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pearsandmangoes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
So I had this book at home for years. Finally got round to reading it. The episode it is based on is one of my all time favourites. Interesting concept. Adapting a TV Story into a book, rather than the inverse as is usually the case. It was nice to see more insight into stuff we could not see on screen, such as background. Interesting themes on Daleks and race. I will watch the TV Story and compare with the books further. I could really picture the characters speaking the words that the author wrote. I do think I will read more Doctor Who stories as a result of this.
maraxenia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
an_awful_jack's review against another edition
4.0
Ben Aaronovitch's novelisation of his already perfect s25 story is every bit as excellent and compelling as said orginal. With this being Aaronovitch's first attempt at prose I'm incredibly interesting in seeing his subsequent works.
modernzorker's review against another edition
5.0
If someone sat me down and forced me to give them one reason why Doctor Who survived its cancellation in 1989 only to lurk about in the intervening years that preceded its return to the screen in a series of novels that extended and fleshed out the "unseen years," I would answer "Remembrance of the Daleks" without a second thought.
Ben Aaronovitch's story is easily the strongest of the entire Sylvester McCoy era, and it paved the way for a whole swath of "New Adventures" that came after it. And when not encumbered by the constraints of television (where it was already a darn good episode), its strengths as a story shine that much brighter. Really though, if you're a Whovian then this is the story you'd been dying to see for years: the Doctor and Davros facing off once again for what was (at the time) to be the last time. Skillfully connecting the initial departure of the First Doctor with the return to 1963 London of the Seventh, Aaronovitch dives whole-heartedly into the deep end of the Who mythos and pulls together a mess of threads we didn't even know could be connected.
The idea of a Dalek civil war is fascinating, their choice of Earth as a battleground of course creates the danger aspect of the story, and the new ideas such as the Special Weapons Dalek which makes the ordinary garden-variety look like chihuahuas by comparison all work to create a story that never slows down to catch its breath until the end.
Action is delightfully over-the-top, with the military learning all too well about their ineffectiveness against a vastly superior foe, Ace goes toe-to-gyros with a Dalek armed with nothing more than her baseball bat, plenty of nitro-nine blows up, Dalek factions trundle through the streets and alleys trading fire with one another, scout ships land and take off in the schoolyard, and the Doctor tries desperately to prevent a powerful artifact from falling into the wrong hands. No wonder we love this story--we're never given the opportunity to sit down and think, "Half a moment, now..."
It doesn't matter that "Remembrance" isn't the best Doctor Who story ever told. What matters is it made everything that came between 1990 and 2005 possible, and opened up cans of worms with bits and pieces that still wriggle about to this very day in the new series. Few other adventures can claim this, and none of them do it with such passion and edge-of-your-seat excitement while filling in the gaps left in the teleplay.
If you're of the opinion that Doctor Who is nothing but old men, screaming women and poorly-costumed "aliens" bumbling about in a disused quarry, this story will change your mind for good.
Ben Aaronovitch's story is easily the strongest of the entire Sylvester McCoy era, and it paved the way for a whole swath of "New Adventures" that came after it. And when not encumbered by the constraints of television (where it was already a darn good episode), its strengths as a story shine that much brighter. Really though, if you're a Whovian then this is the story you'd been dying to see for years: the Doctor and Davros facing off once again for what was (at the time) to be the last time. Skillfully connecting the initial departure of the First Doctor with the return to 1963 London of the Seventh, Aaronovitch dives whole-heartedly into the deep end of the Who mythos and pulls together a mess of threads we didn't even know could be connected.
The idea of a Dalek civil war is fascinating, their choice of Earth as a battleground of course creates the danger aspect of the story, and the new ideas such as the Special Weapons Dalek which makes the ordinary garden-variety look like chihuahuas by comparison all work to create a story that never slows down to catch its breath until the end.
Action is delightfully over-the-top, with the military learning all too well about their ineffectiveness against a vastly superior foe, Ace goes toe-to-gyros with a Dalek armed with nothing more than her baseball bat, plenty of nitro-nine blows up, Dalek factions trundle through the streets and alleys trading fire with one another, scout ships land and take off in the schoolyard, and the Doctor tries desperately to prevent a powerful artifact from falling into the wrong hands. No wonder we love this story--we're never given the opportunity to sit down and think, "Half a moment, now..."
