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A review by mayoroffailure
The Silent Stars Go By by Dan Abnett
3.0
The Silent Stars go By is one of the highest rated Doctor Who books I could find on Goodreads, and I kind of wonder why. It's not that I didn't like the story, I liked it just fine, I just wasn't sure what the praise was about. I think that part of it was the writer, Mr. Abnett. If you don't know who he is then you probably don't know what Warhammmer 40,000 is, Mr. Abnett is rather famous for his work involving some excellent stories about the Imperial army.
I was excited to read the book because I wanted to see what Mr. Abnett was able to do with the franchise, and while I wasnt dissappointed I still have some problems. The best part of the book by far was the characters, Mr. Abnett makes both the Doctor and his companions fully realized through the use of great dialouge. He also does a good job on the use of the sonic, I think that Matt Smith used the sonic the most and he certainly uses it quite a lot in the book. Scenes are also set very well in the book, the villages, the machines, and all of the lore regarding the people are done very well and impressed me with the world building. The flaws, however, aren't too big but they were things that I was really disappointed by.
The Ice warriors are one of my favorite enemies next to the Daleks and Cybermen, but in my opinion they are kind of wasted in the book. Save for their interaction with the Doctor they are pretty much limited to stalking people through the woods, I found myself continually waiting for that moment that brought back my love for the Ice Warriors but it never happened. The story also seemed to be way to small, the plot involves the terraforming of a planet and yet the problem is solved with a flick of a switch. My final problem is with the twist towards the end, and this one is odd because I liked it and didn't like it. I liked the twist because it began to explore ethical concepts that the show does so well, but I didn't like it because it comes so late that theres no room for it to be fully explored. Much like the overall issue the twist is also solved extremely quickly and it left me feeling a bit dumbfounded that Mr. Abnett would put such a great concept in and clean it out so fast.
Ultimately The Silent Stars go By shows great promise for Mr. Abnett's future in the Doctor Who extended universe. There are flashes of brilliance here but it sadly gets undermined at times by some of its flaws. This book is a solid read for fans of the show and if you see it then pick it up, you wont be dissapointed.
I was excited to read the book because I wanted to see what Mr. Abnett was able to do with the franchise, and while I wasnt dissappointed I still have some problems. The best part of the book by far was the characters, Mr. Abnett makes both the Doctor and his companions fully realized through the use of great dialouge. He also does a good job on the use of the sonic, I think that Matt Smith used the sonic the most and he certainly uses it quite a lot in the book. Scenes are also set very well in the book, the villages, the machines, and all of the lore regarding the people are done very well and impressed me with the world building. The flaws, however, aren't too big but they were things that I was really disappointed by.
The Ice warriors are one of my favorite enemies next to the Daleks and Cybermen, but in my opinion they are kind of wasted in the book. Save for their interaction with the Doctor they are pretty much limited to stalking people through the woods, I found myself continually waiting for that moment that brought back my love for the Ice Warriors but it never happened. The story also seemed to be way to small, the plot involves the terraforming of a planet and yet the problem is solved with a flick of a switch. My final problem is with the twist towards the end, and this one is odd because I liked it and didn't like it. I liked the twist because it began to explore ethical concepts that the show does so well, but I didn't like it because it comes so late that theres no room for it to be fully explored. Much like the overall issue the twist is also solved extremely quickly and it left me feeling a bit dumbfounded that Mr. Abnett would put such a great concept in and clean it out so fast.
Ultimately The Silent Stars go By shows great promise for Mr. Abnett's future in the Doctor Who extended universe. There are flashes of brilliance here but it sadly gets undermined at times by some of its flaws. This book is a solid read for fans of the show and if you see it then pick it up, you wont be dissapointed.