Reviews

Doctor Who: Damaged Goods by Russell T. Davies

gingerreader99's review

5.0

As if the previous book I read (Moments Asunder ) wasn't depressing enough I got to read this, the darkest and most draining Dr. Who novel I've had the chance to read. The darkest depiction of Thatcher's Britain - a clear social commentary on the neoliberal horror she brought to the UK alongside a terrifying opponent the Doctor has to face. This is not a book for the average fan. It deals with themes many would shy away from and all the better that it does. This is a Dr. who book that is so striking every fan SHOULD read it. Honestly I'm still reeling from what I've read here and am having trouble putting this into a coherent review.

Let's just leave it at this. This is both one of the best yet most depressing books - especially for Dr. Who - I've ever read and I'd read it again and gladly read another Davies Who novel that is as different as this one.

olegx's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Видно зачатки многого, что РТД сделал в перезапуске сериала потом. В частности события происходят в бедном квартале Лондона, с фокусом на условия жизни и быт семей там. И фамилия Тайлер играет большую роль.

Но это все еще New Adventures, и один из более успешных примеров "взрослости" линейки. Хотя количество смертей под конец крышесносящее даже по меркам NA.

Я отдельно умилен тем, как для Седьмого Доктора работают фразы типа "Chris, get me some cocaine".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Self harm

iggymcmuffin's review

1.0

-1 star for the Doctor using a gun
-1 star gross medical stuff

nwhyte's review

4.0

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2310165.html[return][return]I think Russell T. Davies is the only Who showrunner to have written a novel set in the Whoniverse before he took over, and this is it: published in 1996, set in 1987, and a really important taproot text for New Who and particularly for Rose, its very first episode. The number of common elements is pretty remarkable:[return]

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• The first character we encounter in the story is the daughter of Mrs Tyler, who is a single mother
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• She says to the Doctor at one point, "You think you're so funny", a line almost echoed by Rose Tyler a decade later
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• The Tylers live on a council estate where strange things are happening
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• The strange things include (but are not restricted to) a doppelganger of a black neighbour created by an evil alien intelligence
[return]
• The Doctor's female companion is Roz
[return]
• At the very end the Doctor goes back in time to meet the young Tyler girl before the adventure started in her time line
[return]
• As the alien invasion fully manifests lots of people die horribly and swiftly
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• There are several pretty mosntrous middle-aged women characters for whom motherhood is a driving motivation
[return]

[return]All of this is not to say that Rose, let alone New Who as a whole, is "just" a rewrite of Damaged Goods; there's a lot of bloke-on-bloke sex and cocaine in this novel, which I think even RTD might have been prevented from bringing to the small screen by the BBC higher-ups, and it's also tied rather more directly into the mythos of Gallifrey than any New Who until (and possibly including) The End of Time. [return][return]Having said all that, I thought this was a cracking good book of the New Adventures series, taking the Doctor Who framework and fitting it to an unexpected setting, a gritty council estate. It's a complex plot with lots of elements, and Davies keeps all the balls in the air, juggling furiously. Even his monstrous maternal characters are a bit more sympathetic than they somehow ever came across on screen. I'm surprised that this isn't better known among fans; a lot of the elements that brought the show back are here, and also we can see some ways in which it might have gone differently. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in how New Who came to be the way it was in 2005.

sleepytechnokid's review

3.0

I'm gonna give this a reread. So I don't want to give this review yet, as I decide to listen to the audio first then read the book.