Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
By what act does someone rule? Is it through force, by common consent, by noble succession or through unworldly power and legend? It is the theme of power and how it is employed that forms the basis of the Una McCormack’s Doctor Who novel Royal Blood.
The Doctor lands on a planet where the old ways are coming to an end, they are threatened by a ruler from beyond the mountains and the lands that surround the kingdom of Varuz are desolate, dying and decaying, much like the buildings and people that live within the Kingdom. When the appearance of an Earth legend forces the Doctor’s hand and Clara is banished for her part in aiding the prospect of peace, it seems that the prize that everybody is searching for is one that is not only out of reach but also shines to brightly for people to ignore.
Royal Blood is one of those good old fashioned Doctor Who stories that pulls the reader in with subtlety and form. Yet despite the allusions to the question marks that hang over Britain’s future, the talks that urge either to stay within Europe or to pull up the drawbridge of ignorance and go it alone and the fairly obvious links to full democratic reason or to be embroiled in the safety of centuries led monarchy pomp, what comes through is the thought of a light that shines. However, it is no more than that, a light that offers little substance but like certain dogma can strip away a person’s willingness to think for themselves and in time become nothing more than a hollow shell blindly following orders.
Una McCormack does well with the narrative and whilst following a Doctor Who novel out of supposed television canon is not the easiest of tasks, especially when it alludes to situations not brought up in what many consider to be the authorative text, Royal Blood is still a good read with a twist in the narrative as seen in parts from a singular voice not of the Doctor’s or Clara’s making.
A worthy tale, one of misplaced heroism and idol worship, Royal Blood fits well into the Doctor Who world without treading too hard onto the conscious of the casual observer. An interesting read!
Ian D. Hall