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cassilightning's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
zmull's review against another edition
4.0
The Doctor and Ace arrive on Heaven, a beautiful planet used as a graveyard for interplanetary war dead. What could go wrong here? Ace falls in with a group of crust punks and starts thinking about she really wants out of her life. The Doctor meets Bernice Summerfield, a 26th century archeologist, who goes on to be a major character in the non-TV Doctor Who universe. Given Benny's debut here, I assumed she'd be given the featured role. Actually, Love and War is Ace's story, with Benny and Doctor in supporting roles. This the book where Ace "grows up." It's nice to see some care given to classic companions. Author Paul Cornell has gone on to a successful career as a novelist and comics writer, but at this time he was one of the best Doctor Who writers contributing to the wilderness years. In 1992, he was definitely the man for the job of evolving Ace as a character.
arthurbdd's review
4.0
Notable for writing out Ace - a companion who had kind of run her course, at least in her current form - and creating Dr. Bernice Summerfield, who'd go on to be the iconic companion of Virgin's New Adventures novel line. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2024/03/05/the-virgin-new-adventures-nightshade-to-deceit/
rowan5215's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
patti_pinguin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
ssjensen's review against another edition
2.0
Plot line plodded along - not one of my favorite Cornell's.
hidekisohma's review against another edition
3.0
If there's one thing i can say about these new adventures is that for some reason, normally they're quite complicated and i can't exactly figure out why. Interestingly enough though, this is one of the few out of the first nine that aren't THAT complicated. Yeah there's some weird shenanigans going on, but it's nowhere near "Time Crucible" which was just completely incomprehensible. No, the issue i had with this book was that i just didn't CARE for the majority of it.
On paper it sounds fine. It's the book where the doc picks up a new companion in Bernice, and Ace peaces out for a while. That sounds interesting, and to be perfectly fair, the last 30 pages ARE but the rest of it is a SCHLOG.
Essentially doc ends on this planet called Heaven. It's a very nice planet where people like to live but also pay to have their dead friends and relatives shipped as it's a nice place to be buried. However when they get there, Ace falls in love with random guy mcgee named Jan. she also does a lot of backstory thinking about her past including some guy she visits a funeral for named Julian before she arrives in Heaven.
Jan is part of this group that's kind of like...Matrix hippies? i guess is the best way to put it. they jack into this computer space using holes in their necks and have fun and chill out there. However, in the real world, there's also fungus monsters that bring back dead people as fungus zombies.
This SOUNDS kind of interesting, but the issue is, it's not. The story itself is disjointed and an INORDINATE amount of time is spent on the aforementioned Ace/Jan relationship. and i don't know about you, but i'm not into doctor who to read about random romances that you know aren't going to end well. I mean, if you haven't read this book have you ever heard of the character JAN in doctor who? yeah. didn't think so.
I've read a book of two with Bernice in it (specifically Big Bang Generation with the 12th doctor) and honestly, i'm not the biggest fan of her. She's very muted, but not in a compassion (8th comp) way, more of like a "oh. you have a time machine? cool. sounds good." like, no reaction kinda dull. like, she read ahead in the script and knew what to expect.
She might be tolerable as a comp since she's not the main character, and i know in like 3 books Ace comes back so she'll have to share the spotlight, so i'm okay with that. But MAN, i saw that she apparently has her OWN book series and i'm sitting there like "The hell is reading BERNICE SUMMERFIELD THE SERIES?" and after checking goodreads and seeing that most of her books have sub 100 ratings, my answer is, nobody is.
She's no Compassion or Fitz, that's for sure. She's, in a word, fine.
The doc kinds of acts weird in this one, continually referring to Ace as Dodo by mistake and making depressing statements like "ah we lost" or "there's nothing we can do" and i know it's part of a plan, but it gets disheartening after a while.
There's a lot of side characters in the matrix hippie group, several of which also want in Jan's pants, and they're all so forgettable that i can't even remember their names.
I think the only saving grace of this book was that the ending was kind of neat and it was really short. like ~230 pages short. if this was ~300 it would be intolerable. But it was JUST short enough to keep me focused and wrap it up in a few days.
Overall, this book falls straight into 2.5 territory. it's the epitome of a 2.5/5. problem is, i can't rate it that which is very annoying.
so is it worth a 2 or a 3? i was hemming and hawing over this.... but....i think i'll give it a 3. It was boring at times, but i didn't outwardly HATE anything about it. losing and getting a companion was interesting in a shakeup kinda way, it was short, and it wasn't INCREDIBLY confusing. also the ending was pretty good. So, yeah.
