The Algebra of Ice (novel)
The Algebra of Ice was the sixty-sixth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Lloyd Rose, released 6 November 2004 and featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
This is the first Past Doctor Adventures novel to feature this line up of Doctor, companion and Lethbridge-Stewart.
Publisher's summary
A genius maths nerd, a weird webzine publisher, and the Doctor's old ally, the Brigadier, find themselves helping the Doctor and Ace solve what should be a simple puzzle: the appearance of a crop circle in the Kentish countryside.
Hardly uncommon. But there are some peculiar features. It's not a circle but a series of square-sided shapes. It's filled with ice. And it draws the Doctor and Ace into a confrontation with a reality right next to zero.
Plot
to be added
Characters
- Seventh Doctor
- Ace
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
- Ethan Amberglass
- Adrian Molecross
- Clisby
- Patrick Unwin
- Sheridan Brett
- Sergeant Ramsey
- Jessica Tilbrook
Worldbuilding
- Paul Erdős is considered to be "the last of the great abstract thinkers".
Foods and beverages
- The Doctor drinks orange juice and serves buttered toast and honey to Ace and Ethan for breakfast.
- Ace drinks hot chocolate. She also likes beer and gets drunk here.
- The Brigadier starts the day with coffee.
- The food machine makes Bourneville Fruit and Nut bars on demand.
Notes
- This novel had an illustrated preview in DWM 347. It was illustrated by Daryl Joyce.
Continuity
- The Doctor recalls destroying Skaro, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) but also mentions he hasn't destroyed his own homeworld. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell, TV: The End of Time)
- The Brigadier is familiar with Seventh Doctor and Ace is familiar with the Brigadier. Ace refers to UNIT taking unnamed individuals to a secret prison and she presumes they are still there, a likely reference to Morgaine and Mordred. (TV: Battlefield) Ace also mentions Fenric. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
- These details place this novel during or after 1997. (PROSE: The Dying Days)
- Visiting Ethan Amberglass whilst in hospital, the Doctor mentions that he has just visited both his own mind and the Moon. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
- Earlier in his personal timeline, the Seventh Doctor visited Pompeii on 23 August 79 AD in the company of Melanie Bush (AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan) and would later do so again in his tenth incarnation in the company of Donna Noble. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)
- The Doctor mentions the destruction of the Earth in an alternative universe. (TV: Inferno)
External links
- The Algebra of Ice at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Algebra of Ice at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: The Algebra of Ice
