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 | It never failed to bore... |
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I hate to be against a book as much as this, but I am. I should have put it down and contemplated my workbook. Pretty much the same thing. Does Lawrence Miles know how to entertain? You bet he does!
History lesson: who likes reading something that claims to be history, but isn't, yet is written like my incredibly exciting (boring) "Economics of Medieval France" history textbook? How did Lawrence Miles discover that people love reading textbooks in their spare time? How did he figure out how to write like one? It's just skill.
Once again the Doctor is nowhere to be seen, but that's all right, because Doctor Who isn't really about the Doctor, is it? It's about extremely essential extra characters who loiter in the street, people with no point who vaguely resemble a certain Vampire Slayer (ugh), and very slow, slow, slow prose that gives us that warm glow inside which tells us THIS AUTHOR REALLY CARES.
He knows how to tell a story (er, textbook,) to keep the reader rivetted with tons and tons of info. that we really might need, as in Sometime Never, and to give us the motivation to raise chickens, to start a farm, anything but to continue this idiotic book.
Who is this man? Where are the Irish? How did Lord Lucan escape?
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street is, obviously, fantastic. The most excellent thing ever written. It will bore you to death. That is, after all, what we're all after, isn't it?
Terrance Dicks appears to have devoted himself to novelizing the great periods of history using the Doctor Who format. The most interesting historical novel I have yet seen.
The beginning is a little stunted, with Terrance quoting directly from other novels of his, with minor changes. A bit slow here. Knowledge of his other novel "Players" is necessary to make sense of this.
The very first section of the book actually comes verbatim from his Target novel "The Spearhead From Space," but interestingly, the ending is different.
The book really begins to hum when the Doctor confronts a phony official in France. (This is not a spoiler.) Each man produces more and more papers, authority documents, identifications, trying to convince the powers that be that they are who they say they are. All the while they grow angrier and angrier with each other.
I laughed out loud with the momentum of it all. Terrence may be older, but he has not lost his flair for character clashes.
Terrence has achieved something which no other author, to my knowledge, ever has. He has made history fun. He has brought it to life so we can see what Napoleon saw, feel how Wellington felt on the battlefield, experience the tension of famous battles that have long since become dry and stale in history books, their essential life forgotten.
I actually believe that books like Terrence's matter more than traditional historical accounts. "World Game" was obviously well-researched to make it as close as possible to reality, but you learn tons more by seeing great history in action, start to finish, than by reading disjointed academic fact books.
I have read of the Battle of Waterloo for years, but every one of the learned history texts I used completely failed to give me the rich experience that Terrence produced in this novel. I learned things about the actual process of battle that were never even hinted at in other writings, but which Napoleon and others with him really would have experienced.
Someone should recommend Terrence for the "Distinguished Contribution to English Letters" award. Recreation of genuine historical events deserves more recognition, and one must never underestimate the value of being able to tell a good story with flair and charm.
The general stuffiness of real history is one of the big reasons most people have a hard time learning about their culture and its past - historians make it sound so boring. It is hard to approach something which seems boring.
Excellent book, excellent story. Some genuine brainwork went into this. Read it for the fun.
I loved this story. It sets up the scene well for An Unearthly Child while telling a cracking story in the meantime. This Novel is told from Susan’s point of View and combines her thoughts and feelings of Earth and contrasts how Alien and Human she is at the same time.
To me the story acts as an unofficial Pilot episode which shows a more rigid side to The Doctors character before it is touched by humanity and becomes officially "Nanny to Space and Time."
An Excellent Read highly recommended! :-)
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| What if the Doctor was real? |
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| What: | Who Killed Kennedy: (Miscellaneous original novels) |
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| By: | J. D. Means, Spokane, WA |
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| Date: | Tuesday 21 March 2006 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
What would it be like to live in the world of the Doctor? How would the average person cope with Daleks, Autons or the Master?
This book is a different kind of Doctor Who novel, in which the Doctor is more of a supporting character. The main character, David Bishop, is a New Zealand native reporter working for the London Times, until his controvertial report on UNIT leads to his losing his job and reputation. Unperterbed, Bishop continues his investigations as a freelance journalist, hoping to uncover the truth about this military unit and the so-called "Doctor".
Taking its cue from the Kurt Busiek/Alex Ross graphic novel Marvels, this book takes key moments from the series(notably the Jon Pertwee years) and shows them from a different point of view. The end result, with its conspiracy theory twists and turns, its numerous guest stars from various points of Dr. Who history, and its ratcheting suspence, is one wild and entertaining ride, leading(as the title suggests) to the book depository in Dallas in 1964.
Quite good plot.Special effects could of been way better,but I suppose it was the best they could do at that time.
| What: | Scaredy Cat (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Steve Broemer, Folkestone |
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| Date: | Saturday 18 March 2006 |
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| Rating: |  2 |
Nuff said
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| This play is so drably complicated ... |
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| What: | Night Thoughts (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Phil Ince, Standing over your imminent grave |
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| Date: | Thursday 16 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
... because it is truthless.
This lousy production is populated by beings nominally human yet without a trace of plausible human behaviour. There is no drama because there are no characters.
