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annathepiperFestival of Death, by Jonathan Morris: This is a Fourth Doctor novel loaned me by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spazzkat, and it was a quite enjoyable read since I've had only scattered exposure to the Fourth Doctor episodes--and hardly any of the ones in which Romana appears. It was therefore quite a neat change of pace to be reading all about the dynamic between the Doctor and Romana, wherein we not only have a Companion who's smarter than he is, but who's better at time travel too. ;) And, K-9 was a plus as well.
Anyone who had trouble following the tangled timeline of the second and third Back to the Future movies might find this book a bit of a rough go, since it's quite non-linear in plot structure. But it does a great job of introducing a lot of seemingly disparate plot threads scattered over two centuries and tying them up neatly in the end. There's a lot of homage to Douglas Adams in the overall style of the writing, not to mention a couple of the side characters, which added some amusement value--since Adams did work on the show in the Fourth Doctor era. And, space zombies. I mean, you don't get much better than space zombies! Four stars.
The Stone Rose, by Jacqueline Rayner: My first Tenth Doctor novel, recommended to me byeveshka, started off a bit slow--but picked up considerably in the second half. It also had the distinction of being the first Doctor story I can remember encountering that's set in actively ancient Earth history, which was a refreshing change of pace. Yet despite the historical setting, there's a nice twining in of futuristic technology as well, and I liked that the scope of this story was more of a "solving a time mystery" rather than "saving the world from imminent destruction". We've gotten quite a bit of the latter in the Ninth and Tenth Doctor episodes, after all.
Writing-wise, I liked this author better than Justin Richards, even if her prose came across a bit insubstantial for my tastes. But her pacing was good, her grasps of both Ten and Rose were overall splendid, and she had some nice touches as well with the brief appearances of both Mickey and Jackie. And for fangirls like me, her one or two light little touches hinting at the romantic link between the Doctor and Rose were sweet. Three and a half stars.
spazzkat, and it was a quite enjoyable read since I've had only scattered exposure to the Fourth Doctor episodes--and hardly any of the ones in which Romana appears. It was therefore quite a neat change of pace to be reading all about the dynamic between the Doctor and Romana, wherein we not only have a Companion who's smarter than he is, but who's better at time travel too. ;) And, K-9 was a plus as well.Anyone who had trouble following the tangled timeline of the second and third Back to the Future movies might find this book a bit of a rough go, since it's quite non-linear in plot structure. But it does a great job of introducing a lot of seemingly disparate plot threads scattered over two centuries and tying them up neatly in the end. There's a lot of homage to Douglas Adams in the overall style of the writing, not to mention a couple of the side characters, which added some amusement value--since Adams did work on the show in the Fourth Doctor era. And, space zombies. I mean, you don't get much better than space zombies! Four stars.
The Stone Rose, by Jacqueline Rayner: My first Tenth Doctor novel, recommended to me by
eveshka, started off a bit slow--but picked up considerably in the second half. It also had the distinction of being the first Doctor story I can remember encountering that's set in actively ancient Earth history, which was a refreshing change of pace. Yet despite the historical setting, there's a nice twining in of futuristic technology as well, and I liked that the scope of this story was more of a "solving a time mystery" rather than "saving the world from imminent destruction". We've gotten quite a bit of the latter in the Ninth and Tenth Doctor episodes, after all.Writing-wise, I liked this author better than Justin Richards, even if her prose came across a bit insubstantial for my tastes. But her pacing was good, her grasps of both Ten and Rose were overall splendid, and she had some nice touches as well with the brief appearances of both Mickey and Jackie. And for fangirls like me, her one or two light little touches hinting at the romantic link between the Doctor and Rose were sweet. Three and a half stars.