It doesn't matter that "Remembrance" isn't the best Doctor Who story ever told. What matters is it made everything that came between 1990 and 2005 possible, and opened up cans of worms with bits and pieces that still wriggle about to this very day in the new series. Few other adventures can claim this, and none of them do it with such passion and edge-of-your-seat excitement while filling in the gaps left in the teleplay.
If you're of the opinion that Doctor Who is nothing but old men, screaming women and poorly-costumed "aliens" bumbling about in a disused quarry, this story will change your mind for good.
rowan5215's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
shane's review against another edition
4.0
I remember this episode on TV. Very enjoyable. Ace is always wonderful of course, and Sylvester McCoy, although never really appealing to me as a child is really growing on me.
EDIT: Just finished re-reading this and enjoyed it just as much the second time round. (18/7/2016)
EDIT: Just finished re-reading this and enjoyed it just as much the second time round. (18/7/2016)
sabregirl's review against another edition
5.0
I really don't like novelizations of episodes because they tend to just take every word for word and nothing is original. While this was the case in this book too, there was a lot more background and in depth look that made me appreciate the episode even more. You see some of the reactions of Ace in the episode toward the No Colors and how Mike is so strongly attracted to her but in the book it goes more in depth. Ace's best friend was almost burned alive because of a racial fire. Plus how Mike was attached to some Nazi sympathizer and wanted what's best for the Ayrian Race. All of this of course relating to the Daleks.
The characterization of the Seventh Doctor, to me, would seem like the hardest one to get on paper. Aaronovitch does a lovely job but it didn't seem like it was enough. Not enough campy, kitschy fall down slap stick that is Seven. Ace however was spot on, he got her attitude and her deep despair and loneliness. There needs to be more Ace love in the novelizations. She is really unappreciated.
The book is probably a little bit better than the episode just because of all the background information that we get. It's good to see why exactly that the Doctor was in 1963 in that specific time and why he decided to park the TARDIS in a scrapyard of all things. It's good that the books get to add another level to the episodes that we never really get to see.
The characterization of the Seventh Doctor, to me, would seem like the hardest one to get on paper. Aaronovitch does a lovely job but it didn't seem like it was enough. Not enough campy, kitschy fall down slap stick that is Seven. Ace however was spot on, he got her attitude and her deep despair and loneliness. There needs to be more Ace love in the novelizations. She is really unappreciated.
The book is probably a little bit better than the episode just because of all the background information that we get. It's good to see why exactly that the Doctor was in 1963 in that specific time and why he decided to park the TARDIS in a scrapyard of all things. It's good that the books get to add another level to the episodes that we never really get to see.
mishamiga's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to like this book since it was a Doctor Who book, however, I unfortunately was unable to finish it. The story takes us back to 1963 where we find the Doctor, once again, fighting the Daleks. This time the Daleks were after something that is called the Hand of the Omega. As usual, the Doctor isn't looking to kill the Daleks, just to reason with them and get them to leave the humans alone. His companion in this story is a young girl names Ace. We really didn't find out much about her other than that he saved her and she likes to use explosives. The problem that I found, what that it was very hard to follow because the story kept jumping back and forth between three different scenes. Over all, I think that this could have been a good story, but for me I was just not feeling it.
gingerreader99's review against another edition
4.0
I don't have much to say specifically about this other than what I thought after watching the actual episodes. It's simply a badass fight between Daleks with some Brits and an Alien we call the Doctor in between, perhaps a little more violent than most Doctor Who stories but I don't mind one bit.
cathaldon1's review against another edition
3.25
Remembrance of the Daleks starts off strong, returning to the setting of the original Doctor Who serials while looking at the time period with more attention to contemporary life. It makes sense that, in an England not even 20 years after WWII, characters would be mildly traumatised and injured by war and scarred childhoods, and it makes sense National Front holdouts would continue to agitate afterwards. However the book runs out of steam in the second half, with a Dalek civil war consisting of samey skirmishes up and down roads, and the aforementioned National Front plot failing to find its bite. The cast of ensemble of characters may have come to life on TV, but blend into each other on the page. It works, it makes sense, there’s pleasure to be had in watching it all shake out, but it doesn’t live up to its potential - a decent first outing for Aaronovitch all the same.