Reviews

The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell

nortonfolgate's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Un peu surcôté je trouve

fluffy8u's review

4.0

This is a first Torchwood novel read for me. I liked it, but I didn't. I've never liked the character of Billis Manger, so you'll probably ask why I read the one with him in it (because it was the only one my dinky library carried), but it was generally well writen. Excepting the parts where it's like hurry-hurry, wait, let's have tension easing banter and jokes. But pretty good.

octaviagoetia's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

peatbogmaid's review

adventurous relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

nightshade_novels's review

4.0

At first I was wary of reading this book because it has Bilis Manger in the story and I dislike his character. At the beginning he was indeed annoying, but does provide a bit of mystery to the story like always as so little is known about him or his motives. However as the story progressed I found that I was beginning to like him a bit more, this was mainly due to the fact that for once he was on the same side as Torchwood and there was some amusing banter between him and the other characters.
This story both followed on from the TV episode with Abaddon and gave some insight into events before the episode.
One thing that I did not enjoy about the story was the way that there would be a chapter composed of just lots of excerpts from diaries, police reports and newspapers about the events in the Tretarri streets. This is something which I feel would have worked better in a TV episode with a series of papers and clips showing/reporting these events, whereas in the book they were rather boring to read and were rushed through so I could get back to the story.

Spoiler

I enjoyed the view of the alternate future where Tosh and Owen, being controlled by the dark light, trap Jack so that every couple of hours he suffocates and his revival energy is being used to control the rift. Torchwood are running the world and alien technology is being used generally. However Ianto goes a bit mad and breaks into the Torchwood centre while Gwen is in labour and shoots Tosh and Owen, before being shot to pieces over Jacks 'cage' freeing him. Each of the team get shown parts of this potential future by Bilis, showing once again his powers over time.

This book was filled with little moments of humour in amongst the more serious storyline, which is something I enjoy about Torchwood generally. In particular Ianto had several shining moments of humour. The best of which was when he was plotting his revenge for Owen getting him to clean the mud off the SUV, after he took it for a joy ride, by telling him it was the result of an alien explosion.

iamshadow's review

1.0

Absolute rubbish. The characters managed to be both flat and unrecognisable, while the author got carried away with a fanciful and ridiculous plot that frequently confused and annoyed me. Don't waste your time. There are fan fiction authors out there writing far, far better stories. Get on live journal and read dsudis' Get Loved, Make More, Try To Stay Alive, demotu's A Matter of Time, sam_storyteller's The Doctor and Mr Jones or The Theory of Two Centres, or d8rkmessngr's The Oncoming Storm instead.

momopeach's review against another edition

5.0

If only this were an actual episode! I feel that this novel brought more to the characters than what we saw onscreen and helped to add more depth to the overall canon. I loved how we were given a new look at the DW episode 'Boom Town' and its fallout as well as a better look at the team post season 2 premiere. It was interesting to see Bilis Manger in a different setting and, if RTD had decided to pace the show out more, I feel that it would have been interesting to see how events in DW like 'Boom Town', 'The Stolen Earth', and 'Journey's End' impacted the characters. Overall, a very solid addition to the Whoniverse.

hannah_elizabeth's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

itsnattie's review

5.0

By far my favourite (as of now)! Loved the team's dynamics, the friendly banter as we see it in the series and especially the Jack-Ianto-scenes ugh. Oh and Bilis Manger, of course. That'd quite a way to make a villain something that's not quite evil and not good either.
Jus loved it!

via1's review

3.0

A great Torchwood story, which satiated my thirst for more Ianto content!
Although the plot was a little confusing at times, due to both narrative structure and confusing sci-fi things, I enjoyed the eeriness and drama. 3.5 stars.