Quick Doctor Who Book Reviews, Round Six
Mar. 22nd, 2007 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteSome decidedly average books this time around, as well as a few new favourites.
Evolution by John Peel
Sarah Jane Smith has the urge to meet Rudyard Kipling, and as the Doctor is in an obliging mood he takes her visiting. Unfortunately, he miscalculates slightly and lands the two of them in Dartmoor instead of India, where a monstrous hound is roaming the moors and more than one historically important writer is to be found.
Less awful than your average John Peel book, which is to say that it's merely not very good. The inclusion of both Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle is over-egging the historical pudding, and the plot is so by-the-numbers that I barely recall it less than two months after finishing the book. Utterly forgettable.
Rating: 4/10
Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles
The Doctor and Sam Jones inveigle their way into an auction on future Earth, only to find the auctioneer horrified to see them. The reason for this becomes apparent when the Doctor discovers exactly what is up for auction: perhaps the most dangerous weapon ever created. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, he finds out who else is on the guest list ...
This book surprised me by being not merely as good as its reputation would suggest, but actually better. It seems fashionable in fandom right now to knock Alien Bodies, but I can see why it's been praised to the heavens since its publication. Borrowing equally from the avant garde of sf and Agatha Christie, it's mad, bad and dangerous to know. I'd heard the biggest of the surprise twists - which I refuse to spoil here! - beforehand, but there were still plenty of others in store. I was even more reconciled to the existence of Sam Jones after I found out ... well, that would be telling. I made my family sit in a hot car for fifteen minutes so I could finish this. Bloody brilliant.
Rating: 10/10
Imperial Moon by Chrisopher Bulis
The Doctor and Turlough are surprised to find a strange diary in the TARDIS, the record of humanity's first expedition to the moon - in the 19th century. Initially sceptical of its contents, Turlough is forced to accept the reality of the situation when he and the Doctor follow the British navy to the Earth's orbiting satellite. Not only are there Victorians on the moon, there's also a game park filled with dangerous alien monsters and exiled Amazons.
Very average, and with a portrayal of Turlough that seemed annoying off to me. For starters, I can't buy that he doesn't have any memory of his origins at this point in continuity. I think he never mentioned any details about Trion before Planet of Fire because he was being taciturn, not because he was amnesiac. Fortunately none of the other spin-offs have taken this approach, so I don't know where Bulis gets this bizarre idea from. Also, I'm not against Turlough being set up with temporary love interests in principle - loved Rosa in Loups-Garoux, for example - but the girl of the week sub-plot just doesn't work for me here. So, er, yes. Turlough fan, not persuaded by his characterisation.
The reason I feel free to rant about this is that there's nothing much else to say about Imperial Moon. It's only remarked upon by fans for being effectively buggered by Tooth and Claw, and it's no great loss to the canon.
Rating: 5/10
Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards
The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria land in what appears to be a Medieval castle, but soon discover that it's on an asteroid in the middle of space, a prison for an exiled man in an iron mask. Forced to contend with a rapidly approaching army of killer robots as well as human traitors within the keep, the Doctor seeks the solution to the mystery in a game of holographic chess.
The nicest thing I can say about this book is that it has a good portrayal of the Second Doctor, notoriously difficult to capture in print. Unfortunately, Richards doesn't do anything much with him. This is a solid but uninspiring 'base under siege' story without much to distinguish it one way or the other. It didn't help that I saw all the the big revelations coming from miles away.
Rating: 5/10
Only Human by Gareth Roberts
The Ninth Doctor and his companions land in contemporary England to find a very non-contemporary Neanderthal causing a stir at the local hospital. While the Doctor and Rose travel to the past to find out how he became irretrievably displaced, Jack Harkness is given the task of making the caveman fit for the modern world.
At last, that rarest of beasts: a New Series Adventure that doesn't suck! Gareth Roberts proves he's just as good at imitating Season 26 as he is at imitating Season 17. The characters are perfect, the atmosphere sparkles, and I could easily see everything here happening on screen. (Right down to the liberal employment of time-saving plot devices. The Doctor finds a new use for psychic paper than had me laughing out loud.) Contains bonus naked Captain Jack! Not to mention a comment from the Doctor about aforementioned nudity that I can't believe they got away with in a BBC children's book. All in all, fabulous.
