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decembera's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Animal cruelty
nenya_kanadka's review
5.0
Absolutely wrenching. My top favourite Doctor Who novel so far. Another novel where Sam and Eight spend most of their time apart, but this time I was drawn into both their plots so deeply that it almost didn't matter--though I was so relieved at the final rescue.
Meanwhile, Sam Jones makes her way up from the soup kitchen she lands at, gives being a good little office drone a shot...and then chucks it all to go live and work on an eco-farm with a community of idealists. It's a very Sam Jones thing to do. She grows up a lot; the three years she spends there span age 17 to 21 for her. She has several romantic relationships, including one with a woman (Chris, whose gender is a blink-and-miss-it mention, but whose relationship is explicitly a romantic one of so long that people "had spent so long thinking of [Sam] as one half of Sam and Chris that they couldn’t picture her in any other way") and with a man named Paul (ha!) who reminds her of the Doctor. There are also some great quotes about her crush on the Doctor and how she's working her way through that.
And then she discovers what's happened to the Doctor, and works out how to save him. Her years on her adopted planet of Ha'olam have given her contacts and local knowledge which she uses in a jailbreak that finally, finally frees the Doctor from his prison. The scene where Eight is at last reunited with his TARDIS after three years of incarceration, where he stumbles off down the corridor and sobs brokenly because he really had given up hope, is absolutely brutal. "Three years of nothing," he says to Sam. But the story doesn't leave him there; this is a solid entry in the genre of hurt/comfort (thank you, Kate Orman!), and the Doctor (with the help of Sam, the butterfly room, and time) starts to patch himself together again.
And in a scene that to me hits all the notes of resilience and optimism that Doctor Who is known for, Sam finds out that the Doctor (who lost his old costume while he was a captive) has gone and replaced his costume from the movie--but this verson has been made by a real tailor, from durable materials that can be worn for real, not just a cheap party costume. The Doctor is back, real and solid and ready to face the future.
Of course there's aliens, of course there's a final confrontation with the big bad (handily putting the Doctor back in action, which may be better for his recovery than anything) but the heart of this novel for me was Eight and Sam, on their own and together. I also loved the life Sam built on Ha'olam, her friendships and the way the culture there was built on Middle-Eastern lines rather than yet another America or Britain in space. Sam has two home planets how, even though it's right and good that she keep travelling with the Doctor.
A+, heartbreaking, beautiful book.
Spoiler
The Doctor is the one who needs rescue in this one. He starts out trying to find and save Sam, who's trying to fit in on a new planet after they were separated several books back. But while hacking the network of the planet's uber-corporation, he's arrested, and all his attempts to escape come to nothing. There's a slowly creeping horror as he and the reader realize that he really truly cannot escape this time. For three years (THREE YEARS), Eight is trapped inside a very nice but very secure prison complex, going slowly mad with frustration and the loss of his TARDIS.Meanwhile, Sam Jones makes her way up from the soup kitchen she lands at, gives being a good little office drone a shot...and then chucks it all to go live and work on an eco-farm with a community of idealists. It's a very Sam Jones thing to do. She grows up a lot; the three years she spends there span age 17 to 21 for her. She has several romantic relationships, including one with a woman (Chris, whose gender is a blink-and-miss-it mention, but whose relationship is explicitly a romantic one of so long that people "had spent so long thinking of [Sam] as one half of Sam and Chris that they couldn’t picture her in any other way") and with a man named Paul (ha!) who reminds her of the Doctor. There are also some great quotes about her crush on the Doctor and how she's working her way through that.
And then she discovers what's happened to the Doctor, and works out how to save him. Her years on her adopted planet of Ha'olam have given her contacts and local knowledge which she uses in a jailbreak that finally, finally frees the Doctor from his prison. The scene where Eight is at last reunited with his TARDIS after three years of incarceration, where he stumbles off down the corridor and sobs brokenly because he really had given up hope, is absolutely brutal. "Three years of nothing," he says to Sam. But the story doesn't leave him there; this is a solid entry in the genre of hurt/comfort (thank you, Kate Orman!), and the Doctor (with the help of Sam, the butterfly room, and time) starts to patch himself together again.
And in a scene that to me hits all the notes of resilience and optimism that Doctor Who is known for, Sam finds out that the Doctor (who lost his old costume while he was a captive) has gone and replaced his costume from the movie--but this verson has been made by a real tailor, from durable materials that can be worn for real, not just a cheap party costume. The Doctor is back, real and solid and ready to face the future.
