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bishopjoey's review against another edition
4.0
Good stuff - astoundingly weird horror/sci-fi. Seems to be the basis for a scad of other novels, some of which I'm after reading.
nwhyte's review
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2694932.html
I don't quite get the immense reverence shown to Lawrence Miles and the Faction Paradox concept by the more literary end of Whovian fandom; on the other hand I thoroughly enjoyed this, even though it is a book in the series of Bernice Summerfield novels where she doesn't appear at all except as a personality of the far future, the Doctor appears only in distorted form, and the one continuity character is Chris Cwej. Paradoxically, this makes it a rare case of a Who book that one can readily recommend to non-Whovian readers because it is so very detached from the main narrative - indeed, Miles stresses that it should be considered as taking place in a pocket universe detached from the main timeline of the Whoniverse.
That's all beside the most important point, which is that it's a really good read. Christine Summerfield, the slightly reliable narrator, fills up numerous notebooks writing about how the world ended in October 1970; there are many many references to the pop culture of the late 1960s, in a slightly different timeline to our own; the Time Lords are restored to their original position of dubious god-like beings, manipulating the physical forms of their allies (that's a new one) and much else; the whole universe is a grim place, and yet I found myself immersed in it. It's a rare example of a diary-format novel where the narrator actually survives; but to what end? I found it a complex, multi-layered story, but one that did at least keep me reading with satisfaction to the final page.
I don't quite get the immense reverence shown to Lawrence Miles and the Faction Paradox concept by the more literary end of Whovian fandom; on the other hand I thoroughly enjoyed this, even though it is a book in the series of Bernice Summerfield novels where she doesn't appear at all except as a personality of the far future, the Doctor appears only in distorted form, and the one continuity character is Chris Cwej. Paradoxically, this makes it a rare case of a Who book that one can readily recommend to non-Whovian readers because it is so very detached from the main narrative - indeed, Miles stresses that it should be considered as taking place in a pocket universe detached from the main timeline of the Whoniverse.
That's all beside the most important point, which is that it's a really good read. Christine Summerfield, the slightly reliable narrator, fills up numerous notebooks writing about how the world ended in October 1970; there are many many references to the pop culture of the late 1960s, in a slightly different timeline to our own; the Time Lords are restored to their original position of dubious god-like beings, manipulating the physical forms of their allies (that's a new one) and much else; the whole universe is a grim place, and yet I found myself immersed in it. It's a rare example of a diary-format novel where the narrator actually survives; but to what end? I found it a complex, multi-layered story, but one that did at least keep me reading with satisfaction to the final page.
bishopjoey's review
4.0
Good stuff - astoundingly weird horror/sci-fi. Seems to be the basis for a scad of other novels, some of which I'm after reading.
nikkuleznev's review
5.0
I consider this book genius and a work of art. The narrative contains several extremely unexpected and shocking plot twists after which everything came together and made sense, bit twisted and strange though, but still it made sense. And reading it is just like a river flow – so engaging and captivating, never ever getting bored or tired of reading.
This book has shown me how limitless the possibilities of telling a DW story (and any fiction story for that matter) are! It's like nothing I've ever read before, highly original and individual, so I cannot recommend it enough.
This book has shown me how limitless the possibilities of telling a DW story (and any fiction story for that matter) are! It's like nothing I've ever read before, highly original and individual, so I cannot recommend it enough.
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