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fangrrl_squeesRight, then. I've been threatening this for a while. I've been reading a fair whack of Doctor Who novels lately - mostly the BBC issue, but a few New Adventures too. In no particular order, here are my thoughts.
As usual, you can find much more extensive reviews at Outpost Gallifrey.
Camera Obscura (BBC Adventures #59) - by Lloyd Rose. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Anji.
I just finished this one earlier today. Unfortunately, I've not read the novel that lead right into this but the author provided enough context that I could keep up. Long story short: the Eighth Doctor, Anji and Fitz deal with the fallout of Sabbath (a recurrent antagonist) stealing one of the Doctor's hearts and, oh yeah, somehow, a time machine has a) been created by parties never identified in the novel and b) fallen into the wrong hands (ie, ignorant ones) thus forcing the Doctor et al and Sabbath to work together to deal with the issue.
I must admit that I enjoyed the setting of this one, first, and the actual plot, second. The 'oh noes! Someone could unwittingly unravel all of time!' plot rather pales against some great character dialog - although Sabbath is a bit lacking in depth, imho, although I think I'm suffering from not having read whatever novel(s) introduced him - and the setting of late 19th century England, specifically the Crystal Palace, Dartmoor and an insane asylum. How can that not be fun? There isn't an overabundance of scene-setting, but there's enough to capture one's attention and convince a person to settle happily in to the when-and-where of the book, even if the overall plot is a bit thin.
I enjoyed the situations presented by the author re: what happens when a Time Lord's heart happens to take up residence in another person's body, which is good, because there are moments where the plot wanders away from 'interesting, well-paced historical' into 'heavy-handed supernatural' (such as when the Doctor tries to contact Sebastian Chiltern), but I was able to forgive t hem.
One major drawback: Fitz and Anji really had nothing to do in this one. They spent most of their time fretting about the Doctor, or bitching about how he wasn't communicating with them. Pointless!
I'll admit, the novel has no great insight into the characters - unless you're a keen fan of Sabbath - but as a historical that pokes around some metaphysical ideas re: what constitutes living and dying for a Time Lord, it's worth a read.
Oh, and one minor quibble. I'm as bit a fangirl for Paul McGann as the next, er, fangirl, but damn, if I'd seen the author describe the Doctor as 'beautiful' one more time, I was going to scream. Just sayin'...
***
The Book of The Still (BBC Adventures #56) - by Paul Ebbs. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Anji.
This is another one I tackled recently.
Loved: The Unnoticed (Ew! EWWW!), Lebenswelt, and the concept of The Book of The Still - a tome for stranded time travelers. You enter your time and place and, at some point in the future, another time traveler will note your entry and come fetch you out of hock. At least, that's the theory... Unfortunately, The Unnoticed (a race that HP Lovecraft might have invented after a meal of strong cheese and red wine) have taken offense to the Book's existence and are determined to destroy it, even if that means incinerating a few planets, too. Naturally, the Doctor isn't too keen on this but, unfortunately, he's not quite in his right mind...
The book is a weird mix of tongue-in-cheek humor - the first chapter is Olbigatory Spectacular Opening and rather relentless nihilism. And there's some plot holes you can throw a cat through - although I try to never apply logic when it comes to time travel stories. The basic premise - aliens out to destroy all proof that they exist at any cost - works, and the subplots - various characters are compelled (emotionally, chemically, you name it) to act against their will - work, up to a point. I must admit, I thought it all fell apart in the last 3 - 4 chapters but since I'd made it that far, I was reluctant to give up.
Unlike Camera Obscura, Fitz and Anji had a lot to do in this one - stuff that moved the plot along, rather than simply following the Doctor around and acting as something in need of rescue. Well, Fitz is in need of that for most of the novel, but he didn't know it, so it was okay.
There is some great interaction between the Doctor and his cellmate (yes, he's in prison - big surprise) Rhian, and it's further enhanced by the chemistry (re: mutual antipathy) between Rhian and Anji.
Carmodi, one of the antagonists of this, starts off strong, but ends with a whimper, comparatively. It's a bit of a disappointment.
