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A review by hidekisohma
Doctor Who: Timewyrm-Exodus by Terrance Dicks
3.0
I don't normally read 2 doctor who's back to back, but after the terrible schlog that was "Rags" I needed to wash my brain out with one i was reasonably sure i'd like. And well, yeah, i did enjoy this one quite a bit more than Rags.
The first thing you'll notice is, yes, of course this is a WWII book. Oh my god does DW like talking about WWII. its like their favorite thing ever. i can think of at least 5 DW stories off the top of my head that deal with WWII. We get it. England was awesome in it. Can we please talk about anything else? I swear, the doc has been to WWII so many times at this point, you'd think that all the different incarnations would be bumping into each other.
Anyway, despite the rather stock setting, I have to say that this book was pretty good. The first thing is that it's written by Terrance Dicks, aka, a writer on the original show. And it really shows as this book actually does feel like an episode of the series.
While Genesys was DEFINITELY WAY more adult than the series normally is with violence and flagrant nudity, this one brings it back to normal TV safe levels. (i'm not saying i prefer one or the other, i'm just saying it's something i noticed) the 2 were written by different authors and it's VERY obvious this was the case.
Something i loved about this book was that it was seriously 90% the doctor and ace. So many doctor who books have this strange fascination with focusing on random characters that are one offs just to have them die in horrible ways after spending 50 pages learning about their backstory. This book was like "nah, the audience is here to see doc and ace, and we're going to give them doc and ace." Seeing this was such a breath of fresh air, that i can forgive the static, boring setting.
Terrance really liked bringing in real life actual important nazi people into this book. like hitler, himmler, goerig, etc, all play important roles and it's interesting to see all these real evil people talking to the doctor from their point of view. Also seeing 7 be Hitler's spiritual counsel WAS quite amusing.
There's also less animosity between 7 and Ace in this one. in Genesys, 7 was a bit out of character with how annoyed he was at ace, but this one makes them more like they were in the show and i can appreciate that.
The story itself is just fine. 7 and ace have to find out how the nazis won WWII when obviously they shouldn't have all while tracking down the timewyrm (from book 1) and have to travel back to 1939 for the majority of the book.
All in all, i had enough fun with this one. It wasn't too long and didn't overstay its welcome, it was easy to follow without too many nonsensical descriptors, and there weren't 45 useless side characters. it really did feel like an episode of the show.
Excited to read part 3 in the Timewyrm quadrilogy.
3.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 3.
The first thing you'll notice is, yes, of course this is a WWII book. Oh my god does DW like talking about WWII. its like their favorite thing ever. i can think of at least 5 DW stories off the top of my head that deal with WWII. We get it. England was awesome in it. Can we please talk about anything else? I swear, the doc has been to WWII so many times at this point, you'd think that all the different incarnations would be bumping into each other.
Anyway, despite the rather stock setting, I have to say that this book was pretty good. The first thing is that it's written by Terrance Dicks, aka, a writer on the original show. And it really shows as this book actually does feel like an episode of the series.
While Genesys was DEFINITELY WAY more adult than the series normally is with violence and flagrant nudity, this one brings it back to normal TV safe levels. (i'm not saying i prefer one or the other, i'm just saying it's something i noticed) the 2 were written by different authors and it's VERY obvious this was the case.
Something i loved about this book was that it was seriously 90% the doctor and ace. So many doctor who books have this strange fascination with focusing on random characters that are one offs just to have them die in horrible ways after spending 50 pages learning about their backstory. This book was like "nah, the audience is here to see doc and ace, and we're going to give them doc and ace." Seeing this was such a breath of fresh air, that i can forgive the static, boring setting.
Terrance really liked bringing in real life actual important nazi people into this book. like hitler, himmler, goerig, etc, all play important roles and it's interesting to see all these real evil people talking to the doctor from their point of view. Also seeing 7 be Hitler's spiritual counsel WAS quite amusing.
There's also less animosity between 7 and Ace in this one. in Genesys, 7 was a bit out of character with how annoyed he was at ace, but this one makes them more like they were in the show and i can appreciate that.
The story itself is just fine. 7 and ace have to find out how the nazis won WWII when obviously they shouldn't have all while tracking down the timewyrm (from book 1) and have to travel back to 1939 for the majority of the book.
All in all, i had enough fun with this one. It wasn't too long and didn't overstay its welcome, it was easy to follow without too many nonsensical descriptors, and there weren't 45 useless side characters. it really did feel like an episode of the show.
Excited to read part 3 in the Timewyrm quadrilogy.
3.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 3.