Divided Loyalties [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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"Divided Loyalties" by Gary Russell brings back an old foe, the Celestial Toymaker, in a battle of wits against the Fifth Doctor. Tegan, Nyssa, Adric, a spaceship load of soldiers, and a planet of comatose telepaths get carried along for the ride.

Like a lot of Gary Russell books, there is a lot of references to past stories (both TV and book), which means you have to be a pretty well versed fan to get into them. But in a way, that's what 1980s Who producer John Nathan-Turner always did, so perhaps in that way "Divided Loyalties" is a Fifth Doctor adventure with a very similar feel to the era.

Even when so closely linked to so many stories, there's always something in a Gary Russell story that contradicts established continuity. In this case, it's more a minor, emotional thing. There is much character questioning in this story, particularly with Tegan and Nyssa. We hear (very repeatedly) about their resentment towards the Doctor for plucking them out of their timelines and changing their lives, often for the worse. I know the Toymaker had a lot to do with manipulating these emotions, but wouldn't such a dramatic upheaval of feelings effect (or even change) the characters? We don't see this in the TV series, (not until after "Earthshock" anyway) so in that way "Divided Loyalties" seems very out of place with the TV stories that surround it.

If you're a fan of the Celestial Toymaker, you might not appreciate him being deconstructed the way this book does. I was a bit dissapointed with the way he was treated. I won't give anything away, but he seems a lot less powerful and vulnerable in this book (compared to the TV story). He's less charming too, less fun, even when surrounded with and using his toys against the Doctor. Though it's not a total waste of the Toymaker. He is a great deal more sinister than before, desperate even. There are some new "toyrooms" too, some of which are quite dreamy, abstract and surreal. These were all quite fun to visualize.

I didn't appreciate the "Adric bashing" in this book. Adric, the mathematical whiz kid from another universe, is one of my favourite Doctor Who companions, and he gets a very rap in this story. Being unpopular wasn't a property he had in the series, he was only unpopular among some fans. To some he may seem nosey and annoying, rather than inquisitive, but that's their opinion. In this book, Russell makes this (his) opinion fact. Often when Adric says something, for example, "he said pointlessly" or "no one was listening" is added on the end, just to make sure that no reader gives Adric any love. There is the odd sentence that is out of character, for the sake of making Adric more whiny. Would Adric ever REALLY say "Tegan isn't possessed, she's just doing it to get attention"? (In fact, would ANY character really say that? Sounds a bit like something you'd hear in a Doctor Who parody, I reckon.) Gary Russell even makes Adric pee on the TARDIS toilet seat and gives him body odour. Now that's just plain mean, Gary! Adric was killed off in the TV series, must he be tormented beyond the grave? I ended up very feeling sorry for him in this book, unlike a lot of the other characters, many of whom weren't that memorable.

However, one thing I really did enjoy from this novel is the middle part of the book, which flashes back to the young first Doctor at the Time Lord academy. Featured among his fellow students are some very familiar faces. Apart from explaining a plot element in the fifth Doctor part of the story, it reveals and explains an important turning point in the Doctor's life. It's very rare that we get a glimpse into the Doctor's early days and it's always nice to catch a sizable piece of it (though we were spoilt by Marc Platt's "Lungbarrow" in that respect). This sizeable interlude was a fun, page turning treat.

No, "Divided Loyalties" is not the best Who book ever written, but worth reading for the sizable bit featuring the pre-series Doctor. Get it second hand (or borrow it from a library) if you can.

The TARDIS is invaded by a force from the past, which asks him "How many doors must you slam, Doctor, before you understand the magnitude of what you did?" And so it's off to the planet Dymok, where a shadow from the past places the present under threat and the Doctor must try to undo a past mistake.

Featuring the return of the classic William Hartnell foe, the Celestial Toymaker, and the crowded TARDIS of the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan, this book is written in three parts (or rounds, as it puts them). The first and third feature the TARDIS crew, but the middle round is an all-star visit to Gallifrey's past to discover exactly how the Doctor and the Toymaker first came to be in conflict. So many Time Lords you'll need a score card to keep track!

Aside from this visit to Gallifrey's past, the other great feature of the book is the characterisation of the Doctor's companions. For instance, we are treated fairly early on to Tegan's impressions of the Doctor, Nyssa and Adric, and complimentary is not a word that springs to mind. As the book progresses, discord is sewn amongst the four friends with potentially disastrous results.

