Product Description

Compassion has finally been tracked down by the Time Lords and two TARDISes are moving in to attack and disable here. She disgorges the Doctor and Fitz in a dark, mysterious, Gallifreyan location, where they are attacked by a gigantic spider, that only the Doctor can see.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #330460 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Vanessa Bishop, Doctor Who Magazine, July 2000
Essential... A surprising success, achieving in one volume what the Interference arc failed to deliver in five... Destined to be a novel both loved and loathed.

Richard McGinlay, DreamWatch magazine, July 2000
The lasting impression left by this book is that of a genuinely stunning instalment in Who fiction... some astonishing and spectacular revelations.

From the Author
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment on "The Ancestor Cell" here in the amazon.co.uk reviews.

SFX Magazine readers voted the novel one of their Top Ten TV Tie-Ins of 2000 (two other Who novels also appeared in the list--The Burning and Festival of Death).

Although amazon.co.uk suggests otherwise, the book was co-written by me and Stephen Cole.

Customer Reviews

satisfyingly epic conclusion to a patchy series
Stephen Cole was a bold BBC Books editor. He rescued the BBC Books range from its dreadful start, and, by judicious use of real talent such as Lawrence Miles, Kate Orman and finally Paul Cornell, ensured that something actually happened in this range of Dr Who books that was a little more than your standard monster of the week runaround.

With this book, Cole ties up a long series of wandering plot lines and supplies an epic conclusion. Cole and Angelhides may not be the series' best authors, but this is considerably better than Cole's previous book (the completely unmemorable Parallel 59).

It has a great plot, a ripping sense of pace, and An Awful Lot Happens.

This is one of those books that is very consciously Epic. There are genuine twists, a few real surprises, and some great use of other people's characters.

The writing itself is disappointingly lacking in humour or flavour (Cole's Romana is nowhere near as good as Paul Cornell's, and Fitz is as annoying as ever), but for once this doesn't actually matter much.

The plot, the events, and the sheer, gobsmacking sense of style override the flat prose and stale characters. This is a completely gripping and deeply fascinating book, and, above all, a great idea.

If you've steered clear of the BBC Books (and, frankly, that's often no bad thing), then read Alien Bodies, Unnatural History, Interference, Shadows of Avalon, and this. They'll make you proud to be a Doctor Who fan.

Hang on tight!
This book is a true epic. I could not put the book down and finally finished it in bed at 4:00am one morning. Think I could sleep after that! No chance! Not only resolving the prevous story arc this one sets up the next. However will events in this book make it difficult for any future series? This book is a credit to the fans, the series and not least to the authors. The future of Doctor Who has only rarely been as eagerly anticipated as it is now.

Thank goodness its over
I was sorely disappointed with this book, the first half is unremittingly dull. In the second half, the action starts to pick up but storyline alone is not an excuse for poor characterisation. Only Fitz is really given any definition and he is still wasted for several chapters. The other characters are unrecognizable from their dialogue or actions, their names are familiar but they are not.

The story telling is merely functional, it does not enthrall or captivate the reader. Much of this book has the feel of a detailed script, dialogue and events are simply written down with no sense of empathy or drama. The Doctor's decision to destroy so much rather than become what he fears is about the worst I have ever read. It is totally out of character. The Doctor was always willing to risk himself for others, not sacrifice them to save himself.

I enjoyed this storyline when it was first begun in "Alien Bodies" and "Unnatural History" but it was dragged out far too much with the apochryphal "Interference". I am sad to say that the best thing about this book is that it finally closes a very bad chapter Dr Who history.