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A review by octavia_cade
Doctor Who: The Good Doctor by Juno Dawson
3.0
Subtle as a brick to the back of the head, this is still a fun, easy read. Dawson really succeeds at getting the voices of the characters right - I could hear them saying what she wrote. As well, the pacing's pretty good, as the story bounces quickly along, keeping enough interest so that I was able to read it in a single sitting, and every one of the show's main characters get their own plotline so that's nicely well-balanced.
That said, though the problem of racism this story explores is particularly well-suited to this iteration of Doctor Who, it relies on that old heavy-handed chestnut of history or scripture misinterpreted to build an unjust society, which realistic as it may be I feel I've read approximately three thousand times before. Also, and I know this is picky, but so much of the imagery of coming together here is in the cross-species relationships, as the canine Loba interbreed with the human colonists of their world, and I know this is a metaphor for inter-racial relationships, and still my biologist self can't stop thinking "but it doesn't work like that!" Nitpicks aside though, this is, as I said, still a fun read. I haven't read Dawson before but I hope she's writing more books for this franchise because I'd happily read them.
That said, though the problem of racism this story explores is particularly well-suited to this iteration of Doctor Who, it relies on that old heavy-handed chestnut of history or scripture misinterpreted to build an unjust society, which realistic as it may be I feel I've read approximately three thousand times before. Also, and I know this is picky, but so much of the imagery of coming together here is in the cross-species relationships, as the canine Loba interbreed with the human colonists of their world, and I know this is a metaphor for inter-racial relationships, and still my biologist self can't stop thinking "but it doesn't work like that!" Nitpicks aside though, this is, as I said, still a fun read. I haven't read Dawson before but I hope she's writing more books for this franchise because I'd happily read them.