Casualities of War

by Steve Emmerson and Alex Brown

Hawkswick Hall is a psychiatric hospital for World War I victims of shell-shock. When the Doctor arrives to investigate why certain patients are behaving murderously, mutilating local livestock and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0563538058
• ISBN13: 9780563538059
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: BBC Worldwide Publishing
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.4" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

A simple tale told well

CASUALTIES OF WAR is a bit of a mixed bag, though ultimately its good points more than outweigh its flaws. On the surface, it has quite a few similarities to the previous book, THE BURNING, though a closer inspection reveals some very interesting differences. The plot is explained slightly more reasonably here. Some of the characters fall into clichés, but the ones that Steve Emmerson really cares about are very realistically drawn. Overall, I though that it while there were several flaws, this was quite a worthwhile book.The plot is relatively slow in building, but that works well here, as Emmerson is quite good at building up the tension without going overboard. We see more of how the events impact upon the characters rather than a lot of details about the particulars themselves, and I feel that this attitude really paid off well. That said, however, the plot is almost paper-thin, with more effort going into characterization and tone. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course, but one wishes that as much time had been spent on plot as on the rest.Unlike THE BURNING, I felt that the details of the alien supernatural threat were explained well enough. In the previous book, the particulars were left so unexplained that by the time one got to the end of the story several elements still remained dangling. This gave the impression (rightly or wrongly) that the author hadn't thought things through all the way and not bothered to come up with an explanation. While there were a few minor, annoying gaps left in CASUALTIES OF WAR (and one major one at the end), I felt the explanations and the framework that we got here were much more satisfying.The reworking of the Doctor seems to be a gamble that is paying off well (at least at this point in the Earth Arc). He's moved a little bit beyond the alien, unknowable figure who showed up unannounced at a dinner party in THE BURNING, yet he is still the unapproachable, slightly aloof person who doesn't know who he is and where he came from. Emmerson is quite good at telling different parts of the story through different narrative voices, and that really brings the Doctor to life. Through the villain's eyes, we see the dangerous, Sherlock Holmes figure who is gathering evidence and getting closer to the truth. Through the policeman's eyes, we see someone almost at home in tales of the supernatural, yet grounded enough to suggest practical solutions. And through the eyes of Mary Minnett, we see a confused, passionate, and almost romantic figure.CASUALTIES OF WAR does exactly what it sets out to do, and it does it rather well. The story is well told, effective in its realistic feel, and quite entertaining. The Doctor continues his journey of a hundred years, learning more about himself as we also learn more about him. Despite a few portions where the action begins to drag, this is definitely a worthy read.

Theatre of "War"

"Casualties of War" is a book with the joke title already slipped in. After 65 pages and a 2-month break from reading, I fretted that calling it "Casualties of Bore" seemed too obvious to elicit even a smile.Luckily, I returned to the book and now I'm happy to give it high marks. "Casualties" takes DW touchstones such as World War I and mindless zombies (think Toy Soldiers, Human Nature, and Theatre of War, good sources all) and rewrites them in an original, unpredictable way.This Doctor, fresh off a year of excesses in the Faction Paradox arc, is streamlined and amnesiac, with only the stray continuity reference or "Terminator" quote to guide him. He doesn't just recite Shakespeare -- he'll perform an entire play on command, with manic intensity. He'll seem to fall in love, but vanish without a trace, making friends easily, but seemingly unwilling to keep them.The three main supporting characters -- Briggs, Cromby, and Mary, are unique in DW that they all survive the book. Cromby's private battles against the mud men are increasingly funny and it's good to see him win at the end of the day -- in most other books, this guy is cannon fodder by Chapter 10.There are lots of other characters who show up briefly and then vanish, but at least manage to shine when they're around. The late-night conversation between two nurses, apropos of nothing, rings true to life. This is good.A word on the prose. Way, way too many adjectives. And adverbs. And sentence fragments. But at least the prose is internally consistent and allows for some decent POV tricks. One chapter ends with Cromby, Briggs and Mary staring at the same horrific sight -- Emmerson shows us what all 3 characters think, in successive passages. All in all "Casualties"'s prose manages to linger with the reader, and is thus above-average for this kind of book.The plot has holes, and it shows. I was never sure if the dead soldiers were actual corpses, or made entirely of primordial mud, or some combination of both. The coda about the flu epidemic seems misplaced. Every third passage ends with either a cocked pistol or a blinding white light --. Private Corey reminds Emma of "her brother", and yet she falls in love with him. Yay.Still, "Casualties of War" surpasses "The Burning" in terms of plot, character, and writing style. The Doctor may no longer know who he is, but at least he has things to tell us still.

An appeal to new readers

My wife was never really a fan of the show but, during the Levene era, she read all the books as they came out every month. The last one she read was _The Dying Days_. Even if I talked up the better ones with her she just wasn't interested in the BBC books. She'd pick one up, leaf through it, and put it back down.Until now.She picked up _Casualties of War_, read the first few pages, and now she's on me to finish it as quickly as possible so she can have it.Seems like the new direction might be working.

A great horror story, and a great Doctor Who story

I've always thought WWI is the perfect era in which to set a horror story, and that Doctor Who, at its best, was a horror series, even when it dressed the stories up in science fiction trappings. Casualties of War proves both those points admirably. As usual, all the weirdness is explained before the end of the tale, but that doesn't make it any less dark and creepy, without being overly graphic.Steve Emmerson tells his story in a fairly straightforward, linear fashion, which allows the reader to focus on the three-dimensional, likeable characters. The more we get to know these people, the more heart-rending the story becomes, as we fret and worry about what will happen to them. He describes the action with detail and clarity, and I found myself wishing once again that Doctor Who was still on television, and telling stories just like this.Mr. Emmerson's portrayal of the eighth Doctor is superb. If it hadn't been just as good in last month's The Burning, I would say this is the best he's been in a while. This book continues the Doctor's plight from The Ancestor Cell and The Burning, but (intentionally), you don't need to have read those books to understand what's happening. Well, you do, but you don't need to understand, because the Doctor doesn't know what has happened to him, either. Series consulting editor (and author of The Burning) Justin Richards has effectively restored the mystery to the character by separating him from his companions, his TARDIS, and his memory of his own identity. Readers can see the pure essence of the Doctor, unobstructed by references to a past he can't remember, unable to rely on Time Lord abilities he is no longer aware he has. As far as anyone around him is concerned, he's a mysterious wanderer, just like he was when we first met him back in 1963.The book isn't 100% perfect; more of the climax happens offscreen than I usually prefer. However, after months of books where the regular character subplots easily overwhelmed the main stories, it's nice having the books appear to tell compelling stories again.