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2.84 AVERAGE
2.84 AVERAGE
This is the first novel I've ever read that is a spin-off from a TV series / film and my hopes were not high. This was however a Christmas present and I felt duty bound to read it. However I was pleasantly surprised. The plot is dense (almost too much so in places), the characterisations pretty good and there are some genuinely suspenseful moments. The plot is far-removed from the TV versions which are fairly formulaic and the morality less clear-cut, but the Doctor's wit, intelligence and emotional involvement all come through in the writing. I was amazed that there appear to be over 70 other titles in this particular series and I may even have to pick up a couple more to while away my bus journeys into work.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Parallel 59 is one of those Who stories that attempts to check several boxes of the classic era. Futuristic civilization on a planet similar to Earth? Check. Military installation that runs a section of the planet? Check. Resistance that fights the military? Check. Spies infiltrating the military? Mutiny/coup? Secret twist at the end? Alien invasion? Companions separated? Check, check, check, check, check. Even with two authors, this title did nothing new for the EDAs or for DW and was ridiculously, boringly safe. There's way too many side characters to keep track of, and they aren't different enough or deep enough for you to care about them. There's one fun twist in here, but given the novel's publishing date, I would rather give the Wachowskis credit instead.
Fitz goes into a bit of a character spiral, which of course, ends up not mattering anyway, and Compassion still hasn't undergone much character growth. The Doctor does do quite a bit here in terms of undermining the military including blowing up their machine, does some ridiculous calculations, not to mention he uses his sonic screwdriver (finally).
This title is only really worth reading if you're a completionist and trying to get through all of the EDAs- otherwise, I'd skip it.
Fitz goes into a bit of a character spiral, which of course, ends up not mattering anyway, and Compassion still hasn't undergone much character growth. The Doctor does do quite a bit here in terms of undermining the military including blowing up their machine, does some ridiculous calculations, not to mention he uses his sonic screwdriver (finally).
This title is only really worth reading if you're a completionist and trying to get through all of the EDAs- otherwise, I'd skip it.
Blindingly dull. So many interchangeable OCs and the reader is not encouraged to care about any of them. Fitz's subplot is gross and borderline character assassination. The only part I liked was the notion that the Doctor has a song Fitz wrote for Sam stuck in his head and keeps humming it to himself, and that's not enough. I should have skipped this one.
This book was a mixed bag for me. I'm always going to be there for space race stuff, and the virtual-reality-matrix stuff was also fascinating. Also liked Eight trying to outwit the guards and figure out WTF was going on, while occasionally being interrogated naked. ;-)
But Fitz's awful, awful, awful treatment of his girlfriends on Mechta really grated on me. Sometimes I can find Fitz charming (his uncertainties and his trying to be 'cool' and the fact that he does have a good heart) but he was just being a sexist dick in this and it wasn't fun. Seriously, all three of the relationships he has are cheating, and he has the gall to be annoyed at the women when they don't like him lying to them! Come on, Fitz. You're better than this. At least I hope you are.
Interested to see where things are going with Compassion. I still don't quite have a handle on her after half a dozen books, but of course part of the thing with Compassion is that she is just not quite human. So I'm intrigued.
But Fitz's awful, awful, awful treatment of his girlfriends on Mechta really grated on me. Sometimes I can find Fitz charming (his uncertainties and his trying to be 'cool' and the fact that he does have a good heart) but he was just being a sexist dick in this and it wasn't fun. Seriously, all three of the relationships he has are cheating, and he has the gall to be annoyed at the women when they don't like him lying to them! Come on, Fitz. You're better than this. At least I hope you are.
Interested to see where things are going with Compassion. I still don't quite have a handle on her after half a dozen books, but of course part of the thing with Compassion is that she is just not quite human. So I'm intrigued.
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This is rather a good Eighth Doctor novel, with the Doctor and the steadily improving Compassion trying to navigate a military regime which is better realised than most of the many such regimes in Who books, while Fitz (who I think is actually in more individual stories, taken across all media, than any other companion), having got separated off, settles into an ambiguous and ultimately dangerous utopia. Some of the ideas here seem to be drawn from The Matrix, though I'm not sure if the timing works out (the film came out in 1999; this book was published in 2000 and must have been in the works for a while). Stephen Cole rarely disappoints, and I don't know what Dallaire's contribution was, but I thought the characterisation of the non-regulars here was a notch above the usual standards for Who books of any era.
This is rather a good Eighth Doctor novel, with the Doctor and the steadily improving Compassion trying to navigate a military regime which is better realised than most of the many such regimes in Who books, while Fitz (who I think is actually in more individual stories, taken across all media, than any other companion), having got separated off, settles into an ambiguous and ultimately dangerous utopia. Some of the ideas here seem to be drawn from The Matrix, though I'm not sure if the timing works out (the film came out in 1999; this book was published in 2000 and must have been in the works for a while). Stephen Cole rarely disappoints, and I don't know what Dallaire's contribution was, but I thought the characterisation of the non-regulars here was a notch above the usual standards for Who books of any era.
I couldn't continue, this actually my third attempt of reading this book. (The first of documenting it) I do want to continue on but I couldn't, I stopped at page 65, all that's truly memorable is the Doctor and Compassion escapes in a capsule from a space station and land on Skale which they been captured by the Military Regime of Parallel 59 as Fitz wakes up in another world. On how far I have gotten in the book it's just nothing but a run-around, with the Doctor and Compassion being Naked throughout the first portion of the book, neither of Fitz's Story doesn't help, Did I mention this Book has Two Plots.