Engines of War

"'Now, there was nothing but the War. It had consumed him, remade him into something new. A warrior."

Writer: George Mann

Format: Novel

Released: July 2014

Series: NSA 51.5

Featuring: War Doctor, Cinder

Synopsis 

"I've had many faces. Many lives. I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget - the Doctor who fought in the Time War."

The Great Time War has raged for centuries, ravaging the universe. Scores of human colony planets are now overrun by Dalek occupation forces. A weary, angry Doctors leads a flotilla of Battle TARDISes against the Dalek stronghold but in the midst of the carnage, the Doctor's TARDIS crashes to a planet below: Moldox.

As the Doctor is trapped in an apocalyptic landscape, Dalek patrols roam amongst the wreckage, rounding up the remaining civilians. But why haven't the Daleks simply killed the humans?

Searching for answers the Doctor meets 'Cinder', a young Dalek hunter. Their struggles to discover the Dalek plan take them from the ruins of Moldox to the halls of Gallifrey, and set in motion a chain of events that will change everything. And everyone.

Verdict 

Engines of War was a phenomenal novel and I must say it really is quite magical to read a brand new adventure and only the second feature length story we have for this unprecedented, hidden and denied incarnation of the Doctor. The introduction of the War Doctor in The Day of the Doctor really opened up a lot of doors for Doctor Who on how to deal with the sixteen years that the show didn't have a television series. Through this novel, and now the Big Finish audios, we are getting brand new adventures with a brand new Doctor. I would definitely include his incarnation as part of the revival era and it shouldn't be associated with the Classic era as the latter parts of the Eighth Doctor's tenure, as we saw his position in The Night of the Doctor, are what I would argue would be the start of the new era. The story itself though seemed to be a lead in to The Day of the Doctor which I thought was excellent and it really explained to us what drove the Doctor to calling for no more. He was going to put an end to the Time War once and for all and this is the story of why. Obviously, I would assume a lot of things occurred prior to the novel's events, as I'm sure we'll explore in the new audio series, but this was the final straw in what I imagine to be a very large haystack. I thought it was a bold move by George Mann to pair the War Doctor up with a companion but he created Cinder to be so absolutely wonderful that it absolutely worked. She was such a magnificent character and I thought she paired extremely well with this incarnation of the Doctor. I like how upon meeting her, the Doctor revealed that he was not worthy of his name anymore and that he was already not using it himself, suggesting quite a dark past within the War already. I liked that Rassilon was the Lord President and I loved the explanation of the Master's disappearance which would ultimately lead into Utopia. It tied things up fantastically well and it didn't contradict anything mentioned in The End of Time either which was a real positive. The inclusion of the Daleks was obviously expected and whilst it was clear they were the enemy, as I would expect with any War Doctor story from here on in, but I liked how they didn't dominate the novel. They were basically non-existent in the second part of the book which was titled Gallifrey. Part one, Moldox, was fantastic and I really liked how the destruction of the Daleks was being felt in just about every part of the universe. The Time War was raging through space and time and it was having devastating effects. This was actually my first novel to feature the Daleks and I thought they were captured in print majestically by Mann. Their tone was clearly visible in the writing which was really pleasing. I liked the brief appearance of the Dalek Emperor, though I would've enjoyed it had he made more of a showing! In his place though we had the Eternity Circle who were really good. I loved the Dalek use of calling the Doctor not by his name, but as Predator instead. The concept of the Predator Dalek was pretty horrifying and the Doctor was described as genuinely being terrified and who could blame him? There seemed no escape from him becoming a Dalek whose first act was to exterminate Cinder! The way that was prevented was brilliant irony with Karlax. It was clear the Time Lord and the Doctor didn't at all get along and after the Doctor saved him from his imploding TARDIS, after the successful regeneration in the Zero Room, the Doctor left Karlax to the mercy of the Daleks. No more mister nice guy. The Doctor had had enough and when those closest to him were threatened, he would show no remorse. I can't say I blamed him. Something from this story I was not expecting was the appearance of Borusa, last seen in The Five Doctors! That story got a nice reference and explanation. However, he was nothing like what we saw in that story and Rassilon had horribly retro-engineered him into a despicable possibility engine. The thought of Borusa shining with regenerative energy and being in a constant state of flux between incarnations, having the vortex run through his head, was quite awful. The Doctor was appalled and did his best to free Borusa from the monstrosity. The references to The Invasion of Time, with the Doctor reminding he was a former Lord President, and Genesis of the Daleks, the point which the Daleks claimed to be the beginning of the Time War, were marvellous. The Dalek plan to eradicate Gallifrey from all of time and space was quite something! It must be the most dastardly plan of the Daleks yet, and they've tried to pilot the Earth! They were hoping for a universe where the Time Lords had never existed and that would have huge consequences. The Daleks would be left to wreak havoc and assert themselves as the superior beings. The determination of the Doctor not to use the Tear of Isha to close the Tantalus Eye, the source of Dalek power, showed that he was still worthy of his name. He wouldn't allow billions of human lives to be lost on a dozen worlds for the sake of a Time Lord victory. Instead he defied his own people, escaped from an inescapable cell thanks to Cinder, and used Borusa's power to eradicate the Dalek plan from history. The demat guns were quite powerful to say the least and the Temporal Weapon Dalek using it on Finch was horrible, as we instantly saw Cinder lose the memory of her friend ever existing. The closing of this novel was a very sad one with Cinder sadly dying. Her life in exchange for billions of others. They were odds she was happy to die for which the Doctor found very admirable and so very human. He contemplated bending history to bring her back but he decided he didn't have that right. But through Cinder's death he would make a promise. No more. The War needed to end and he wouldn't stop until it was over. Overall, an outstanding novel full of adventure and intrigue. I think it's testament that in the first story to feature the War Doctor after his only televised appearance, the story to me was all about Cinder. Despite brilliant characterisation of John Hurt's incarnation, she was the highlight in this epic adventure. 

Rating: 10/10