Eater of Wasps by: Trevor Baxendale

 

Let’s take a moment at the beginning of this review to discuss WASPs, that is White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.  This is a specific term used to describe a subset of the population of the United States of America, the white, largely conservative or neoliberal, upper class.  The term originates in the late 1800s but was most popularly used throughout the early and mid 20^th century as a way to delineate the “proper” Americans from basically anyone who wasn’t a wealthy white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, and yes it does feed as a term into white nationalism and white supremacy, as well as the eugenics movement.  Eater of Wasps is a Doctor Who novel that, whether intentional or not, examines WASPs in a specifically British context while writing the alien menace to be literal swarms of alien wasps that seep their way into the quiet English village of Marpling, first inhabiting and possessing the body of Charles Rigby, the village dentist, before spreading throughout the village, slowly picking off the population one by one.  There are also rogue time agents which are being used to set up a future arc and future installments of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, the only part of the book that doesn’t fit as nicely into the theming.  This is already a fairly basic setup for a base under siege, Marpling is a village that is isolated from the rest of the United Kingdom and is very, very white and very religious.  The alien wasps can easily be read as an example of the desperation of WASPs to hold onto their power as it corrupts what could be otherwise nice and generally good people.

 

It is very telling that the Doctor, Fitz, and Anji on arrival in Marpling are immediately accosted by an old and angry white woman, Miss Havers, who accuses them of being foreigners including a Romani slur, no doubt due to primarily Anji’s position as a person of color.  Havers is the prime example of racism in the novel, being the stickler for the status quo, going to the church and pastor in charge in an attempt to get the Doctor and company away from Marpling as soon as she possibly can.  She is a woman terrified of outsiders, using her faith and superstitions to justify it, which only is turned back on her when the wasps begin to attack the village.  It is also interesting to see that the Reverend, Ernest Fordyke, and Squire George Pink are the other major characters who represent the insidiousness of the racism and become victims of the wasps.  The Reverend initially attempts to calm Miss Havers down to the strangers in the village, and while he never attempts to throw the Doctor and company out, he is an example of that subtle racism and bigotry that invades everyone.  He entertains Miss Havers’ crazy conspiracy theories he does subtly imply that he agrees with them, especially since this book takes place in between the two World Wars and there are outsiders in the village who objected to the war and object to the continental turmoil that would eventually lead to World War II, and Fordyke is meaning to capitulate.  Squire Pink is on the verge of being in the out group of the village due to his brother, Hilary, being an objector to the war and later revealed to being involved in an affair with a bastard son.  The Squire is jovial and the one character in the book to conscientiously become better but not because of his class, but because his brother is killed.

 

Hilary Pink is the first real friendly face the Doctor, Fitz, and Anji meet and he is the only outright good person, he has his morals and has examined many of his biases.  He doesn’t treat Anji, the novel’s only real person of color, any differently, despite having his own set of sins to contend with.  He is an outsider, someone who because of being a conscientious objector has been set aside and this is why he’s able to provide the Doctor and company sanctuary at his brother’s estate.  Of course being essentially the only morally good character means that he is attacked by the wasps and killed, a sign of the wasps going after everyone.  Now the wasps themselves are alien and there are time agents which compose a subplot that doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere and is mainly disconnected from the book, but the horror and gruesome descriptions of how the wasps attack and kill are a highlight.  The misshapen corpses, breaking out in bumps and boils due to the venom as well as the way that Baxendale calls attention to how a single wasp becomes an indicator of the horror creeping in slowly before it swarms.  Pay close attention to the grace Baxendale uses as it’s important to dissect the aliens themselves.

 

Overall, Eater of Wasps is Baxendale’s first true triumph of a novel.  After two books of rather mixed quality, this one delivers on the horror of a quaint English village and the double meaning of the idea of a wasp, transplanted from the United States to a British setting.  There is an examination of the years in between the World Wars while the Doctor is perhaps at his most grim here which is wonderful, something McGann easily could have sunk his teeth into.  It’s a fascinating examination of xenophobia in particular through a British lens that should not be overlooked.  9/10.