Reviews

Doctor Who: Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Paul Magrs

nwhyte's review

4.0

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2267978.html[return][return]This was hilarious. A group of Cambridge academics calling themselves the Smudgelings listen to each others' writings, including the annoying Cleavis (who lives with his younger brother) and Reg Tyler, author of that great classic The True History of Planets, with its epic tales of "elves and trolls running about the place with nothing on their hairy feet." But the Doctor gets involved via a visit to a planet ruled by dogs; sinister forces have intervened with Professor Tyler and his book is now about poodles instead, as are the trilogy of blockbuster movies based on them. It then turns out that No�l Coward and an old acquaintance of the Doctor's are involved with it all. If you are not in a mood to take things too seriously, this is great fun.

cynt's review

3.0

This book is as mad as its cover. Revolutionary alien poodles attempt to achieve domination through meddling with the plot of a LOTR-expy and pop songs. Includes a time-travelling Noel Coward.
The real amazing thing about this book isn't its absolute madness, but the fact that it manages to deliver a pretty solid story in the end.
A fun, but absolute bonkers romp.

baticeer's review

3.0

I mean it kind of sustains itself solely on its own ridiculousness, but if you're the sort of person who would look at the cover, which is hot pink and features a dog with human hands, and think "Wow, I have to read this Doctor Who book about dogs with hands," then you should probably read this. It is definitely a Doctor Who book about evil time-traveling sentient poodles with human hands. That is an accurate description of this book. Also Noel Coward is in it a lot? I didn't know who he was and that might have hurt my reading experience, but probably not, I think the dogs with hands were enough.

actual quote, regarding dogs with hands knowing what a TARDIS was: "We are poodles, Doctor. Of course we know of such things."

(DOGS WITH HANDS)

macroscopicentric's review

3.0

Cute. The sense of humor is very much like Douglas Adams or P. G. Wodehouse, and the plotline is utterly absurd (appropriate for both the sense of humor and for the protagonist). In fact, it was so absurd that I still had no clue what was going on halfway through the book. There were alternate timelines and parallel timelines in multiple different years, and it was all properly timey-wimey and confusing.