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I liked this book a lot.In fact, I am glad I found a copy because before I read it, I thought the books that were being written about the Who series were all bloody awfull.This book changed my mind. I think Pertwee and Davison are the best Doctors, along with the rather over rated Tom Baker, the 15 years between Spearhead from Space and Caves of Androzani were the series greatest popular success and the highest quality. This book recaptures the feel of Pertwee's 70s Earth stories very well indeed, the flavor is just right, if a bit too retro flower power hippy in places. The plot on the whole is a washout. The first hundred pages is a huge preamble with the Russians trying and failing to kidnap the Doc. The next hundred is a huge red herring, a wild goose chase to Siberia to discover nothing much. Finally, we get the last 80 pages and its a dud rewrite of Independance Day, not a good idea! But who the Hell cares? The good old dandy Doctor, intelligent liberated Liz, sex crazed loser Mike Yates,dopey but lovable Benton and the hilariously unflappable Brigadier "they're aliens, by the way" are all perfectly presented. The UNIT setting seems to make for better books than other eras of the show, its a strong foundation for a book. Its a triumph of characters and atmposphere over thin plot. Hardly a masterpiece, it remains one of the most entertaining books so far. And best of all,it hasn't got that bloody awful Sylvester McCoy tosser in it!
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 | Brilliant, intricate science fiction! |
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This is the most astonishing book ever written. Hands down winner. The technical details of the TARDIS have never been finer. The visual details are the richest I have ever seen.
Marc Platt is a genius. There is no other word for it. Reading this book is like watching an astonishingly well-made movie, instead of struggling to fit words together on paper.
The sentences are definitely the shortest I have ever come across, and certainly the strangest. The sweeping perfection of the story and the incredible inventions of the author (ie. the Watch Tower, the Process, the grey city formed by the sundered TARDIS) stand out in my mind with haunting technical clarity.
In short, the book is an absolute triumph, even on the symbolic level. Every paragraph has a symbolic meaning, even every sentence. The story is stunningly detailed in the direct visual sense, but works on so many differnet levels of symbolism that I still haven't figured them all out, even after ten years of study.
My favorite parts are the TARDIS bits near the beginning, particularly the part where the scrolled plans of the timeship pop out of the console at Ace. I am a TARDIS fan, and I resent the fact that so few Doctor Who stories give such vivid descriptions of the interior workings of the craft.
An absolute stunner of a story. An absolute stunner.
This book has everything. The TARDIS trio are fantastic (I dread the day when one of them has to leave!), with a strong supporting cast (especially Karl). The strange world of Hitchemus is bought vividly to life and there are some cool action scenes (Fitz's armour). The opening is chilled, then the book picks up a cracking pace, with a great ending. My only criticism is that during the middle of the book some of the scenes seem rushed and surreal, but this is overshadowed by the high drama and general quality of writing. Kate Orman deserves a round of applause.
Let me make this clear. Season 19 is my all time favorite. I loved the Fifth Doctor, loved the characters, loved the era, loved the whole feel of it, much better than that boring Tom Baker/Gothic horror thing. I even liked Adric, after a fashion and felt great pity for him when he died. But this book, set in season 19, feels like it was written by someone who hated the season and the characters of that era and wanted to spend 280 odd pages insulting and belittling them. Reading this book was like watching a season 19 episode scripted by Gary Russell with Gary sitting on the sofa next to you yelling out derisive comments everytime a character did or said something stupid (and all the time you know it's his fault coz he wrote the script) You can hear him saying "oops, that egotistical Adric jerk's just realised he's stopped being the centre of attention" and "this Doctor's not as good as the old one, Tom was the REAL Doctor!" I wanted to throw this book out the window or set fire to it and hunt down Garry Russell and torture him for what he'd done to my beloved Dr. Who! Now he'd producing for Big Finish. Well, he tells us writing for radio/audio takes special skill. I listened to Mutant Phase and saw no special skill in that either. In fact, it had visuals like "just a blur" and a guy in a pitch black room who can't see a thing saying "you look like a Thal, same blonde hair". And the Doctor gets caught in a time paradox that was never caused in the first place to need resolving. It's just careless writing, bad, sloppy writing coupled with too much damn cynicism. Garry Russell is in a very powerful position and I hope he will treat my beloved Fifth Doctor with more care and less cynicism in the future.
I loved this book! This is the fifth Doctor I remember, the charming but utterly ruthless young man who shot the Cyberleader dead, shoved a Dalek out a second storey window, blasted Omega into the anti-verse and told Davros "I'm not here as your prisoner but your executioner." After seeing him wasted in boring books like Deep Blue and irritating books like Divided Loyalties, this one is a page-turner and an galaxy spanning adventure on a star wars movie scale. Terrance Dicks is the best DR. Who novelist there is and I loved every page of this book. I was never tempted to skip a single word or skim read a paragraph and it made me want to go back and watch Brain of Morbius again, even though I never really liked that story very much. All in all, Warmonger is exciting, gripping, enjoyable stuff with much humor and suspense and I recommend it to anyone who loves the Fifth Doctor or just likes a damn fine Who space adventure!
| What: | Anachrophobia (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | John Ellison, Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 1 June 2002 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
A very solid story although I found it tedious at times. The ending managed to take it from the 5 I had been contemplating to the 7 I ended up giving it! The real gems of this time piece however are in the moments where the Doctor is still clearly coming to grips with his "human-ness". Morris is on the mark. I walked away convinced something BIG is happening. Well worth the time I put into it.
