Scan barcode
faiazalam's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This has been the highlight of my run through of The Missing Adventures so far. Mystery, intrigue and magic all rolled into a wonderfully captivating story that finishes it all with a beautifully fantasy like, but also Dr Who-esque, flourish. Throughout this tale, we're presented with plot twists, incredible character work and a prose style that is so easy to gobble up. A special mention must be given to the description of the feast near the start of the book, which is an absolute must for any classic fantasy tale!
The TARDIS crew arrive on a planet that calls itself Avalon. They are faced with magical beasts and evolutionary oddities that point simply towards the fact that they've entered a world of fantasy. Naturally, this cannot be the case, so, having been shut out of the TARDIS, our group of travellers work to find out what is happening and why the world is as it is. Coupled with magical battles and a classic fantasy quest, this story is riveting from start to finish.
The main crew are written exactly as we would expect to see them on television, right down to (perhaps unfortunately, but certainly accurately) Susan being a little left behind in terms of the plot. The crew are split up appropriately allowing them to explore the world at large and uncover, piece by piece, just what it is that results in the world being as they see it.
The supporting characters are a delight too, with each one being larger than life and being emminently likeable, even the antagonists, with speech and behaviours that lend themselves to the easiest of readings.
With so many clues and breadcrumbs peppered in throughout the tale, it's easy to see how repeat readings might prove to offer more to the reader with each go through.
The scope of this story is magnifiect, really proving the Missing Adventures to be larger than they ever could be on our television screens.
The TARDIS crew arrive on a planet that calls itself Avalon. They are faced with magical beasts and evolutionary oddities that point simply towards the fact that they've entered a world of fantasy. Naturally, this cannot be the case, so, having been shut out of the TARDIS, our group of travellers work to find out what is happening and why the world is as it is. Coupled with magical battles and a classic fantasy quest, this story is riveting from start to finish.
The main crew are written exactly as we would expect to see them on television, right down to (perhaps unfortunately, but certainly accurately) Susan being a little left behind in terms of the plot. The crew are split up appropriately allowing them to explore the world at large and uncover, piece by piece, just what it is that results in the world being as they see it.
The supporting characters are a delight too, with each one being larger than life and being emminently likeable, even the antagonists, with speech and behaviours that lend themselves to the easiest of readings.
With so many clues and breadcrumbs peppered in throughout the tale, it's easy to see how repeat readings might prove to offer more to the reader with each go through.
The scope of this story is magnifiect, really proving the Missing Adventures to be larger than they ever could be on our television screens.
hidekisohma's review against another edition
2.0
I was really looking forward to this book, which makes it all the sadder that it wasn't very good.
The doctor and fantasy have always been at odds, so i thought it was a really cool idea to put him in a fantasy world, and see how he deals with magic. But man..was this done POORLY.
The biggest issue with this novel, was that it was boring. it was very very boring. The story boiled down to Ian and the Doctor go on a quest to get a macguffin. But the pacing was TERRIBLE.
Not only was the pacing bad, but it switched between points of view so frequently, I was afraid i was going to get whiplashed. The story had 5 main points of view. The doctor/ian, barbara, susan, the army, and the evil dude, and they switched between them so frequently it was ridiculous. within two pages you might have switched points of view five times. In parts of the story they would no joke jump between every paragraph, and that got really confusing.
The random fantasy characters did not help. There were so many i literally lost track. When they mentioned that one died at the end i was like "wait...when did that guy die?" they all kind of blended together. The same can be said with the random spaceship people. they were absolutely pointless and their entire role in the book was pointless and honestly i feel like they were just there to fill up pages. Realistically, i would not have gotten mad at the author if this book was 200 pages instead of 296.
The most egregious problem with this book however, is the fact that well, the doctor wasn't in it a whole lot. For as much as they cut back to ian/hartnell's POV, most of the time it just ended up being the other characters that would talk and the doc would just kind of ....be there.
He did stuff in the beginning and at the end (Yes, the last 20 pages were actually kind of enjoyable even if the magical resolution was kind of expected and lame) but when 220 of your 296 page book is random fantasy/scifi people talking to each other and barbara/susan being pretty useless, it gets very very tiresome. I found my eyes drifting quite a bit.
