to be a utopia could be interesting, playing on themes of isolation from one another and competition, but these themes aren’t really played out in any way that is interesting.  It’s implied to all be some sort of experiment, which would thematically link to Compassion’s arc, if that was ever the intention.  The rebellion in the novel is your standard revolution as seen through Compassion’s eyes, but you never really get the sense that these rebels are supposed to be good.  It feels like The Space Museum, but not actually played as a subtle comedy.

 

The Doctor is a nonentity throughout the novel, though not without some very minor highlights.  His reaction to being separated from Fitz, and then almost immediately thereafter being separated from Compassion, is to shrug it off.  He is perfectly fine being locked up, but does ask for some of the comforts and humanities to make the wait bearable.  This is a semi-interesting reflection on Seeing I, but it doesn’t really amount to much.  He doesn’t worry about his companions being away from him as there’s the confidence there that everyone is going to be fine.  This doesn’t make the reader feel any stakes in the novel and feels a bit like there was no idea of what to do with the Doctor in this novel.  Fitz’s plotline of the book is really where all of the action is.  It’s not one where an actual story happens, as this is still a book where very little happens, but Dallaire and Cole spend pages upon pages exploring how Fitz has been coping.  Fitz has found a place where he can belong (or at least a place where he feels he can belong), yet is still making several decisions indicative of self-destructive behavior.  Fitz has not one, not two, but three relationships throughout Parallel 59, all at the same time.  This is one of those things where the reader gets a real sense that Fitz doesn’t understand just what he wants in life.  There’s this great idea where he thinks that it’s time to leave the Doctor, but really is just unsure.  Meanwhile Compassion is spending a lot of her time leading a revolution and honestly this is the book where she shines.  She’s got snark and takes no time for incompetent revolutionaries, although not really trusting what’s happening to her.  She is becoming something not quite human, even less so and seems to be addicted to her earpiece once again.

 

Overall, Parallel 59 is one of those books where there are things to latch onto, but really it doesn’t do much in terms of writing or giving the reader an enjoyable experience.  It's an example of a painfully average story just leaving you with a hollow feeling in the end.  4/10.