The Sorcerer's Apprentice
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Virgin Publishing The Sorcerer's Apprentice |
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| Author | Christopher Bulis |  |
| ISBN# | 0 426 20447 6 | |
| Published | 1995 | |
| Continuity | Between Marco Polo
and the Keys of Marinus |
| Synopsis: The TARDIS crew discovers the land of Elbyon, where it appears the magic exists. But Elbyon has hidden secrets that may prove deadly to the time travellers. |
A Review by Sean Gaffney 13/8/99
Time for another happy-go-lucky review - the last for a while...
No, I'm not leaving, I just didn't think much of the August books.
This surprised me. It's very good. I think that we can now assume Shadowmind to be an aberration, as both State of Change and Sorceror worked very well. Despite the magic, and the Empire landing, this is pretty much true to its time. The characterization that I complained about in The Menagerie is spot on here. All four regulars work well, especially Susan with Ping-Cho...um...I mean the Princess. Ian and Barbara care about each other, but are not madly in love, thank you, Mr. Whitaker. Best of all, the Doctor remains spot on throughout. In State of Change, I felt that Colin sounded too much like Bill Hartnell. Well, here it fits exactly right.
The plot is excellent, with the scientific side of things explained away very first-seasony. The magic and dragons would not have made it on screen, but then these aren't supposed to be Target novels, as I think many people forget. The plot is sufficiently devious, and... well, overall a good read. I look forward to The Eye of the Giant.
9/10.
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 2/12/00
Another in a long line from Chris Bulis, and an improvement as well.
PLOT: In short the TARDIS lands on a world where magic and science are two very different things. In fact the world of Avalon could almost be straight out of Dungeons And Dragons. It`s refreshing, but not necessarily representative of the era.
THE DOCTOR: William Hartnell was once quoted as saying he believed that The Doctor was "a wizard"; in fact he could almost be Dungeon Master.
COMPANIONS: Chris delivers the goods, with Ian, Barbara and Susan coming across as recognisable.
OTHERS: Gramling and Dahl really stuck in my mind; although I can`t remember why...
OVERALL: Very readable, the magic elements are explained in sci-fi terms and the whole book comes across as being highly enjoyable. 9/10.
A Review by Finn Clark 9/6/04
I love this book! This is one of my favourite Doctor Who novels, not just "pretty good for Bulis" but big bags o' fun by any standard. Obviously it's a pastiche of Tolkeinesque fantasy, but in addition it's an intelligent exploration of such a world and the SF reason for it all. If you hated Grimm Reality and The Scarlet Empress, rest assured. This doesn't have a mystical bone in its body. Note that it doesn't just star the 1st Doctor, as dogmatic and rational as ever, but a bunch of 30th century Earth Empire space marines who are not amused to find fire imps in their Mark 3 Solid Fuel Booster Units.
The key to the book is that central contradiction. It clearly fascinated the Bulis, so in turn it gets communicated to the reader. It's wonderful to explore the ramifications of this magical society. This is the Bulis's most intelligent book by light-years, in which it delves into the background, consequences and internal logic of its chosen scenario. This novel is Doctor Who to its fingertips, but in its own quiet way it's also a hard SF extrapolation of "idea as hero".
The characters are better than usual for Bulis, despite the get-out clause of Tolkein pastiche which would have excused lapses into cliche. Nyborg is sharp, intelligent and more complex than you'd expect from a military man of his type in Who. The Gramling-Hartnell confrontation kicks arse. Marton Dhal is a stereotyped "bwahahaha" Dark Wizard, but that's entirely appropriate. What's more the TARDIS crew is strongly portrayed, over and above the greatness inherent in Season One's regulars. Everyone gets plenty to do, with Barbara in particular at one point being left in charge of the whole investigation. She impressed me.
In fact the book's shallowest character isn't an Avalonian elf or goblin, but Captain Shannon of Earth's Special Services Directorate. He does everything the plot requires of him, but occasionally his scenes gave me that "oh God it's Bulis" feeling. Those are the only scenes where this book didn't carry me away. The plot twists also feel a bit obvious on second reading, though that's hardly a fair criticism. It's praiseworthy to put your clues in plain sight and give your readers every chance to piece 'em together.
There's genre awareness, with a Tolkein reference on p97 and a witch (Anni Glassfeather) who's the missing twin sister of Terry Pratchett's Esme Weatherwax. The names are suspiciously similar. However she's such fun that I loved reading about her anyway. What's more, this book isn't just a childish romp; the characters don't have script immunity from their world's unexpected dangers. Heroes can die. The first time that happened, it shocked me. Even the simple notion of Susan playing at witchcraft is scary if you've recently read The Witch Hunters.
