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Reviews for Dying in the Sun

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Avarageness

By:Hatman, Who knows?
Date:Friday 26 May 2006
Rating:   7

pretty good. nice use of golden gunk. cleverly put together in a film theme.



Hollywood (X factor)

By:Andrew M, Manchester England
Date:Thursday 15 November 2007
Rating:   8

I enjoyed this one, the second Doctor thrown into the glam and glitter of Hollywood is interesting to begin with. The film Dying In The Sun would be every movie makers dream come true. The thing is if we had the opportunity would we drink the liquid gold? Hell yeah!



Lacks Imagination

By:David Layton, Los Angeles, United States
Date:Sunday 19 February 2012
Rating:   5

"Dying in the Sun" is an attempt to extrapolate "movie magic" to a Doctor Who setting. The basic idea is that the allure of the stars and the compelling nature of film can be enhanced. In this way, the novel's writer can fit in the cliches of Hollywood and blame them on the aliens. So, here is what we have. The Doctor, Ben, and Polly are in Los Angeles 1947 generally being tourists. The Doctor's friend who works in the business is murdered, and this murder turns out to be part of a plot by some liquid aliens who live inside people and on film. One of the characters names the aliens Selyoids (get it, the celluloids). Alright, I'll go with the idea. However, four problems block the execution of the novel. The first has to do with anachronisms. I live in Los Angeles, so I can say that Miller never quite made Los Angeles 1947 seem real. He throws about some place names, but appears to be unfamiliar with the geography and history. He gets American dialogue wrong, such as having a character say "Go on then" rather than "Go on" and similar slips into Britishisms. Yellow crime scene tape was not in use in 1947. The second problem is the story of Robert Chate, which seems beyond improbable. Granted, alien slime that alters film is improbable, but that is the science fiction angle. Where normality runs, it should stay within the probability lines. Chate's story, involving his escaping a police dragnet, killing a gangster, knocking unconscious a police officer watching his property, dragging the body of the fat gangster up three flights of stairs and then setting a building on fire all before the unconscious policeman awakes, just does not hold up. The third problem is the Selyoids themselves. Just what do they want? Why do they do what they do? Only the vaguest of explanations are given. The fourth is Miller's handling of the Doctor's character. He spends most of the novel going here and there trying to tell people that the sky is falling. Every time the Doctor says something like "We have to do something," that something is to talk to someone who doesn't believe him. One would think that eventually the Doctor might consider some other course of action. To summarize, lack of imagination killed this story.



Great start

By:Chris Arnold, Bundaberg, Australia
Date:Wednesday 28 August 2013
Rating:   7

The first two 'reels' of this novel grabbed my attention greatly. A refreshing setting and interesting characters. The movie Hollywood style lends the text an almost noire feel and I quite liked Chate as a character. Unfortunately once the alien threat was revealed I found it hard to warm to where the novel was taking me. The cult sections lacked interest for me but I enjoyed the attention to detail given to the regulars. A strong novel overall with much to enjoy.



Awesome Book!

By:Alexander Amos King-Grey, Campbell Town, Tasmania, Australia
Date:Wednesday 23 March 2016
Rating:   9

There so many great ideas in the book!
Quiet tragic and dark in some places.
Only nickpick is Ben doesn't get to do much.



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