The Domino Effect
by David Bishop
Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures (62), Doctor Who {non-TV} (Novels — EDA Novel)
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Description
An Eighth Doctor novel with Fitz and Anji. In France, 1819, two English tourists are befriended and murdered by a mysterious individual. The dead men are identified as Charles Babbage and John Hershel. Together they would have developed ideas for a steam engine that could execute calculations. Babbage would have spent twelve year trying to build the first ancestor of the computer, which he called the Difference Engine... In America, 1890, a judge is bribed at a competition to chose a new show more scheme to speed up tabulation of the census. A patent binary system involving punch cards is passed over in favour of a less effective manual process. As a result, the patent is never developed into a working business, which would have been called the tabulation machine company. In 1924, that company would have become IBM... In England, 1937, Alan Turing tries to have a revolutionary paper publishing postulating ideas for a universal machine. He is arrested by intelligence agents... The Doctor, Fitz and Anji arrive in a 2003 unlike any they expected. The British Empire is flourishing, terrorism is rife, and, strangest of all, the computer hasn't been invented. This is no accident of time - but what show lessTags
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Member Reviews
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-domino-effect-by-david-bishop/
I’m not wild in general about the sequence of Eighth Doctor books that I am currently reading, but this one hit the spot for me. The Doctor, Fitz and Anji land in Edinburgh in 2003, but in a timeline where computers were never invented and Britain is ruled by a fascist, racist regime. Inevitably they are accused of terrorism, fall in with the real terrorists, and then end up in the Tower of London trying to unravel the sleeve of history without setting off a domino effect of time destruction. There’s some graphic violence, and some very twisty plot twists at the end (and inevitably Sabbath turns up, does nothing very much and then leaves again), but I liked it more show more than some of these. show less
I’m not wild in general about the sequence of Eighth Doctor books that I am currently reading, but this one hit the spot for me. The Doctor, Fitz and Anji land in Edinburgh in 2003, but in a timeline where computers were never invented and Britain is ruled by a fascist, racist regime. Inevitably they are accused of terrorism, fall in with the real terrorists, and then end up in the Tower of London trying to unravel the sleeve of history without setting off a domino effect of time destruction. There’s some graphic violence, and some very twisty plot twists at the end (and inevitably Sabbath turns up, does nothing very much and then leaves again), but I liked it more show more than some of these. show less
Some folks give this book a hard time - and it is a slight step out of the ordinary for the EDAs. More of a speculative fiction novel than science fiction (except for the last 25 pages) - the TARDIS crew enter a London theocracy where torture and lack of due process are the rule in a society made to fear terrorists at every turn. If that doesn't sound like timely and familiar commentary to you - maybe you haven't been paying attention to western politics circa 2000-'08.
Fitz spends the book being beaten up.
Fitz spends the book being beaten up.
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Author Information
62+ Works 1,357 Members
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Domino Effect
- Original publication date
- 2003-02-02
- People/Characters
- The Doctor (8th); Fitz Kreiner; Anji Kapoor; Trix MacMillan; Sabbath; Alan Turing (show all 30); Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Pentarch); Dorothy Gale 'Ace' McShane (Dee); The Oracle; Alf; Bill; Charles Babbage; Daniel Merrell; Edward Knox; Francis Clooney; Frank; Gordon MacDonald; Hamilton; Hannah Baxter; Helmut Schreyer; Herman Hollerith; John Herschel; Joshua Sutton; Konrad Zuse; MacLeod; Mitch; Neil Judd; Rameau; William Hastings; William Kempton
- Important places
- Tower of London, London, England, UK; Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; Manchester, England, UK; London, England, UK
- Epigraph
- The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.
- Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972
Domino Effect: n. a single event that leads to many similar events elsewhere as a chain reaction. - Dedication
- For my father, Clement John Bishop, for teaching me right and wrong.
- First words
- Anji could feel herself floating.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'It's only a matter of time...'
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 161
- Popularity
- 203,368
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (2.86)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
