The Book of the War (novel)
The Book of the War is the first of a series of books in the Faction Paradox series, a non-BBC spin-off of Doctor Who based upon a series of audio dramas; characters from Faction Paradox also appeared in several BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels.
Publisher's summary
Immovable. Implacable. Unchanging. Old enough to pass themselves off as immortal, arrogant enough to claim ultimate authority over the Spiral Politic.
Not so much an army as a hostile new kind of history. So ambitious it can re-write worlds, so complex that even calling it by its name seems to underestimate it.
Renegades, ritualists, saboteurs and subterfugers, the criminal-cult to end all criminal-cults, happy to be caught in the crossfire and ready to take whatever's needed from the wreckage... assuming the other powers leave behind a universe that's habitable.
A fifty-year-old dispute over the two most valuable territories in existence: "cause" and "effect."
Marking the first five decades of the conflict, THE BOOK OF THE WAR is an A to Z of a self-contained continuum and a complete guide to the Spiral Politic, from the beginning of recordable time to the fall of humanity. Part story, part history and part puzzle-box, this is a chronicle of protocol and paranoia in a War where the historians win as many battles as the soldiers and the greatest victory of all is to hold on to your own past...
Notes
- Although purporting to be an encyclopaedia of the first fifty years of the War in Heaven, The Book of the War offers mostly original information rather than summaries of established events. It should then be understood as a work of fiction in its own right, something somewhere between an anthology and a collaborative novel.
- Its narrator is unreliable, at times unaware of details from other sources which might cast a different light on the events related, and so information offered as 'fact' in the book should not be uncritically accepted as such. Despite this, and despite the Doctor's actions in The Ancestor Cell preventing many of the events it describes from ever occurring, The Book of the War offers the closest and most detailed look so far at a Time War in progress.
- Lance Parkin submitted an entry for the book which would have told the story of Mr Saldaamir, a character who appeared in many Doctor Who novels written by Parkin. Miles removed this section from the final draft of the book, leaving only an apology sentence in the first pages of the book.
References
- Anvil Stars
- Beshielach
- Ghost clusters
- Grandfather Halfling
- Gravity spider
- House Military
- Redemption Cult
- War King
- Yssgaroth
- Umbaste
- Entarodora
- Carmen Yeh
- Cwejen
Continuity
- As a history book from a series not officially sanctioned by the BBC some names have been changed to protect the innocent (and the guilty). Thus the Time Lords became "Great Houses", TARDISes "Timeships" and so forth. Also the War King is strongly implied to be the Master.
- Events from the Second War in Heaven arc in the EDAs are mentioned, in particular the "hunt for Compassion" as well as the Celestis.
External links
- The Book of the War at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Reading guide to how to read The Book of the War and which order to read entries (via Internet Archive: Wayback Machine)