Side note for people who have read this: is it just me, or does Quilley seem like a great role for Colin Baker? I mean, Colin Baker circa 2005 rather than 1985. No, really, think about it.
Rating: 8/10
Mission: Impractical by David A. McIntee
When the TARDIS is invaded by two highly-paid assassins, the Doctor traces them back to a planetary system where his old acquaintances Sabalom Glitz and Dibber have just been hired to retrieve a valuable object that they stole a decade ago. In order to track down the source of their own troubles, the Time Lord and his shapeshifting companion Frobisher must join Glitz's criminal gang and help pull off the crime of the century.
The author advises the reader to check their brain at the door before beginning this book, and it's not bad advice. Its an entertaining continuity festival that features everything from Drahvins to Taran Androids, intentionally silly. Mission: Impractical doesn't sparkle quite as much as it could have done. As a lover of caper stories, I felt that McIntee could have used a lighter touch at certain points and spent more time on the heist itself. I also couldn't help but want to see more of Frobisher, since this is his only literary appearance. It's a fun book despite those minor flaws, though. The author also pulls of his usual trick of giving everyone a proper motivation and their own POV. He even makes he audience feel empathy for Ogrons!
Rating: 7/10
Speed of Flight by Paul Leonard
While trying to get to Karfel, the Doctor, Jo Grant and Mike Yates go off course and are soon separated. The Doctor realises he must find out what's happening on Nooma before the entire planet is destroyed in a premature Industrial Revolution.
Paul Leonard continues to demonstrate his obsession with inventing interesting alien species, and to better effect than in Genocide. The portrayal of the regulars is adequate, the plot negligible and the villain's plan sillier than average. But it hardly matters - the point here is to explore the life-cycle of the inhabitants of Nooma. On that score the book is a solid success if not a triumph.
Rating: 6/10
Time and Relative by Kim Newman
It's the spring of 1963, but the snow lies thick on the ground in London and shows no signs of melting. Susan Foreman, who has more than a passing experience of the uncanny, is convinced that something is wrong. When the cold begins to strike out at her human friends, Susan knows that only her grandfather can help - but how can he be convinced to intervene?
The Telos novellas are a bit of an obscure oddity even by the standards of Doctor Who tie-in books, but they're a highly regarded by the few people who have actually heard of them. If this first volume in the series is anything to go by, I can see why. It doesn't quite live up to its heady reputation as one of the best Who books out there, but it is excellent in its own way. Time and Relative is chiefly remarkable for giving Susan a depth of character never witnessed in the series itself. She's convincing as both a Sixties schoolgirl and an amnesiac alien princess in this worthy prequel to An Unearthly Child.
Rating: 8/10
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible by Marc Platt
After the TARDIS is invaded by a mysterious force and apparently destroyed, Ace finds herself stranded in a post-Apocalyptic landscape. Past and present are jumbled together, ruled by the hideous Process as his slaves search for the lost Future. Only the Doctor has a chance of restoring the blighted world, but he was killed by the Process before Time began.
I'm normally a Platt fangirl, but I guess everyone has their off days. There are a lot of interesting images and concepts here, but they never quite jell together into a coherent story. Coming hard on the heels of the Timewyrm books, the TARDIS invasion plotline is repetitive, and it seems odd that neither the Doctor nor Ace remark on the fact that something quite similar happened to them just a short time ago. (My fanwank of this is that there's some kind of gap between Revelation and Time's Crucible. Maybe that's when they travel with Hex ...?)
This is the first NA to employ what I gather becomes a quirk of the series: keeping the Doctor off screen for long stretches of time. It doesn't work well for me here - yes, I love Ace, but I missed her Professor and wanted him to come back. The best bits of this book are about how much Ace and the Doctor love each other. (As previously established I am a big sucker for stories about their TRUE AND PURE LOVE.) The most interesting things about the actual story are the parts about Ancient Gallifrey and the curse of Pythia, and that plot strand is basically a trailer for Lungbarrow.
