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Reviews for Father Time

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Good start, cruddy end

By:James, Bristol, England
Date:Friday 3 May 2002
Rating:   8

Father Time is divided into three parts; the first is very compelling, the second is entertaining and the third is disappointingly cheesy. The story starts off really well, but gets old by the end. Should have done more development of the Doctor's relationship with Miranda, rather than cheesy space opera. The references are fun if you have a good knowledge of 80s pop culture, and the soundtrack is a nice touch. On re-reading, my original vote was a little too high.



Getting better with each page

By:Anthony V., Queens, NY, USA
Date:Monday 1 July 2002
Rating:   8

I can't give you a full review now--get back to me by Thursday when I finished reading it!



Brilliant

By:Chris, Oxford
Date:Wednesday 2 July 2003
Rating:   10

A brilliant Story. Even non - Doctor who fans will enjoy it. great descriptions of derbyshire, and a great book overall.



Great cover is only the start

By:David Sharpe, Woodland Park, USA
Date:Monday 8 September 2003
Rating:   9

First, the book has my favorite cover of all time. The snow being woven into the baby's blanket is just SO cool! (pun not intented) The story is gripping and the Doctor having an adopted daughter is a wonderful idea, well suited to the "stranded on Earth" story arc. I do wish the relationship with the Doctor's lady friend had been worked out more, and the book is another example of the distressing trend I've noticed of killing off supporting characters. It reminds me, to a lesser extent, of the death-filled early 90s of the Legion of Super-Heroes. All in all, it's a great Doctor Who novel and I highly reccomend it!



Typical Parkin. Terrible.

By:Mike McGovern , Edmonton, Alberta
Date:Thursday 26 January 2006
Rating:   1

I got halfway through this book before I started skimming. It wasn't even worth the time.

The people doddle and jabber alot. The homicidal talking robot car should have relieved the boredom, but it did not. All the way through, Parkin's clunky prose style strained my patience. A straight blah book. Clever idea, the Doctor having a daughter, but terrible execution. As usual, for Parkin.

The only interesting story I have ever read by Parkin is a short story, from the collection "Short Trips, A Universe of Terrors." (The 1st Doctor and Susan escape Galifrey.) Thankfully it was shorter than this book.



Tails off

By:the Traveller, Stranded on Earth
Date:Sunday 28 May 2006
Rating:   7

The Doctor's relationship with Miranda is written perfectly, making for some excellent father-daughter scenes. Unfortunately, the plot tails off towards the end, and finishes with a cliched and predictable finale.



An incredible book

By:MyGeekLife, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Date:Wednesday 2 February 2011
Rating:   10

The Earth arc has so far surpassed all of my expectations. It seems to have given the writers an incredible sense of liberty when it comes to the Doctor's evolving characterization. This book in particular did everything it had to do and more. It is also a bit of a love story to all things classic Doctor Who. There are robots, murderous aliens, the audacious hijacking of the Space Shuttle, exciting fight sequences, even a political rebellion or two, but through it all the book never descends into pastiche, and never loses its heart.

In The Turing Test, by far one of my favorite books ever, Doctor Who or otherwise, the Doctor is just coming to terms with the certainty that he isn't human, that he's trapped on a planet that isn't his, and that knowledge, that certainty, has left him desperate and isolated. Alone, melancholy, and a very dangerous man. Endgame, while forgettable, shows the Doctor as beset by ennui, as depressed and soul weary as we'd ever seen him. But if this arc is to end, and Father Time to end it, it would take some incredibly believable character growth and some real, understandable, human reasons to bring the Doctor out of it. Father Time admirably takes on this challenge and succeeds brilliantly.

In many ways, it's the first novel since before Shadows of Avalon where the Doctor seems to have some of the dreadful weight of recent events off his shoulders. And everything that's happened to him isn't brushed away or forgotten. It's dealt with. At the start of the book, he is still absolutely lonely, melancholy, prone to tears. It is only when he gains a daughter, the likable, mysterious, Miranda, that he begins the process of healing.

In raising a daughter, the Doctor finally finds something to fight for once again, finally finds a reason to care for something greater than himself. And that changes him, or should I say, reminds him of who he was. Somebody who had never been afraid to care, as he has been throughout the Earth arc. The fact that raising a child is what brings him back and reminds him of what is truly important is not only believable, it is remarkable in a very human way. Definitely read this book!



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