Review: Engines of War by George Mann

This book focuses on the War Doctor, that mysterious older Doctor who protested about the name and was played by John Hurt on TV. From his perspective it is set shortly before The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary special. The Time War is raging on as the Doctor accidentally rescues human refugee Cinder. The pair discover the daleks have a devastating new weapon that could wipe out Gallifrey. He tells the Time Lords of the discovery but their solution involves genocide of the local human population. Can the Doctor save the humans and prevent the daleks from destroying Gallifrey?

This starts rather slowly and generically as it essentially tells of how the Doctor meets Cinder. Cinder is a great companion, made tough by the Time War but discovering a better life with the Doctor. She fitted the companion role really well and it was a good tactic to see this little explored Doctor through her eyes. 

The second act of the book is the best one, as the Doctor goes to Gallifrey. I don't think I've ever read a Doctor Who book as stepped in continuity as this one. It follows on from the Fourth Doctor Gallifrey based adventures and quite a lot of time is spent in the Death Zone from The Five Doctors. There's also a reference to that climactic scene in Genesis of the Daleks ("do I have the right?") and of course it serves as a prelude to The Day of the Doctor. Not only that though is it sets up The End of Time really well too, how the Time Lords became the Doctor's enemy. Whilst the daleks are great monsters their lack of personality makes them limited for story-telling, especially when you can't see them like you can on TV. So what Mann does is make the Time Lords the main enemy with the daleks an additional threat. For me it worked perfectly, acting as the perfect bridge between the Time Lord stories of the classic series to The End of Time. 

It would have been nice to see how the War Doctor differs from the other Doctors a little more. There are moments when he does things the others just wouldn't but they are few and far between. I would probably let this go if it was addressed in a future novel but for me his character was just too Doctor-ish for the "one who broke the promise". 

Overall though a really enjoyable book from George Mann, a fitting debut in novel form for the War Doctor. My only hope now is that he gets some more!