Brief Book Reports

[neadods]

Like I was really going to wait until Sunday to start reading the new Who novels!

Finished Wooden Heart last night. It rates a solid "meh." I kept waiting for the plot to pull together, which it doesn't, but it's not as curl-up-in-pain-fully bad as, say Resurrection Casket. I wasn't expecting much out of it, to tell the truth, and that's what it delivered. (I'm reading these in inverse order of how interested I expected to be.) Doctor/Companion dynamics were negligible: this is one of the tie-ins where they could do a global search-and-replace and it would make no difference if it was a Three & Jo, Four & Sarah, or Ten & Rose adventure. (Considering some of the things Martha does, I think it originaly *was* a Ten & Rose adventure.)

About a quarter of the way through Sting of the Zygons and things are progressing nicely. Cole is very hit or miss - I couldn't get through Monsters Inside or Art of Destruction, but Feast of the Drowned was decent. In this, there's actual characterization going on - the Doctor's bouncing around like a three year old on sugar-laced crack, and Martha has just snarked him out. There's also a hint as to where this is placed in the timeline, as Martha's still a bit freaked out about "the last time she was in New York." The plot also has me fairly interested; I had expected a rerun of Invasion of the Dinosaurs and we're getting something quite different instead.

So far, no mentions of Rose (or Gallifrey or Saxon), which supports my hypothesis that the last episode was the end of that recurring theme. We'll find out about that on Saturday.

And a bit of non-Who stuff: stolen from tchwrtr, teaching binary numbers to nine year olds, using the Socratic method.

Comments

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

The one written by Jac Rayner *was* a Tenth Doctor and Rose book originally.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I know, and I'm wondering what that's going to do to the plot and the characterization.

On the other hand, I utterly *adored* Winner Takes All, which was all about the characterization, so I'm hoping that this was rewritten to make the most of Martha.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Weird. Most of the reviews I've seen thus far are very meh on Sting of the Zygons, and highly praising of Wooden Heart. Though The Last Dodo appears reasonably popular (apparently a chunk of it is first person Martha POV)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I haven't been seeing many reviews - but then, mine tend to be out of step. I keep hearing that Stealers of Dreams & Winner Takes All - which I thought were excellent - are terrible, while the ones that I can't even get through are the best. I've taken three runs at Deviant Strain and still haven't made it past page 15.

You can insert your own version of nose-in-air, dust-flicking statements about some people's standards. :>

Wooden Heart is readable enough, but after I closed it, my brain caught up with "but wait... what about this? Or that? Hey, that whole setup doesn't make a lot of sense." It's the Satan Pit of book plots, only without the really good ghost story stuff first.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I thought Stealer of Dreams was pretty good, and Winner Takes All was mostly great, but with a plot that became completely stupid towards the end (like you said, good character stuff). Deviant Strain was dull, dull, dull.

It's possible that Wooden Heart is appealling to the old school plot and atmosphere over characterisation types.

Oh, and to weigh into lower debates, going by DWM, the authors got a bunch of scripts to work from (four, I think). And Cole mentions seeing early cuts of the first couple of episodes, but I'm not sure about the others.

I expect the next lot will have some better characterisation going.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*snerk* at the icon!

Winner Takes All was mostly great, but with a plot that became completely stupid towards the end (like you said, good character stuff).

Yeah, I'm forgiving it a few things for the sake of the characterization, which I really enjoyed - not just Rose and the Doctor, but all the incidental characters. Since I've seen people asking on T&C for recommendations for the "shippiest" books, I'm rather assuming that not everyone is looking for plot!

Stealer of Dreams impressed me by having Jack act like Jack and also having a twist on what I had expected to be no more than a budget Farenheit 451 ripoff.

It's possible that Wooden Heart is appealling to the old school plot and atmosphere over characterisation types.

I wouldn't be surprised. But then, I'm snotty, and would prefer *both* if I can get 'em!

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Given the lag time in book production, it's extremely likely that these books were written without the writers having seen Freema Agyeman perform the role of Martha. If they're lucky, they got scripts, but even then, you can't judge a new character by scripts. Wooden Heart probably had to be as generic as possible in order to make it work at all.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Wooden Heart probably had to be as generic as possible in order to make it work at all

Without a doubt - Clockwise Man had the same problem - but I still find those books more disappointing than the ones that try. Steve Lyons admits in his endnote that he only had a couple of script pages to work from for Stealers of Dreams and he did wonderful things with Jack before John Barrowman ever got before the cameras.

Last Dodo is going to be the acid test. I expect a lot out of Raynor, and she's got the disadvantage of having pitched and partially written the book as a Rose adventure, and then having to rewrite it on the fly without having seen Freema.

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

I have been uniformly disappointed by the novels. Although I've yet to read "Winner Takes All" because it was on backorder for an insane amount of time before the order was canceled all together.

I guess I've been spoiled by the more adult nature of the EDA's and have a hard time adjusting to what is basically a YA novel. I mean, once you read about the Doctor cavorting with prostitutes in a brothel, having his heart cut out and nearly marrying a 13 y.o. vestial virgin, it's tough to go back.

;-)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

They cancelled your order?! Ebay. Or try again. Winner Takes All and Stealers of Dreams are my unchallenged favorites of the new Who tie-ins.

I don't think I have any of the EDAs (yet) so I can't compare. Have to confess, I was not particularly impressed by any of the few NAs I've gotten (which is why I'm going to be very interested to see what happens to Human Nature when all the tedious exposition is ripped away and only what can be handled visually is left.)

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

I ordered through Amazon and then B&N and both couldn't get a shipment in. Apparently, it was a popular seller.

Ebay is my next bet but since I was uninspired by the rest of the lot I've been slack on following up.

Yeah, I have to agree about the NA's. Frankly, some of the EDA's are spotty as well but they are, on the whole, a bit more adult and complicated. Although they can also get bogged down in their own mythology. The whole Faction Paradox thing boggles me a bit. But I LOVE and adore lordshiva's Erasing Sherlock which is written in the FP verse but not a Doctor story. I recommend it highly.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Erasing Sherlock which is written in the FP verse

*blink*blink* I've been waffling back and forth on getting that one and doing a review for RtE on it. (One of the reasons why I like Reviewing the Evidence is I get to do books that I suggest as well as the ones they offer.)

Winner is a winner, IMO; it's well worth continuing to try to get. If I had to dump the lot tomorrow, I'd give them all away without a murmur except Stealers and Winner. Those I'd fight for.

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

Well then, on that rec, I shall persevere

And waffle no more! If you've ever read her fanfic, it has that bit of that flavor. Well researched, sly and witty. She assumes the readers have a modicum of intelligence and it is really just a fun read, with a bit of heft to it.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

Question for you, Nea... About how many pages do these new adventures run per book?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Average is 250, give or take about 5, and they're hardbacks in that slightly-larger-than-US-paperback size. (To tell the truth, I like the physical size of these and the Harry Potters - easy to hold.)

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

There are no mentions of Rose or Saxon in The Last Dodo either - there's a reference to the Time Lords, and interestingly it's the first time the Doctor admits in the new series (though only in an internal monologue) that they weren't on good terms and he's never forgiven his exile to Earth.