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faiazalam's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This story feels like it should slot in right in between The Wheel in Space and The Dominators, which is not a particularly shining indictment. The blurb itself states that this story follows The Space Pirates, which makes a lot of sense. Classic Dr Who, typically, is a run of poorer stories, followed by a run of stronger stories, and this one is not one of the stronger novels of the franchise. I gave the story a 7/10 overall due to the creativity on the writer's part in creating such a vast world, with more explained on that later, but a lot of the surrounding aspects of the tale, such as the characterisation of the principle players and the simplicity of the plot do pose a huge let down.
The plot itself is pretty bog standard. It almost seems to harken back to Dr Who and the Siluriuans, in that there are a variety of species fighting for survival over one area. In the midst of these, there's an even worse species threatening to destroy them all, and those who were once opposed to one another, must join forces to counter this even greater threat. It's a fundamentally plain sailing story with a much more interesting backdrop, which is the only reason this tale can afford to be as long as it is.
The character of The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are all, broadly, misses. The Doctor doesn't have his usual whimsical and magical quality that Troughton exhibited during his run on the show, and Zoe felt like a standin companion. A few of her more prominent traits, such as photographic memory and technological prowess but it is deeply underused. Jamie, on the other hand, shows skills that weren't exhibited on the television show, but in a way this is a positive. The show occasionally made him seem to be a bumbling, backwards fool, which never sat well with me. So the opportunity to see him at full strength and making headway and progress on his own right, using the knowledge he had picked up on his travels was actually a delight to see.
The world built here is an interesting one, one that rejects science and advancement should be seen as the ultimate antithesis to The Doctor and Zoe, but it's not played upon as much as one would hope. And the surrounding backstory is a competent one, with a well fleshed out reasoning for the way their society is.Unfortunately, it's somewhat underused and could have certainly been worked with better.
The plot itself is pretty bog standard. It almost seems to harken back to Dr Who and the Siluriuans, in that there are a variety of species fighting for survival over one area. In the midst of these, there's an even worse species threatening to destroy them all, and those who were once opposed to one another, must join forces to counter this even greater threat. It's a fundamentally plain sailing story with a much more interesting backdrop, which is the only reason this tale can afford to be as long as it is.
The character of The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are all, broadly, misses. The Doctor doesn't have his usual whimsical and magical quality that Troughton exhibited during his run on the show, and Zoe felt like a standin companion. A few of her more prominent traits, such as photographic memory and technological prowess but it is deeply underused. Jamie, on the other hand, shows skills that weren't exhibited on the television show, but in a way this is a positive. The show occasionally made him seem to be a bumbling, backwards fool, which never sat well with me. So the opportunity to see him at full strength and making headway and progress on his own right, using the knowledge he had picked up on his travels was actually a delight to see.
The world built here is an interesting one, one that rejects science and advancement should be seen as the ultimate antithesis to The Doctor and Zoe, but it's not played upon as much as one would hope. And the surrounding backstory is a competent one, with a well fleshed out reasoning for the way their society is.Unfortunately, it's somewhat underused and could have certainly been worked with better.
saoki's review against another edition
1.0
I couldn't bring myself to finish this actually pretty small book. I could fill you with reasons related to the plot, the characterization and the writing, but the main one is the way the knights go around walking in armor like it's a very convenient thing, permitting full movement, stealth and fine detailed actions. Early in the book there is a scene where a knight picks open a ribbon while wearing gauntlets. It just started gnawing at me and eventually I came across a character walking silently enough to surprise another while in full plate armor and it just ended me.
And then there is that thing with this book series, that when people think the story isn't mature enough they add blood and sex. It's so extra, it becomes boring.
And then there is that thing with this book series, that when people think the story isn't mature enough they add blood and sex. It's so extra, it becomes boring.
infinitespace's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Not a bad book, but sadly one I wish were better executed. In a way, it's the epitome of "telling" instead of "showing," and yet it somehow manages to still be mildly confusing at times when it omits details - but only mildly. The setting, the concept, and even the plot were all pretty good & interesting - it was the storytelling itself that was the let down, with lots of "and then this happened" with little explanation as to how or why.
In a way, I wish the book could've been written by someone else using the same ideas. Even the blurb on the back makes it sound more dramatic and exciting than it is - it mentions Jamie "languishing in prison" when in realityhe gets arrested at the end of one scene and immediately freed in the next, and spends less time locked up than the Doctor or Zoe. It also says that scientists were cursed and turned into horrible monsters that lurk beneath the city, which could've been a chilling twist to uncover in the story, but instead we take that fact for granted from the start, only to find out later that it's just a myth the locals started, combining their fear of scientists with the different sentient subterranean species they share a city with.