Psychologically scarred children discover their secret father and are immediately healed. Sociopaths bluster and rant. Suicides jibber and screech. Favoured Doctor / companion combos read huge swathes of stilted, incompetent fanwank in the direst, most leaden prose.
Meritless, laborious and entirely unentertaining. Avoid.
Bernard Kay manages to salvage something but his fellow performers are almost beyond awful; a regrettable inevitability given their talents and this script.
This play is so drably complicated because it is truthless.
| What: | The Invasion (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Matthew houliston, Edinburgh |
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| Date: | Monday 13 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The ultimate adventure with the cybermen the u.n.i.t idea worked perfectly.It is annoying that it is a missing episode it would of been great to see it.
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| Daleks are coming, run for the hills! |
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Another Dalek epic this time set in London. The shots of the deserted city are fantastic, and the whole serial feels like Survivors before its time. However, the model shots of the Saucers are terrible and the Robomen are irritating if a little creepy.
A good tale spoilt by the shoddy effects work.
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| Start at the very beginning... |
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| What: | The Beginning (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | the Traveller, a Junkyard...where it all began |
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| Date: | Saturday 11 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
After the recent 2005 season One boxset comes another 3 disc set, with the first three stories ever broadcast, along with a load of extras providing a detailed insight in what really was The Beginning. And a great beginning it is too...
AN UNEARTHLY CHILD
A fantastic first episode leads into a tense and gritty caveman story. William Hartnell and co give great performances and the TARDIS appears impressively 'big' on the inside compared to what it looks like in later years.
THE DALEKS
The Daleks are inspired creations, and the series begins to find its feet. The Thals are disappointing and although the story is slightly long, it certainly feels like an epic adventure.
THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION
A cheap 2 parter in the TARDIS leads to the characters widly accusing each other of everything under the sun, a clock melting unconvincingly, and Susan going barmy with a pair of rather dangerous looking scissors.
Very strange indeed...
A 7 parter epic which never becomes dull or predictable. The cast are all on top form and the Silurians are good monsters, although their voices are unintentionally amusing. Also, the scenes of the Silurian Plague spreading through England are some of the best in Doctor Who.
One of the best ever stories.
| What: | The Sands of Time (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Admiral, Perth, Australia |
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| Date: | Friday 10 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
It's funny how even though the Doctor can move in time, there are very few stories that use time travel to tell a story out of it's chronological order. For that alone, "Sands of Time" would stand out as a great Doctor Who novel. However, there's more than that to make this novel one of the best Doctor Who novels I ever read.
This book is chilling and complex. The Osirians take on more of a role in this story without becoming too much and losing their mysteriousness. The characters are brilliant. The High Priest commits the actions that start the whole story in motion based on one word from the condemned woman. The chilling part is when you are finally told what that word is. A writer can try to be chilling by using zombies and mummies and other Hammer monsters but some of the most chilling things can also be the most simple.
This book is a page turner that has you turning back to prior pages to re-read certain sections because what happened is viewed completely differently when you're given more information about the characters and plot.
All in all, my review is one word: WOW!
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| Just when you think you know what's next |
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| What: | The Deviant Strain (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Admiral, Perth, Australia |
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| Date: | Friday 10 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The new series of Dr Who books tends to be a "water-down" version of the Virgin / old series BBC / 8th Doctor BBC books. understandalby since they're written for younger readers. Therefore, it's extremely enjoyable when a writer working in that environment can create a real page turning, which is exactly what Deviant Strain is: a page turner you can't put down.
Justin Richards does a bombardment of surprises in this novel. Therefore, some of them you can see coming (I knew what was waiting in the walled off lab before the Doctor knocked down the wall), and some you don't (when the constable attacks Rose).
You can call some things in this novel cliche' and you can call other parts of it a "run-around" but you can't call this story boring.
| What: | Other Lives (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Yates, Reading, Berkshire |
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| Date: | Monday 6 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I had a lovely time listening to this. I was just in the right mood.
It was a very enjoyable run-around that didn’t take itself too seriously.
It had a nice a lightness of touch that could so easily have turned into over earnestness, but didn’t. Though some of the plotting was a wee bit contrived – mistaken identities, freak shows, I didn’t care because it was such good fun and ultimately in the spirit of the piece.
I’d also like to single out the sound design and score. They really were spectacular. Lovely music and effects that really put you right in the middle of the action.
Though some of it just seemed down right silly. For reasons I’m finding it hard to pin down at the moment, I felt that it all seemed to work within the whole light-hearted tone of the play.
It had more ‘romp’ than ‘pomp’. Um, if you know what I mean.
| What: | Zagreus (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Lee, Rogersville, TN |
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| Date: | Saturday 4 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
This is utter trash. BF should be ashamed to have released a CD this bad. This story is too cerebral, for whom, a 1-year-old monkey?
| What: | Spiral Scratch (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Eddie Wilkins, Cheltenham, Glos. |
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 March 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Warning spoilers!
