Divided Loyalties

"For however powerful one might consider oneself to be, there is always something superior."

Writer: Gary Russell
Format: Novel
Released: October 1999
Series: PDA 26

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, First Doctor

Synopsis

There are some evils in the universe that need to be fought. And others that need redeeming...

Many years ago the Doctor, a student at the Academy on Gallifrey, lost a friend to the mysterious and malevolent force known as the Celestial Toymaker. Now, in his fifth incarnation, the Doctor receives a telepathic call from his long-lost classmate, begging for help.

As he sets out to rescue his friend and exact revenge, the Doctor's companions become increasingly involved. Adric, determined to justify his place aboard the TARDIS, opts to face the Toymaker's game challenges while Nyssa, angered by the Doctor's actions, finds herself excluded by the people she thought her friends. And what is the connection between the Toymaker and the planet Dymok, whose comatose inhabitants find a new saviour in the shape of Tegan Jovanka?

Verdict

Divided Loyalties was a great novel and a very good book to hopefully kick off a summer full of reading. Doing more Doctor Who books has been an aim of mine for some time now and I really enjoyed this unique story. It saw the return of the Celestial Toymaker and it also took us to the Academy on Gallifrey with a young First Doctor. I have to say, the mix in tales that this book brought together was brave and it pretty much paid off. The TARDIS team of the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan is always one full of tension and their relationships were really tested during this book. I thought the author was actually a little unfair on Adric and whilst I'm far from being his biggest fan, I did feel that he was targeted a bit for being a child and throwing tantrums which, in my opinion, is a little exaggerated, especially by the time this novel was placed. The references to The Visitation were good and I liked how Tegan was still desperate to get home and live out her dream as an air hostess. Their relationship was quite strained at it was quite shocking to read in some instances. I thought Nyssa had a great novel and I liked how it was mentioned how she was perhaps underestimated in the TARDIS. She was brilliant and the way the Doctor admired her scientific knowledge was wonderful. The dreamscape scenes on Traken were fantastic and I really did enjoy the torment she suffered with wanting the Master separated from her father. The Doctor had stated that wasn't possible but now that the Celestial Toymaker had picked him out to separate him from Rallon. This novel really did change a lot about the Celestial Toymaker and a lengthy chunk of the novel being devoted to the younger First Doctor on Gallifrey was a real shock but a pleasant surprise. Seeing how he fared in the Academy and that he was in the esteemed Deca was interesting and I loved seeing how adventurous he was at such an early age. He stole a Type-18 TARDIS and encountered the Toymaker which I thought was superb and I liked even more that he lost Rallon and Millennia. His travels didn't start well and he was severely punished by the Time Lords but the fact that he did eventually rise to the rank of Time Lord and travelled the universe was testament to our beloved character. This story changed the way I can look at The Celestial Toymaker now as the Toymaker wasn't wholly himself and had joined with Rallon so he was dealing with a battle from within with a Time Lord which was intriguing. The Little Boy II ship was fantastic and I really thought the characters there were very good. Oakwood and Dieter stood out and the fate of the latter was quite sad. The revelation at the end of the book that members of the Deca actually included the Rani, the Master and the Monk was quite a shock and it certainly put a smile on my face. I thought the characterisation of the Fifth Doctor was very good with Peter Davison's likeness well captured on the page and I was also impressed with how well this book fitted into the era of Season 19. The Celestial Toymaker was written pretty well too and I liked the games that he devised but I did feel that there could have been more time devoted to them rather than the dreams. The resolution came a little quick but was good and it was nice to see the TARDIS play a role. The story actually went some way to bringing the TARDIS crew closer together once the Doctor was willing to sacrifice himself for their safety. I also loved that this novel set things up for The Nightmare Fair as far as the Toymaker was concerned. That was a nice little bonus. Overall., this was a fantastic little read!

Rating: 8/10