The Empire Of Glass - Andy Lane

It's the 1600's and the Tardis touches down in Venice. The Doctor, Steven and Vicki find soon find themselves invariably enmeshed in strange goings on.

The Empire of Glass is a fun book. Not a great one, but really enjoyable. The plot (of an intergalactic weapons treaty) is one that easily could have become bogged down, fortunately Lane completely ignores it and uses it only as a vehicle to shoehorn Shakespeare (British Spy), Marlowe (Assumed Dead) and Gallileo (Drunkard) into a run around while the two main alien species involved are both intriguing, and both treacherous.

Two tiny little niggles with the book. One, it's utterly impossible to imagine the Sontarans and the Rutans sitting down together for any reason, let alone to ban weapons of mass destruction, and secondly the ever so slight implication that Steven harbours homosexual feelings for Kit Marlowe, which, while I'm not against having a homosexual companion, it doesn't do to subvert an existing character, and certainly not Steven. But as I say, the implication is slight at best and probably unintentional. These in no way affect the enjoyment of reading the book.

The plot is quite absurd, but dealt with so matter of factly that it's quite impossible to ridicule. Cardinal Braxiatel wants to solve the Universe's problems. So he invites the Doctor to chair his weapons treaty held on a giant artificial island near Venice. Inevitably he gets the wrong man who does a better job, while the Doctor and Steven try and work out whats happening. Vicki gets kidnapped by an amorous flying alien.

The ending feels slightly superfluous, as the scene abruptly changes to England and the court of James I, but again, it's fun as the Doctor and Vicki improvise their way through MacBeth, the only problem lies with reading The Empire of Glass and The Plotters back to back as I did, as they are contradictory (Plotters, written after Empire, set before) results in King James failing to recognise the two Time Travellers despite only having just said goodbye to them in his timeline. Trying to reconcile the problem is rather futile and it's bext to leave a gap between reading both excellent novels so as to minimise the continuity jar.

7/10

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Christopher Bulis

Christopher Bulis has an atrocious reputation in Who fiction, however, having now read his two first Doctor books - City at the End of the World and Sorcerer's Apprentice, it certainly is not a reputation that applies here.

Sorcerer's Apprentice shines.

In all the attempts to overlay a fantasy world on the science fiction of Doctor Who, I don't think any attempt has been as successful as this novel, and yes I include The Mind Robber in that. Bulis really goes to town here, reveling in every cliche and having so much fun it's impossible not to be carried along with him. Of the basic Doctor Who story templates, Bulis chooses "The Search", but with his palette, he keeps it fresh and accessible. the only slight niggle is Barbara being sidelined by being not allowed to travel with the main party, she doesn't get much to do, it's unfortunate but the rest of the book more than makes up for it. At the other end of the scale, The Doctor and Ian really shine, as do the support characters who are fully realised and jump off the page.

The tension and pace is kept up throughout and builds to a nailbiting and satisfying finale that feels appropriate to what went before, even if the twist can be seen a mile off.

Bulis has written a lightweight book, it's frothy, it doesn't deal with any major issues, yet it's unbelievably fun and you really care about the characters, and as such stands head and shoulders above many Who novels that purport to deal with weightier issues and get dragged down by them. One of the best 1st Doctor novels, and a strong contender for the top ten MA's.

9 out of 10.