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ayavandenbussche's review against another edition
4.0
Much like the spaceships on the planet Karn, this book was crumbling in my hands as I read it. I think the novelisation is somewhat better than the TV story, which is amongst my favourite from Tom Baker. The opening description of the alien trying to escape the ruins and getting caught by Condo is chilling. Sarah's blindness feels like it lasts longer and is quite disturbing. The battle between the Doctor and the Morbious monster reads a lot more challenging and difficult than on TV and the Doctor's interaction with the Sisterhood, which comes across as incredibly sinister in the book, is better, more complex and interesting. Also, the characters of Sarah and the Doctor read better, and some of the things that annoy me on the TV show do not stand out as much in the book.
I have minor irritations with the fact that Sarah just falls asleep suddenly in the middle of the action. This could have been actually quite funny, in a Harpo Marx kinda way, but alas it is not written like that, instead she comes across as someone who can't handle things and is a bit useless and therfore benched. I'm also not a great fan of this Doctor's constant joking about and his being somewhat disrespectful, an attitude that often characterises Tom Baker's Doctor, but admittedly is relatively mild in this novelisation and is less irritating as a one off story. I would have also liked more description and world building of the ruined Karn to give it more of an atmosphere. But these are all minor things, and the book is a great little gem.
I have minor irritations with the fact that Sarah just falls asleep suddenly in the middle of the action. This could have been actually quite funny, in a Harpo Marx kinda way, but alas it is not written like that, instead she comes across as someone who can't handle things and is a bit useless and therfore benched. I'm also not a great fan of this Doctor's constant joking about and his being somewhat disrespectful, an attitude that often characterises Tom Baker's Doctor, but admittedly is relatively mild in this novelisation and is less irritating as a one off story. I would have also liked more description and world building of the ruined Karn to give it more of an atmosphere. But these are all minor things, and the book is a great little gem.
low_reader's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
novice052's review against another edition
3.0
That was a lot of fun. Moral: If you need to create a new body out of parts to house the brain of your evil overlord, maybe make the body smaller and weaker than you are. You know, in case he gets all murderous.
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1046178.html#cutid4[return][return]For once, Dicks rises to the challenge of adapting one of his own scripts for the printed page (perhaps because it had been substantially rewritten in the meantime). One of the few flaws of the original TV version is that Karn does look every now and then like a TV studio with funny lighting; of course, on the printed page you can depict whole landscapes rather less expensively. The whole thing seemed to me to work rather well.
thebookishbabbler's review
3.0
This was a super fast read and while I had fun I felt like this episode of classic who translated as well to book form as some of the others
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