BBC Books: Time Lord Victorious - All Flesh is Grass Review

The cover for "All Flesh is Grass", designed by Lee Binding.

Written by Una McCormack.

WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR "ALL FLESH IS GRASS" AND A NUMBER OF OTHER TIME LORD VICTORIOUS STORIES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

All throughout Time Lord Victorious, events have been building towards a big end. We've seen the Eighth Doctor ally himself with the Daleks in the Big Finish audios "He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not" and "The Enemy of My Enemy", we've seen the Ninth Doctor come to an uneasy truce with the Great Vampires in the Doctor Who Magazine comic "Monstrous Beauty", and we've seen the Tenth Doctor turn to the dark side in the BBC novel "The Knight, the Fool and the Dead", as well as a number of other stories and releases like "Defender of the Daleks", "Master Thief/Lesser Evils" and the Daleks animated spin-off building up the world and the universe of Time Lord Victorious. And, now, finally, we get the pay off to everything that has been set up with "All Flesh is Grass", the second and final of BBC Books' contributions to Time Lord Victorious. Bringing three Doctors, a whole host of old foes and (most of) the wider story elements at play to a grand climax, this very much functions as a grand conclusion and series finale to the multi-platform event. And, despite the huge weight of expectations that were weighed against it, "All Flesh and Grass" is a phenomenal story, that takes the cliff-hanger ending of "The Knight, the Fool and the Dead", and runs with it, weaving a complicated story that brings all the different strands of the arc, and ties them up in a satisfying way, while at the same time providing a number of exciting twists and turns.

A promotional poster depicting the Eighth
Doctor, as played by Paul McGann, for
Time Lord Victorious.

After another intriguing prologue, the book launches straight into following on from the end of "The Knight, the Fool and the Dead", with the Eighth and Ninth Doctors confronting the Tenth Doctor, just as he is about to wipe out the Kotturuh forever. First and foremost, I have to sing the praises of writer Una McCormack, as she has captured three very different incarnations of the Doctor with such skill. The Tenth Doctor sounds just like David Tennant, the Ninth Doctor sounds just like Christopher Ecccleston, and the Eighth Doctor sounds just like Paul McGann. It's easy to imagine the actors saying these lines, and they have such a great chemistry between them, that flies off the page. McCormack has a clear understanding of each Doctor's role in events, and the path that each Doctor would believe was the right one. The Tenth Doctor believes he is justified in destroying the Kotturuh, the Ninth Doctor is appalled and actively fights to save them, and the Eighth Doctor gets himself mixed in the middle, trying to see all points of view and bring the other two Doctors together. Each role plays to each Doctor's strengths, and all of them get an equal opportunity to shine, something that can often get overlooked in these multi-Doctor team ups. Of course, because of the nature of the story, the Tenth Doctor is the one that gets the lion's share of the development, but never at the exclusion of the other Doctors. The Eighth Doctor must face the consequences of having brought the Daleks to the Dark Times in the first place, while the Ninth Doctor finds himself having to deal with the inevitable extinction of another species, so soon after losing the Time Lords in the Time War. However, the Tenth Doctor is the one who destroys the Kotturuh, and, as a result, finds himself on the run, trying to avoid facing up to what he has done. Due to the emotionally fragile state this Doctor is in after the events of "The Waters of Mars" and "The Knight, the Fool and the Dead", his actions are completely off-kilter with the way even his Doctor normally acts, and that's where the meat of the interesting material lies. Even towards the end of the story, the Doctor still believes that he is in the right, and it is only really his meeting with Inyit, the last of the Koturruh, that begins to change his mind. This story really explores the effects of taking action against someone because of their actions, much more so than any other Doctor Who story I can think of. Through the different Doctors, we see the different approaches to the choice, and it's where I start to feel like the choice of Doctors to play a central part in Time Lord Victorious really becomes clear. After all, they could have simply chosen any Doctors to be a part of this arc, but this story really shows that some clear thought has been put into which Doctors fit best into the storyline. The Doctors all examine this choice in different ways, and these are ways that feel perfectly natural with what we've established about these Doctors before, while still taking them in new directions. Unlike the first book, this has less of it's own 'plot' so to speak: rather, it's just exploring the consequences of the Doctor's actions in the first book, and the events spiral out from there. With an event release like this, this is often the best approach, as a collision of characters like this, with the backdrop of everything that has gone before, is really the best approach. There doesn't need anything else to make it work, and Una McCormack takes full advantage of all the pieces that have already been set up, without feeling the need to artificially add storylines that aren't required.

