Doctor Who: Suns of Caresh [Paperback]

Now, when I read reviews of "The Suns of Caresh" online, I'm actually reading reviews of two different books. There's the school of thought which celebrates "Caresh" as a nifty 80-page novella, set behind a largely unmemorable 200-page trailer. But there's also the school of thought holding "Caresh" as 200 pages of an inventive science-fiction novel, let down by an 80-page coda that has little to do with the elaborate set-up.

I'm going to join the latter group, and say that "Caresh" had me right up until the page 200 mark -- or maybe page 149. I believe that, if the back-cover blurb had been redone, I would not have felt that way. The blurb really gives away the game all the way up through page 200, thus setting up the seemingly disconnected 80-page Caresh sequence. We know going in that Troy Game "is pinning her hopes on the Doctor", but she doesn't even meet him until well after the halfway point. The effect of all this is that "Saint" has given us an inventive novel with loops and twists... but it just doesn't seem that way, since we know too much before we even start.

The book I enjoyed is not even hinted at on the back. It's about an alien who falls from the sky and has to adjust to working-class England. It's also the story of "Doctor Who"'s quintessential poor shlub, Simon Haldane, a factory worker with a strong SF bent, whose fantasy comes to life when the alien moves into his bedroom. Simon believes her story and starts working with her (thanks to some nifty computer graphics that might've looked great on TV) to phone home. The Doctor and Jo are a million miles away from all this, but it's OK. Meanwhile, Simon has a problem... he's been so conditioned by the culture that all he can do is count down until the inevitable moment when the nympho alien, stranger in a strange land, will seduce him. Only that never happens, and when Simon tries to (drunkenly) force the issue...

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jo are getting involved in some Time Lord intrigue of the kind the EDAs can no longer provide. There's a renegade Gallifreyan lording his scientific advances over another exotic alien planet. There's his one-time consort, a Time Lady who (thankfully) is nothing like Iris Wildthyme. The Doctor's on a rescue mission for the Time Lords, but this time, the CIA is not involved, and there are no men in funny hats telling him what to do.

The back cover blurb, naturally, ignores both these stories, and instead leads off with three oblique mysteries, all of which are incidental to the story I just described. Meanwhile, Simon is casually tossed aside in a two-sentence parenthetical, thus giving him the PDA equivalent of Liz Shaw's departure scene in "Inferno".

"The Suns of Caresh" is evocative Pertwee, with gadgets, a sympathetically-drawn Jo Grant, and interesting TARDIS mythology. It's also, however, a victim of the six-part format that plagued stories like "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and "The Time Monster", as the shifting focus knocks the original story clear off the table and brings in something far less interesting to end the day. Why couldn't Simon travel to Caresh? Why is Masada mentioned on the blurb when we leave that locale for good on page 13? When the Epilogue causes all of the story's Earthbound catastrophes to unhappen, why isn't Simon brought back?

Anyway, these are first-novel excessives compounded by an editorial blunder. "Caresh" is endlessly inventive and fairly readable. Let's let this Saint pseudonym loose on the UNIT gang and see if we can't turn out anything better than "Eye of the Giant" or "Amorality Tale".

I generally start reading about 4-5 sci-fi books a week. On average I may finish about 1 or 2 of them and decide to keep just one. I judge my Doctor Who novels differently from how I judge my general sci-fi novels. My sci-fi novels must be at least 8-9 out 10 on the quality meter before I keep them, or in some cases before I'll even bother to finish reading them. Years ago I discovered that most Doctor Who books don't reach this level, but since I'm a big fan even a mediocre Doctor Who book is relatively enjoyable. For this reason, Doctor Who books only have to be 6-7/10 before I'll keep them.

What is so surprising about Suns Of Caresh is that it holds it's own even against general sci-fi books. I'd rate it a 9 overall. It's good enough to keep even if it wasn't a Doctor Who book. A VERY rare commodity.

Pertwee is the Doctor from my childhood and Jo has always been among my favourite companions, so I was determined to like this book. Surprisingly I decided I loved the book by about page 20. The Doctor and Jo had only been in about 2-3 pages by then. In fact, it's at least page 70 or after before they really enter the plot.

This book made me realise what has been missing from the majority of the BBC novels, both PDA and EDA. A sense of mystery! A fascination with the plot! Interesting questions raised early on that keep the reader wanting to read more and more. I found myself exhibiting quite unusual behaviour whilst reading this book. Every time I put it down, I was loathe to pick it up again (in fact I started and finished 2-3 other books during the time I took to read Suns Of Caresh). This wasn't because I disliked the book, but because I did like it! I realised I wanted to make the experience of enjoying (not just reading, but pondering over and thinking about) the novel last as long as I could.

My three favourite science fiction themes are time travel, parallel worlds and first contact. This novel explores the third theme from the point of view of the alien, and does a damn fine job of it!!

Easily one of the best Doctor Who books yet written!