The novella “The Silurian Gift” by Mike Tucker was published for the first time in 2013.
The energy crisis has become very serious and the global consequences get worse and worse. The proposal of a new energy source highly innovative and environmentally friendly could change everything. The Eleventh Doctor wants to check the origins of the new energy source and to do so he must go to an old refinery near the South Pole.
Strange things happen at the refinery and the Doctor realizes that there’s an external factor at work. The director of the refinery is in contact with a group of Silurian scientists of a colony buried in the area. The matter becomes even more complicated because he’s accompanied by Lizzie Davies, who has her own agenda.
In “The Silurian Gift”, the Eleventh Doctor uses his contacts with UNIT to be able to get into an old refinery in Antarctica where a businessman claims to have developed a new energy source that meets all the world’s needs. In this adventure, he’s on his own, with no companions. Instead, with him there’s Lizzie Davies, who initially seems like a temporary companion but actually has her own agenda.
In Antarctica, the Doctor finds a colony of Silurians and the tension between the ancient reptiles and the humans is increasing rapidly. The story recalls the television adventures with this species that went into hibernation to escape a possible global catastrophe. Various Silurian colonies have awakened well after the scheduled time, finding a planet completely changed with humans as the dominant species.
In the classic series adventure “The Silurians“, the Third Doctor tried to mediate between two species that had the same right to inhabit the Earth. It was a mission impossible because on both sides there were those who wanted a fight. The moral ambiguity masterfully introduced by Malcolm Hulke has become a feature of the TV stories with the Silurians and the Sea Devils, the other ancient species of reptiles, and is renewed in “The Silurian Gift”.
Because of the reduced length, it’s not possible to develop the various characters very much. As a result, Mike Tucker uses some cliches such as the greedy businessman, the eco-terrorist and the rational scientist to allow the reader to identify the representatives of the various factions that seek a clash or a peaceful settlement between the two species.
The result is that it’s possible to understand the complexity of the situation despite the brief descriptions of the characters. The readers who are familiar with the classic “Doctor Who” adventures may recognize the mentions of their elements such as Myrka, appeared in “Warriors of the Deep“.
Actually, the problem of “The Silurian Gift” is that the story can really give an excessive been there, done that feeling. For this reason, I think it can be better appreciated by readers who have a limited knowledge of the Silurians. However, given the price very low even by the standards of the “Quick Reads” series, buying it won’t be a problem for those who just want to have all the books in the series or those with the Silurians.
“The Silurian Gift” is part of the “Quick Reads” series, consisting of very cheap books around 100 pages each. Buying those books connected to “Doctor Who” makes sense for fans who want to have anything related to the saga, for those who want to try to go beyond the television episodes and for those who want to just try to read a book that’s not too challenging.
