| THE ADVENTURESS OF HENRIETTA STREET by Lawrence Miles |
| Story 50 Synopsis: The Doctor arrives in London, 1782, and takes up residence in a bordello on Henrietta Street. The Earth is threatened by babewyns, ape-like creatures from another dimension. To help combat their threat, the Doctor decides to marry Juliette, who works at the bordello, and become Earth's Champion (I think). Various occult and non-occult parties are invited to the wedding, as all hands will be needed on deck in the final showdown. Fitz and Anji are brought to the bordello, and finally, the TARDIS. The Doctor is dying. No, really this time. Juliette leaves the bordello, to join a mysterious man called Sabbath. So, Scarlette, who runs the bordello, volunteers to marry the Doctor instead. This they do, but the Doctor is now at death's door. Sabbath solves the problem, by removing one of the Doctor's two hearts. Perking up slightly, the Doctor stops the babewyns, but Scarlette dies. Except she doesn't. The Doctor, Fitz and Anji leave, by which time it's 1783. |
| Review:- Having had Faction Paradox ripped away from him, Lawrence decides to return to even earlier success. The late-18th Century setting of Christmas On A Rational Planet is given another spin, this time from England. This is possibly the biggest book in years. It is an improvement on Interference, and clears any doubts about Lawrence Miles' ability. The feeling that this book gave me, was that Why can't the books be like this every month? So much happens, that you'll wonder how it all fits in. I must point out that after reading the book, I read reviews on Outpost Gallifrey. That was where I began to understand the current state of play. The Time Lords are gone, and may never have existed. The Doctor is 1 of 4 remaining in the whole Universe. He is an anomaly, for want of a word other than paradox. His 2nd heart is a Time Lord link that has been killing him since the destruction of Gallifrey. So it needs removing. How Sabbath does this, I couldn't tell you, even if I wanted to. Interestingly, one of the groups whom the Doctor invites to his wedding are referred to as "Family". Perhaps this is me not seeing the wood for the trees, but I thought for a very long time that this would be the Family, from The Death Of Art. No, I did. Well, I thought they had abilities to bring to the affray. That it means the Doctor's actual Family is so obvious, it just never occurred to me. In fact, the person who turns up is none other than Koschei, that is, the Master. To further compound my delusion, I did wonder if this mysterious unshaven character would be Braxiatel, un-named because of his non-BBC affiliation (so to speak). He having survived seemed to allude to the fact that he was away from Gallifrey when the ship went down. This is the trouble with trying to second-guess things before they are explained - if you are wrong, boy, you're miles out! There are many shocks in this book. Whether it is the opening scene-seeting prologue, featuring an actual sex scene, or the fact that the Doctor is now sporting a beard, or the fact that the Doctor gets married, Lawrence never fails to intrigue. I enjoyed this book very much, and am curious as to what comes next. So I think we'll call that a success. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book. |
| Further Comments:- This story was originally known as The Napoleon Of Beasts. Given the story that happens, I'm not altogether impressed with the change. It does make a subtle change in emphasis, from a bad character to a good one. Unless there was a danger that some would think that the Doctor is the title character. Also, this title was changed to the Adventures Of Henrietta Street. Okay, a misprint, but Lawrence seemed to suggest that it was obviously wrong, saying something along the lines of "I don't think a street could have adventures!" Of course, Street is a common enough surname, and Henrietta a feasible first name, so why he should make this claim is a mystery... |