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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
One of the worst Doctor Who books I've read. One annoying thing - the book kept switching from 1st person to 3rd person for no obvious reason. It was jarring.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A planet for a museum housing the Last Ones - the last of every species throughout the universe, run by Eve who sets her sights on the last of the Time Lords...
Beginning with the tale of the dodo, it's quite saddening as we find ourselves in a museum full of the last of every species, some we know and some are yet to come. The Doctor and Martha end up in this enormous museum and the Doctor isn't impressed with what's on display. Soon they discover a plan afoot and the sinister side to the exhibits as they're pulled into the mystery of the missing Last Ones and discover a lot more than they bargained for.
An interesting story but with a few details I wouldn't attribute to the Doctor or Martha, mainly in how they say things. It's quick and easy to read with some engaging facts about different species interspersed throughout. It's quite intriguing to read things from Martha's perspective throughout the book and how she gets on with her book.
I love how it ends - a thoroughly enjoyable story.
Beginning with the tale of the dodo, it's quite saddening as we find ourselves in a museum full of the last of every species, some we know and some are yet to come. The Doctor and Martha end up in this enormous museum and the Doctor isn't impressed with what's on display. Soon they discover a plan afoot and the sinister side to the exhibits as they're pulled into the mystery of the missing Last Ones and discover a lot more than they bargained for.
An interesting story but with a few details I wouldn't attribute to the Doctor or Martha, mainly in how they say things. It's quick and easy to read with some engaging facts about different species interspersed throughout. It's quite intriguing to read things from Martha's perspective throughout the book and how she gets on with her book.
I love how it ends - a thoroughly enjoyable story.
"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1246406...[return][return]Another solid enough Tenth Doctor novel from Rayner (I haven't checked, but she must by now be one of the most prolific of Who writers, combining books and audio). In a slightly confusing stylistic quirk, about half of the book is told by Martha Jones in the first person, while most of the rest is also from her point of view but in the third person in varying degrees of tightness. This does give us odd moments of nice characterisation like this:[return][return] Doctor! Vanni said (people do that, you know. It s always Doctor! Never Martha! Same with villains. Get the Doctor and the girl! Oh well, maybe one day it ll be Get Martha and the man! and he ll know what it feels like to be the anonymous spare part. Not that I actually want to be captured by villains or anything, I should point out).[return][return]Which is more of a meditation on the companion's lot than we are used to. As usual (as I'm beginning to realise) a slightly out-of-nowhere ending, but basically a decent addition to the shelves."
I really enjoyed this one. Jacqueline Rayner seems to be my favorite author of the Doctor Who books. The character of Martha really drives me insane sometimes but the Doctor counters that so I can still read it. This would have to be one of my favorites so far.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Going into this, I assumed it was a book I had always wanted to read as a kid, but never had. You know. *Going into it.* And then I recognised some of the plot points and realised I must have read it at some point and exised it from my memory.
There was one part I liked- when the doctor found the resonating frequency for tarmac and used his sonic screwdriver to melt it enough that a sabre toothed tiger got stuck in it, but even the descriptions of that felt flat and boring. If I hadn't been listening to it, I don't think I would have been able to finish it. As it stands, Martha had very little to do, the antagonists/all the characters were unconvincing. The author wrote some other books which I'd enjoyed in audio/narrated format before (and still have the discs for) like The Stone Rose, so I may give them a listen and see if I still enjoy them (although I remember The Stone Rose being my least favourite of the Who Audiobooks I owned as a kid, so...), or if I really dislike her writing style in particular. The narrative was dragging its feet a lot, particuarly when it declared "The End" 2 chapters before the actual end. The sudden pivots to "dear reader"-esque first-person segments fom Matha's perspective were a flimsy attempt to give her more agency in the narrative which served only to prolong it. 4/10.
There was one part I liked- when the doctor found the resonating frequency for tarmac and used his sonic screwdriver to melt it enough that a sabre toothed tiger got stuck in it, but even the descriptions of that felt flat and boring. If I hadn't been listening to it, I don't think I would have been able to finish it. As it stands, Martha had very little to do, the antagonists/all the characters were unconvincing. The author wrote some other books which I'd enjoyed in audio/narrated format before (and still have the discs for) like The Stone Rose, so I may give them a listen and see if I still enjoy them (although I remember The Stone Rose being my least favourite of the Who Audiobooks I owned as a kid, so...), or if I really dislike her writing style in particular. The narrative was dragging its feet a lot, particuarly when it declared "The End" 2 chapters before the actual end. The sudden pivots to "dear reader"-esque first-person segments fom Matha's perspective were a flimsy attempt to give her more agency in the narrative which served only to prolong it. 4/10.
Listened to the book on tape and I really enjoyed it. Freema Agyeman narrates the book and does a fantastic job. The story is rather interesting, and the Doctor and Martha are fantastic.
This is the weakest Doctor Who I've read to date. The idea for the story was okay but the execution was badly done. 3 narrator, 2 in the first person, one is Martha and the other the dodo and a third external narrator. The point of view blinks from one to the other. It's tedious and somewhat amateurish. This is not the first Who book for this writer but she completely missed the boat in this one. So the plot, there's this museum of the Last Ones where the last specimens of a specie is kept in stasis for eternity. Of course, the curator wants to put the Doctor as the Last Time Lord in her collection. It could have been a good story but too much short cuts, out of character actions from the Doctor and Martha and paper thin support characters sank this story.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Great book to get you out of a reading slump!
I liked this book, but there were a few things that threw me off. One of them is that it switches back and forth a few times between a first person where Martha is directly addressing the reader as though she is telling you the story, at some points asking for advice or describing events recently past, and others take place in a third person omniscient perspective. The frequent perspective shift is jarring and unpleasant, but I got used to it as I became more engaged in the story. The plot itself was one of my favorites for Doctor Who, incredibly timey-wimey, and also fantastic in that it had several plot twists I didn't see coming, and balanced stakes that felt alternatively high and low just when they needed to be. There were a few things that were easier to spot that others, but over all I found myself surprised and delighted. 4.5 stars