This book is amazing, written by one of my favourite authors, I highly reccomend this book for those of you who were disappointed with the rushed regeneration of 'Time And The Rani', then you'll like this! THe Sixth Doctor gets his perfect final story, having come across as brash and arrogant throughout his reign, he makes the ultimate sacrifice.
This book is also good because it settles once and for all where all the different companions exist in the doctor who universe, as well as a doctor who could have very well triumphed over the Valeyard.
If I have any bad points, I must say that the other characters, Doctors and Mels aside, aren't really fleshed out so you can connect with them. The threat, however, a creature that can eat time, or something, is for once very credible.
This is myfirst review, and I haven't read it in a while so don't rely on this. I'll say one thing though:
Bloody Fantastic!
Not the most enjoyable EDA, but still a well- written, solid adventure.
A very average, straight from the script novelisation which is just as flawed as the televised version and adds nothing new to the story.
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| 1st part terrible, 2nd part Glorious! |
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Amazing! Wonderful! Full-blooded English adventure! ...The second part, anyway. Well worth the boring first section!
My advice: skip the first section of this book entirely. It was evidently written by Barry Letts, and it isn't very interesting. Go right the second part, undoubtably written by the great Terrence Dicks. It grabs hold with style and it won't let go!
Once again, Terrence Dicks shows himself to be the master of the Master, and of the printed word. The second part of this book is everything a dear, old-fashioned Doctor Who adventure should be, with a quiet, sleepy English village - quite charming on the surface - and strange, mysterious goings-on below the threshold. The third Doctor is absolutely magnificent once again, taken in new directions by Terrence, who appears to enjoy experimenting with the character.
Terrence expands the Doctor's range of abilities in a way that most other Who authors simply don't do.
For example, when confronted by a slavering, hostile dog, the Doctor subdues him simply by a powerful command of will, playing off the fact that dogs always look up to the strongest alpha in the area. It's a brilliant pschological trick, revealing a very nice dog, who had simply been treated unkindly by its owner.
Also, near the beginning, the Doctor reveals to Joe Grant what it really takes to achieve enlightenment. Wonderful little detail.
The rest of the story simply speeds delightfully by. The Master puts in an appearance, up to his old tricks again, with a new twist. The dear old Brigadier faces the usual frustration and mayhem that follows the Doctor about, and Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton give their best to solve their own particular part of the mystery.
UNIT once more brings out all the heavy artillary, but thankfully, I don't think very many people get hurt.
The ending is a little odd, but appropriate. It is a perfect deux et machina finale, which may seem a little cheap to some. But given that the most powerful characters in the book are Greek gods, literally, I can easily live with it, since deux et machina endings come from the Greek theater tradition. After such a superb story, I really don't care.
The last little bit with the Master is perfectly in character, too. Marvellous.
The first section by Barry Letts is dreadful. An utter washout. Don't even bother reading it. It's the only bad thing about a superb, superb book.
Bad beginnig aside, this certainly deserves a ten out of ten!
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| Cheap, thinly-written, scatterbrained. |
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I found this entire book to be very thin in substance. I object strongly to the character of Galileo. If we are to believe his genuine letters and writings, he is nothing like the character painted here. The arrogance and noxious attitude do not suit him at all.
Also, there a few wonderful ideas that the author simply doesn't follow through with. The part where Galileo looks through his telescope and spots a flying saucer swooping in from the moon is thrilling, and I waited for the scientist to perhaps go rushing from his dark little lab into the night moors and mist, searching for the incredible craft. Maybe he might meet a slavering horror in the black and get kidnapped. Who knows? Anything would be more thrilling than the big NOTHING the author gives us.
After seeing the saucer, Galileo does nothing. Several pages go by. Nothing. Several chapters. Nothing. It's like the "close encounter" never even happened. Absolutely despicable.
I have noticed the irritating capacity of several new "Who" writers who set up great scenes, but never capitalize on them. I got so fed up waiting for the other shoe to drop that I gave up reading this book for several months. When I did come back to it, I began skimming.
Christopher Marlowe nowhere resembles the no doubt serious man who wrote the masterful classic, Doctor Faustus. He is perverted and irritating, and gets up my nose. If you are going to depart from what is known about a historical character, at least do it with some believability and style.
A little dignity. Please.
I avoid Andy Lane's books on principle now. He has a dull, unengaging prose style that lacks richness and fullness. It feels thin and watered down. His action takes forever to happen, and when it does, it often has little or nothing to do with the central idea of the plot. The novel doesn't go anywhere, taking forever to advance.
By the end, I really hadn't seen or discovered anything of signifigance, except for a few pathetic stabs at religion taken by the Doctor and Galileo. Stupid, irritating move on the part of the author.
For a man who often quotes the word of Jesus, ie., "Teach a man to fish,...," the Doctor doesn't strike me as one who ridicules the idea of God. Out of character for Galileo, too, who in real life remained a faithful Catholic to the end, if his letters and corrospendence are to be believed.
A foolish, boring, slow burn of a book. Andy Lane fails to move me as a writer. His lack of a solid, fun plot ruins the pace, and his abuse of the source material makes me shudder. Detestable and excremental. To be avoided.
