At
first, I thought I wasn't going to like this book. Its initial premise
seemed too much like the 1989 television adventure, Battlefield. It
certainly has similar elements: the Arthurian legend (although Avalon is
pre-Arthur), a missing nuclear missile, the Brigadier, and Doris. A homage
to Battlefield is not an image which conjures much hope for this as a piece of
fiction, since Ben Aaronovitch's story was a disappointment after his excellent
Rememberance of the Daleks. However, I've discovered that this novel
doesn't leave you after you've finished reading.
The Brigadier here is quite different from the character of the same name in
Mark Gatiss' Last of the Gaderene. This is not to say that either of
these authors have got him wrong. In Gatiss' book, the Brigadier is the
character that we knew and loved from thirty years ago. The Shadows of
Avalon presents the Brigadier as he is now (well, now as in the future - it's a
temporal thing). For one thing, Lethbridge-Stewart has been promoted to
General. However, everyone still calls him 'Brigadier'. For a
moment, you can imagine that Paul Cornell has been delving into the files of
Police Squad, ready to reveal that Lethbridge-Stewart was christened
'Brigadier' (like Frank Drebin's (sic) first name was always 'Lieutenant'), but
he resists this. Due to events in past novels ('Happy Endings'), the
Brigadier has also been rejuvenated, and there are some interesting scenes with
him and an aged Munro. But although the Brigadier is youthful, he is far
from happy, for his wife has died. This is on the back cover blurb, so
it's not a spoiler.
So, the Brigadier finds himself in the mythical land of Avalon, along with the
Doctor. Avalon's home to the Catuvelauni, a Celtic tribe who fled there
from the Romans. Also living there are the Faeries - don't groan - who
are the original inhabitants. These Fair Folk bear little resemblance to
popular images of fairies, and are more familiar in a malignant sort of
way. With their presence, it would certainly seem that Avalon is a good bolt-holt
for people running away from things, and it's as good an explanation of dragons
as you're likely to find in the Doctor Who universe. It's not long before
the Brigadier is caught in the midst of a civil war between these two
peoples. Shadows of Avalon retains the contemporary political feel of
recent EDAs, since this does resemble Kosovo at times.
There was a
great deal of fuss prior to the publication of the Shadows of Avalon due to
Cornell's decision to portray a black Time Lord. In this aspect, it also
resounds with Battlefield, since that story had a black woman as
Brigadier. Initially, I thought Paul Cornell had failed in his good
intentions, since the only explicit reference to Gandar's skin tone is one
character describing him as a 'darkie'. However, this comes from a
character whose perceptions have been affected by his living in our
society. No one refers to Gandar as 'black' on Gallifrey, because his
skin tone isn't an issue there. Most of the time he and his fellow agent,
Cavis, dress up in disguises to perform their duties as agents, whether that
means wearing monsters suits or the full Celtic look. Like every other
character in this book however, Gandar isn't static - like the Brigadier, he
develops and evolves with a great deal of compassion. Paul Cornell deals
with racial conflict within these pages with a high degree of sophistication.
So, like a lot of Doctor Who books nowadays, Shadows of Avalon opens at a
relatively gentle, some might even say dull, pace. As usual, we're
introduced to a lot of new characters who require some time to empathize
with. But if you leave your copy of Shadows on the 08:47 from London
Bridge to Hastings after scanning just a few opening pages, then you'd be
missing the point. Doctor Who has graduated from the regular twenty five
minute cliffhanger. Now the books tend to build up to a barnstorming end
- and this is where Shadows of Avalon exceels. The ending is a bungee jump
into oblivion, with adrenaline even approaching excess.
There are a few things which jar - one of the greatest elements of Doctor Who
disappears with a whimper rather than a bang, and maybe the two Gallifreyan
agents are a little too groovy to be taken seriously, like something out of
Buffy. But then again, one of the agents is preordained Cavis, which
I think must derive from Latin (what was that mosaic in Pompeii? 'Cave
Canem'?). When you think about the Latin elements of the story, it soon
becomes clear that there couldn't be a more appropriate setting for this story.
There are ironies within ironies, until they alchemise into gold. Judging
from the reaction of a particular character, the Enemy certainly has to be
feared. This is a most stimulating novel, one which will stay with me for a
long time. It's part of the ongoing story, stopping off here and there,
like The Armageddon Factor of twenty year ago, and resounds with such quality
as Edge of Darkness. These two aren't name-checked by Cornel, but I think
I can see them. The Great Escape is certainly referred to, but given the
nature of this novel, it's hardly gratuitous. Shadows of Avalon seems to
resemble a classical work: there's a justification for every idea here.
And combined with elements from Lawrence Miles' story arc? Sweeter than
eye of newt.
Of course, one can only imagine the Doctor's reaction to seeing Ian Chesterton
in a German POW camp, but that's another story. Maybe it's the
beginning. Whatever. I think that we can certainly let Paul Cornell
get away with this one.
Devaloka
Rating: 8/10.
Kevin
Mahoney
