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geekwayne's review
4.0
'Doctor Who: Salt Of The Earth' is a short novella featuring the Third Doctor and his companion Jo Grant. The Doctor promises Jo a vacation and she thinks she is going to a beach resort. She is understandably upset to find herself in the sandy Australian outback of 2028 to go 'blokarting,' a type of windsurfing on sand.
The discovery of mysterious figures carved from salt halts the vacation and starts the mystery. Who created these statues that seem to look like missing people from town and why do they look like they are in pain?
This is part of the Time Trips series and it's written by Trudi Canavan, who is better known for The Black Magicial Trilogy. This is the first of the Time Trips series I've read, but I really liked it and it captured the nuance of the Third Doctor and Jo very well.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Random House UK, Ebury Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this fun ebook.
The discovery of mysterious figures carved from salt halts the vacation and starts the mystery. Who created these statues that seem to look like missing people from town and why do they look like they are in pain?
This is part of the Time Trips series and it's written by Trudi Canavan, who is better known for The Black Magicial Trilogy. This is the first of the Time Trips series I've read, but I really liked it and it captured the nuance of the Third Doctor and Jo very well.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Random House UK, Ebury Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this fun ebook.
dantastic's review
4.0
While blokarting on holiday in Australia, The Doctor and Jo Grant run across a bizarre type of salt that turns any life form it touches into a statue made of salt. Can the Doctor figure out what's creating the salt and stop it before he and Jo become the next salt statues? Of course he can! He's the Doctor...
I got this from Netgalley.
Doctor Who: Salt of the Earth, is the latest of the Time Trips series and the best one yet. It reads like the script of an unproduced half hour episode starring Jon Pertwee.
The Doctor takes Jo on a vacation, intent on bringing her back to UNIT headquarters minutes after they've left. While blokarting (go-karts with sails, used in the Australian salt flats), the encounter some curious salt statues. From there, all the usual Doctory things happen.
The characters rang true to me and the writing was the best I've encountered in a Doctor Who story so far. I loved that one of the POV characters was a cattledog named Smithy. The third Doctor gets down to business in short order and solves the salt problem, as The Doctor is wont to due. I had a feeling I knew what was behind the salt problem but there are only so many ways a Doctor Who episode can go so it wasn't a disappointment.
As I've already said, best Time Trip so far. Four out of five stars.
I got this from Netgalley.
Doctor Who: Salt of the Earth, is the latest of the Time Trips series and the best one yet. It reads like the script of an unproduced half hour episode starring Jon Pertwee.
The Doctor takes Jo on a vacation, intent on bringing her back to UNIT headquarters minutes after they've left. While blokarting (go-karts with sails, used in the Australian salt flats), the encounter some curious salt statues. From there, all the usual Doctory things happen.
The characters rang true to me and the writing was the best I've encountered in a Doctor Who story so far. I loved that one of the POV characters was a cattledog named Smithy. The third Doctor gets down to business in short order and solves the salt problem, as The Doctor is wont to due. I had a feeling I knew what was behind the salt problem but there are only so many ways a Doctor Who episode can go so it wasn't a disappointment.
As I've already said, best Time Trip so far. Four out of five stars.
petealdin's review
4.0
A wonderfully nostalgic trip back into the times of the 3rd Doctor plus Jo, coupled with some great scifi AND an authentic Australian flavour and setting. What's not to love?
Apart from a flowing and engaging style, Trudi Canavan has achieved a couple of other things that made me smile often as I read this:
1. The use of a dog as a point-of-view character. Loved this.
2. The feisty combative relationship between Pertwee's Doctor and Jo.
A quick and enjoyable read.
Apart from a flowing and engaging style, Trudi Canavan has achieved a couple of other things that made me smile often as I read this:
1. The use of a dog as a point-of-view character. Loved this.
2. The feisty combative relationship between Pertwee's Doctor and Jo.
A quick and enjoyable read.
felinity's review
4.0
This has all the hallmarks of a classic Who story, featuring the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) with Jo Grant. A minor error in navigation lands the TARDIS in the middle of Australia rather than the beach, where they stumble into a mysterious problem with some vicious salt. (Bonus points for the canine assistance!)
As with some of the other stories, it benefits from the science in later Who episodes rather than being strictly in touch there, but this also benefits from a local writer.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As with some of the other stories, it benefits from the science in later Who episodes rather than being strictly in touch there, but this also benefits from a local writer.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
nwhyte's review
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2269542.html[return][return]Considering how much Doctor Who owes to Australia, it's amazing how few Who stories are actually set there. In this latest of the series of short ebooks by well-known authors, Trudi Canavan takes the Third Doctor and Jo to a corner of the continent where people are slowly turning to salt. It's a story which is basically about that single image, but it is very well told, and I felt I could hear the accents in my head as I read.
beckylej's review
5.0
Trudi Canavan is the fourth author in the Time Trips series, bringing Doctor number three (Jon Pertwee) and his companion Jo Grant back for this particular adventure.
The Doctor promised Jo a trip to the beach, but she didn't expect a salt lake in Australia. The year is 2028 and folks in the area have been going missing for some time. Sunny believes it's the "bad salt" but until the Doctor arrives no one really listens to her concerns. It helps that the Doctor and Jo both witness a strange statue of a man crumbling in the wind shortly after their arrival.
This one might just be my favorite so far. I'm not sure exactly why - the setting, the premise, the characters... I've never actually seen Jon Pertwee's Doctor but the interplay between him and Jo here was a lot of fun.
