So Vile a Sin

As a teenager reading these novels I was doing my best to read them in order. I was doing a pretty good job at it too, until I reached Matthew Jones' Bad Therapy, which opened with just the Doctor and Chris Cwej. Where was Roz Forrester, the other Adjudicator companion? Dead, as it turns out. Oh. Frantically I checked back to see if I had missed something in the last book I read. I hadn't. I scoured the bookstores for the missing link book and found no success (I don't remember if this book was listed in the list of novels in the first few pages and I'm too lazy to go look through my copy) not realizing that the book hadn't been released just yet. When it did come out, it came out after the Virgin New Adventures line was dead and gone and thus it was sort of shuffled out and then disappeared, unable to be reprinted. So I missed it completely and was only able to acquire it through a recent mad rush of purchasing. It's probably the rarest of the New Adventures (the last several are pretty rare actually) and as such this is the first chance for me to read it after ten years or so. I was a little worried at first reading it because it's the climax of the "Psi Powers" storyline, a thread that ran through several novels and a bit on the complicated side but I got the gist of it fairly quickly. This book is one of the longer ones in the series, rumor has it that it was even longer but had to be cut short due to a hard drive failure on the part of original author Ben Aaronovitch, leading to Kate Orman stepping in to help him finish it. Their styles do mesh pretty well, better than you'd expect. The plot seems to concern the Doctor and company putting an end to the Brotherhood of people with psi powers who are trying to use a Nexus of realities to remake the universe into one more of their liking. In the meantime the Earth Empire is entering a rather messy period where the Empress is killed and houses are aligning to decide who gets to stand with the new Emperor, whoever that is. The plot is decently complex but a bit fractured at the same time, verging on space opera at times and having very much a widescreen feel. The scattered vistas and crazy ideas are probably the product of Aaronovitch's original plot, which is the type of thing he was known for, while the smaller character moments are more Orman's forte, especially the set pieces. The plot hangs together well but by not giving any real focus to any one of the many elements making it up, it gives the book a bit of a fragmented feel . . . you have moments with N-forms and old Gallifreyan technology sitting next to people with psionic powers and maybe a longer novel would have helped to iron that out, but I'm not sure. Where the book really scores is atmosphere and mood, rarely do Doctor Who novels feel this weary and doomladen, the novel opens with Roz' funeral (where the Doctor has a heart attack, in one of the starkest and most poignant scenes involving the character) and it goe

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 'treason' 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.

This is without a doubt one of the best in the series, it's breathtaking. The story moves along with enough speed to keep you interested, but also gives you a deep look into the characters personalities, especially roz's, which the book focuses on. The story line is well thought out and presented superbly. It focuses on Roz's and her family but also her relationship with her companions and her strong moralistic views, which by the way end up getting her killed. It takes her character to many different dimensions which many of the other books failed to do, thinking of her and Chris as mere replacements for Benny and Ace. Kate and Ben really managed to make this character shine in her final moments. Be warned though that if your not careful your room will be turned into niagra falls in no time! The main plot Focuses on the last of the psi power stories with the Doctor trying in vain to finish the brotherhood for good, but as usual has no idea what is involved ( or at least it appears so). While Chris is his usual energetic self, Roz focuses on her future as well as her past. I personally have read a large majority of these books and definetely recommend this one as a must!