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A review by jupiter2932
The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.0
So, this was not the best Torchwood/Doctor Who tie-in novel I've read.
There were some parts that worked (for example, the team noticing that Ianto brings the coffee around without prompting only when Jack's around, and Owen's paranoia that Ianto's put something in the coffee as payback for an earlier joke). There were also some interesting moments with the characters (like Gwen and Ianto's discussion about ABBA). Unfortunately, while it starts off well, the last third of the story is messy.
Especially during the climax some of the scenes towards the end are very choppy and abrupt, there are several flat-out confusing plot twists/points, and several parts feel like they would have come off a lot better as a TV show than as prose (seriously, what was up with the clown thing?). Also, the ending was kind of unsatisfying. It feels like the writing banking so hard on Biliss Manger being a ~mysterious enigma~ that it forgot this is also its own novel.
The first half or two-thirds of it was pretty all right, though? Like I said, there were some parts of it that I dug, even if the ending didn't really work for me.
There were some parts that worked (for example, the team noticing that Ianto brings the coffee around without prompting only when Jack's around, and Owen's paranoia that Ianto's put something in the coffee as payback for an earlier joke). There were also some interesting moments with the characters (like Gwen and Ianto's discussion about ABBA). Unfortunately, while it starts off well, the last third of the story is messy.
Especially during the climax some of the scenes towards the end are very choppy and abrupt, there are several flat-out confusing plot twists/points, and several parts feel like they would have come off a lot better as a TV show than as prose (seriously, what was up with the clown thing?). Also, the ending was kind of unsatisfying. It feels like the writing banking so hard on Biliss Manger being a ~mysterious enigma~ that it forgot this is also its own novel.
The first half or two-thirds of it was pretty all right, though? Like I said, there were some parts of it that I dug, even if the ending didn't really work for me.