I enjoyed this book, but I was aware that only my good intentions were holding it together at the end. There were lots of big ideas - I liked the notion of the alien race, created by accident, dead set on making sure they remain completely unknown, as well as the idea of the Book, itself - but they didn't quite mesh. Every now and then, the gears would slip, and I'd be left scratching my head and wondering what happened. More often than not, an entertaining bit of dialog would come along and distract me, though, so it wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that I wasn't entirely satisfied.
***
Halflife - (The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures #68) by Mark Michalowski. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Trix
I honestly don't remember a goddamn thing about this one, aside from the fact that it involved some bloody great tree/flower sentient thing and some sort of destructo-wave of destruction. Take that as you will.
***
The Tomorrow Windows - (The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures #69) by Jonathon Morris. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Trix.
I gotta agree with the critics on this one. Morris assures the reader that the book isn't a pastiche of Douglas Adams, and then belies the statement by pulling the reader through 300 pages of erratically entertaining homage.
Some bits of it are great - "God" addressing various civilizations, the origin stories of the secondary characters (I can't help but love the Fabulous Micron, sorry), and the concept of the Tomorrow Windows - even if they're never adequately explained (and now that I think of it, they rather resemble the never-adequately explained mirrors of Camera Obscura - am I missing something?). However, a lot of it just comes across not only as a pastiche of DNA's work, but DNA when he was getting a bit tired and bit bitter about the whole thing - viz: Mostly Harmless or so.
The book's a roller coaster in a bad way - the good moments had me chuckling and thinking 'okay, I get it now, it's a satire' and the bad bits had me rolling my eyes and going 'oh god, it's every heavy-handed story-with-a-message that every college student ever wrote'. The fact that both capitalists and preservations get swiped at doesn't really save it.
Characterization? Meh. Trix is as 'mysterious' as ever - and that got dull after the first couple of books. Fitz is quite unremarkable and so's the Doctor - which is a hell of a thing. You really have to work at it to convince me to apply unremarkable to the Doctor. Honestly, Fitz and Trix get into more interesting scrapes than the Doctor... Aside from an amusing exchange with an ersatz Ken Livingstone, I can't remember a single memorable thing about the Doctor in this one, and I only finished it a week ago. If you're a voracious Adams fan, or don't mind taking the mediocre with the sort-of good, then pick it up - or borrow it from a friend. Otherwise, give it a miss.
***
I've got another half-dozen in the pile to review, but it's late and I'm tired... Another day, folks.
As usual, you can find much more extensive reviews at Outpost Gallifrey.
Camera Obscura (BBC Adventures #59) - by Lloyd Rose. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Anji.
I just finished this one earlier today. Unfortunately, I've not read the novel that lead right into this but the author provided enough context that I could keep up. Long story short: the Eighth Doctor, Anji and Fitz deal with the fallout of Sabbath (a recurrent antagonist) stealing one of the Doctor's hearts and, oh yeah, somehow, a time machine has a) been created by parties never identified in the novel and b) fallen into the wrong hands (ie, ignorant ones) thus forcing the Doctor et al and Sabbath to work together to deal with the issue.
I must admit that I enjoyed the setting of this one, first, and the actual plot, second. The 'oh noes! Someone could unwittingly unravel all of time!' plot rather pales against some great character dialog - although Sabbath is a bit lacking in depth, imho, although I think I'm suffering from not having read whatever novel(s) introduced him - and the setting of late 19th century England, specifically the Crystal Palace, Dartmoor and an insane asylum. How can that not be fun? There isn't an overabundance of scene-setting, but there's enough to capture one's attention and convince a person to settle happily in to the when-and-where of the book, even if the overall plot is a bit thin.
I enjoyed the situations presented by the author re: what happens when a Time Lord's heart happens to take up residence in another person's body, which is good, because there are moments where the plot wanders away from 'interesting, well-paced historical' into 'heavy-handed supernatural' (such as when the Doctor tries to contact Sebastian Chiltern), but I was able to forgive t hem.
One major drawback: Fitz and Anji really had nothing to do in this one. They spent most of their time fretting about the Doctor, or bitching about how he wasn't communicating with them. Pointless!
I'll admit, the novel has no great insight into the characters - unless you're a keen fan of Sabbath - but as a historical that pokes around some metaphysical ideas re: what constitutes living and dying for a Time Lord, it's worth a read.
Oh, and one minor quibble. I'm as bit a fangirl for Paul McGann as the next, er, fangirl, but damn, if I'd seen the author describe the Doctor as 'beautiful' one more time, I was going to scream. Just sayin'...