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| Thrilling adventure. Pertwee at his best |
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Ambassadors had virtually everything in it to make a perfect adventure. Intrigue, battles, short skirts, treachery, plots within plots and a fine supporting cast. This is a well scripted yarn with action from car chases to gun battles. The only quibbles I have are why do the UNIT forces suffer such high casualties for a so called elite outfit and the rather poor spacecraft shots. However, these should in no way detract from a well acted (some times over much), fast paced Dr Who.
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| Routine Dr Who saved only by Baker |
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| What: | Underworld (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Ian, Leeds |
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| Date: | Friday 31 May 2002 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Underworld to me suffers from the blight of virtually all Dr Who’s and that is lack of money. The sets interior of the P7E do look fine, a good decayed functional look, but once out into the caves! It must have been difficult for the actors when they spent more time acting in front of sheet than on a set, which probably explains the level of ability that some of them reach. Tom Baker is good and anything with Leela in is worth a point at least. That aside it’s quite disappointing and could have been so much better.
This novel is possibly one of the first new adventures which truly breaks the mould. Very descriptive in an almost poetic way, the story creeps and jumps at regular intervals ,yet tries to create a mythology all its own. More please. Wierd , long , powerfull yet magnificent.
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| The Doctor and Ace make a great team |
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The 7th Doctor & Ace vs The two Dalek factions
and (Ratcliffe, Man from Special Branch)Which also sees the return of Mad Scientest Davros.
Best bit is when the Doctor tricks Davros into using the hand of Omega Turning Skaro into Supernova.
| What: | Endgame (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Anthony V., Queens, NY, USA |
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| Date: | Tuesday 28 May 2002 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I thought "Endgame" could have easily been a 5th Doctor novel, as well as an 7th Doctor, but having it in the normal timeline (8th Doctor) makes it work much better.
| What: | Time and Relative (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | LS Jansen, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 26 May 2002 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
Surprisingly juvenile and unimaginative. Though I give Kim Newman points for trying to write from the pov of an alien 'teenage' girl, he lacks warmth and the touch that made the early stories quite good. He should stick to vampires.
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| Entertaining for the period |
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The votes in this case acuratly reflect to me the level of this story. Good location shots and the interisting story, fight against some poor acting and even poorer "special effects". High point to me is the action in the power station and the good use made of the UNIT charicters. Low points have to be the involvement of the master which could have been axed for a much more real plot, and the shots of inside the Axons spacecraft.
A splendid story, with the Doctor and Ace recognisably the televisual version and an intriguing plot which plays with time - unusual for a series which deals with time travel.
For those who love both Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, this is a great novel. Although it is admittedly true that Andy Lane doesn't quite succeed in capturing the Watsonion style, he does just as well as most apocryphal Holmes authors. What really makes this novel stand out is his highly perceptive ideas on the likely reactions of Watson and Hlomes to finding themselves in an alien environment. It is a shame that we cannot see more crossover novels - it would be interesting to see how Lane and others would write a Bond or Red Dwarf crossover, for example. 'All Consuming Fire' is an excellent example of the way in which crossover novels allow the characters from either series to explored in a way that would not otherwise be possible.
I don't think any of us need any more proof that Colin Baker is the greatest of all the Doctors. Although there was sixth months of Eighth Doctor audios coming up the Excelis audios were the ones I was really looking forward to because the past Doctors are well better than the Eighth Doctor, and the Sixth Doctor is the best of them. Colin has already been given the best stories and a great new companion (and a Penguin)and the character is warm caring and Colin is a brilliant actor and really brings the Sixth Doctor to life. You can tell he is enjoying it. May fave Doc.
The style of this adventure is very different from the excellent Excelis Dawns but carries on the ongoing story very well. David A McIntee has written a great story. I have always loved victorian London and the idea that the city of Excelis is like that, and the paranormal influences and airships floating in the sky is a pleasing idea. Also incidental music for Excelis so far is brilliant, plus the covers and Anthony Stewart Head is blinding. Only regret is that there was no cliffhangers, they could have split it into two episodes.
| What: | Hope (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Jerry Lewandowski, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA |
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| Date: | Tuesday 14 May 2002 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
What more can I say. I absolutely loved this book. Silver by far was the best new villain I have seen in the 8th Doctor's new adventures. He was well written and was a very believable villain..in fact, it was hard to picture him as the villain until the facts spoke for themselves.
The Doctor/Anji plot really proved a strong point and it really strengthened their bond. Fitz, however, still needs work in my opinion. I think that either something needs to change in his character to make him much stronger or it is time for him to leave and new blood be introduced.
All in all this was a very enjoyable read. I look forward to them exploring the Doctor's new found "humanity" but hope that eventually he will get back to being the mysterious Time Lord we all grew up with.
A stunning little book written by a talented author at the height of her powers. The Doctor/Anji stuff is about as dramtic as Who gets without descending into melodrama and the story of the Tigers vs humans is absorbing. Last few chapters make exhilerating reading and bring an already good book to an excellent conclusion.
| What: | Trading Futures (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, London |
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| Date: | Sunday 12 May 2002 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Lance Parkin is an extremely popular Doctor Who author on on the basis of this book it is easy to see why. It's a decent James Bond parody (although maybe that's not such a good thing as I hate Bond!) but a good Doctor Who story. It has a wonderful whismical quality with plenty of great lines and moments to cherish. And the ending, a mish-mash of violence, humour and time travelling coffee is just too brilliant to not mention.
| What: | Anachrophobia (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, London |
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| Date: | Sunday 12 May 2002 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Possibly my favourite entry in the series yet this book relies heavily on it's tense, foreboding atmosphere, scary monsters and terrific twist ending. It is full of graphic images that stick in your head long after the book is completed. The TARDIS team at this point surpass any others in the BBC or Virgin ranges. Another strong offering from Johnathon Morris.
