Story: The Doctor’s body is getting old. He feels the change is near, to slough off his old, withered shape, only to be born anew. He lands, along with Dodo, in what appears to be Revolutionary France. But it is wrong… everything is wrong. Anachronistic technology is in use – Ray Guns, and strange masks of great power. This Paris is ruled by Citizen Marquis De Sade, and his son, Minski. Together they enjoy their power from inside the imposing edifice of the New Bastille. Prostitutes are regularly brought into the Bastille’s laborotories, and rarely, if ever, are they heard from again. Deep in the cells, a man, or what once was a man, sits alone, writing frantically scribbling on fragments of paper. He is Monsieur le 6 – Number 6 – Prisoner 6. He cannot remember who he was, or why he was imprisioned. He does know that the world is not as it should be…And that there are gaps in the air.
The Doctor, in his tired state, allows Dodo to wander off where she meets up with a troupe of wandering actors. One of the company, a girl named Sophie, has vanished, so Dodo reluctantly takes her place on the bill. These actors are preparing to put on a play at the New Bastille for De Sade and Son, but first, the play must be revised so as not to offend. This takes some time, but the troupe’s leader, Fantomas, does not seem bothered by the delay. He too is not as he seems. Is he old? Is he only acting old? Is he a she? Is she Human?
Review: Let me say, what a book! Dan O’Mahoney has done it again! Painting a fantasical world for the Doctor and company to be in. Everyone here is so weird, yet also totally wonderful in their complexity. The scenario, at first, is kind of difficult to imagine the first Doctor in, but as time passes and pages turn, his voice can be heard uttering the words O’Mahoney has penned for him. To have him knowing that his regeneration is near, having him draw strength from the people around him, and his proximity to the TARDIS is dead clever. And boy! The stuff Dodo gets up to is scandalous! I’m used to New Adventures companions having casual sex, but Dodo! Oh my word! At first you think that this should be totally out of character that a 60’s companion should be having a romp in the hay, but here it works. She knows she’s going to leave the Doctor. She has to leave the very next place the TARDIS lands, so one final temporal liaison is allowed, if only to give Dodo a character other than the bland, one-dimensional person she was on the show. Anyway, for a very un-Who-ish book, it was pure Who all the way! And believe it or not: 9 out of 10!
Year: 1996
Author: Daniel O’Mahony
Publisher: Virgin
