War of the Daleks

"You can't defeat the Daleks by becoming the Daleks!"

Writer: John Peel

Format: Novel

Released: October 1997

Series: EDA 05

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Sam

Synopsis

The Doctor is repairing the TARDIS systems once again when it is swept up by a garbage ship roving through space, the Quetzel.

When another ship approaches and takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers on board – there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold. Delani, the captian of the second ship, orders the pod to be opened. The Doctor is powerless to intervene as Davros is awakened once again. 

But this is no out-and-out rescue of Davros. Delani and his crew are Thals, the sworn enemies of the Daleks. They intend to use Davros as a means to wipe out the Daleks, finally ridding then universe of the most aggressive, deadly race ever to exist. But the Doctor is still worried. For there is a signal beacon inside the pod, and even now a Dalek ship is closing in...

Verdict

War of the Daleks was an outstanding novel to continue my way through the Eighth Doctor Adventures books! This was a superb story and I have to say that after five adventures, this is shaping up to be a spectacular range with this already the third to receive full marks. There is no doubt that this is an audacious book and it impacts on the wider Dalek continuity in a very big way, but I think it absolutely works and I thoroughly enjoyed how everything was tied together in this book. It's a brilliant use of the Daleks in prose to give the Eighth Doctor his first outing against his greatest foes and I liked how Sam had heard of them already from the Doctor, only to be a little surprised by how hospitable they were! Of course, her opinion would change the more she got to know them but that initial comment was mightily interesting. I was a big fan of the format of the book with the four parts splitting things up nicely and the little interludes that came after each one were fantastic. It was really nice to explore so much Dalek continuity and the interludes taking us to the Mechanoids, Draconians and even the SSS was brilliant. The action within each was great and a welcomed addition and it was just nice to explore beyond the televised knowledge whilst referencing it. In particular I thought Faber's nod to Marc Cory was magnificent linkage to Mission to the Unknown. I loved that the Thals were featured in a big way as I think there is so much potential by pitting the natives of Skaro against each other, and their role here directly following on from the events of Planet of the Daleks and the Doctor encouraging them to fight on his behalf had led to them committing outright murder when they arrived on the Quetzel. That was very powerful. I thought Ayaka was a tremendous character and when she was ordered by Delani to then commit murder herself and terminate both the Doctor and Sam, she shot him dead in an incredible moment! It was a great twist. I thought all three cliffhangers at the end of each part were actually magnificent and it was good to give it the feel of a televised serial. Sam was a wonderful companion again in this book and I think she's slowly shaping into a really great character. Her taking a fancy to the Doctor was expanded on in a big way here as she was getting quite jealous of Chayn and how much the Doctor was admiring her. That was intriguing to explore and with the Doctor focused on the technician, Sam was left with Loran and the way she turned him down by revealing she wasn't of age was magnificent. Him and his dad both falling victim to the Thals had some sort of sick emotional irony to it which made for compelling reading. The settings of the ships were very good and I loved that we got quite a lot of Davros before the arrival of any Daleks. He's always an outstanding character and the interactions with the Doctor were excellent. The Thals hoping to obtain his services was something I didn't see coming though! That really did show how far the Thals had changed to go as far as wanting to enlist the creator of the Daleks to amend their biology and make them better killers. That was outrageous! I really enjoyed the Thal prelude in their own space and that further showcased how much they had changed when they obliterated Therakis with a planet buster all as a mere lure. They weren't afraid of innocent casualties now which was quite a contrast to the pacifist Thals we've met in the past. When the Daleks arrived, the story took a noticeable shift but I thought they were written ever so well. The speech from the Doctor to Sam earlier in the novel where he explained all about the Daleks and his history with them and what they stood for was absolutely sensational. It was a sublime passage and did so much to sell how evil and deadly the Daleks are. The Doctor accepting death at the end of part two also added to that but the twist that they were keeping him alive and he'd be looked after was unique to say the least. The Doctor getting to explain the colour hierarchy was really good and whilst I prefer the title of Emperor, the Dalek Prime still worked great. This adventure retconning the events of Remembrance of the Daleks and finding out that Skaro was not actually destroyed was audacious but the way this tied in with a huge number of other televised serials was extraordinary! The idea that the Prime, who was an original Dalek dating back to Genesis of the Daleks, had concocted an extraordinary plan based on finding the Hand of Omega information of Remembrance during the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which sparked off a separate timeline (ie Day of the Daleks) and led to an incredible turn of events from Destiny of the Daleks onwards! It was complicated but it actually made sense which is testament to a very impressive tying of the threads by our author. Skaro was saved and Davros was tricked into believing he'd destroyed it when in fact it was actually Antalin. Excellent stuff. It's good to have Skaro back! I thought the action throughout was impressive and there was a lot but it worked really well which isn't always the case in novels. The conclusion with the hidden Dalek factory headed to Thal space was great and the Doctor's fiddling with the TARDIS lock was a lot of fun to have come around and cost him interference by the Daleks. Not only had they planted a bomb, but when that failed they had a lecturn chameleon Dalek there to exterminate! The imagery of a Dalek in the TARDIS was great and it worked well to have a threat after all seemed solved. Overall, an incredible novel that had so much going on. But it all worked in my view. I mean, we even had Spider Daleks and the revelation that the Movellans were Dalek creations! A new Dalek civil war was a lot of fun and the trial being a means to flesh out those not loyal was terrific. There really is so much I could write, but to sum everything up this was just pure excellence. 

Rating: 10/10