Who Reviews The Eyeless by DJ Forrest

Written by Lance Parkin

For BBC Books

Published in 2008

I’ve just found my new favourite Doctor Who writer, Lance Parkin. Lance hasn’t just written for the 10^th Doctor, but also the 5^th, 7^th and 8^th Doctors too in Virgin New and Missing Adventures. He’s written for Doctor Who books, Big Finish and other Doctor Who related works. He is a British author who has also worked on Emmerdale TV soap opera as a production assistant, but most of his references on Wikipedia are for Doctor Who related material.

The Eyeless, published in 2008 is a 10^th Doctor story. The Doctor is travelling alone in this one, but it doesn’t mean to say that he doesn’t along the way have a few people to look out for, and others to literally look out for – especially those wielding large lumps of concrete.

The Doctor is on a mission, to destroy a weapon that, in the wrong hands, could spell the end of life in the Universe – any universe. Of course, it could just as easily be as dangerous in the Doctor’s hands, given the enemies he attracts.

On the planet Acropolis, a large black Fortress stands, parked in the centre of the city. Nothing moves or indeed lives in the city – as the Fortress had all but seen everything off that ever moved in sight of it. A large blast from the gun turret put paid to anything daring to breathe in its presence. No birds or animals lived or walked the land. No bugs or bees. Nothing. Although on an outcrop of land, huddled together in a little community, a group of adults, mothers mostly, knock out child upon child to repopulate the city, and nobody seems put out should a young boy child go missing, taken by the ghosts who linger around the city near the black building, where even those who brought the gun, have been wiped out of existence.

The story is very detailed. It’s so detailed that it takes much of a chapter to get to where it’s going, but when it does, you’ve built in your head a wonderful backdrop, of a war torn city, like anything we’ve seen reported in the news of late. You build up an image of people living in clothing that has been hand stitched, despite there being new designer clothes still hanging on coat racks in stores, untouched because of the dangers – although, a small group of children, have called the city their home, and live out in the wastes of the buildings, breaking into shops for food and clothing and toys to amuse them.

The Eyeless are an alien race looking for the Doctor, but more specifically his TARDIS. They’re a strange ensemble, and only one of them bears the eyes of a missing child, which certainly adds to the creepiness of their existence. They latch onto your feelings, read your mind. Although not a creature of violence and rage, when they read the mind of a young teenage girl, suddenly, they’re much more of a handful and their desire for the weapon, outweighs their desire for the Doctor’s space ship.

The only let down I felt was at the very end, but I daresay, should I read it back without 15-minute breaks as is all I have sometimes, that it may make a lot more sense. All in all, this is one of my favourite reads so far.