This neophyte team of adventurers (they'd barely been together for a couple of months, as the book begins) are thrown into conflict with one of the Doctor's oldest foes, the Celestial Toymaker, who is busily setting up an audacious trap for his nemesis. While each of the TARDIS team has their part to play in his plan, the devilish Toymaker also drags the crew of a remote space station, a handful of innocent victims from Earth and the entire population of the planet Dymok into his cruel games.

If there's a weakness to Divided Loyalties, it lies in the very ambition that also makes it such a gripping read: as the story thunders to its climax, there are so many threads reaching their zenith that the actual conclusion is-- almost by necessity--not given quite the space it deserves. But this gripe is a minor one, as the journey to the end of the book is truly exciting. Helping the action along is Russell's incredible grip on the characters of this era. The fifth Doctor is by turns quiet and unsure, then exasperated and authoritative, just as he should be. Tegan is the right mix of brassiness and capability; Nyssa is the sensitive, intelligent one the series always made her out to be; and Adric? Well, Adric is just as annoying as he was on the small screen. But at least here Russell eventually manages to mellow him into a halfway likeable character. Perhaps the most fascinating part of the book, though, doesn't feature these characters at all. Divided Loyalties features a detour to the very beginning of the Doctor's adventures, as a young Time Lord-to-be. Here, we witness his first meeting with the Toymaker, and ... well, anything more would be spoiling it. Suffice it to say that, for this part of the book alone, Divided Loyalties is well worth a look. --David Bailey

Do not read this book.


Not worth the paper it's printed on.   August 16, 2000
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book, the latest from Gary Russell - leader of the school of recycling the worst ideas of Who - lives up to his previous offerings. It's got old monsters, old characters and a plot so tedious you'll be begging for the book to be over. Still, at least it's not a very long book so you'll not be pained by it for too long.

Russell brings the Celstial Toymaker together with the 5th Doctor. This could have been good on its own. Sure, he drops in a reference at the end to lead into the never filmed 6th Doctor Toymaker story. OK, Russell revels in his ability to take loose ends and needlessly tie them together in a convoluted web of continuity. Even then it could have been a good book. But then halfway through Russell seems to run out of story and so the middle third of the books becomes a Gallifrey runaround featuring the 1st Doctor before he left on exile.

The sort of thing reserved for the worse excesses of fan faction.

Russell decided that every single timelord we've seen in the series who knew the Doctor was at school with him, either as teacher or most likely as student. Is this supposed to be a good idea? So every single Time Lord who's caused the Doctor hassle - The Master, The Rani, Drax, The Monk, etc - were in his class at school? Utterly ridiculous. Gallifrey 90210 is not a good idea.

It's a shame to see the Amazon reviewer - David Bailey - giving such a good review to the worst Who book ever published....

Advice: Don't buy this book. Please...


An enjoyable book, even if a little awkward here and there   August 10, 2000
 1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Although my only past familiarity with the Celestial Toymaker is through what i've read about him and not through seeing him on-screen, I found this book mostly enjoyable and entertaining. From beginning to end, the plot kept me mostly interested, despite it's few flawed moments which tended to jump off the page oddly when compared with how well written and well thought out most of it is. I slightly take issue with some of the characterisations of the Doctor's regular companions at the time (bar the writing of Nyssa - excellent) which I consider to be very important. Tegan, in particular was more the stereotypical fan-loathed all-out 'mouth on legs' version, rather than what we saw on screen which whilst based on the same principle, was a bit less in-your-face. Also, throughout most of this novel Adric was an over-whiney brat which is again a much too stereotypical approach to the character. Other than this, I liked the tie in with the Doctor's past and also the very last section of the book where it comes to a conclusion and a very quirky ending... which I wont give away. On the whole, I enjoyed it and it's nice to see a 5th Doctor novel - bar a few niggly flaws. Take it on holiday with you to read on the beach.