While "the witch hunters" suffers from being depressing and mean spirited, sorcerer suffers from a loss of potential. this book could have been GREAT. the IDEA for the story was a fantastic one, but in practice, the author was just too meandering and didn't have it live up its potential. I KNOW that bulis gets better because i REALLY liked "City at world's end" which he wrote 5 years later, but you can tell that his writing wasn't quite there at this point.
When all's said and done, just because of the boredom, wasted potential, and lack of the doctor, i really have no choice but to give this book a 2 out of 5. and it PAINS me because Hartnell's my absolute favorite doctor. Ah well, maybe the next hartnell book will be better.
2 out of 5.
The doctor and fantasy have always been at odds, so i thought it was a really cool idea to put him in a fantasy world, and see how he deals with magic. But man..was this done POORLY.
The biggest issue with this novel, was that it was boring. it was very very boring. The story boiled down to Ian and the Doctor go on a quest to get a macguffin. But the pacing was TERRIBLE.
Not only was the pacing bad, but it switched between points of view so frequently, I was afraid i was going to get whiplashed. The story had 5 main points of view. The doctor/ian, barbara, susan, the army, and the evil dude, and they switched between them so frequently it was ridiculous. within two pages you might have switched points of view five times. In parts of the story they would no joke jump between every paragraph, and that got really confusing.
The random fantasy characters did not help. There were so many i literally lost track. When they mentioned that one died at the end i was like "wait...when did that guy die?" they all kind of blended together. The same can be said with the random spaceship people. they were absolutely pointless and their entire role in the book was pointless and honestly i feel like they were just there to fill up pages. Realistically, i would not have gotten mad at the author if this book was 200 pages instead of 296.
The most egregious problem with this book however, is the fact that well, the doctor wasn't in it a whole lot. For as much as they cut back to ian/hartnell's POV, most of the time it just ended up being the other characters that would talk and the doc would just kind of ....be there.
He did stuff in the beginning and at the end (Yes, the last 20 pages were actually kind of enjoyable even if the magical resolution was kind of expected and lame) but when 220 of your 296 page book is random fantasy/scifi people talking to each other and barbara/susan being pretty useless, it gets very very tiresome. I found my eyes drifting quite a bit.
While "the witch hunters" suffers from being depressing and mean spirited, sorcerer suffers from a loss of potential. this book could have been GREAT. the IDEA for the story was a fantastic one, but in practice, the author was just too meandering and didn't have it live up its potential. I KNOW that bulis gets better because i REALLY liked "City at world's end" which he wrote 5 years later, but you can tell that his writing wasn't quite there at this point.
When all's said and done, just because of the boredom, wasted potential, and lack of the doctor, i really have no choice but to give this book a 2 out of 5. and it PAINS me because Hartnell's my absolute favorite doctor. Ah well, maybe the next hartnell book will be better.
2 out of 5.
saoki's review against another edition
4.0
A nice adventure that captures nicely the tone and voice of the 1st Doctor and his most famous companions.
The author did favor Ian over Barbara and Susan - which were damseled for most of the story, a needless move with which I strongly disagree - but at least he wrote several women into the story, one of which is basically Esme Weatherwax and as such magnificent.
And that character was not the only thing reminiscent of other books, but that was also part of the charm of the story. The fantasy aspects of the story are all borrowed, but there is a science fictional explanation for it and the whole journey to understanding it is very interesting.
All in all a solid adventure, but one that could have been made better by being the tiniest bit less predictable.
The author did favor Ian over Barbara and Susan - which were damseled for most of the story, a needless move with which I strongly disagree - but at least he wrote several women into the story, one of which is basically Esme Weatherwax and as such magnificent.
And that character was not the only thing reminiscent of other books, but that was also part of the charm of the story. The fantasy aspects of the story are all borrowed, but there is a science fictional explanation for it and the whole journey to understanding it is very interesting.
All in all a solid adventure, but one that could have been made better by being the tiniest bit less predictable.
frakalot's review
5.0
Absolutely fantastic. A perfect first Doctor story. The setting, the plot and the characterisations all would have slipped into the original tv series effortlessly.
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/900116.html[return][return]Quite a neat story of the Doctor and companions appearing on a planet where knights, dragons, elves, dwarves and leprechauns all appear to thrive; yet at the same time they are under threat of invasion and domination by the local galactic empire. The bad guy's name is Marton Dahl, which of course must be a salute to Peter Purves' portrayal of Morton Dill in The Chase. It all tied together rather pleasingly.
More...