So, here we have a book which not only deals with the "present", but has its eyes fixed firmly on the past as well as the "future" - in the form of the unmade but novelised Sixth Doctor story 'The Nightmare Fair'. If Doctor Who's continuity gives you a headache or makes you nauseous, leave this one to those (like me) who enjoy it.

This novel starts off quite encouragingly. Russell seems to have captured the Fifth Doctor perfectly, including much of his sarcasm. The initial glimpses of the Celestial Toymaker are also very reminiscent of Michael Gough's performance. 'Divided Loyalties' is also quite short, running to only 252 pages, which makes you think that someone has finally seen sense, and restricted the page numbers to fit the story. But Gary Russell's afterword rings all too true. He seems to have been originally planning a meeting between the 6th and 8th Doctors. Two Doctors feature in this novel too, with an episode from the First Doctor's life to explain why he'd been expelled by the Academy. This is quite enjoyable, although the presence of a large furry animal gives the lie to the thought that Russell might have dropped some of his more irritating habits. The monsters in Doctor Who were never supposed to be cute: only the budget restrictions made them that way (like the giant rat in The Talons of Weng Chiang). If any era deserved a Russell novel, then it would have to be Davison's. Doctor Who's producer at the time, John-Nathan Turner, loved continuity even more than Russell seems to do: 'With an exaggerated sigh Tegan straightened up and smoothed down her uniform. (Nyssa had promised to go through the TARDIS wardrobe... so that they could both choose something new to wear instead of forever getting the TARDIS to work its overnight magic on her lilac air hostess outfit.) His grammar could do with some work too! Well, at least there's only one villain. Koschei does feature, but he's still in angelic mode. The Toymaker does have a nasty henchman, but we can hardly take him seriously, because he's called 'Gaylord'. In like manner, and as an internal continuity to recent Eighth Doctor novels, Russell speculates on the nature of the Guardians - 'The Great Old Ones'. Could these be Lawrence Miles' Time Lords from another universe invading our own? Unfortunately, Russell chooses to spoil their majesty by giving them some very silly names: 'Raah, Nah and Rok, who together would one day cause the end of this Universe'. Although this might just be another reference, this time to the televised adventure 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'. But Russell is such a slave to continuity that he spoils his own book. It appears that he became too concerned about the portrayal of the Toymaker in Graham Williams' 'The Nightmare Fair'. In this unrealized script, the Toymaker was rather less fun than he'd been in his debut in the 1960s, so Russell dully contrives to explain this (I mean 'dully'). By the end of 'Divided Loyalties', the Toymaker is thus transformed into a 'Nuthink in this world can stop me now!' type caricature. In order to explain this transformation, Russell feels obliged to disrupt continuity by introducing new characters and events (I don't think William Hartnell's Doctor knew of the Toymaker beforehand). The 'divided loyalties' of the story refers to the Fifth Doctor's companions, and Russell here uses the word 'divided' to its fullest extent. Nyssa, in particular, has a reason to be aggrieved with the Doctor, but Russell chooses to dwell rather too long on her dilemma. The Toymaker's games are also quite banal. Gary Russell could have done with the helping hand of Christopher Bulis here, in devising some really devious puzzles, just as he could learn from Lawrence Miles the way to write a complex plot which grips you all the way.

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5.0 out of 5 stars the origin of the toymaker, the doctor at school , fun!
This missing adventure features the fifth doctor ,tegan,nyssa and adric. The doctor and his companios get into a squabble over how the TARDIS lands in a space station over a... Read more

Published on Mar 21 2000 by Aaron Amos

3.0 out of 5 stars Middle of the Road Review
I won't be quite so acerbic and say this was the worst story, nor will I proclaim this to be the world's greatest DW story. Truth be told it was a run of the mill tale. Read more

Published on Nov 10 1999

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of trees and time
Media tie-in novels often get a bad reputation in the science-fiction community; it's books like DIVIDED LOYALTIES that bring that about. Read more

Published on Nov 6 1999 by Greg McElhatton

5.0 out of 5 stars Academy Days, Tegan's Perspective and Celestial Toymaker!
This is one of the best Doctor Who books in a long time. A long, long time! It's writing style is straightforward and enagaging, much like the literature of Terrance Dicks. Read more

Published on Nov 3 1999

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