***
The Book of The Still (BBC Adventures #56) - by Paul Ebbs. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Anji.
This is another one I tackled recently.
Loved: The Unnoticed (Ew! EWWW!), Lebenswelt, and the concept of The Book of The Still - a tome for stranded time travelers. You enter your time and place and, at some point in the future, another time traveler will note your entry and come fetch you out of hock. At least, that's the theory... Unfortunately, The Unnoticed (a race that HP Lovecraft might have invented after a meal of strong cheese and red wine) have taken offense to the Book's existence and are determined to destroy it, even if that means incinerating a few planets, too. Naturally, the Doctor isn't too keen on this but, unfortunately, he's not quite in his right mind...
The book is a weird mix of tongue-in-cheek humor - the first chapter is Olbigatory Spectacular Opening and rather relentless nihilism. And there's some plot holes you can throw a cat through - although I try to never apply logic when it comes to time travel stories. The basic premise - aliens out to destroy all proof that they exist at any cost - works, and the subplots - various characters are compelled (emotionally, chemically, you name it) to act against their will - work, up to a point. I must admit, I thought it all fell apart in the last 3 - 4 chapters but since I'd made it that far, I was reluctant to give up.
Unlike Camera Obscura, Fitz and Anji had a lot to do in this one - stuff that moved the plot along, rather than simply following the Doctor around and acting as something in need of rescue. Well, Fitz is in need of that for most of the novel, but he didn't know it, so it was okay.
There is some great interaction between the Doctor and his cellmate (yes, he's in prison - big surprise) Rhian, and it's further enhanced by the chemistry (re: mutual antipathy) between Rhian and Anji.
Carmodi, one of the antagonists of this, starts off strong, but ends with a whimper, comparatively. It's a bit of a disappointment.
I enjoyed this book, but I was aware that only my good intentions were holding it together at the end. There were lots of big ideas - I liked the notion of the alien race, created by accident, dead set on making sure they remain completely unknown, as well as the idea of the Book, itself - but they didn't quite mesh. Every now and then, the gears would slip, and I'd be left scratching my head and wondering what happened. More often than not, an entertaining bit of dialog would come along and distract me, though, so it wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that I wasn't entirely satisfied.
***
Halflife - (The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures #68) by Mark Michalowski. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Trix
I honestly don't remember a goddamn thing about this one, aside from the fact that it involved some bloody great tree/flower sentient thing and some sort of destructo-wave of destruction. Take that as you will.
***
The Tomorrow Windows - (The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures #69) by Jonathon Morris. Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Trix.
I gotta agree with the critics on this one. Morris assures the reader that the book isn't a pastiche of Douglas Adams, and then belies the statement by pulling the reader through 300 pages of erratically entertaining homage.
Some bits of it are great - "God" addressing various civilizations, the origin stories of the secondary characters (I can't help but love the Fabulous Micron, sorry), and the concept of the Tomorrow Windows - even if they're never adequately explained (and now that I think of it, they rather resemble the never-adequately explained mirrors of Camera Obscura - am I missing something?). However, a lot of it just comes across not only as a pastiche of DNA's work, but DNA when he was getting a bit tired and bit bitter about the whole thing - viz: Mostly Harmless or so.
The book's a roller coaster in a bad way - the good moments had me chuckling and thinking 'okay, I get it now, it's a satire' and the bad bits had me rolling my eyes and going 'oh god, it's every heavy-handed story-with-a-message that every college student ever wrote'. The fact that both capitalists and preservations get swiped at doesn't really save it.
Characterization? Meh. Trix is as 'mysterious' as ever - and that got dull after the first couple of books. Fitz is quite unremarkable and so's the Doctor - which is a hell of a thing. You really have to work at it to convince me to apply unremarkable to the Doctor. Honestly, Fitz and Trix get into more interesting scrapes than the Doctor... Aside from an amusing exchange with an ersatz Ken Livingstone, I can't remember a single memorable thing about the Doctor in this one, and I only finished it a week ago. If you're a voracious Adams fan, or don't mind taking the mediocre with the sort-of good, then pick it up - or borrow it from a friend. Otherwise, give it a miss.
***
I've got another half-dozen in the pile to review, but it's late and I'm tired... Another day, folks.
