The Burning is a novel written by Justin Richards. Released in 2000, it is the thirty-seventh book in BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures series and the first book in the Earth Arc. It tells of the Doctor's visit to Middletown.
Characters[]
- Eighth Doctor
- The fire elemental - a creature hiding in the Earth's crust. It is explained in Time Zero that the creature is native to an "o-region".
- Lord Robert Urton - the owner of Middletown's tin mine
- Reverend Matthew Stobbold - a reverend who believes in Darwin's theory of evolution
- Roger Nepath - the owner of a collection of mystic artefacts possessed by a fire elemental
- Betty Stobbold - the daughter of Matthew Stobbold who is possessed by the fire elemental
- Patience Nepath - Roger's dead sister, brought "back to life" by the fire elemental
- Lady Eloise Urton - the wife of Lord Urton
- Professor Isaac Dobbs - a member of the Society of Psychical Research
- Alistair Gaddis - a member of the Society of Psychical Research
- Colonel Wilson - an officer and engineer who visits Middletown to inspect a dam
- Captain Michael Brookes - Colonel Wilson's chief engineer
- Harry Devlin - the foreman of the tin mine
- Sir William Grant - an aristocrat possessed by the fire elemental
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The late nineteenth century — the age of reason, of enlightenment, of industrialisation. Britian is the workshop of the world, the centre of the Empire.
Progress has left Middletown behind. The tin mine is worked out, jobs are scarce, and a crack has opened across the moors that the locals believe reaches into the depths of Hell itself.
But things are changing: Lord Urton is preparing to reopen the mine; the Society for Psychical Research is interested in the fissure; Roger Nepath and his sister are exhibiting their collection of mystic Eastern artefacts. People are dying. Then a stranger arrives, walking out of the wilderness: a man with no name, no history.
Only one man can unravel the mysteries; only one man can begin to understand the forces that are gathering; only one man can hope to fight against them. And only one man knows that this is just the beginning of the end of the world.
Only one man can stop the Burning.
Full summary[]
TBA
In-universe continuity[]
- The Doctor meets Betty Stobbold once again in Lance Parkin's novel Father Time.
- The origin of the fire elemental is revealed in Richards' novel Time Zero.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Armor of Light | Ken Follett | 2023 | A novel with a similar setting |
| Grave Matter | Justin Richards | 2000 | A novel by the same author with a similar setting |
Sources[]
- TARDIS Wiki