There's a strong sense of history, with reference to the Whoniverse's 22nd century diaspora after the Dalek invasion and the fall of the Earth Empire as in Original Sin and So Vile A Sin. This book contains almost nothing I don't like. It's lively and cool, with an intelligently explored SF puzzle and some Bulis characters who for once actually feel real. Hartnell kicks arse, his companions are great and I loved the clash of Avalonian magic and 30th century space marines.
And the last line is perfect.
A Review by Brian May 24/6/05
How many times have you read the expression "Doctor Who is always at its best when its roots are showing"? Lots. Why? Because Doctor Who is not ashamed to be unoriginal, taking bits and pieces from literature, film and mythology, most of the time creating a wonderful tribute to its source material. And that's exactly what Christopher Bulis has done with The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
It's unashamedly unoriginal - I mean, just look at the title! The steal from Rapunzel, as Susan thinks up a method of escape from her cell, can be seen coming from miles away. The entire expedition the Doctor and Ian join is so blatantly a rip-off from The Lord of the Rings that Bulis feels the need to acknowledge this in the text. It's one of the original novels' earliest combinations of science fiction and fantasy - and one of the most successful (but then, with competition like Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark, that's not very difficult). Bulis presents a strange juxtaposition; the medieval world of Elbyon, with all its knights, princesses, witches, dragons, goblins and leprechauns, blended with the futuristic scenario of the Prince Randolph, which incorporates your sci-fi staples of soldiers, scientific officers, an important mission, a landing party and a galactic empire in the background. The contrast is jarring, but this makes the dichotomy all the more striking.
The non-regular characters are not that spectacular, but they meet the specified requirements of their genres. Bron is a dashing knight, Mellisa a plucky princess, Dhal a dastardly villain, Anni a witch with a heart of gold etc. I quite like Odoyle, the leprechaun - he's rather fun, and Queen Leonora gets some good moments. The space crew are similarly unremarkable, with the exception of Komati. She's the book's most sympathetic character, and the reader begins to feel she will choose to stay on Elbyon at the end of all this - until her death, of course, which is a very tragic moment. But overall, characterisation is sacrificed for plot, which seems feasible; you can't do much with walking and talking clichés, and we all know who they are and what they're meant to do. However the author has done a spectacular job with the regulars. Ian and Barbara are spot on. His rendition of the Doctor is also excellent, and he didn't need to include Hartnellesque "hmmm"s or line fluffs. Susan is a bit awkward at the beginning, but Bulis becomes more comfortable with her once she is moved into her sub-plot - here the character really comes into her own.
Not only has Bulis realised an excellent season one TARDIS crew, he's also managed to make this a believable season one story. It's quite lengthy; the TARDIS is rendered inaccessible and the plot facilitates a long and dangerous quest. The story is fairly slow, but never at a snail's pace. With all this, it sits comfortably among the likes of The Daleks, Marco Polo and The Keys of Marinus. You can even imagine the scenes when Susan is imprisoned in Dhal's tower having been pre-recorded in film inserts; the same could be said for Barbara's trek through the forest in the latter part of the book. The alienness of the Doctor and Susan is maintained (their conversing in an alien language as overheard by Barbara), but not too much is given away, no more than in the televised adventures, e.g. the descriptions of their home planet (The Sensorites) or the Doctor saying he was a pioneer among his own people (The Daleks).
The hard science-fiction concepts, the nanobotics and the structure of Avalon and its moons are all very well grounded, although there's one gripe. The TARDIS doesn't allow the travellers in because of the danger of the nanobots getting inside; but wouldn't the time machine have never let them out in the first place? Call me an anal-retentive goof spotter, but that factor niggled at me. Of course, it's a story catalyst, but still... But the whole history and back story of Elbyon is fascinating; Barbara's researches provide some quiet but interesting revelations. The role of the cephlies is cleverly and subtly crafted, with the appropriate clues becoming obvious in hindsight. There's a bit of dragging here and there - the lander's descent into Elbyon's atmosphere and the climbing of the glass stairway on Helm Island are both slightly overlong, while the showdown, all the back and forth sorcery between the protagonists and Gramling, could have been trimmed by a few paragraphs. But overall The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a very enjoyable, imaginative mix of sci-fi and fantasy that charmingly and unabashedly pays homage to those tales that inspired it. And that always makes great Doctor Who. 8.5/10