Of course there's aliens, of course there's a final confrontation with the big bad (handily putting the Doctor back in action, which may be better for his recovery than anything) but the heart of this novel for me was Eight and Sam, on their own and together. I also loved the life Sam built on Ha'olam, her friendships and the way the culture there was built on Middle-Eastern lines rather than yet another America or Britain in space. Sam has two home planets how, even though it's right and good that she keep travelling with the Doctor.
A+, heartbreaking, beautiful book.
qualiareedauthor's review
4.0
This Arc, where Sam is stuck on this planet for YEARS, is my fave of the 8th doctor adventures so far. Finally, a series that isn't afraid to write consequences into their stories.
hidekisohma's review
1.0
I don't think it's a stretch to say that out of the 12 eighth doctor books i have read, this is the worst one. Alien Bodies may have been confusing, Longest day may have been depressing and sad, but Seeing I is depressing AND confusing. It's like a buy one get one free. Only instead of getting two boxes of cereal, you get rotten oranges that smell when you finally peel them.
The first glaring problem with this book is that it focuses WAY too much on Sam and her weird friends going through life and doing life things on a generic planet. I honestly don't care about her makeshift housing she made out in the desert. I don't CARE about who she's "Snogging" as the book would put it. If i wanted that, i'd read a romance novel where on the cover Fabio is kissing a middle aged housewife.
For a series called "Doctor Who" the doctor does a whole lotta nothing for about 150 pages. He does stuff in the beginning, and then he's in prison for 100+ pages not being able to get out for three years. This made me both laugh and question life as I read this. Really? The doctor. the guy who's beaten the Daleks dozens of times, the devastator of cyberman, champion of the ice warriors, gets stuck in a prison for THREE YEARS by a random ass company? Not the master, not a rival time lord, a random ass company. I really don't have words for that. It would have made MUCH more sense to have put him in a coma in a way he COULDN'T try to escape.
I feel like the people who wrote this novel don't understand how the doctor works and the fact that they said he was in a prison for THREE YEARS without being able to escape is insulting to every doctor who fan.
As this was written by two authors, and having read Vampire Science, I feel like there was a swap. Like one author wrote Vampire and the other helped, and then in this book, the second took the lead with the first helping. The tone and actions of the doctor were so contrary to normal, i hardly believe it's the same guy.
A lot of people give this book a good score because it's "A good character study of Sam" and it's "her development book". which honestly is crap. A GOOD author would be able to weave in character development without pulling the main character out the story and literally locking him away out of commission. As it is, her "Development" was negligible. She still has a crush on the doctor, she's still a crazy level environmentalist, and she's still traveling around with the doctor. The only "development" she has had was that the number next to the age on her ID went from 17 to 21. As one of the last lines of the book is Sam basically saying "i've grown up" proves how she hasn't. anyone who with a straight face says that "They're grown up now" is not grown up.
This time leap was done for a single purpose. To age up Sam slightly so that if the authors decided they ever wanted sam and the doctor to "snog" it wouldn't be creepy. and there's much better ways to age up a character then putting the doctor on ice for 3 years.
Sam's friends are annoying and forgettable. In fact, they're so forgettable that she only says goodbye to really one of them. They seem to not like the doctor, they question everything Sam wants to do, and about 2/3 of the way through the book, they kind of just disappear, never to be seen again. Good riddance actually. There's actually a character who's a terrible person for the whole climax of the story and yet she survives and Sam forgives her. and i was like "um. no. no. i don't WANT you to forgive her. I actually WANTED her to die." and if your message is wanting the audience to want her to forgive her, you did a terrible job.
I wracked my brain trying to think of things i liked about this book and I could only think of 2 things. I like the doctor trying to hack into the system in the beginning scenes, and i like the one part where the doctor gives Sam the teddy bear he'd been holding into for 3 years. that scene kind of touched my heart a little. After thinking for like 10 minutes, that's about really the only things i can say i liked about it. There was nothing else i enjoyed about this book.
The doctor NEVER seemed to be in control at all which is ENTIRELY out of character. Nearly every time (except in certain situations) i think "ah, well the doc has some trick up his sleeve" NOPE! not in this case. he didn't have ANY tricks and was useless for a large portion of it leaving it up to Sam to have to do nearly everything. I don't attribute this the doctor being bad, i just attribute this one off to poor writing.
The actual villains themselves are lame. they're not interesting, they're not scary, they're just kind of...there. the ending was more than a little confusing both grammatically and in practice. when you call your villain "I" that makes things a little confusing to read. Also their plan and their defeat left me with MANY questions. the first 200 pages, while not good at least made sense. pages 210-260 were a gloopy jumbled incoherent mess filled with nonsense and boredom.
