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A review by kribu
Doctor Who: The Silent Stars Go By by Dan Abnett
4.0
Really really liked this one - without doubt the best Eleventh Doctor book I've read yet. Granted, there are several I've yet to read, but there was really very little to not like about this one for me.
I've not made a secret about not being happy with the last few years of Doctor Who on TV - I don't mind Matt Smith as Eleven, and Amy & Rory were always likeable enough, but I didn't care for the season arcs, or for the entire River plot, or, well, basically anything. I gave up mid-season six and only watched the specials / last few episodes of Eleven's run after that, and didn't feel like I'd missed much, sadly.
Reading the tie-in books starring Eleven, Amy and Rory has been a much more pleasant experience, all in all. And The Silent Stars Go By was just - well, what I'd have liked the TV show to be. It feels a lot more like Classic Who, granted - I felt it would have made a great Classic Who story, really (probably a four-parter - not enough meat on the bones of the story for more).
I liked the plot, I liked the pacing, I loved the banter and the writing (it's been a while since a Doctor Who book has actually made me grin so much), I loved that we got adversaries with some complexity to them rather than just plain old evil villains, I loved the twist... Yeah. Good stuff.
(Not five stars worth of good stuff, only because I'd have liked an even longer and more complex story. Or, alternatively, Three in charge instead of Eleven. I'm fickle like that.)
I've not made a secret about not being happy with the last few years of Doctor Who on TV - I don't mind Matt Smith as Eleven, and Amy & Rory were always likeable enough, but I didn't care for the season arcs, or for the entire River plot, or, well, basically anything. I gave up mid-season six and only watched the specials / last few episodes of Eleven's run after that, and didn't feel like I'd missed much, sadly.
Reading the tie-in books starring Eleven, Amy and Rory has been a much more pleasant experience, all in all. And The Silent Stars Go By was just - well, what I'd have liked the TV show to be. It feels a lot more like Classic Who, granted - I felt it would have made a great Classic Who story, really (probably a four-parter - not enough meat on the bones of the story for more).
I liked the plot, I liked the pacing, I loved the banter and the writing (it's been a while since a Doctor Who book has actually made me grin so much), I loved that we got adversaries with some complexity to them rather than just plain old evil villains, I loved the twist... Yeah. Good stuff.
(Not five stars worth of good stuff, only because I'd have liked an even longer and more complex story. Or, alternatively, Three in charge instead of Eleven. I'm fickle like that.)