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I think this is my first time participating in the Book Club. Hi everyone.
Anyway, this is a great little story told by none other than. I like how, even though it’s one of a million other riffs on the Trial, it goes for a more (to use fanfic terms) slow-paced, slice of life-ish, hurt/comfort route. The entire story is basically one long conversation between Six and Anosia, where she tries her best to help him understand what is going on while knowing he will remember none of it once he leaves the Matrix. I’m one of those people who usually does not care about the inner workings of Gallifrey, so I appreciated that Colin went for an avenue that would appeal to me (no lore or sci-fi politics dumps). I don’t remember when I first read this story, but the fact that I still remember Anosia all these years on despite still not recalling a thing about the big name Gallifreyan icons says a lot.
They share some very sweet moments together, a testament to her claim that people rarely treat her with kindness. Fans of a certain two companions will get a kick out of them being name-dropped. And, naturally, because the Trial did start with Peri, there is a nice little quote that references her (I just submitted it).
Colin’s writing style is great as always. It’s nice to be able to read his writing with the correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation we know he’d never neglect[1]. I truly wish he would have written an actual novel or novella like Tom, Sophie, Bonnie, and Frazer (yes, I know some of them had helpers, so it’s debatable how much they actually wrote). Heck, even a biography would do. I just love how he strings words together. It’s very classic.
In the books he published, his particularly amateur publisher (who I’m guessing was also the editor) had a tendency to butcher a lot of this on top of also butchering the most basic publishing expectation to actually make the text centered on the page↩︎
Read this this morning and I also really enjoyed it, I love the deeper lore stuff to do with Gallifrey, but I especially love it when those out their concepts are used for deeper character exploration (Gallifrey S1-4 my beloved), and that’s exactly what it does here.
I also think the exploration of how Gallifrey (at least in this era) deals with disability is pretty interesting, it’s obviously awful, but it makes sense for the time lords, and gives another reason for The Doctor (the neurodivergent mess that he is) wanting to leave.
Lastly it’s always really nice to see nods to other areas of the EU, and the references to big finish here with the description of The Marian Conspiracy and the mention of Charley are just fun.
I am amused by how he comes across like this sweet teddy bear of a man who has never thought a bad word in his life, but his original fiction is pretty grim (in my view) haha. I wish he’d publish more of his fiction.
It does a good job of giving context to why the Doctor chose the Hypherion III for his defense (and the reasons the submitted account deviates from the Doctor’s expectations). Nice nods for Big Finish fans too, but not done in such a way to shift the direction of the narrative.
A few others have already noted how good the writing style was. I enjoy reading the actor’s take on their own characters, especially the Doctor, and this didn’t disappoint. The Keeper was such a neat character and I loved her and Six’s interactions. I think this might be my second favorite story in the collection so far.
This was really good. I second having Colin write more Who. I love how you can go Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, this story, Terror of the Vervoids, Ultimate Foe, and The Eight Doctors[1]. I loved the references to Big Finish companions. This sweet, and somewhat sad, and added more depth to the Valeyard’s machinations and the courtroom scenes in Vervoids. We definitely have a winner here.
it’s been too long since I’ve read Eight Doctors to know whether it comes before or after (or during) Ultimate Foe ↩︎
This was a really nice story! the character of Anosia is just really nice and it is such a good brief exploration of how gallifreyan society and the matrix work here, told by just a short conversation between her and Six