The character development here is pretty bare-bones, and dialogue in the book is very clearly just a vehicle to deliver plot & backstory, so although we don't get a ton of deep insights into the new characters, there's also not too much to complain about in that area - the new characters are interesting enough, and for the most part the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are represented reasonably well and in-character, baring a few smaller exceptions.
Overall, I would still recommend the book to someone who likes the show & these characters - or even just someone interested in the setting (a kind of pre-industrial medieval-ish society that's evolved after the downfall of an earlier, highly-advanced one) since that's one of the better-executed elements - but I would make sure to tell them not to set their expectations too high. There were several points where I thought the book's vagueness was there on purpose, to make me suspicious of something that happened "off-screen" or to question how or when characters acquired conveniently relevant information - and while that might've been the case in another book, in this one it's really just a side-effect of the writing, and never amounts to anything. It can get frustrating, but at least it never really inhibits you from understanding the story, and once you accept that about it, the book is short enough and fast-paced enough to carry you along to the end without becoming tiring, although it definitely would in a longer book.
In a way, I wish the book could've been written by someone else using the same ideas. Even the blurb on the back makes it sound more dramatic and exciting than it is - it mentions Jamie "languishing in prison" when in reality
The character development here is pretty bare-bones, and dialogue in the book is very clearly just a vehicle to deliver plot & backstory, so although we don't get a ton of deep insights into the new characters, there's also not too much to complain about in that area - the new characters are interesting enough, and for the most part the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are represented reasonably well and in-character, baring a few smaller exceptions.
Overall, I would still recommend the book to someone who likes the show & these characters - or even just someone interested in the setting (a kind of pre-industrial medieval-ish society that's evolved after the downfall of an earlier, highly-advanced one) since that's one of the better-executed elements - but I would make sure to tell them not to set their expectations too high. There were several points where I thought the book's vagueness was there on purpose, to make me suspicious of something that happened "off-screen" or to question how or when characters acquired conveniently relevant information - and while that might've been the case in another book, in this one it's really just a side-effect of the writing, and never amounts to anything. It can get frustrating, but at least it never really inhibits you from understanding the story, and once you accept that about it, the book is short enough and fast-paced enough to carry you along to the end without becoming tiring, although it definitely would in a longer book.
nwhyte's review
2.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2067118.html[return][return]I found this rather a confused and slightly tedious tale, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe landing on a planet where medievalish humans are dominated by an anti-science cult and various subterranean alien races emerge to do battle or otherwise prop up the plot. The is one nice scene with Jamie and Zoe driving a hovercar together. And there is a nice continuity touch: the I in IMC originally stood for Issigri.
sleepytechnokid's review
3.0
Interesting Ideas and concepts but like The Sleep of Reason it suffers through Execution.
markk's review
3.0
When the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe materialize at their latest destination, they find themselves on a stagnant world ruled by a group of armored warriors dedicated to holding their society to a medieval level of technology. Arrested soon after their arrival, they soon set out to decipher the mysteries of the place, particularly the lingering presence of an earlier, more advanced civilization of humans upon the ruins of which the existing society was but. As they investigate further they discover that underlying it all is a danger that threatens to wipe out all life on the planet, one for which the inhabitants of the world are singularly ill suited to stop.
Martin Day's novel is a book that is more successful than it has any right to be. The premise and setting draw upon elements from over a half-dozen Doctor who stories, all of which executed them in more refreshingly entertaining ways. The level of bloodshed is almost shockingly high, thanks to a threat that is very atonal for the Doctor Who universe. That Day pulls it off as well as he does is thanks in equal parts to his plotting (which keeps things moving at a decent enough pace and introduces enough elements to engage the reader) and the way in which he layers his antagonists, many of which display a degree of nuance that makes them different form the one-dimensional baddies that they might otherwise have been. While the end result may not rank among the best of the Missing Adventures series, it is one that makes for an enjoyable, if occasionally graphic, read for fans of the franchise.
Martin Day's novel is a book that is more successful than it has any right to be. The premise and setting draw upon elements from over a half-dozen Doctor who stories, all of which executed them in more refreshingly entertaining ways. The level of bloodshed is almost shockingly high, thanks to a threat that is very atonal for the Doctor Who universe. That Day pulls it off as well as he does is thanks in equal parts to his plotting (which keeps things moving at a decent enough pace and introduces enough elements to engage the reader) and the way in which he layers his antagonists, many of which display a degree of nuance that makes them different form the one-dimensional baddies that they might otherwise have been. While the end result may not rank among the best of the Missing Adventures series, it is one that makes for an enjoyable, if occasionally graphic, read for fans of the franchise.
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