Product Description

A fireball crash lands in the forests of the Ukraine and when the locals investigate, they find what appears to be a metal coffin at the center of the devastation. They superstitiously conclude that the casket contains the body of an angel sent to Earth to give hope to the people. Centuries later the Doctor and his companions find themselves trapped in Kiev, 1240 -- a city under attack by the Mongols. They are enforced guests of the governor, Dmitri, whose assistant Yehven believes that if the coffin is desecrated, then "all who threaten us will be destroyed". When the coffin is opened by a group of men, a terrifying, skull-faced creature is freed, and kills a member of the group before fleeing. A spate of violent deaths ensue -- but this creature certainly isn't killing indiscriminately. How is this creature choosing its victims? Where has it come from -- and most importantly, can the Doctor do anything to halt its murderous trail of destruction?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374834 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

The best Hartnell novel yet published
Fans of the First Doctor will love this-a splendid, spanking read mixing history and SF plot ingredients to make a satisfying whole.

The story is sound, and while yes I agree with another reviewer on this page that Steven is perhaps a little blandly characterised, the Doctor comes wholly to the fore. One can just imagine Hartnell giving it his all! This is the best 1st Dr novel yet published. Better even than The Plotters or The Witch Hunters. Buy It!!!!

A Welcome Return For Martin Day To 'Who' Fiction
The First Doctor and his companions find themselves trapped within the city of Kiev, shortly before it is besieged by the Mongol Empire in 1240. As if that wasn't bad enough, the citizens of Kiev start suffering from a mysterious plague shortly after their saviour, a 'dark angel' that fell from the skies centuries earlier, is awakened.

This is a thoroughly entertaining novel set during a period of history I knew very little about, so I ended up learning as I was reading - always an added bonus whilst reading.

The majority of the story is written from the perspective of the Doctor's companion, Steven Taylor, which is another point in the novel's favour, as first-person narrative always goes down well with me. One thing that I found odd was that, although we're privy to Steven's thoughts, we don't actually find out anything about him. 'Who' fans will know that he's a space pilot from Earth's future, but he could just as well be a binman from the twentieth-century, his character is so lacking in this book. But that's a minor grumble at best.

Fans of the Doctor's historical adventures should not be disappointed with this novel despite the rather jarring scenes with the eponymous alien 'bunker soldier' which the city's inhabitants view as their guardian angel against the Mongol hordes. A welcome addition to the 'Past Doctors Adventures' range.

Thankfully Better Than The Menagerie...
Bunker Soliders is written by Martin Day, who produced the worst Missing Adventure for Virgin Publishing 'The Menagerie' and so I was apprehensive to say the least about this one.

It's considerably better than his previous solo effort, but the book is still severely flawed. Having the book narrated by Steven is actually a refreshing change, but the character is bland and although Day tries hard to make him interesting, he's fighting a loosing battle. After the excellent use of this TARDIS team in Steve Lyons 'Salvation' Day's use of Dodo is not good. She doesn't really seem like much of a character here, and he fails to build on the character that Lyons built for her in his book. The best character here is the Doctor, and here Martin Day has succeeded spectacularly. This is the Doctor as William Hartnell played him, and the scenes involving the Doctor were the best within this novel.

The most significant fault of the book though, is although the plot is interesting with good ideas, the execution is not good. Very little appears to happen within the first hundred and eighty pages or so, apart from explaining the frustrations of the TARDIS crew as to their situation. When Day does begin advancing the plot the book picks up well and the last hundred pages are a joy.

There are a lot of First Doctor books better than this one (notably Salvation and the Plotters) but this book would have been a lot better with better characterisation for Steven and Dodo and with better pacing. Martin Day manages to capture the first Doctor perfectly, and has produced a good last hundred pages and these features are the books redeeming qualities.