A promotional poster depicting the Ninth
Doctor, as played by Christopher Eccleston, for
Time Lord Victorious.

Of course, this story doesn't just feature three different versions of the Doctor. There are a whole host of other characters who have been a part of Time Lord Victorious who's arcs come to a head here as well. Brian the Ood, the various Dalek Time Squad personalities, the Great Vampires and the Kotturuh all feature, and all of them influence the end of the story in a number of ways that will surprise and intrigue. Still the best thing to come out of Time Lord Victorious is Brian, the Ood Assassin, who continues to be the reticent ally of the Tenth Doctor here. I think the way Time Lord Victorious has used this character has been fantastic, and they have created one of Doctor Who's most memorable supporting characters in Brian. Throughout all of this, it has been clear that Brian has been working to his own agenda, and that continues into "All Flesh is Grass", despite the fact that, for the majority of the novel's length, his and the Doctors' various agendas dovetail together. However, Una McCormack makes it absolutely clear that Brian is doing this purely to survive, and he believes that the Doctor is his best chance to make it out alive. This is reinforced beautifully by the scenes where Brian remains behind on the Dalek time ship, and contemplates betraying the Doctor to the Daleks. It's clear that Brian only works for himself, and this story never forgets that. Even his final scene reinforces this, although it is a shame that it seems to be closing off his story for the time being, as he was very much a character who I was hoping would return in the future. Of course, the door is still open, but "All Flesh is Grass" does bring his story to a conclusion, at least. The various Dalek Time Squad characters also reappear here, although their individual personalities aren't quite as defined as they have been in previous stories. Out of the lot of them, the Strategist once again shines, as his more malevolent tendencies shine through, and he lets his mask slip a lot more. I love how the Eighth Doctor slowly comes to the realisation that this is just another Dalek, and any goodness it may have had was merely an affectation designed to gain his trust. Sure, he plays off the fact lightly, but its clear that he was still hopeful this Dalek was, at least, different. As for the Kotturuh, well, they're not as involved in events as in "The Knight, the Fool and the Dead", but their shadow looms large over the story, and we get to meet perhaps the most interesting individual member of their race thus far. Inyit, the Last of the Kotturuh, is introduced in a prologue showing what we believe is the Kotturuh's first judgment, and how it went so badly wrong. Her place in the Kotturuh's ranks is fascinating, as she is the Kotturuh who broke ranks and decided to try to fix the destruction they had caused. I love that this story moves away from the Lovecraftian horror of their appearance in "The Knight, the Fool and the Dead", and shows a much more personal side to the race. Like the Big Finish Short Trip "Lesser Evils", we see a very different side to the Kotturuh, and, while this feels like a perfect end for their story, I wouldn't be adverse to seeing them used in the future. Finally, while the Vampires are a little put to the side, we do get some wonderful moments with Madam Ikalla, a Vampire Lord who ends up becoming the Ninth Doctor's temporary companion. She makes for a fascinating contrast with Rose, and she ends up becoming one of the more interesting characters of Time Lord Victorious as a result.

A promotional poster depicting the Tenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant, for Time Lord Victorious.

Overall, "All Flesh is Grass" is almost certainly the best thing to come out of Time Lord Victorious. This book is one of the most daring, most original and most ground-breaking Doctor Who stories of recent times, and the team behind it should be incredibly proud. Taking such an arresting central image as three Doctors going to war with each other, and running far beyond anything you could ever have expected with such an idea, this novel really pushes new ground as far as Doctor Who is concerned, and takes the franchise to places I had hoped it would go for quite some time. This is, without question, one of the finest bits of Doctor Who to come out this year, along with "Spyfall" on the TV and "Out of Time" and "The Eighth Doctor: Time War Volume 4" on audio, and pushes the boundaries as far as they will go and then some. I loved "All Flesh is Grass", and that CANNOT be overstated enough.

"All Flesh is Grass" is available from Waterstones Online, as well as book stores and other online retailers:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/doctor-who-all-flesh-is-grass/9781785946332

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