Time Zero

"Time Zero" was the first book I've read featuring the eighth Doctor. In fact, I've only watched the the TV-movie that this particular Doctor is based on a couple of times. With that said, I believe that Justin Richards has Paul McGann's portrayal of the good Doctor penned perfectly. In every move and witty remark, I could easily see McGann delivering it as I read this story. I had to play catch up on his companions in this tale, Anji and Fitz. Both are likeable characters, especially Fitz, who spends most of this tale on an expedition in Siberia. Of course, his inclusion on the expedition ties in quite nicely with the actions of a scientific team years later who are trying to create blackholes. Throw into the fray a particular character very interested in time travel who is willing to do anything to find a time machine and his military goons, and you have quite a story in front of you. Of course the Doctor throws a wrench into the tale and manages to tie all of the said parties together to single out one villain with his own plans that may jeopardize humanity as we know it. The story unfolds rather quickly, and even though I am somewhat unfamiliar with the Sabbath character, I picked up rather quickly that he has been a thorn in the Doctor's side for awhile. The only complaint that I have with the book is that Richards allows the Doctor and others to go rather deep in explanations of time travel, quantum theory and other techno-jargon that lost not only the characters in the book, but the reader as well. Recommended, and I'll definitely be reading more of the Eighth Doctor's adventures.

Justin Richards is the editor of the Doctor Who line of books, so it's only fitting that he get the occasional "big" book rather then just doing fill-ins when an author misses a deadline. He can always be relied upon to give us an interesting story, often compelling and never boring. Time Zero is one of the big ones, though not as big as everybody thought it would be. It doesn't really end the Doctor-Sabbath war of ideas concerning how the timestream will ultimately work, instead blowing everything up and forcing the Doctor to try and pick up the pieces over the next few books. Time Zero keeps moving at a steady pace, gripping the reader, but then it hits a patch of ice. Still a very good book, though.After the events of Camera Obscura, Fitz has decided to join an expedition to frozen Siberia in the 1890s and Anji just wants to go home. The Doctor is alone again, but things are already set in motion to link him with his companions yet again. Fitz's expedition was attacked by dinosaurs from a history that never happened, and the Doctor has Fitz's journal to prove it. The journal also indicates that Fitz never returned. Anji's back working the financial markets, but gets co-opted into joining an American expedition to Siberia that has unknown purposes, though it involves the Naryshkin Institute. The Institute ostensibly is trying to create a black hole, but why? And what do the Americans want with it? Are all these events linked? The Doctor seems to think so. He's the only one who does, and his arrival on the scene could be the catalyst that destroys the world, or at least the past. Repercussions could stretch back to the beginning of the universe. Or even farther.Richards manages to tie all of these events together expertly, leaving each plot line to move on to the next one just when it's getting good. The suspense was killing me at a few points, when Fitz was endangered by the dinosaurs or it looked like Anji might get killed. This had the classic feeling of a "companion leaving" story, and I wouldn't have put it past Richards to kill one of the companions in their final book, so the sense of danger was palpable. Only the Doctor seemed safe, as it's obviously his series. Richards also keeps the reader guessing on how everything ties together, with only Siberia visibly linking everything at first. It's definitely a high-concept book, with alternate realities, time experiments, black holes, and an examination of the universe and how it functions. But Richards also grounds this in some believable characters and modern-day action, including two Special Forces units. The characters are what make the book great. The Doctor, Anji, and Fitz are simply wonderful, with the Doctor being at his frenetic best. He's on top of things, he's a force of nature at times, almost child-like at others, but always the moral center that everything revolves around. He's calm when everything around him is hysterical and he's intelligent as well.

Hat-trick!!! 3 out of 3, right on target! Suns Of Caresh, Camera Obscura and Time Zero. 2 months ago I was despairing how far (and for how long) the Doctor Who books had fallen, culminating in Combat Rock and the literally dozens of poor to average books preceeding that. Now these 3 come along all at once. Time Zero is extremely well written, and portrays a good sense of mystery throughout. The plot held my interest, keeping me wanting to come back for more. This book has the usual 8th Doctor Adventure page count but its smaller font meant even more story for my money than usual. The book has a nice use of Quantum theory and 'parallel worlds'. It places just enough of a spin on the common 'parallel universe' idea used a few times already in the Doctor Who series, to make this novel new and interesting. I have to admit that I'm getting a bit tired of Sabbath doing a 'Master' in each book (who is he disguised as this week?). Its not a very original way to handle the character. If we're going to have a Master-clone, why not just use the real thing? One of the best books in years! Hopefully the start of a Doctor Who Renaissance, especially since Time Zero is obviously the start of an 'arc plot'.

Justin Richards usually treats us to a story with a carefully constructed, logical structure containing few thrills but enough plot twists to keep the reader involved. TIME ZERO continued his reputation in this manner and delighted me in many ways. Primarily a fun-filled action-adventure, the book has enough little extra touches and flourishes to pull it firmly above the bounds of mediocrity. The back of the book tells us that Fitz has gone to his certain death, and that Anji has resumed her normal life and job. The most memorable sequences deal with those two companions, and in particular I very much enjoyed the chain of events that lead Anji back into the Doctor's company. In a series that at times recently has seemed to be more plot-based than character-driven (with a handful of notable exceptions), it's reassuring to see that the editor has a firm grasp of his major characters and is more than willing to let these characters control vast quantities of his own book.The plot, as mentioned, is pure Richardsian logic, although there were one or two stretches that went a bit too far for the sake of plausibility. Of course, it was great fun seeing such varyingly different plot strands binding together to eventually form a single cohesive story. Fitz's Siberian expedition, Anji's reclamation of her life, the Earth exploration into time travel technologies, the research scientists' discoveries, and the Doctor's own investigations are intergraded together carefully and the numerous storylines make for an intriguing mystery.On the down side, there are several action sequences that aren't quite as exciting as they should be; the tense drama comes from the scenes directly before or after them as the various characters discuss and reflect on their fate. This isn't wholly a bad thing, yet obviously I couldn't help but think that having everything running smoothly rather than having breaks for the physical conflicts would be better. Picky, I know, but I am usually bored by fight sequences in Doctor Who books, and while the ones in TIME ZERO were better than most, they were nowhere near to being my favorite parts of the book. At best they were acceptable, though the stress they put the characters through made them worthwhile. The story may be slightly confusing in places and require a bit of flipping back to previous pages in order to work everything out, but I quite enjoyed the finished product. I almost always have a lot of fun following Justin Richards plots to their conclusions and TIME ZERO is certainly not an exception to that rule. This book seems to be setting up some conflicts and storylines that will have far-reaching effects upon the future of the series. A few of the Doctor's speeches on those subjects echo PDE's afterword to DECEIT and I found myself digging up my copy of that NA to spot the parallels to that previous editor's understanding of the Doctor Who universe. Event novel, or not, TIME ZERO delivers the goods.