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Reviews for Made of Steel

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Hello Martha!

By:simon, Bristol
Date:Sunday 25 February 2007
Rating:   9

It's not an easy thing to write a book that is this short and which meets the needs of the Quick Reads series. Add to this the requirement that the chief monster from Series Two (seemingly completely destroyed) be included and the fact that Terrence Dicks (who has been guilty of some woefully lazy writing in some of his Who novels) is writing it and the Cloister Bell could well ring, warning of impending formulaic Who-by-numbers.

But be assured, Dicks does the job here with some style. There are touching moments when Rose is recalled (though not by name), the Cybermen have
a good reason still to be there and this may even plug one of RTD's plot holes from Doomsday. There's even an explanation as to why Martha resembles one of the Torchwood employees killed in that series finale.

This is, of course, the obvious interest of this book - the first encounter with Martha Jones, making her print debut as new companion before she is introduced in Series Three. She isn't Rose mark 2 and there's enough here to excite interest without giving too much away. By now we all know that she's a medical student and there are only minor spoilers for the new series opener.

The Doctor comes up against another branch of the UK military. If you include UNIT and Torchwood then this is getting to be a habit, not just on screen but also in print (check out Stephen Cole's The Feast of the Drowned for example). It's good to know that our armed forces are aware of the Doctor, but can't they come to some arrangement with him. All the arrests get rather tedious, and if you're relying on him to save your bacon so often, then it may even seem a bit impolite. And surely they should at least use his full title (Sir Doctor)...

Other than that, this is a tightly plotted book that doesn't really seem limited by the format. (In fact I suspect that Dicks is well served by having some fairly restrictive rules to work to.) Well worth the two quid for an enjoyable hour or so's reading.



fascinating!

By:rachel, liverpool
Date:Tuesday 24 April 2007
Rating:   10

This book was one of the best doctor who books o have ever read. There are funny bits in it. I think this should be made into an eppisode it would be so good. I think its great the way Terrabce Dicks brought back one of the doctors ach-enemies and they were actually asking the doctor for help. This is a great book i have read more than 10 times and im only 12



DELETE

By:The Master NM, London
Date:Saturday 21 June 2008
Rating:   10

What a refreshing read, highly recommended, fun, enjoyable, I simply couldnt put it down, its a must read.



A SHAME-COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

By:Gazza, Wales
Date:Thursday 17 July 2008
Rating:   6

A shame. Could have been so much better.

It was the perfect way to bring the cybermen back. But they were used so badly. It was obvius Terrance Dicks couldn't fit all the story he wanted in a Quick Reads. It amy have been good as a novel but would be best as an episode.

still, the cybermen are back this christmas so maybe that will do better.



Very enjoyable

By:C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand
Date:Thursday 5 January 2012
Rating:   8

I went into this with a very open mind, Dr Who in less than 100 pages!!! If it was anybody other than Terrence Dicks I would be very worried. He turned a simple concept in to a very enjoyable read, and I love the fact that he answered the question of what happened to the cybermen made on earth before the Battle of Canery Warph.
This book is funny in places and you can really get the feel that The Doctor is still morning over his loss of Rose. And when they start talking about Martha cousin and was the Dr there when she died as absolutly brilliantly done by Dicks.
My only criticism is that I would have loved to see what he could have done with this if he had been given another 100-150 pages to fill.



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