The Doctor promised Jo a trip to the beach, but she didn't expect a salt lake in Australia. The year is 2028 and folks in the area have been going missing for some time. Sunny believes it's the "bad salt" but until the Doctor arrives no one really listens to her concerns. It helps that the Doctor and Jo both witness a strange statue of a man crumbling in the wind shortly after their arrival.
This one might just be my favorite so far. I'm not sure exactly why - the setting, the premise, the characters... I've never actually seen Jon Pertwee's Doctor but the interplay between him and Jo here was a lot of fun.
karlou's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Another in the Doctor Who Time Trips series, this one features the Third Doctor and his companion Jo Grant. Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor was a little before my time and whilst I've seen some of his performances I'm not familiar enough with them to say whether the Trudi Canavan accurately captured his portrayal of the character or his relationship with Jo. Therefore this was the first of the series I've read without any preconceptions and it was the plot more than the characterisation that would hook me.
So did it succeed? The answer is a hesitant yes. Set in Australia (the Third Doctor was of course exiled on Earth by the Time Lords for some time), we are first introduced to a local farmer who despite his dog's obvious fear tries to rescue some stranded sheep. Something is terribly wrong though and slowly but with no hope of escape he is turned to salt. Meanwhile the Doctor and Jo are intending to have a beach holiday but instead the Tardis lands them in the outback. Whilst blokarting they come across macabre salt statues of a man and some sheep. The Doctor quickly realises something is not right and after meeting local hobby farmer, Sunny learns about the "bad salt" responsible for turning people into statues before they're destroyed by the elements.
What follows is the Doctor's investigation into what is causing this phenomenon. I enjoyed the idea of the already harsh environment turning against its inhabitants and felt the emotion and stress of living in constant fear of the immediate surroundings suddenly becoming mortally dangerous was well handled. However, as is sometimes the case with short stories I just found the explanation and conclusion was dealt with too swiftly and easily meaning the narrative lost its sense of menace. I understand the constraints of these novella formats but still can't help wishing the denouement was a bit more complex. In the end I felt it was an enjoyable story that didn't quite live up to it's early potential.
Thanks to the publishers for my free copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review.
Another in the Doctor Who Time Trips series, this one features the Third Doctor and his companion Jo Grant. Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor was a little before my time and whilst I've seen some of his performances I'm not familiar enough with them to say whether the Trudi Canavan accurately captured his portrayal of the character or his relationship with Jo. Therefore this was the first of the series I've read without any preconceptions and it was the plot more than the characterisation that would hook me.
So did it succeed? The answer is a hesitant yes. Set in Australia (the Third Doctor was of course exiled on Earth by the Time Lords for some time), we are first introduced to a local farmer who despite his dog's obvious fear tries to rescue some stranded sheep. Something is terribly wrong though and slowly but with no hope of escape he is turned to salt. Meanwhile the Doctor and Jo are intending to have a beach holiday but instead the Tardis lands them in the outback. Whilst blokarting they come across macabre salt statues of a man and some sheep. The Doctor quickly realises something is not right and after meeting local hobby farmer, Sunny learns about the "bad salt" responsible for turning people into statues before they're destroyed by the elements.
What follows is the Doctor's investigation into what is causing this phenomenon. I enjoyed the idea of the already harsh environment turning against its inhabitants and felt the emotion and stress of living in constant fear of the immediate surroundings suddenly becoming mortally dangerous was well handled. However, as is sometimes the case with short stories I just found the explanation and conclusion was dealt with too swiftly and easily meaning the narrative lost its sense of menace. I understand the constraints of these novella formats but still can't help wishing the denouement was a bit more complex. In the end I felt it was an enjoyable story that didn't quite live up to it's early potential.
Thanks to the publishers for my free copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review.
kribu's review
4.0
Salt of the Earth, the fourth instalment in the Time Trips series of Doctor Who short stories, is the first one I enjoyed pretty much with no problems at all.
Of course, if I'm quite honest, if this hadn't been a Three story, I'd probably give it three stars. I did like it, just that as far as the plot (all there in the blurb) and the writing goes, it's nothing particularly special or sublime. A good, solid effort, one that I could well see working on TV in Three's era.
However, it was a Three story, and there are so few of those around these days that it's like throwing a bone to a starving dog. I'll gobble down anything that has Three in it, and if it's at all adequately written, I'm more or less guaranteed to love it, so... well, there you go.
Even better, it was a Three & Jo story. One that had them be adorable together. Adorable being on holiday together. Adorable racing over a salt desert in blokarts together, Three being adorable and offering Jo sun lotion, adorable in being his wonderful arrogant self, in shirtsleeves, being all caring and... oh dear, my Three/Jo shipper side is showing, I fear. Can't be helped. Sniffle.
Of course, if I'm quite honest, if this hadn't been a Three story, I'd probably give it three stars. I did like it, just that as far as the plot (all there in the blurb) and the writing goes, it's nothing particularly special or sublime. A good, solid effort, one that I could well see working on TV in Three's era.
However, it was a Three story, and there are so few of those around these days that it's like throwing a bone to a starving dog. I'll gobble down anything that has Three in it, and if it's at all adequately written, I'm more or less guaranteed to love it, so... well, there you go.
Even better, it was a Three & Jo story. One that had them be adorable together. Adorable being on holiday together. Adorable racing over a salt desert in blokarts together, Three being adorable and offering Jo sun lotion, adorable in being his wonderful arrogant self, in shirtsleeves, being all caring and... oh dear, my Three/Jo shipper side is showing, I fear. Can't be helped. Sniffle.
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