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hidekisohma's review
3.0
Well, I finally did it. I made it to book #18 of the EDA's. why is this important? Because this is the final book in the series where Sam is his only companion, and the last book without Fitz (if you don't count the 5 book arc where he has no companions later). Does it wrap up the solo Sam arc with a bang? Um...eh?
Short version. Doc and Sam go to Earth's first colony off of earth in the mid 2100's. It's run by this corporate office lady and people are mysteriously dying in weird ways.
That's the short short version anyway.
First of all, with a book called "The Face-Eater" i'm certain the average reader is not expecting an amazing, doctor who universe changing story. It honestly sounds like a bad 1950's B horror movie you'd see at a drive in or something. And honestly, that's kind of how this book plays out, but in a less interesting way.
Because these authors don't seem to know how to write a story with Sam and the Doctor working together, they're separated.....AGAIN, for the majority of the book. The doc is off working on the root of the problem while Sam, as she tends to do, works on the underground 'stop the oppressive lady' end.
She honestly gets pretty banged up in this one which was and also wasn't surprising. If there's one thing i've noticed in these books is that Sam goes through a LOT of emotional and especially physical torment. Either being bitten by vampires, burned, gets melty, etc. she goes through a lot.
The story itself isn't the most interesting in the world. The villain (no spoilers) resolution is a tiny bit lame for both the human and non-human as the non-human starts off kind of interesting and creepy, but it loses it very fast once you realize what the creature really is.
This is also a book where you don't want to attach yourself to the side cast, as this is one of those "nearly everybody dies" books. I mean, you could probably tell from a title like "face-eater" that it wouldn't be a fun silly romp, but it would be a bit darker.
I was actually a little surprised that for a book called "the face-eater" there isn't a whole lotta face eating going on. i think it's mentioned like...once or twice in passing, but that's about it. maybe simon didn't want to get too gross unlike Trevor Baxendale?
Regardless, the book was fine. It's not going to win any awards, but it's fine. Better than Beltempest despite that being quite the low bar. All in all, a solid 3 out of 5. not a 2.5, not a 3.5, just an even 3 out of 5.
With this one being done i'm excited to get into the next arc of the book series and see where we go from there.
3 out of 5.
Short version. Doc and Sam go to Earth's first colony off of earth in the mid 2100's. It's run by this corporate office lady and people are mysteriously dying in weird ways.
That's the short short version anyway.
First of all, with a book called "The Face-Eater" i'm certain the average reader is not expecting an amazing, doctor who universe changing story. It honestly sounds like a bad 1950's B horror movie you'd see at a drive in or something. And honestly, that's kind of how this book plays out, but in a less interesting way.
Because these authors don't seem to know how to write a story with Sam and the Doctor working together, they're separated.....AGAIN, for the majority of the book. The doc is off working on the root of the problem while Sam, as she tends to do, works on the underground 'stop the oppressive lady' end.
She honestly gets pretty banged up in this one which was and also wasn't surprising. If there's one thing i've noticed in these books is that Sam goes through a LOT of emotional and especially physical torment. Either being bitten by vampires, burned, gets melty, etc. she goes through a lot.
The story itself isn't the most interesting in the world. The villain (no spoilers) resolution is a tiny bit lame for both the human and non-human as the non-human starts off kind of interesting and creepy, but it loses it very fast once you realize what the creature really is.
This is also a book where you don't want to attach yourself to the side cast, as this is one of those "nearly everybody dies" books. I mean, you could probably tell from a title like "face-eater" that it wouldn't be a fun silly romp, but it would be a bit darker.
I was actually a little surprised that for a book called "the face-eater" there isn't a whole lotta face eating going on. i think it's mentioned like...once or twice in passing, but that's about it. maybe simon didn't want to get too gross unlike Trevor Baxendale?
Regardless, the book was fine. It's not going to win any awards, but it's fine. Better than Beltempest despite that being quite the low bar. All in all, a solid 3 out of 5. not a 2.5, not a 3.5, just an even 3 out of 5.
With this one being done i'm excited to get into the next arc of the book series and see where we go from there.
3 out of 5.
rebelbelle13's review
3.0
I still don't understand why Who authors feel the need to make their stories so convoluted. Is there something wrong with a straightforward, easy to follow narrative? The nearest I can figure with this book, it goes something like this: so the native telepathic fuzzies of this planet that Earth has colonized in the future came together and created some half organic/half machine shape shifting person draining monster that escaped from a mountain and killed the colonized earth people by reading their thoughts and dreams and then assimilated them. I think. The Doctor is barely in the story. He and Sam spend 95% of it apart. She's a nasty piece of work at the beginning and then terrible things happen to her throughout the novel. After the last few adventures I honestly have no idea why Sam is even still traveling with the Doctor. She's got several lifetimes' worth of PTSD at this point.
The good stuff? It reads quickly. The side characters aren't so bad, and part of it rather feels like a noire detective story. We're not on Earth, which is a plus, and we get to see the Doctor stretch his telepathic muscles.
The basic idea of the story is good, but the extra twists and turns and mental leaps added just aren't necessary. There are many questions at the end left unanswered and the story just all in all feels forgettable. Final score is 2.5. It's fine, could be better, but not as bad as some of the others in this series that I've come across.
The good stuff? It reads quickly. The side characters aren't so bad, and part of it rather feels like a noire detective story. We're not on Earth, which is a plus, and we get to see the Doctor stretch his telepathic muscles.
The basic idea of the story is good, but the extra twists and turns and mental leaps added just aren't necessary. There are many questions at the end left unanswered and the story just all in all feels forgettable. Final score is 2.5. It's fine, could be better, but not as bad as some of the others in this series that I've come across.
dooweedoo's review
genuinely could not be asked it's dragging sooo much and all the characters are boring !! the writing sucks !!
nwhyte's review
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1715242.html
I've consistently enjoyed Simon Messingham's other Doctor Who books, and this one was no exception: essentially a rewriting of Colony in Space to make it much much better, with the Master out of it entirely and a single bloc of colonists and management faced with indigenous aliens who have acquired strange powers. Messingham succeeds in drawing convincing characters inhabiting his newly constructed colonial settlement, with the Doctor and Sam appearing among them just as the situation starts to get bad. Rather a good sf novel on its own merits.
I've consistently enjoyed Simon Messingham's other Doctor Who books, and this one was no exception: essentially a rewriting of Colony in Space to make it much much better, with the Master out of it entirely and a single bloc of colonists and management faced with indigenous aliens who have acquired strange powers. Messingham succeeds in drawing convincing characters inhabiting his newly constructed colonial settlement, with the Doctor and Sam appearing among them just as the situation starts to get bad. Rather a good sf novel on its own merits.
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