'What does it say?'
'"Shoot the winged man with five quick bullets".'
"What does it mean?"
'Ah,' said Joanna, 'I'm afraid that it rather depends on which school on
interpretation you follow.' p.134
This is the last novel in the 'Psi Powers' series in the
New Adventures. Due to Ben Aaronovitch's hard drive crashing, it also proved to
be the last NA, since publication was delayed. And what an ending! In many
ways, although rescued by Kate Orman, 'So
Vile a Sin' is typical Aaronovitch Doctor Who. The story is vast and huge,
involving elements left behind from the Time Lord war with the Great Vampires,
to the 30th century conflict between various factions in the Terran empire
(home to Roz and Cwej). Manipulating everyone is a particularly nasty bunch...
Because this novel comprises so many elements (from previous NAs too), it can
get a bit confusing in places. Especially when the Doctor fills the ill-effects
of a 'probability intercession' . This involves thousands of Doctors being
created throughout time and space, each one having made a different decision
than the current incumbent (i.e. like one who took Salamander's place as
dictator of Earth). A multitude of Doctors is confusing enough, but the action
also takes place over what seems to be a vast number of places. But the novel
is never less than very entertaining. You read on, confident that these puzzles
will be resolved.
There are nice touches, like the inclusion of the Unitatus soldiers, but there
are also irritations. The Doctor kills the Empress of the Galaxy just because
she asks him to. This killing, which is later, absurdly, swept under the carpet
- the Doctor could have been accused of 'trreason' for not doing so - is quite reminiscent
of the destruction of Skaro, but without the big guilt trip. If there's one
reason for preferring Terrance Dicks, it's that his version of the Doctor
doesn't do this sort of thing. A large part of the novel is also quite
derivative, stealing a lot of the style of Frank Herbert's work. 'Dune'
had Dukes and the Landsraad, 'So
Vile a Sin' has Dukes and the Landsknetche. Still, 'Dune' could hardly be
described as 'original', as it also derives from a great number of other texts,
knowingly employed. The 'Dune' element seems to be continuing in the current
strand of novels (i.e. 'Dead
Romance'), where Chris seems to be turning into another Duncan Idaho, and
maybe Babylon 5 has influenced too.
This is the novel where Roz snuffs it. This may be one huge spoiler (it
certainly ruined Roz's day), but the book has been out for two years, and is
now out of print. This does make the end a bit mawkish though. Bernice
Summerfield seems to lose all character in her diary entries, and the Doctor
has a rather embarrassing heart attack at the funeral (all leading to 'Lungbarrow',
I suppose). All in all, it's a glorious piece of space opera , in the style of
Iain M. Banks (yes, another influence!). But it still proves that great fiction
can be crafted from the deviations of derivations. In this, 'So
Vile a Sin' is typically Doctor Who at its (his) best.
Kevin Mahoney
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