Lawrence Miles created Faction Paradox with an
intention to write stories involving the mythic War in Heaven against the future
Enemy of the Time Lords. The earliest
seeds of Grandfather Paradox were seeded in Christmas on a Rational Planet
before Alien Bodies and Interference setup just what Faction
Paradox is doing with the theft of the Doctor’s biodata, allowing Laura Tobin
to become Compassion, and killing the Third Doctor on Dust. Since The Blue Angel and The Shadows
of Avalon, Compassion has become a TARDIS and is being forced into becoming
the template for the rest of the sentient TARDIS’s. This was meant to be a long story arc, but as
Stephen Cole left the range editor and Justin Richards took over, Lawrence
Miles vowed never to write for Doctor Who again, a promise which he
broke by writing for Big Finish Productions as well as writing The
Adventuress of Henrietta Street. To
wrap up the Faction Paradox and the Compassion arc, leaving editor Stephen Cole
teamed up with Peter Anghelides to write The Ancestor Cell, a book
determined to end this particular era of the Eighth Doctor Adventures and bring
in the new team, finishing up the Faction Paradox and human TARDIS storylines. This had the potential to be a complete
disaster as it’s taking several threads and bringing them to a close all in one
book. The book also may have one of the
higher word counts for the Eighth Doctor Adventures, with the text being smaller
than the standard to keep the page count to the approximate 280 pages of a BBC
Books.
The Ancestor Cell
sees the Doctor, Fitz, and Compassion split up with Compassion captured by the
Time Lords, the Doctor by Romana, and Fitz taken by Faction Paradox. There is a bone flower growing in space out
of the Doctor’s original TARDIS and Romana is attempting to win the War with
the Enemy at all costs. Anghelides and
Cole essentially take a Lawrence Miles style story and write it in the
practical style of say a Target novelization making this an interesting read to
say the least. There are also several
horrific images such as spiders made of bone and the degradation of Fitz Kreiner
into Father Kreiner. Fitz’s brainwashing
by Faction Paradox is something incredibly slow over the course of the book and
is really only saved by Compassion coming in and being compassionate. There is quite a lot of body horror and the
voice of Father Kreiner is one of this jaded man, mad with power and an
incredibly devious mind. Kreiner blames
the Doctor for leaving him to die on the planet Dust, bringing back the fact that
the version of Fitz we have seen is actually a clone. The modifications to Fitz throughout the book
to slowly influence him into getting to become Father Kreiner. This becomes incredibly apparent when Fitz
and Compassion have their final moment with the now amnesiac Doctor in the
ruins of the destroyed Gallifrey. This
is actually Compassion’s final story which makes it interesting as she doesn’t
always appear throughout, but it makes her entrances into the plot and her
contribution is her best appearance.
This is the book that makes me actually really like where Compassion has
been going and ends up here.
The reappearance of Romana III here is also incredibly
important to make her a War Queen of Nine Gallifreys, each of which is slowly destroyed
as several timelines clash. Romana blames
the Doctor for starting the war, with the many Time Lord supporting characters
having their own sense of madness which contributes to Romana’s madness. What makes things the most interesting is the
flashes of the old Romana which are included here and there give the cold President
something human and the flashes. Meanwhile
Grandfather Paradox works as a cold and dark reflection against the Doctor, as a
figure that the Doctor may be destined to become if he gives into the
Faction. The Doctor is perhaps the most distraught
as he loses everything and the climax where he is responsible for starting the
War and ending Gallifrey, all while losing his memory is absolutely beautiful. Yes it has become a joke that the Eighth
Doctor gets amnesia, but this is one of the few times where it has actual
repercussions for future books. The Eighth
Doctor is also at his most sympathetic as he just finds himself broken at the
end of this book. There is an issue with
the conclusion not really allowing him to react and respond, as well as
essentially ending on a conversation.
Overall, The Ancestor Cell somehow manages to
be a brilliant novel out of two authors who previously failed to entirely
impress, making something great. This
deals with the destruction of Gallifrey in one of those stories where it
actually feels important, giving some emotional closure to the story arc and
prepares to usure in something new.
9/10.
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