A review by mrcoldstream
Doctor Who: Timewyrm: Apocalypse by Nigel Robinson

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

🙏🏼55% = Average!

Flicking through an endless stream of pages, one book at a time. This time, Ace finally blows that nitro-9, the Rills are mentioned, and you forget this novel as soon as you’ve finished it.

****

Such a weird beginning on this one. The prologue and chapter one had me hopelessly lost with all the names, places, and terms. Chapter 2 then begins with a scene with the Second Doctor looking for Polly, and I was convinced I was reading the wrong book until it became clear what was going on. The story returns to the Second Doctor occasionally, as this earlier adventure directly ties to the current one.

This book is the epitome of average in that it takes a very traditional Doctor Who story set-up and throws in a bunch of one-note characters, predictable twists, and generally good action scenes to keep it going. It’s an example of the “false utopia” subgenre that Doctor Who does a lot, with a seemingly perfect society hiding terrible secrets such as inhumane genetic experimentation, oppression, and brainwashing. The story is in many ways similar to The Krotons, The War Games and, to an extent, Galaxy 4.

Apocalypse is a brief book and a quick read at 200 pages, but it still feels pretty long because there is very little here to keep things truly engaging. The narrative moves forward but doesn’t have much dramatic fuel, so I kind of had to convince myself to finish it.

The Doctor feels like the Seven we know and love in this one, but is the most boring he’s been in the series so far and doesn’t get very involved in the story. Ace is also very well written and very well used. The supporting characters leave no lasting impressions, and the villains are pretty flat, except for a couple of the monsters that do appear (such as the horrifying Homunculus).

I don’t like how the Timewyrm is never mentioned throughout the entire book until the very end, and even when it finally appears for the final confrontation, it is quickly disposed of in a rushed finale, as if it were added in as a last-minute revision to tie this novel into the Timewyrm arc. 

Nigel Robinson’s strengths lie in describing Kirith, its people, and the horrible experiments and mutations that we come across throughout the adventure, some of which are truly gross and involved in many great action scenes.

Overall, this was disappointingly safe and forgettable.