All in all, i wish to give this book a 1.5 so badly, but i STILL can't give books 1/2 stars, and throughout this entire review, i still hadn't decided on giving it a 1 or a 2.
I don't like giving 1's. i really don't. if you look through my history, i rarely give them. to me, a bad book is a 2. A 2 is like, the book had SOME redeeming features, but it was bad, or a 2 is, i can see why OTHER people would like it but i just didn't. To me, a 1 is there are NO redeeming features. like the book was just terrible, no one should read it for any reason and it should burn in a fire.
When it all boils down to it when i can describe the entire plot as
"The doctor and sam spend 3 years apart and they reunite. the end."
and NOTHING else is missed. like literally if you didn't read this book and you JUST read that sentence and you missing NOTHING else, it just...it makes me realize it's not a 2. Imperial moon, for all its faults, still had a story. things HAPPENED. it wasn't 280 pages of NOTHING. I don't want to do this, but maybe, if people looking at reviews see this 1 and read my review and it stops ONE person from reading this book and wasting the $40 it costs now as it's OOP and harder to find, then it'll be worth it. I'm sorry i have to do this. i really am.
1.5 out of 5, rounded down to a 1.
The first glaring problem with this book is that it focuses WAY too much on Sam and her weird friends going through life and doing life things on a generic planet. I honestly don't care about her makeshift housing she made out in the desert. I don't CARE about who she's "Snogging" as the book would put it. If i wanted that, i'd read a romance novel where on the cover Fabio is kissing a middle aged housewife.
For a series called "Doctor Who" the doctor does a whole lotta nothing for about 150 pages. He does stuff in the beginning, and then he's in prison for 100+ pages not being able to get out for three years. This made me both laugh and question life as I read this. Really? The doctor. the guy who's beaten the Daleks dozens of times, the devastator of cyberman, champion of the ice warriors, gets stuck in a prison for THREE YEARS by a random ass company? Not the master, not a rival time lord, a random ass company. I really don't have words for that. It would have made MUCH more sense to have put him in a coma in a way he COULDN'T try to escape.
I feel like the people who wrote this novel don't understand how the doctor works and the fact that they said he was in a prison for THREE YEARS without being able to escape is insulting to every doctor who fan.
As this was written by two authors, and having read Vampire Science, I feel like there was a swap. Like one author wrote Vampire and the other helped, and then in this book, the second took the lead with the first helping. The tone and actions of the doctor were so contrary to normal, i hardly believe it's the same guy.
A lot of people give this book a good score because it's "A good character study of Sam" and it's "her development book". which honestly is crap. A GOOD author would be able to weave in character development without pulling the main character out the story and literally locking him away out of commission. As it is, her "Development" was negligible. She still has a crush on the doctor, she's still a crazy level environmentalist, and she's still traveling around with the doctor. The only "development" she has had was that the number next to the age on her ID went from 17 to 21. As one of the last lines of the book is Sam basically saying "i've grown up" proves how she hasn't. anyone who with a straight face says that "They're grown up now" is not grown up.
This time leap was done for a single purpose. To age up Sam slightly so that if the authors decided they ever wanted sam and the doctor to "snog" it wouldn't be creepy. and there's much better ways to age up a character then putting the doctor on ice for 3 years.
Sam's friends are annoying and forgettable. In fact, they're so forgettable that she only says goodbye to really one of them. They seem to not like the doctor, they question everything Sam wants to do, and about 2/3 of the way through the book, they kind of just disappear, never to be seen again. Good riddance actually. There's actually a character who's a terrible person for the whole climax of the story and yet she survives and Sam forgives her. and i was like "um. no. no. i don't WANT you to forgive her. I actually WANTED her to die." and if your message is wanting the audience to want her to forgive her, you did a terrible job.
I wracked my brain trying to think of things i liked about this book and I could only think of 2 things. I like the doctor trying to hack into the system in the beginning scenes, and i like the one part where the doctor gives Sam the teddy bear he'd been holding into for 3 years. that scene kind of touched my heart a little. After thinking for like 10 minutes, that's about really the only things i can say i liked about it. There was nothing else i enjoyed about this book.
The doctor NEVER seemed to be in control at all which is ENTIRELY out of character. Nearly every time (except in certain situations) i think "ah, well the doc has some trick up his sleeve" NOPE! not in this case. he didn't have ANY tricks and was useless for a large portion of it leaving it up to Sam to have to do nearly everything. I don't attribute this the doctor being bad, i just attribute this one off to poor writing.
