Doctor Who: Byzantium! (Mass Market Paperback)

After a rather neat prologue which continues to establish the development of Ian and Barbara's relationship after their departure from the TARDIS, the tone of Byzantium! is set immediately with a vivid, if rather gruesome, description of a crucifixion. Anyone expecting a 'romp' in the style of The Romans will be disappointed as Byzantium! is a historical that deals with serious issues revolving around the growth of a new religion and the attempts of the Romans to stop it spreading, but the subtle humour that featured in Topping's The King Of Terror is still there, albeit not as predominant. Byzantium is a city suffering from the turmoil of upheaval and change and into this come the travellers from the TARDIS and with historian Barbara expecting the pomp and majesty of the Roman Empire she is in for quite the shock.

There are a number of parallels with The Romans in the way that the TARDIS team is split early on, and in some of the aspects of the story itself, such as Ian, rather than Barbara, being lusted after by the Roman Antonia. Dividing the Doctor and his companions is a well used tactic in Doctor Who stories, but Topping uses it well to examine the situation in Byzantium from four different viewpoints. The Doctor finds himself with the Christians, Ian with the Romans, Barbara with the Jews and Vicki with the Greeks. This allows the narrative to flow quickly and also by using each of the characters as a way of interpreting the events and the differing factions.

Topping really characterises the First Doctor well here, capturing William Hartnell's magnificent performances well by getting the balance between the humour of the character and his cantankerous nature just about right, demonstrated by the way that he berates Barbara for her expectations of what the Roman Empire will be like contrasted wonderfully by his reaction later in the novel when he realises that his companions aren't dead after all. Some of the best Doctor scenes though are the ones where he believes his TARDIS to be lost to him after it's disappearance and he contemplates life on Earth alone without his home or his friends. Those scenes in particular are some of the novel's finest.

Topping takes great care to ensure that Ian and Barbara speak using phrases that people from the 1960's would use and this gives their characters a quality of authenticity that is occasionally lacking from their characterisation in other novels featuring them. Topping's characterisation of these well loved characters is very good, although on occasion, particularly with Ian, he says something that doesn't sound like something you'd expect Ian to say, although given the circumstances Ian finds himself throughout most of the novel then it is actually quite appropriate for him to act slightly out of character as a result of the sense of loss that he feels.

Possibly the best use of the companions though is Vicki. Making only her third appearance in print (the first two being the Missing Adventures The Plotters and The Empire Of Glass) and her BBC PDA debut, Keith Topping really uses her character well, building her up to something more than was seen on television as she views the darker side of Byzantium through her young eyes.

Topping's writing has improved since his last solo novel, and this really shows through the writing. Whereas his previous one The King Of Terror was an enjoyable novel, Byzantium! manages to be much more with richer characterisation and doesn't pull any of it's punches. One of the most rewarding things about Byzantium! is that it is a purely historical story (in the sense that there isn't an ancient alien power lurking anyway or manipulating events) and this type of story works superbly well in the context of Doctor Who fiction (David A. McIntee's New Adventure Sanctuary being the best example of this in action) but which seems to be a sadly underused concept in practice. Topping demonstrates the excellent potential of the genre within Doctor Who here with a well written, highly enjoyable novel which gets a strong recommendation.