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 | Reviews for Illegal Alien |
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There are 7 reviews so far. To add a review of your own for this item, visit the voting page.
| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: |   6 |
Set during the Blitz, the novel involves as many icons of the 1940s as one can think of. There's an American detective, stallwart Londoners, orphans, and of course Cybermen. The plot is very complicated, involving attempts by British and German agents to get ahold of and use Cyber technology. Meanwhile the Cybermen themselves are trying to re-write their own history. The writers do a good job of keeping multiple narrative strands going at once.
| By: | Gibbs, England |
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| Date: | Thursday 4 December 2003 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
This is a poor book. The writers have no spark, no originality and no idea. It is a bit sad to see ideas that were used in the programme before the writers were even born rehashed time and time again.
The book also suffers from the awful 7th Doctor and Ace. I suppose it is good that McGoon is not actually playing the Dr, but overall it is not good characterisation.
I can believe that idiot JNT was planning to make this tripe for season 27. It is just such a JNT outing, old enemies, no new ideas, old plots reused, crap, crap, crap.
| By: | PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I thought Illegal Alien was a gripping read, and ENTIRELY original, not at all like some of the crap John Nathan-Turner was churning out in the later years. For a start, it is missing one of the most prominant (and most annoying) JNT trademarks, which was relying on continuity and constant references to past stories (as in Attack of the Cybermen for example).
The setting for the book is superb, and the backdrop of war-torn London adds greatly to the tension of the lurking (no pun intended - you'll understand if you've read it) cyber menace.
I also felt that both the Doctor and Ace were very well written, and I have always found the Seventh Doctor fascinating, as he alway seems to manipulate events from the shadows, as opposed to getting more involved in the action like his previous incarnations. I also enjoyed the character of McBride, who proves that American characters don't always have to be annoying time wasters if written properly.
I also thought the ending was well conceived, acting as a prequel (of sorts) to The Invasion, explaining where the Cybermen in the sewers came from. This is a nice touch for serious Who fans, but doesn't alienate the casual reader - it merely suggests that London may have more problems with Cybermen in the future.
Illegal Alien is certainly one of the best past Doctor adventures - if only stories like this had been produced back in the late 80s, Doctor Who may well have been on our screens for a lot longer.
One of the best BBC Doctor Who stories I have read so far. Set in England during WW II the combination of history and science fiction complete with American private eyes and Irish police inspectors. This mixture of a 1940's mystery and the futuristic cybermen create a great backdrop for a story for the Doctor and Ace.
Mike Tucker & Robert Perry have done it again, given us a keep you guessing plot well developed and acuarate protagonists, and amazingly discriptive scences. And even restrained them selfs on the gore front, although the Cyber-baby-mat is the most horrific thing ive read in any dr who book (Mick Lewis take note)also i love the way these guys introduce new characters just to have them snuff it a page later (but ive said too much).
Also i wonnder what napalm death songs Ace is actually listaning too ? Nazi punks fuck off maybe.
| By: | Harry Ross Gorman, Bromborough, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 19 May 2015 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This is a brilliant book with great characters especially for a first novel. It is a terrible shame that this never made it to television as originally intended but the fact that its book only does give it better effects and locations! The only problem is that the cover on my version has the wrong cyberman on it but it isn't described too much in detail in the book so its not that much of a deal.
| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 30 May 2017 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Despite some pretty poorly written characters and a slow start, this is a pretty good, enjoyable book. The seventh Doctor and Ace are well written. Throw in nazis, cybermen and Second World War Britain and you have a fun read.