Rating: 6/10
Evolution by John Peel
Sarah Jane Smith has the urge to meet Rudyard Kipling, and as the Doctor is in an obliging mood he takes her visiting. Unfortunately, he miscalculates slightly and lands the two of them in Dartmoor instead of India, where a monstrous hound is roaming the moors and more than one historically important writer is to be found.
Less awful than your average John Peel book, which is to say that it's merely not very good. The inclusion of both Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle is over-egging the historical pudding, and the plot is so by-the-numbers that I barely recall it less than two months after finishing the book. Utterly forgettable.
Rating: 4/10
Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles
The Doctor and Sam Jones inveigle their way into an auction on future Earth, only to find the auctioneer horrified to see them. The reason for this becomes apparent when the Doctor discovers exactly what is up for auction: perhaps the most dangerous weapon ever created. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, he finds out who else is on the guest list ...
This book surprised me by being not merely as good as its reputation would suggest, but actually better. It seems fashionable in fandom right now to knock Alien Bodies, but I can see why it's been praised to the heavens since its publication. Borrowing equally from the avant garde of sf and Agatha Christie, it's mad, bad and dangerous to know. I'd heard the biggest of the surprise twists - which I refuse to spoil here! - beforehand, but there were still plenty of others in store. I was even more reconciled to the existence of Sam Jones after I found out ... well, that would be telling. I made my family sit in a hot car for fifteen minutes so I could finish this. Bloody brilliant.
Rating: 10/10
Imperial Moon by Chrisopher Bulis
The Doctor and Turlough are surprised to find a strange diary in the TARDIS, the record of humanity's first expedition to the moon - in the 19th century. Initially sceptical of its contents, Turlough is forced to accept the reality of the situation when he and the Doctor follow the British navy to the Earth's orbiting satellite. Not only are there Victorians on the moon, there's also a game park filled with dangerous alien monsters and exiled Amazons.
Very average, and with a portrayal of Turlough that seemed annoying off to me. For starters, I can't buy that he doesn't have any memory of his origins at this point in continuity. I think he never mentioned any details about Trion before Planet of Fire because he was being taciturn, not because he was amnesiac. Fortunately none of the other spin-offs have taken this approach, so I don't know where Bulis gets this bizarre idea from. Also, I'm not against Turlough being set up with temporary love interests in principle - loved Rosa in Loups-Garoux, for example - but the girl of the week sub-plot just doesn't work for me here. So, er, yes. Turlough fan, not persuaded by his characterisation.
The reason I feel free to rant about this is that there's nothing much else to say about Imperial Moon. It's only remarked upon by fans for being effectively buggered by Tooth and Claw, and it's no great loss to the canon.
Rating: 5/10
Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards
The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria land in what appears to be a Medieval castle, but soon discover that it's on an asteroid in the middle of space, a prison for an exiled man in an iron mask. Forced to contend with a rapidly approaching army of killer robots as well as human traitors within the keep, the Doctor seeks the solution to the mystery in a game of holographic chess.
The nicest thing I can say about this book is that it has a good portrayal of the Second Doctor, notoriously difficult to capture in print. Unfortunately, Richards doesn't do anything much with him. This is a solid but uninspiring 'base under siege' story without much to distinguish it one way or the other. It didn't help that I saw all the the big revelations coming from miles away.
Rating: 5/10
Only Human by Gareth Roberts
The Ninth Doctor and his companions land in contemporary England to find a very non-contemporary Neanderthal causing a stir at the local hospital. While the Doctor and Rose travel to the past to find out how he became irretrievably displaced, Jack Harkness is given the task of making the caveman fit for the modern world.
At last, that rarest of beasts: a New Series Adventure that doesn't suck! Gareth Roberts proves he's just as good at imitating Season 26 as he is at imitating Season 17. The characters are perfect, the atmosphere sparkles, and I could easily see everything here happening on screen. (Right down to the liberal employment of time-saving plot devices. The Doctor finds a new use for psychic paper than had me laughing out loud.) Contains bonus naked Captain Jack! Not to mention a comment from the Doctor about aforementioned nudity that I can't believe they got away with in a BBC children's book. All in all, fabulous.
Side note for people who have read this: is it just me, or does Quilley seem like a great role for Colin Baker? I mean, Colin Baker circa 2005 rather than 1985. No, really, think about it.
