Salvation

"Aliens have come from outer space, and they've landed in New York!"

Writer: Steve Lyons

Format: Novels

Released: January 1999

Series: PDA 17

Featuring: First Doctor, Steven, Dodo

Synopsis 

The gods have returned, and they're here to save our world.

New York, 1965. A time of conflict between ideologies, races, generations and genders, when crime runs rife and an unpopular war drags on in a distant land. In the midst of this turmoil, people cry out to their gods.

And now, it seems, the gods have answered their call. Walking the slums and tenements of downtown Manhattan, demonstrating extraordinary powers, five strangers are gathering a growing crowd of worshippers.

Steven wants to believe in miracles, but the Doctor is more sceptical. What are the strangers' real motives, and why does history make no mention of these events? As New York begins to tear itself apart, the Doctor's principles are tested to their limits. Which side should he choose to help? And what part will a London schoolgirl named Dorothea Chaplet play in the ensuing chaos?

What price is humankind willing to pay for salvation?

Verdict 

Salvation was a great book! This was a really intriguing read with its take on religion and gods with it being a rather touchy and difficult concept to tackle, but I thought it was handled well and pretty respectfully. I make no qualm in hiding that I’m an atheist and pretty stubborn on my thoughts on religion. I think it’s quite ridiculous but the story here didn’t say that about religion, instead putting everything down to science. The gods returning was a fine way to kick off a book and that’s unique as far as Doctor Who is concerned. I’m a big fan of unique and I appreciated the effort to something new here. I thought it was also bold for this book to pick up immediately where The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve left off with Dodo arriving as companion. This actually served as her first journey in the TARDIS and that’s pretty fun! It steals some thunder from The Ark but I’m absolutely fine with that. She reacts well to being whisked off in the TARDIS because we actually learn a strong backstory for her character where she longs for adventure, but her aunt Margaret is a little overbearing as a guardian. I felt happy for Dodo that she got to see somewhere like New York City and she was full of appreciation to the Doctor. He took a quick likening towards her with her reminding him of Susan, and he even feigned that she was his granddaughter which was nice. Their relationship started strongly, but the same could not be said of the current state of the Doctor and Steven’s. Recent events for them still rang very true as Steven was extremely angry by what had happened to Anne Chaplet in the aforementioned serial in sixteenth century France, and he was almost prepared to leave the TARDIS for good. That was quite a shock but it made for fantastic reading! They were separated for much of the story but that did allow Steven to shine by himself and build his own relationships. That came mostly with Kathy who was a really fun character as a New York reporter. She was fascinated by UFOs and the suggestion of aliens being present meant she was on the case. Her reporting was brilliant and the added layer of her father being General Marchant. They hadn’t talked for fifteen years but the Doctor would soon to see to that. I thought  the characterisation of the First Doctor here was very good and the traits of his elderly personality were all there. His reaction to Dodo’s shortened language like ‘fab’ and ‘groovy’ as well as even her name was tremendous. He still very much wanted her to travel with him though. Dodo’s story actually started prior to her fumbling aboard the TARDIS though which was really good. The encounter with the being that would become Joseph was really intriguing and rather dangerous. The moments in the house where he attacked her felt threatening and very real. The Pantheon made for a fine villain and I thought the very idea of a group representing a church claiming to be the gods returned was excellent. It’s a little generic given the number of religions on the planet, but with events focused on New York and London this worked fine. I thought the scale was interesting with them only being six strong, and the ridiculousness of having a God of War named Dennis was very amusing. The Pantheon was clearly the lead though and his accepting of Joseph as the God of Peace was a nice touch. My favourite element of the book was how each chapter started with a news report or book extract from present day or the future. That was a really neat touch and added so much to the adventure. The scale of the gods reaching the news and having an impact on the likes of a future film was fun stuff, especially with Peter Cushing playing the role of Doctor Who! That was a marvellous in-joke. Alexander Lullington-Smythe was a good character too and his position as the manager of the god was quite funny. He was solely in it to make money and claimed to represent the gods. His later suggestion that they had a contract made me laugh because would that really hold up when dealing with gods? The powers of the gods was interesting in that everything they believed in was what there would be subjects had them believe. All of their power lay in what was believed in them and that was rather terrific. I liked how that also contributed to their downfall. The threat of the bomb was enough for their loyal followers to believe that it would destroy the gods, so the gods believed it too and went packing back to their own world. That was a really strong ending. Admittedly, the book was a little convoluted in places and could have done with some more action, but as a whole I thought it worked really well despite not being entirely believable on a real world scale. Could something like this really just be put down to a hoax on April Fool’s Day? I’m not sure but it did show the power of the government and media in getting what they wanted out there, and nothing more. A Doctor Who story depicting a version of Heaven was fascinating and I liked the description that went along with the wedding of Joseph and Dodo. Carter interfering in that ceremony was good stuff and the war in heaven that followed contributed nicely to the story’s conclusion. Overall, a really strong read!

Rating: 8/10