by Chlo Hickson
As I’ve got the book, I thought I’d review it before I check out the audio adaptation, which will get its own review for Wholloween, so if you haven’t read or listened to Goth Opera this is your spoiler warning.
Goth Opera is my first time reading a Missing Adventures book and by coincidence is the first Missing Adventures book that they released during the wilderness years in the 1990s. In a bit of a marketing gimmick, it was written to tie into that month’s New Adventures book Blood Harvest – I’ll get to that book later. Goth Opera serves as a sequel to Blood Harvest, well I say sequel, but it could also be seen as a prequel from the Doctor’s point of view as it happens in one of his earlier incarnations. Apparently, the Virgin New Adventures does this a lot.
What can I say, Paul Cornell has a fine touch when it comes to Doctor Who, and he’s yet to let me down in his books and his few TV stories. His stories often have an emotional side to them, look at Human Nature, Father’s Day, or Love & War. It’s something I’ve always admired when looking at this writers work as I’m usually absorbed by the shocking and heartbreaking moments. Goth Opera is actually a little lighter in this regard though, it’s definitely brutal but not without having a sweet moment or two. It’s got some great characters like Ruath a villainess Time Lady who has a past with the Doctor and Yarvin a vampire messiah.
As you would expect with Cornell, the characterisation is on point for all three regulars, and that’s probably the biggest point in its favour. Within a few pages of being with the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa I was sold on them being the characters that fans last saw in the 1980s, which is quite impressive.
I love that we’re introduced to the Doctor playing a game of cricket. I really liked the cricketing holiday in Tasmania as it was sort of like an extended Black Orchid, it honestly has some nice moments. You could also see this scene as the calm before the storm.
The fifth Doctor’s characterisation is brilliant. It’s all there: The mannerisms, speech, vulnerability and tetchiness.
When he finds out that Nyssa is a vampire we see his youthful exterior change and become old, the fifth Doctor had that great quality to him like the 11th Doctor where within a moment he’d just instantly age and Paul Cornell beautifully described this by saying the universe is resting on his shoulders. I think this is brilliant, he just becomes determined to save Nyssa with him saying I’ve already lost one companion with this incarnation and I’m not going to lose another. I can just picture Peter Davison saying this dialogue.
I do have a minor nitpick with his characterisation near the end of the book where the Doctor won’t tell Tegan his plan, this behaviour is more the 7th Doctor than the 5th. I’m not saying the other incarnations can’t be manipulative or anything of that nature and honestly, I’m in two minds about this situation. The Doctor contemplates the events of Earthshock and maybe seeing Nyssa being slowly corrupted or Tegan getting killed is too much for him, and this could be seen as a turning point for the 5th Doctor as it foreshadows how he acts in The Caves of Androzani who’d risk his own life for a stranger because of the battle of loss that has consumed him and this is what Cornell does so well. But I just felt that the Doctor was behaving a little too much like his later incarnation.
If you’re a fan of Nyssa you need this book in your life, as this book gives Nyssa the best storyline in possibly anything. Turning her into a vampire with her trying to deal and come to terms with that is just thought provoking, one of my favourite scenes is probably when she succumbs to her bloodlust and tries to attack Tegan. It’s terrifying going from sweet normal Nyssa at the beginning of the book to this vampire Nyssa in this transformation process, it’s just incredibly well done.
Nyssa being attacked was one of the creepiest and absolutely brutal and quite unsettling to read attack scenes. It’s just a really brutal and savage scene within the book, I like it, but it is an unsettling scene I will be honest.
We’re introduced to Tegan being haunted by the Mara from Snakedance. During the events of the book Tegan faces a similar situation as Nyssa where she gets attacked by a vampire that is standing right by her bed. What I like about this scene is Tegan manages to shake off Jeremy’s attempt of attacking her mind, Tegan is resistant and presents this from happening which I believe works well for her character because she is more stubborn and disagreeable compared to Nyssa. On top of this Tegan has dealt with much more powerful beings than the vampires such as the Mara who Tegan has built this wall of resistance due to this creature.
I love the respect and continuity to previous stories, even though Nyssa is depicted as having a big role within the book it doesn’t forget Tegan or the things she has faced on the show.
The Doctor and Tegan make a great team in this book, we further explore Tegan’s thoughts as she’s very reflective in this story.
A lot of questions come up about the vampires. We get the Doctor describing them as unfortunate parasites that’s inflicted onto people if they accept it or not. Not everyone who is turned into a vampire is inherently evil, there are messiahs, lords and the great ones for example that have malicious intentions.
I’m not going to cover much about the actual vampires as it’d properly spoil it if you want to read this book or listen to the adaptation that Big Finish are doing.
The portrayal of vampire culture is detailed and believable. The vampires are individualised, and some are presented in a sympathetic light.
I was fascinated by the strange and morbid arts used by the vampires. Plasma that attacks and corruptive mist that will either turn you or destroy you depending on how faith driven you are. I also enjoyed the explanation for the vampires, faith, and garlic in a Doctor Who context.
There’s some interesting lore involving Gallifrey and the Great Vampires, the history between them both is deep rooted and there are a lot of powerful connections between the two. When you look at the Time Lords they are often depicted in many ways, sometimes their way of life can be quite gothic so there are similarities between the Time Lords and vampires, if I’m honest I like this.
Cornell also fleshes out the supporting characters really well, giving each of them something that raises them beyond being one dimensional, which is saying something considering how many characters this book has.
One of the high points for me was a cameo from Romana and Glitz, and the vampires finding haemovores.
It’s a gory brutal adventure and maybe at times I thought it was a bit too much for a season 19 fifth Doctor story, but damn it was a blast of a read! This book isn’t driven by action, it’s the scenes, the questions it asks and the fantastic and very interesting characters that Paul Cornell has written. It shows such a strong level of creative writing because it lays out these important points. The plot is simple and captivating, and some scenes have shock value and adds to the fear of the situation for the characters and adding desperation as well. Cornell’s skill for characterisation is the book’s greatest asset, especially the Doctor and his companions.
What else did this book do for me? Well, I haven’t said a negative thing, is it perfect? No. But the positives completely outshine the negatives.
I’d easily recommend this to any fan of the three regulars, or of State of Decay.
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
