Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible

"The Future has been stolen."

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: February 1992

Series: New Adventures 05

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis

'You're on your own, Ace.'

The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.

Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city led by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.

Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.

The strands of time are tangled in a cat's cradle of dimensions.

Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.

But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began...

Verdict

Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible was an excellent novel to continue my reading of the New Adventures and to kick off this new trilogy of books! Following on from the brilliant quadrilogy of Timewyrm stories, it was refreshing to have something new and this was quite an extraordinary and rather historic book. There was so much going on and exploring some of the history of Ancient Gallifrey by having the Doctor and Ace actually visit there was terrific. The Doctor had inadvertently broken a Law of Time in visiting Gallifrey's past, but that was very exciting and opened up a lot of possibilities. I thought the book started very fast and that was a great direction to go in and the concept of the TARDIS being destroyed was superb. It's always good when the TARDIS disappears or something worse happens to it as it instantly provides a sense of vulnerability for the Doctor. Coupling that with the Doctor having his memory gone meant that Ace was in quite the predicament! She had a really strong adventure and getting to explore some of her past was good too, especially where time was going all wrong in Perivale and she encountered her own mother. I'm a big fan of these books potentially exploring more of Ace's background as there really is so much potential there. I thought some of the early Gallifreyans were brilliant characters and just having us step foot on the Doctor's home planet before there were even Time Lords was wonderful. Vael made for a good villainous character and his serving of the Protest worked well. I thought this leech-like monster made for a good enemy in the book and its desire for the Future that was stolen was fantastic. It's no secret that this book was complicated in parts but I actually liked how whacky it was. The idea of different time streams happening concurrently was hard to comprehend, but the idea of the past and present intermingling side by side was magnificent. I thought that was great and so unique, and it probably could only have worked in this format which explains how the story never got developed as a TV adventure as intended. The role of the silver cat in the book was fun and I liked how it wasn't really the focus compared to the Timewyrm. The role of the Pythia was really intriguing and learning of how it ruled Gallifrey before Rassilon was terrific. Its fear of the Rassilon name was exciting and it having disbelief in the Doctor's foreknowledge that she was the last Pythia despite naming her successor was excellent. I loved the idea of a curse making every Gallifreyan barren, and the whole idea of history on Gallifrey that we know not exactly being what happened is brilliant. Interpretations and history being written by the victors is something I know a great deal about having a Master's degree in the subject. The events of this adventure causing the Doctor to have a desire to know what really happened in the history of his planet will hopefully take us on quite the journey in the New Adventures, and I wonder if that is what the Cat's Cradle trilogy will focus on. It's all very exciting! Shonnzi was a good character and I really liked the relationship built with Ace. They got so close that Ace wanted him to join she and the Doctor in the TARDIS, but that just couldn't happen with him being an Ancient Gallifreyan. I enjoyed learning a lot about the TARDIS in this book and the Banshee Circuits in particular were really interesting! They caused a lot of chaos, but getting the grey prints and then finding out that the city was actually the TARDIS inside out was so much fun as a revelation! The descriptions of its return to normality were fantastic. The Sphinx was also intriguing to explore and I thought getting some early Prydonius was marvellous as well. There was so much going on. The destruction of the Pythia thanks to the sacrifice of Vael was an exciting end after such a good buildup, and I liked how the Sisterhood of Karn as well as Lady Peinforte were claimed to be leftovers of Pythia and her power. Overall, so much information and a great story at its heart with a lot more to explore as we move into a new direction with the New Adventures. A fantastic read!

Rating: 9/10