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grades...
Rose C3
End of the world C2
Incompatible message format [Data] B3
Aliens in London C3
World war 3 B2
Dalek A3
The long game B3
Father's day C1
The empty child A2
The doctor dances A3
Boom town B2
Bad wolf A2
The parting of the ways A1
The parting of the hairs A1
The buying of the hats A*1
| What: | Fear of the Dark (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, From Russia with hats |
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| Date: | Saturday 5 August 2006 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
Suspiciously similar plot to Drift. Maybe open to philisophical mumble about repetition of events. Anyway, Why do I keep saying that? The book itself was good... I like triple dots...
| What: | Drift (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, A tree |
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| Date: | Thursday 3 August 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I predict a storm... anyway, it is one of the better books. It might not be, but reading the adventuress of Henrietta street interfeared with my wiring... Forget that. Read it... if you want.
this book is like a challenge. An endurance challenge. How many pages can YOU read before you die from boredom. Swear words and curses aside, there aren't that many words to describe it. I won't use any because I'm not a foul mouthed ro... I mean, person. It is written in the style of a school textbook. This only amplifies the rubbishness. This ses new standards for rubbish. Don't read it! Whatever you do, DON'T!
Reading the other reviews on here, I'm wondering if I've read the same book? I thought this was a terrible excuse for a novel. There is very little in here that can be considered original: Rose gets stuck in a bad episode of 'Bad Girls' and the Doctor gets taken to a jail replete with Rover-like guardians taken from 'The Prisoner'. The alien characters the Doctor is placed with in his prison are also awful; even Space Precinct would have considered these to be too embarassing to produce.
What really got on my nerves though was the appearance of the Slitheen / Blathereen / Raxacoricowhateverians. It was bad enough having to watch fart/burp jokes on TV, but having to read them throughout this book was excruciating. Who above the age of 4 finds this sort of thing amusing? Chances are there aren't too many 4 year olds reading this novel. The number of characters that conveniently turn out to be Blathereen is rediculous, and takes away any tension that could have been built up. The ending of the novel suggests that these aliens could make a comeback in the future. God, I really hope not.
This novel only gets its points from me due to the Blathereen’s plan. Even that wasn't particularly original in Doctor Who, but it made me wonder what they were up to.
This book is only fit for the compost heap; a shame, as Stephen Cole can do so much better than this.
| What: | Series 2 Volume 4: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Hatman, shizzle |
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| Date: | Monday 31 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
No I do not want to examine.. I mean read endgame. anyway, Impossible planet: good, Soltan pit: Good, Love and monsters: rubbish. now you know. The Traveller, last of the Estate agents, still running from the cat. THE CAT! forget the Daleks, THE CAT is the best and most dangerous doctor who villan. you can't stop him, because he's already taken the universe!
‘Casualties of War’ is not only one of the best Doctor Who books I’ve read, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read full stop. It’s written in this wonderful, rich language that makes it a joy and an honour to turn every page, the storyline is wonderfully thought-out and keeps you guessing right the way through without being too complicated. It’s genuinely frightening and full of atmosphere and suspense, and I’d recommend it to absolutely anyone.
I can’t believe that this is Emmerson’s first novel, it sure as hell doesn’t read like one. There’s a kind of confidence in the way he writes: He doesn’t seem to fall into the trap of trying to explain everything too much or resolve every plotline, but at the same time leaves the reader with the strong feeling that they understand what’s going on and can read a lot more into the events than the characters themselves. The presence of Mary’s brother among the dead soldiers that is only ever implied and never really developed is pure genius.
Also, this is the first EDA novel which really gave me a good idea of the Eighth Doctor’s character. He’s superbly portrayed in this book and bursting with all that enthusiasm and love of life that’s hinted at in the other books and the ill-fated TV movie.
There are only a couple of reasons that I’m not giving this book a perfect 10/10, a couple of small points that are probably more just a result of Emmerson’s lack of experience rather than anything else. The first is that I felt there were either too many characters in this novel, or they just weren’t developed well enough. There are so many with so little characterisation that it’s very easy to get confused and I had to keep flicking back and forth to work out who was who. The second is that, towards the end, events seem to get a little repetitive. Something bad happens, there’s some small realisation, someone passes out, cut to the next scene. Really, the book could have done with being a few dozen pages shorter and clumping all the action together a little closer rather than interposing so many snapshots where people pass out/we’re supposed to presume them dead. I know the technique is supposed to build suspense, but it’s done so often towards the end of this book that it stops being suspenseful and starts being annoying, because we’re already pretty certain that, as this is the 18th time this character has blacked out, they’re not going to die this time either.
