Option Lock [PROSE/1998.2.2]

★★★☆☆

  You can certainly throw a lot of adjectives towards Justin Richards' Option Lock, but it certainly wouldn't be "unambitious". This thing has a global conspiracy governed by a secret cult of interbreeding elite families, a secret space station above orbit, two instances of nuclear war scares, shades of Gothic horror, chases after chases (on foot or behind wheels, take your pick)... I don't think anyone could really level the term boring to criticise the novel. The fact that all these disparate elements get together rather nicely is something of a noteworthy achievement, and it's even more of a miracle that the reading experience is really rather easy-going and pleasant. It could easily have been a slog of a book to get through, but thankfully it isn't; it's very apparent in how it's written that Richards had a lot of fun during the writing process. That sort of passion really can't be replaced, and it's much enjoyed in this energetic adventure.

  The Eighth Doctor and Sam are, no matter how you look at it, like two inseparable pieces of an engine at this point. They complement each other so well, and it's great to see that writers have warmed up to the new companion. It might have taken some time to get the feel for her, but I got there in the end. The Doctor, meanwhile, is as witty and breathless as I've known him to be, and it's as I flipped through the pages of this book and read the Doctor as this utterly passionate and yet unquestionably alien presence that I realised just how much of a mirror this incarnation (at least in prose form) is to the Fourth Doctor. It's just a random observation, but it's good to know that a Dr. Who novel re-read can still yield new perspectives on how I see things. Option Lock's villains are a tad bit 'your everyday Dr. Who monster' mixed with late-90s/early-naughts Internet conspiracy nutter sensibilities, but they move the plot along and are entertaining enough that I really don't mind if they're a bundle of clichés. In fact, you could say this novel as a whole operates primarily on familiar sci-fi/horror tropes, but do I care? Not a bit. Option Lock is essentially popcorn fiction, an exciting and thrilling piece of work that doesn't try to be innovative or trailblazing and instead settles for being entertaining -- and when the book is as fun as it is as a Hinchcliffe-era homage mixed in with great chunks of the Roger Moore era of James Bond films, I have no problem with its status whatsoever.