The actual villains themselves are lame. they're not interesting, they're not scary, they're just kind of...there. the ending was more than a little confusing both grammatically and in practice. when you call your villain "I" that makes things a little confusing to read. Also their plan and their defeat left me with MANY questions. the first 200 pages, while not good at least made sense. pages 210-260 were a gloopy jumbled incoherent mess filled with nonsense and boredom.
All in all, i wish to give this book a 1.5 so badly, but i STILL can't give books 1/2 stars, and throughout this entire review, i still hadn't decided on giving it a 1 or a 2.
I don't like giving 1's. i really don't. if you look through my history, i rarely give them. to me, a bad book is a 2. A 2 is like, the book had SOME redeeming features, but it was bad, or a 2 is, i can see why OTHER people would like it but i just didn't. To me, a 1 is there are NO redeeming features. like the book was just terrible, no one should read it for any reason and it should burn in a fire.
When it all boils down to it when i can describe the entire plot as
"The doctor and sam spend 3 years apart and they reunite. the end."
and NOTHING else is missed. like literally if you didn't read this book and you JUST read that sentence and you missing NOTHING else, it just...it makes me realize it's not a 2. Imperial moon, for all its faults, still had a story. things HAPPENED. it wasn't 280 pages of NOTHING. I don't want to do this, but maybe, if people looking at reviews see this 1 and read my review and it stops ONE person from reading this book and wasting the $40 it costs now as it's OOP and harder to find, then it'll be worth it. I'm sorry i have to do this. i really am.
1.5 out of 5, rounded down to a 1.
rebelbelle13's review
1.0
There are times where I don't mind being contrary to the popular opinion. I'll wave my flag proudly and die on that hill. Other times, like this, it just makes me very sad to realize that I did not have the same experience as the majority, and I truly wish I did. Seeing I is more of a character study than a true EDA Who novel, in that it mostly revolves around Sam and her growing up, and the Doctor in a prison he cannot break free from.
The first 180 pages involves Sam in a homeless shelter, then a corporate job, then an enclave Habit for Humanity type situation, all while chronicling her every move, every love interest, and every lesson learned. The Doctor lands on Ho 'alam (the planet Sam is on) discovers her location, and then gets arrested for hacking into the INC company system. He is then imprisoned for 3 years. He attempts escape over 100 times and fails each time, becoming more demoralized and depressed each time he fails. This part of the novel was so painful that there were times that I seriously considered putting the book down and walking away. I didn't give a single fig about Sam or her emotional journey. Sam isn't my favorite companion to start with, and having almost an entire book focused on her felt off-putting and pointless. The parts that cut back to The Doctor weren't much better. Watching the Doctor fail over and over again and start to break was depressing beyond words. This whole section made me consider my decision to read the rest of the EDAs.
The last 80 or so pages were better, but only slightly. Sam ends up saving the Doctor no less than three times, making him feel like a bumbling idiot. The ultimate resolution and reasoning behind INC was fine, but forgettable.
However, the other reason for the low score is Sam's constant lusting after the Doctor. There was literally a line about him making her "thighs sizzle". One of Sam's ex-boyfriends made a comment to crap or get off the pot. Seriously, Sam. Enough is enough, already. I see the Doctor as aromantic and asexual, so this whole character subplot bugs the heck out of me. (I didn't like it when they did it with Rose and Tennant, and I was barely ok when they did it with River and Smith.) I guess I can see why some people like it, but I honestly prefer the type of relationship that the Doctor has with Charley, or Donna, or Leela, or Nyssa. Best friends, with mutual respect and it's completely platonic.
All that to say, this absolutely was NOT my cup of tea, at all, and it truly altered how I see McGann's Doctor. I really, truly hope that these get better in the future.
The first 180 pages involves Sam in a homeless shelter, then a corporate job, then an enclave Habit for Humanity type situation, all while chronicling her every move, every love interest, and every lesson learned. The Doctor lands on Ho 'alam (the planet Sam is on) discovers her location, and then gets arrested for hacking into the INC company system. He is then imprisoned for 3 years. He attempts escape over 100 times and fails each time, becoming more demoralized and depressed each time he fails. This part of the novel was so painful that there were times that I seriously considered putting the book down and walking away. I didn't give a single fig about Sam or her emotional journey. Sam isn't my favorite companion to start with, and having almost an entire book focused on her felt off-putting and pointless. The parts that cut back to The Doctor weren't much better. Watching the Doctor fail over and over again and start to break was depressing beyond words. This whole section made me consider my decision to read the rest of the EDAs.
The last 80 or so pages were better, but only slightly. Sam ends up saving the Doctor no less than three times, making him feel like a bumbling idiot. The ultimate resolution and reasoning behind INC was fine, but forgettable.