Other than that, however, this really was a masterpiece of modern fiction and I’m suitably impressed with it. It’s just such a terrible shame that Emmerson hasn’t written more. I shall be making sure I read his other Who novel ‘Dark Progeny’ very soon indeed.
The Impossible Planet - Very good, scary, poignant, thought-provoking. 5/5
The Satan Pit - Not as good, nice monster but no plot. 3/5
Love & Monsters - different, funny, good music, makes a change. 3/5
| What: | Endgame (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | the Traveller, still here/there |
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| Date: | Monday 31 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
timelash, Timelash, timelash. What an absolutely terrific place to go to. we have no crime here, and why? Not just because we hang, draw and quarter people for rambling on pointlessly...anyway, I'll stop.
What? Book? oh, the book. it was fantastic. Worth all the two reads I gave it. Go on, read it...you know you want to.
| What: | Dragonfire (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Whites, Southend UK |
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| Date: | Sunday 30 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Mel leaves in this one, that makes it one of the best ever. i would score this higher, but unfortunatly Mel survives and does not suffer at all.
| What: | The Tomorrow Windows (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, functioning, barely |
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| Date: | Sunday 30 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
can't function. ERROR!
Exciting, entertaining, witty, amusing...sorry, which video?
Pretty average, a few highlights, nothing more (and certainly nothing less - you can bet your bottom dollar [Hatman wil get that if he's still functioning err I mean alive]).
Before I go swadding off back to TV.com and pastures green, I just wanted to say that this book was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So am I!
Anyway, Justin Richards - fab author. Lots of blood too, especially concerning *SPOILERS* young haemophiliac Freddie - oh, come on, he's a hero. See yah!
Sophie's interview is a fun, fast, honest interview around south London where she grew up. Holds your interest throughout- If only all the Mythmakers interviews could be like this!
Thoroughly enjoyable.
| What: | The Resurrection Casket (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, Not Russia |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Rather good. Nice use of steam.
| What: | The Monsters Inside (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, a wormhole of some sort |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Made a satisfactory grade, with a good effort [C2]. Anyway, I saw a sprite on Sunday. I said 'Youuuu!' but it didn't. It ran into the magic fairy dust shop. Anyway, it was good enough.
| What: | Winner Takes All (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, The wind |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
...what were they again? One of the better books. but THE CAT isn't in it!
| What: | The Clockwise Man (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, shizzle |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Has a guest appearance from THE CAT himself. the story was quite good. usually.
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| A Nice Way to Spend a Couple of Hours |
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First off, this book gets some serious Brownie points just for being what it is. The idea of using the appeal of a show like Doctor Who to get kids reading little books like this one is great, and it’d be nice to see some more of them.
Yes the story was a little bit of a rehash (although that didn’t necessarily make it predictable) and given how long it was it had to be incredibly fast-paced where it could have done with a little more length to really develop where it was going, but that isn’t the point of a book like this.
Considering what this book is meant to do, it does it well. It’s amusing and exciting, and the two extra characters in it, Kate and Frank, don’t give off the impression of being two-dimensional either, which in something that’s more of a short story at 20,000 words than a novella is impressive. There’s a couple of nice moral quandaries in there that show up the new Doctor’s character really well, especially the scene in the sea at the bottom of the cliff with the Dalek.
All in, it’s a nice way of spending a few hours in the afternoon, and far better (especially for the young adults it’s aimed at) than sitting down in front of the TV to watch some soap opera or another, and that’s what’s important.
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| Proper little mummy's boy all round |
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| What: | Series 2 Volume 3: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Hatman, Croatia |
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| Date: | Wednesday 26 July 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Not very good overall, but saved by the conversation in the idiot's lantern:
'Ooh, he loves his mummies this one, proper little mummy's boy all round
'Oh, you know what they say about them, you'll have to beat it out of him!'
'Yeah, that's exactly what I'm Gonna do!'
One of the funniest bits in the series!
