The Dark Path and The Face of the Enemy
Summary: 8/10. The Master as played by Roger Delgado is one of the most engaging characters in the series. In both The Dark Path and Face of the Enemy, David A. McIntee fills out the background and motivations of the Doctor's arch-enemy.
If there is one shared strength between David A. McIntee's pair of Roger Delgado Master stories, it is that he has managed to portray the Master as the anti-Doctor that he was designed to be. He's taken the strengths of Roger Delgado's portrayal of the character and put it in print. [As opposed to other recent appearances of this Master in print, where he's appeared as not being much different than the Ainley portrayal.]
I am a little disconcerted that these novels have given the Master a real name in Koschei, and that The Dark Path, if it was a comic book, would surely be titled The Secret Origin of the Master. The Dark Path gets this freedom because of Virgin's loss of the franchise -- and paired with Lungbarrow, nothing is surprising. While I always would have that the Master would have gone bad before the Doctor's departure from Gallifrey (and the cliched origin story would have them linked in some fashion) -- this story also works reasonably well.
A particular delight in The Dark Path is the pairing of Victoria with Koschei; you can just picture the scenes perfectly, a natural complement and I'm easily convinced I've seen scenes with both of the two actors together. This alone makes the book worthwhile and enjoyable.
The other characters are decently portrayed in this story -- the second Doctor and Jamie are reasonably close to their television portrayal, and the other characters unique to this story work as well.
I'm not sure if I completely agree with the origin of the Master as given in this story -- my impression from Terror of the Autons was that the conflict between the two went back a lot further than just a previous regeneration; even if it only intensified in the period after his regular encounters with the third Doctor.
The Dark Path also had a number of real groaners, with throw away quotes from Star Wars being spoken seriously by main characters.... I don't know if I like them or not... especially if there were much more of them in a relatively "serious" DW novel.
The Face of the Enemy, by removing the Doctor from the mix, makes for an engaging continuity romp. It's far more action oriented than The Dark Path, with elements of the grim violence that you might expect out of a crime drama or Pulp Fiction, with the Master killing people on screen in a much more hostile fashion than we usually see (until the TV Movie, actually).
It is definitely a continuity fest -- with the Master and Ian taking turns as a Doctor substitute (in differing fashion), and more direct references to what goes on in the off screen life of both Ian, Barbara, and the Brigadier. It makes me think that there is a real need for a revised " Universal Databank " that features the major characters of the series -- the life story of the Brigadier, for example, with all of the appropriate references. Does anyone have a list of all of the stories that the Brigadier has appeared in, for example?
The characters here work pretty well -- both Ian and Barbara are reasonable extrapolations of their characters ten years after leaving the Doctor in The Chase, a good solid Brigadier as well. Benton and Mike Yates aren't quite as primary characters here -- featuring much like they are in the series. The other characters also work well -- surely we know who is "playing" Kyle throughout the story, obvious to anyone familiar with Jacqueline Pearce from Blake's 7 and The Two Doctors.
I haven't read the book, but comparing it to the video, this is also Downtime done right. The plot is enjoyable to follow, the characters all work in the story, and the similar way in which the characters are shown to not need the Doctor is better carried across. (Yes, I know that isn't really fair because Downtime was limited to living actors as a TV presentation -- which this book isn't.)
I think the best recommendation I can give about The Face of the Enemy is that I think it demonstrates that the Past Doctor series can -- and should -- cover other stories that don't directly feature the Doctor. I'd like to see one "Doctorless" novel a year -- perhaps a K9 & Company novel, or other characters who go on after they leave the Doctor. The line can focus on other past characters in the series, a real Legends of Doctor Who line.
I'd recommend the pair of these books to people that are fond of the Delgado Master -- I think it is worth reading both of them, as I did, in chronological order, but both are fun and enjoyable novels.