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A review by hidekisohma
Doctor Who: The Face-Eater by Simon Messingham
3.0
Well, I finally did it. I made it to book #18 of the EDA's. why is this important? Because this is the final book in the series where Sam is his only companion, and the last book without Fitz (if you don't count the 5 book arc where he has no companions later). Does it wrap up the solo Sam arc with a bang? Um...eh?
Short version. Doc and Sam go to Earth's first colony off of earth in the mid 2100's. It's run by this corporate office lady and people are mysteriously dying in weird ways.
That's the short short version anyway.
First of all, with a book called "The Face-Eater" i'm certain the average reader is not expecting an amazing, doctor who universe changing story. It honestly sounds like a bad 1950's B horror movie you'd see at a drive in or something. And honestly, that's kind of how this book plays out, but in a less interesting way.
Because these authors don't seem to know how to write a story with Sam and the Doctor working together, they're separated.....AGAIN, for the majority of the book. The doc is off working on the root of the problem while Sam, as she tends to do, works on the underground 'stop the oppressive lady' end.
She honestly gets pretty banged up in this one which was and also wasn't surprising. If there's one thing i've noticed in these books is that Sam goes through a LOT of emotional and especially physical torment. Either being bitten by vampires, burned, gets melty, etc. she goes through a lot.
The story itself isn't the most interesting in the world. The villain (no spoilers) resolution is a tiny bit lame for both the human and non-human as the non-human starts off kind of interesting and creepy, but it loses it very fast once you realize what the creature really is.
This is also a book where you don't want to attach yourself to the side cast, as this is one of those "nearly everybody dies" books. I mean, you could probably tell from a title like "face-eater" that it wouldn't be a fun silly romp, but it would be a bit darker.
I was actually a little surprised that for a book called "the face-eater" there isn't a whole lotta face eating going on. i think it's mentioned like...once or twice in passing, but that's about it. maybe simon didn't want to get too gross unlike Trevor Baxendale?
Regardless, the book was fine. It's not going to win any awards, but it's fine. Better than Beltempest despite that being quite the low bar. All in all, a solid 3 out of 5. not a 2.5, not a 3.5, just an even 3 out of 5.
With this one being done i'm excited to get into the next arc of the book series and see where we go from there.
3 out of 5.
Short version. Doc and Sam go to Earth's first colony off of earth in the mid 2100's. It's run by this corporate office lady and people are mysteriously dying in weird ways.
That's the short short version anyway.
First of all, with a book called "The Face-Eater" i'm certain the average reader is not expecting an amazing, doctor who universe changing story. It honestly sounds like a bad 1950's B horror movie you'd see at a drive in or something. And honestly, that's kind of how this book plays out, but in a less interesting way.
Because these authors don't seem to know how to write a story with Sam and the Doctor working together, they're separated.....AGAIN, for the majority of the book. The doc is off working on the root of the problem while Sam, as she tends to do, works on the underground 'stop the oppressive lady' end.
She honestly gets pretty banged up in this one which was and also wasn't surprising. If there's one thing i've noticed in these books is that Sam goes through a LOT of emotional and especially physical torment. Either being bitten by vampires, burned, gets melty, etc. she goes through a lot.
The story itself isn't the most interesting in the world. The villain (no spoilers) resolution is a tiny bit lame for both the human and non-human as the non-human starts off kind of interesting and creepy, but it loses it very fast once you realize what the creature really is.
This is also a book where you don't want to attach yourself to the side cast, as this is one of those "nearly everybody dies" books. I mean, you could probably tell from a title like "face-eater" that it wouldn't be a fun silly romp, but it would be a bit darker.
I was actually a little surprised that for a book called "the face-eater" there isn't a whole lotta face eating going on. i think it's mentioned like...once or twice in passing, but that's about it. maybe simon didn't want to get too gross unlike Trevor Baxendale?
Regardless, the book was fine. It's not going to win any awards, but it's fine. Better than Beltempest despite that being quite the low bar. All in all, a solid 3 out of 5. not a 2.5, not a 3.5, just an even 3 out of 5.
With this one being done i'm excited to get into the next arc of the book series and see where we go from there.
3 out of 5.