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drewsof's review
2.0
2.5 out of 5. I pretty much read this to be a George Mann N&H-verse completist, much as I love me some Doctor Who. I've heard great things about his War Doctor novel, which maybe I'll try some day... and maybe I'll pick up an adventure featuring Nine or Ten someday just to get a 'new' adventure with an old friend. But there was nothing all that exceptional about this adventure with the Doctor: it's not that great, but not that bad either. The writing is aimed at a TV-watching audience and the winks to Mann/Who fans are for those who are looking for them. And while it's fun to see the Raggedy Doctor again, the nostalgia factor just doesn't really get you that far.
More at RB on Friday.
More at RB on Friday.
aliceperspeculum's review
2.0
2.5 stars
It took me quite a long time to get through this book. Despite its interesting premise involving creatures that come through cracks in time (I guess the Reapers were too destructive for Mann's purposes), the story fell a little flat and the writing even seemed childish at times, clunky and unoriginal. There were two good supporting characters, the AI Arven and the retired old professor Angelchrist, which is quite a name, but these weren’t really enough to lift the story. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory were true to character, which unfortunately meant I found them just as annoying as in the television series. I really should have learned by now that I rarely enjoy stories from their era, but I optimistically keep trying to no avail. The story itself almost exclusively involved the characters running around London (future and past) away from the threat until they find a solution. The climax was acceptable, though there was a diversion that shouldn’t have worked given something that was established earlier in the book and a bit of a deus ex machina. *spoilers* Moffat’s favourite ‘everybody lives’ rule also comes into play, because god forbid that stories end up having consequences for characters. *end spoilers*
One good element was the gratifying time paradox of the title. Not much time (ha) is spent on it, but it was an enjoyable moment nonetheless. The psychic abilities of the Squall also added an extra element of jeopardy, but this is mostly lost as George Mann seems to forget this later on in the novel.
Although parts of it were enjoyable and I found myself getting into it more as the book drew to a close, this is a very average Doctor Who story, even sub-par, and there are many far better ones you could spend your time reading (I recommend Human Nature, for one).
It took me quite a long time to get through this book. Despite its interesting premise involving creatures that come through cracks in time (I guess the Reapers were too destructive for Mann's purposes), the story fell a little flat and the writing even seemed childish at times, clunky and unoriginal. There were two good supporting characters, the AI Arven and the retired old professor Angelchrist, which is quite a name, but these weren’t really enough to lift the story. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory were true to character, which unfortunately meant I found them just as annoying as in the television series. I really should have learned by now that I rarely enjoy stories from their era, but I optimistically keep trying to no avail. The story itself almost exclusively involved the characters running around London (future and past) away from the threat until they find a solution. The climax was acceptable, though there was a diversion that shouldn’t have worked given something that was established earlier in the book and a bit of a deus ex machina. *spoilers* Moffat’s favourite ‘everybody lives’ rule also comes into play, because god forbid that stories end up having consequences for characters. *end spoilers*
One good element was the gratifying time paradox of the title. Not much time (ha) is spent on it, but it was an enjoyable moment nonetheless. The psychic abilities of the Squall also added an extra element of jeopardy, but this is mostly lost as George Mann seems to forget this later on in the novel.
Although parts of it were enjoyable and I found myself getting into it more as the book drew to a close, this is a very average Doctor Who story, even sub-par, and there are many far better ones you could spend your time reading (I recommend Human Nature, for one).
spinescens's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
kribu's review
3.0
Hmm. Not bad. Not outstanding either, but a pretty enjoyable tie-in book - one that I could easily see working as an actual Doctor Who episode (apart from me having given up on actual Doctor Who episodes with Eleven so in this sense, this was a lot better).
Anyway, the TARDIS team - albeit it was pretty much the Doctor going off doing his own thing and Amy & Rory being left to cope on their own - worked fairly well, the plot about a bunch of feasting-on-minds aliens trying to take over Earth was serviceable if not strikingly original, the pacing was fine and I liked both of the supporting original characters, Professor Archibald and Arven the artificial man, quite a bit.
So, all in all a rather nice read.
(Except that I rather wish they'd have said "a thousand years" a little less often. And especially not "more than a thousand years". For a period ranging from 1910 to 2789. I am not exactly a mathematician, but I am pretty sure there isn't "more than a thousand years" between 1910 and 2789. :-/)
Anyway, the TARDIS team - albeit it was pretty much the Doctor going off doing his own thing and Amy & Rory being left to cope on their own - worked fairly well, the plot about a bunch of feasting-on-minds aliens trying to take over Earth was serviceable if not strikingly original, the pacing was fine and I liked both of the supporting original characters, Professor Archibald and Arven the artificial man, quite a bit.
So, all in all a rather nice read.
(Except that I rather wish they'd have said "a thousand years" a little less often. And especially not "more than a thousand years". For a period ranging from 1910 to 2789. I am not exactly a mathematician, but I am pretty sure there isn't "more than a thousand years" between 1910 and 2789. :-/)
sunsoar25's review
3.0
This is a quick, but fun little Doctor Who story set in series six. I definitely preferred the second half of it, compared to the beginning. I also think that it could have made a cool tv episode. Mann does a good job of making Amy, Rory, and The Doctor come alive in the story and I enjoyed how the story is put together, even though sometimes things got a bit obvious. My main issue with this particular story is that the pace is all over the place. Either way, if you're a fan of the television series, you may definitely want to try this story set during the sixth series of New Who.
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