However, the other reason for the low score is Sam's constant lusting after the Doctor. There was literally a line about him making her "thighs sizzle". One of Sam's ex-boyfriends made a comment to crap or get off the pot. Seriously, Sam. Enough is enough, already. I see the Doctor as aromantic and asexual, so this whole character subplot bugs the heck out of me. (I didn't like it when they did it with Rose and Tennant, and I was barely ok when they did it with River and Smith.) I guess I can see why some people like it, but I honestly prefer the type of relationship that the Doctor has with Charley, or Donna, or Leela, or Nyssa. Best friends, with mutual respect and it's completely platonic.
All that to say, this absolutely was NOT my cup of tea, at all, and it truly altered how I see McGann's Doctor. I really, truly hope that these get better in the future.
wynnifer's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
eightfitz's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
caedocyon's review
5.0
My feelings about this book are, approximately, "OMG OMG OMG OMG!!"
Yes, it's because of what happens to the Doctor and Sam, and their emotional development (which is wonderfully written, there's a reason people tell you this is the best book in the series, they are completely correct), but lezbehonest, there are also three other reasons I completely lost it over this one:
* JEWS IN SPACE. The planet's called Ha'Olam, and I liked that when it was name-dropped in [b:Dreamstone Moon|71398|Doctor Who Dreamstone Moon|Paul Leonard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1206762531s/71398.jpg|69142]. But lo, Sam's roommate is Shoshana! Sam joins up with an activist group called Tikkun Olam!! Everyone uses Yiddish slang!!! One of the chapter titles is the godawful pun "Oy Gestalt"!!!!
* SAM DATES A WOMAN. Although the woman's name is Chris and you only know she's a woman if you, like me, noticed that in her only other cameo she was using a power drill and thought "ooh, I bet she's hot" and are thus equipped to make the purposely obscure connection much later in the book when there's a one-sentence flashback about Sam and Chris dating for years before Chris ran off with someone else. ...And it's bookended by Sam's relationships with two men, which are major parts of the story and last for whole chapters each.... So honestly, I have very mixed feelings about all of this, and I'm really sad that extremely coded references like Chris and "Free the Kinsey Three" are the only things Blum thought he could sneak into the novel, but I'm also completely jazzed that Sam is confirmed as bi. Such is queer life!
* The Doctor as a computer programmer is just an absolute fucking delight.
Yes, it's because of what happens to the Doctor and Sam, and their emotional development (which is wonderfully written, there's a reason people tell you this is the best book in the series, they are completely correct), but lezbehonest, there are also three other reasons I completely lost it over this one:
* JEWS IN SPACE. The planet's called Ha'Olam, and I liked that when it was name-dropped in [b:Dreamstone Moon|71398|Doctor Who Dreamstone Moon|Paul Leonard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1206762531s/71398.jpg|69142]. But lo, Sam's roommate is Shoshana! Sam joins up with an activist group called Tikkun Olam!! Everyone uses Yiddish slang!!! One of the chapter titles is the godawful pun "Oy Gestalt"!!!!
* SAM DATES A WOMAN. Although the woman's name is Chris and you only know she's a woman if you, like me, noticed that in her only other cameo she was using a power drill and thought "ooh, I bet she's hot" and are thus equipped to make the purposely obscure connection much later in the book when there's a one-sentence flashback about Sam and Chris dating for years before Chris ran off with someone else. ...And it's bookended by Sam's relationships with two men, which are major parts of the story and last for whole chapters each.... So honestly, I have very mixed feelings about all of this, and I'm really sad that extremely coded references like Chris and "Free the Kinsey Three" are the only things Blum thought he could sneak into the novel, but I'm also completely jazzed that Sam is confirmed as bi. Such is queer life!
* The Doctor as a computer programmer is just an absolute fucking delight.
nwhyte's review
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1564274.html
I thought this was a rather good Eighth Doctor novel, with the Doctor and Sam finally reuniting after three years in which Sam becomes an environmental activist and basically grows up, while the Doctor is held in a very creepy and nasty prison. I was one of many Old Who fans who took a while to get used to the romance element between the companions and the Doctor in New Who, but here is an example of it being worked rather well into the narrative.
I thought this was a rather good Eighth Doctor novel, with the Doctor and Sam finally reuniting after three years in which Sam becomes an environmental activist and basically grows up, while the Doctor is held in a very creepy and nasty prison. I was one of many Old Who fans who took a while to get used to the romance element between the companions and the Doctor in New Who, but here is an example of it being worked rather well into the narrative.