'Oh, that was just the beginning,' the boy
went on. 'In the last few years, you've met more people from your own past and
future than you ever have before. You've ridden the Ouroboros in the Emindian
war. After all those years you spent being so careful about the
timelines...you're getting more and more out of line. I don't think Grandmother
Time is too happy with you these days, is she?'
Halfway through this book, I thought that I
was going to give it three stars out of five, instead of the hundred percent
the opening merited. Jonathan Blum has recently criticised Christopher Bulis
for using stock SF ideas, but then the plot of 'Unnatural History' seemed to
resolve around one of these stocks formulas. However, it's how you employ this
gravy which matters, how you twist it to create an original slant, and Jon and
Kate have succeeded in doing this by creating a thrill-a-minute resolution.
Two years after the millennium, a scar has
opened up in space/time in San Francisco. The Doctor did something unethical in
a previous visit, and now he has to clear up the pieces. Unfortunately, the
scar has attracted all sorts of alien flotsam, including a certain Miss Jones,
who is sucked into the scar. In order to stabilise the scar, the Doctor plugs
it with the TARDIS. Sam Jones may be gone, but why is she also living in
London? Where has this alternate Sam come from and what is she to do with the
scar? The Doctor must find out, and release the TARDIS, but there's something
nasty in Golden Gate Bay and old enemies appear to stand in his way. They're
the sort of people who revel in chaos, but the Doctor's biggest concern is
someone with a more rational mind...
A lot of delicious ingredients have gone
into this pudding, along with a few juicy one-liner sultanas, but the mixture
never gets too rich to be unpalatable. There seems to be a lot more continuity
operating in the BBC books nowadays, and there have been subtle hints in
previous books about a particular danger of time travel. There are also teasers
which make you hungry for more. For instance, Kate and Jon seem to address the
vexed question of whether Benny exists in the BBC universe. The extracts from
Eldin Sanchez's 'Interesting Times' are also well thought out and provocative.
And, much more importantly, 'Unnatural History' is
far more entertaining than Kate and Jon's previous San Francisco outing, 'Vampire Science'.
Don't gorge yourself all at once.
Kevin Mahoney
You can buy this title from Amazon.co.uk now by clicking on the
highlighted text. Or, if you prefer, you can buy the title from North
America by clicking on this link to Amazon.com.
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