Rating: 8/10
Mission: Impractical by David A. McIntee
When the TARDIS is invaded by two highly-paid assassins, the Doctor traces them back to a planetary system where his old acquaintances Sabalom Glitz and Dibber have just been hired to retrieve a valuable object that they stole a decade ago. In order to track down the source of their own troubles, the Time Lord and his shapeshifting companion Frobisher must join Glitz's criminal gang and help pull off the crime of the century.
The author advises the reader to check their brain at the door before beginning this book, and it's not bad advice. Its an entertaining continuity festival that features everything from Drahvins to Taran Androids, intentionally silly. Mission: Impractical doesn't sparkle quite as much as it could have done. As a lover of caper stories, I felt that McIntee could have used a lighter touch at certain points and spent more time on the heist itself. I also couldn't help but want to see more of Frobisher, since this is his only literary appearance. It's a fun book despite those minor flaws, though. The author also pulls of his usual trick of giving everyone a proper motivation and their own POV. He even makes he audience feel empathy for Ogrons!
Rating: 7/10
Speed of Flight by Paul Leonard
While trying to get to Karfel, the Doctor, Jo Grant and Mike Yates go off course and are soon separated. The Doctor realises he must find out what's happening on Nooma before the entire planet is destroyed in a premature Industrial Revolution.
Paul Leonard continues to demonstrate his obsession with inventing interesting alien species, and to better effect than in Genocide. The portrayal of the regulars is adequate, the plot negligible and the villain's plan sillier than average. But it hardly matters - the point here is to explore the life-cycle of the inhabitants of Nooma. On that score the book is a solid success if not a triumph.
Rating: 6/10
Time and Relative by Kim Newman
It's the spring of 1963, but the snow lies thick on the ground in London and shows no signs of melting. Susan Foreman, who has more than a passing experience of the uncanny, is convinced that something is wrong. When the cold begins to strike out at her human friends, Susan knows that only her grandfather can help - but how can he be convinced to intervene?
The Telos novellas are a bit of an obscure oddity even by the standards of Doctor Who tie-in books, but they're a highly regarded by the few people who have actually heard of them. If this first volume in the series is anything to go by, I can see why. It doesn't quite live up to its heady reputation as one of the best Who books out there, but it is excellent in its own way. Time and Relative is chiefly remarkable for giving Susan a depth of character never witnessed in the series itself. She's convincing as both a Sixties schoolgirl and an amnesiac alien princess in this worthy prequel to An Unearthly Child.
Rating: 8/10
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible by Marc Platt
After the TARDIS is invaded by a mysterious force and apparently destroyed, Ace finds herself stranded in a post-Apocalyptic landscape. Past and present are jumbled together, ruled by the hideous Process as his slaves search for the lost Future. Only the Doctor has a chance of restoring the blighted world, but he was killed by the Process before Time began.
I'm normally a Platt fangirl, but I guess everyone has their off days. There are a lot of interesting images and concepts here, but they never quite jell together into a coherent story. Coming hard on the heels of the Timewyrm books, the TARDIS invasion plotline is repetitive, and it seems odd that neither the Doctor nor Ace remark on the fact that something quite similar happened to them just a short time ago. (My fanwank of this is that there's some kind of gap between Revelation and Time's Crucible. Maybe that's when they travel with Hex ...?)
This is the first NA to employ what I gather becomes a quirk of the series: keeping the Doctor off screen for long stretches of time. It doesn't work well for me here - yes, I love Ace, but I missed her Professor and wanted him to come back. The best bits of this book are about how much Ace and the Doctor love each other. (As previously established I am a big sucker for stories about their TRUE AND PURE LOVE.) The most interesting things about the actual story are the parts about Ancient Gallifrey and the curse of Pythia, and that plot strand is basically a trailer for Lungbarrow.
Rating: 6/10
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-22 05:17 pm (UTC)Some of the Telos novellas are better than others.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-22 07:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-22 09:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-27 01:35 am (UTC)I will be sure to let everyone know if any of the Tenth Doctor books also manage to not suck, but I do not hold out much hope for the ones that have been published to date.