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Unlike the Tymewyrm series, which at least had a common enemy, the first two parts of the Cat's Cradle trilogy didn't seem to have that much in common. Witch Mark continues this trend, with only the final few pages tieing up the arc. The book opens with a massive seventeen page prologue, which largely serves as an introduction to the Celtic world of Tir na n-Óg and the character of Bathsheba. Tir na n-Óg appears to be a dying world, with the humans desperately trying to hold out against the other creatures - which include centaurs, trolls and unicorns - while they try to escape to other world. This other world is Wales. More specifically, a stone circle near the village of Dinorben, where the arrival of these refugees hasn't gone unnoticed by Inspector Stevens of Scotland Yard's Paranormal Unit (a kind of early 90s British version of Fox Mulder). Not only is Stevens interested in the unidentifiable victims of a coach crash, but his interest is further piqued when two American tourists (named after the pair in An American Werewolf in London) claim to have discovered a unicorn. Witch Mark is a reasonably entertaining read, although too often it goes nowhere. For example, Bathsheba accompanies the Doctor in Tir na n-Óg, but character doesn't really do anything. There's also a bit of a reliance on the occasional plot convenience. The Doctor's party gets rescued after being captured or being attacked a little too much, while there's a lucky escape from a massacre as they leave an encampment only to return to it shortly afterwards. Initially the novel appears to be a rare - at least for the time - foray into fantasy for Doctor Who, but ultimately isn't the case. More disappointingly, the resolution appears to be very little different from the Doctor telling someone not to do it again. The resolution to the Cat's Cradle arc also comes across as something tagged onto the end of the novel, rather than something fully linking the three books. However, it's not all bad, although too often interesting ideas are thrown away rather than being developed. Even so, it's a far better first novel than those by some other Doctor Who writers who I could mention, so it's a little surprisingly that Andrew Hunt never wrote for either Virgin or the BBC again. back to the top |
CAT'S CRADLE: WITCH MARK |