2.5 out of 5 rounded up to a 3.
On paper it sounds fine. It's the book where the doc picks up a new companion in Bernice, and Ace peaces out for a while. That sounds interesting, and to be perfectly fair, the last 30 pages ARE but the rest of it is a SCHLOG.
Essentially doc ends on this planet called Heaven. It's a very nice planet where people like to live but also pay to have their dead friends and relatives shipped as it's a nice place to be buried. However when they get there, Ace falls in love with random guy mcgee named Jan. she also does a lot of backstory thinking about her past including some guy she visits a funeral for named Julian before she arrives in Heaven.
Jan is part of this group that's kind of like...Matrix hippies? i guess is the best way to put it. they jack into this computer space using holes in their necks and have fun and chill out there. However, in the real world, there's also fungus monsters that bring back dead people as fungus zombies.
This SOUNDS kind of interesting, but the issue is, it's not. The story itself is disjointed and an INORDINATE amount of time is spent on the aforementioned Ace/Jan relationship. and i don't know about you, but i'm not into doctor who to read about random romances that you know aren't going to end well. I mean, if you haven't read this book have you ever heard of the character JAN in doctor who? yeah. didn't think so.
I've read a book of two with Bernice in it (specifically Big Bang Generation with the 12th doctor) and honestly, i'm not the biggest fan of her. She's very muted, but not in a compassion (8th comp) way, more of like a "oh. you have a time machine? cool. sounds good." like, no reaction kinda dull. like, she read ahead in the script and knew what to expect.
She might be tolerable as a comp since she's not the main character, and i know in like 3 books Ace comes back so she'll have to share the spotlight, so i'm okay with that. But MAN, i saw that she apparently has her OWN book series and i'm sitting there like "The hell is reading BERNICE SUMMERFIELD THE SERIES?" and after checking goodreads and seeing that most of her books have sub 100 ratings, my answer is, nobody is.
She's no Compassion or Fitz, that's for sure. She's, in a word, fine.
The doc kinds of acts weird in this one, continually referring to Ace as Dodo by mistake and making depressing statements like "ah we lost" or "there's nothing we can do" and i know it's part of a plan, but it gets disheartening after a while.
There's a lot of side characters in the matrix hippie group, several of which also want in Jan's pants, and they're all so forgettable that i can't even remember their names.
I think the only saving grace of this book was that the ending was kind of neat and it was really short. like ~230 pages short. if this was ~300 it would be intolerable. But it was JUST short enough to keep me focused and wrap it up in a few days.
Overall, this book falls straight into 2.5 territory. it's the epitome of a 2.5/5. problem is, i can't rate it that which is very annoying.
so is it worth a 2 or a 3? i was hemming and hawing over this.... but....i think i'll give it a 3. It was boring at times, but i didn't outwardly HATE anything about it. losing and getting a companion was interesting in a shakeup kinda way, it was short, and it wasn't INCREDIBLY confusing. also the ending was pretty good. So, yeah.
2.5 out of 5 rounded up to a 3.
shane's review against another edition
5.0
This one has a reputation. The Doctor, pitting his wits against the Hoothi ends up betraying those closest to him in a bid to save an entire world(maybe even worlds(plural)). Does one man, even such a man as the Doctor have the right to trade one single life for countless? He certainly seems to think so.
If you only read one Doctor Who novel in your entire life, make it this one.
If you only read one Doctor Who novel in your entire life, make it this one.
gingerreader99's review against another edition
3.0
Even with quite a stellar if heartbreaking conclusion this just didn't wow me the way I had hoped. Ace felt off ? For most of the book that is, and I had to double back and read her wiki to put together why she's back with the Doctor and Bernice in later novels in the series (it adds up now knowing more of her story), not to mention it does frustrate me when characters fall in love within days of meeting someone, and the relationship with Jan just didn't seem to fit with the image I have of ace, but again some of the Ace content I've read comes after this so that may have soured my expectations.
The Doctor also was much darker than usual even for 7 and I appreciate the darker tones of the New Doctor Who adventures generally but this just wasn't the winner for me.
Still, I am looking forward to Transit after this and more New Doctor Who Adventures books in the future.
The Doctor also was much darker than usual even for 7 and I appreciate the darker tones of the New Doctor Who adventures generally but this just wasn't the winner for me.
Still, I am looking forward to Transit after this and more New Doctor Who Adventures books in the future.