Warchild
by Andrew Cartmel

I always find it difficult to review Andrew Cartmel's Doctor Who novels. Each installment in the War* trilogy has been a good science-fiction book, inviting comparisons to "big name" works of the genre. Nonetheless, you really have to question their inclusion in a series of Doctor Who novels. This isn't really a matter of style -- of whether the War* is too grim, or gritty, or whatever for Doctor Who. I think Doctor Who embraces all styles, and those who dismiss a story because it's not in the "Doctor Who spirit"; are being awfully close-minded. No, the problem with the War* trilogy is that it's a Doctor Who trilogy which so obviously wants to be something else.

This problem is brought home more clearly than ever before in "Warchild". This book is so close to a regular, non-TV tie in book as to almost make you wonder why Cartmel bothered. Roz, Chris, Benny... each one could easily be replaced by some new character with little effect on the plot. Only the Doctor would be somewhat difficult to replace, but I think that's more the nature of the character than anything else, and I really don't think it would be _that_ hard in the final analysis.

So what do we get in "Warchild"? Well, we get a nice -- albeit not exactly conclusive -- novel starring one old character and one new character. Creed comes off as the best character in the novel, perhaps because we're already familiar with him. Ricky, on the other hand, is by far the best of the "new" characters, one I can certainly sympathize with. These two, really, are the main characters; it's much more a case of the TARDIS crew being in their story than the other way around.

Other characters don't come off nearly as well, which is surprising -- Cartmel was quite good at crafting interesting supporting characters in "Warhead" and "Warlock", but he loses that ability somewhat here. New characters, like Redmond and Mr Pangbourne, are intriguing, but feel incomplete, as if Cartmel isn't letting us see every facet of their character. It's the returning characters which are worst-served, oddly, coming across largely as two-dimensional versions of their former selves -- it seems as though Cartmel has taken to writing a shorthand for the characters he's already created. Worst of all is Vincent, who's unrecognizable. This is a shame, because it removes a lot of the impact from the final few chapters, deleting any real sense of emotion when he confronts Justine.

The plot itself is pretty good, although I still don't see why Jack had the dogs become so vicious -- allusions to this being Vincent's fault go unexplored (unless I missed something :-)). I also don't understand why Jessica was kept alive before her encounter with Creed.

One thing "Warchild" was far poorer at than its predecessor novels was in convincing me that it truly was set thirty or so years into the future. "Warhead" did this really well -- it was obviously taking place in a decade just out of our reach, which technology very familiar and yet oh-so-slightly removed from what we have now. "Warchild", on the other hand, could easily be set today; indications of this being set well into the 21st century are confined to weapons technology, and we're all used to that in present-day stories anyway. This diminishes the book's impact somewhat, unfortunately.

In the end, "Warchild" is a bit of a disappointment, and I can't help but wonder how the constraints of writing a Doctor Who novel (such as it was) hampered Cartmel in other areas. Personally, I think Cartmel would be well advised to stick to non-series fiction in the future, because his work certainly has the potential to stand upon its own. Ultimately, though, "Warchild" is not his best work.

4/10.

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