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A review by hidekisohma
Doctor Who: Timewyrm-Revelation by Paul Cornell
2.0
So, maybe i'm just crazy, but after looking at all the positive reviews from this book, i can honestly say....i don't get it. i don't get the love for this book.
Having read the previous 3 of the timewyrm quadrilogy in a pretty quick succession, i can say that this one was easily the worst one. Why? Because it was nonsense cerebral ridiculousness.
While the first three books, while having their varying degrees of how good they were, i can at least say, that all three stories made sense. They had a plot, stuff happened, they resolved the plot, the end. This book was trying to have 15 thousand kinds of fanservice but at the same time making your head hurt from all the nonsensicalness they threw your way.
The weird thing about this book, is that it's broken up into mainly 5 points of view.
Doc, Ace, Hemming (bad guy from 2nd book), doyle (some annoying kid the timewyrm took over) and a gathering of random ass people at a church named Emily and Peter. And maybe this is just me being stupid, but there was a character named Saul, and i thought he was a dude in the church. However after a while, i realized that Saul WAS the church. like, a talking church.
(tardis wiki: Saul or Saul Church was an "intelligence" within St Christopher's Church "
I mean....sure? not really sure...WHY the church could talk. i read his article in tardis wiki and it didn't help.
I hated every part that took place in the church. i didn't care about Emily, or peter, or whatever, whenever we cut back to their parts talking to each other watching over the doc and Ace's unconscious body. it was annoying filler at its finest.
Without giving away spoilers, i'll say that the novelist tries to justify their existence by having them do something in the last 40 pages of the book, but for the rest of the time it's them going "duhhh what do we do?" "i don't know, what do we do?" for about 160 pages.
On the doctor's side there was a lot of the timewyrm going "the doctor's not who he seems" and ace going "nuuuuuuuu" which got old extremely fast. as the timewyrm traps their minds, so basically everything that happens in this novel happens to their minds, and not their bodies specifically.
There's a lot of callbacks to previous incarnations (except for 6 who gets left out. no love for 6 in this one) and previous companions who died. It was...interesting to see them, (especially seeing Adric on fire. I can always get behind seeing Adric on fire) but they added little to the story other than "make the doctor feel guilty."
I get this was supposed to be a novel that dug deep into 7's psyche, but it was too cerebral and out there for me.
All in all, i'm glad the book is done as it got to be quite the schlog towards the middle.
this book, i would give a 2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2. It had a few cool moments, but not near enough to save this one and i REALLY don't understand the love for this one.
Ranking the Quadrilogy i would go best to worst
Exodus, Genesys, Apocalypse, Revelation (aka 2,1,3,4)
Sadly, yeah this is the worst one. Just tell a fun story. Don't try to mindscrew your readers. Terrance Dicks proved you can make a fun story without the complications. Calm down there Cornell.
2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2.
Having read the previous 3 of the timewyrm quadrilogy in a pretty quick succession, i can say that this one was easily the worst one. Why? Because it was nonsense cerebral ridiculousness.
While the first three books, while having their varying degrees of how good they were, i can at least say, that all three stories made sense. They had a plot, stuff happened, they resolved the plot, the end. This book was trying to have 15 thousand kinds of fanservice but at the same time making your head hurt from all the nonsensicalness they threw your way.
The weird thing about this book, is that it's broken up into mainly 5 points of view.
Doc, Ace, Hemming (bad guy from 2nd book), doyle (some annoying kid the timewyrm took over) and a gathering of random ass people at a church named Emily and Peter. And maybe this is just me being stupid, but there was a character named Saul, and i thought he was a dude in the church. However after a while, i realized that Saul WAS the church. like, a talking church.
(tardis wiki: Saul or Saul Church was an "intelligence" within St Christopher's Church "
I mean....sure? not really sure...WHY the church could talk. i read his article in tardis wiki and it didn't help.
I hated every part that took place in the church. i didn't care about Emily, or peter, or whatever, whenever we cut back to their parts talking to each other watching over the doc and Ace's unconscious body. it was annoying filler at its finest.
Without giving away spoilers, i'll say that the novelist tries to justify their existence by having them do something in the last 40 pages of the book, but for the rest of the time it's them going "duhhh what do we do?" "i don't know, what do we do?" for about 160 pages.
On the doctor's side there was a lot of the timewyrm going "the doctor's not who he seems" and ace going "nuuuuuuuu" which got old extremely fast. as the timewyrm traps their minds, so basically everything that happens in this novel happens to their minds, and not their bodies specifically.
There's a lot of callbacks to previous incarnations (except for 6 who gets left out. no love for 6 in this one) and previous companions who died. It was...interesting to see them, (especially seeing Adric on fire. I can always get behind seeing Adric on fire) but they added little to the story other than "make the doctor feel guilty."
I get this was supposed to be a novel that dug deep into 7's psyche, but it was too cerebral and out there for me.
All in all, i'm glad the book is done as it got to be quite the schlog towards the middle.
this book, i would give a 2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2. It had a few cool moments, but not near enough to save this one and i REALLY don't understand the love for this one.
Ranking the Quadrilogy i would go best to worst
Exodus, Genesys, Apocalypse, Revelation (aka 2,1,3,4)
Sadly, yeah this is the worst one. Just tell a fun story. Don't try to mindscrew your readers. Terrance Dicks proved you can make a fun story without the complications. Calm down there Cornell.
2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2.