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A review by jordanbird
Doctor Who: The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner
3.0
The Stone Rose further explores the relationship between the 10th Doctor and Rose while the duo blend into Ancient Rome attempting to solve the mystery of The Stone Rose.
The characterisation of The Doctor seems to mostly follow what we would expect from the 10th Incarnation, however some instances are taken to the extreme or are completely out of character which can be quite jarring as the book moves between the characterisations.
Some examples include or .
Rose's characterisation on the other hand is flawless, which makes The Doctor's inconsistent characterisation even more disappointing.
As for the story, the initial mystery is intriguing and engaging and Jacqueline lays a strong foundation for the rest of the book in terms of setting and characters.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel as though the rest of the book always met the same quality as the beginning.
It started to falter for me when the section started. The entire section seemed out of character for the 10th Doctor as represented in other media; as well as tone from the rest of the book.
Following this section the quality improves again until the resolution of the story, which didn't really have a satisfying explanation.
Some closing thoughts..
Ultimately The Stone Rose felt like a story created for Rose and The Doctor was added later on, if you remove the colosseum section I feel you could call this a 'Doctor-Lite' story.
At the point where The Doctor is removed from the story I honestly thought the revelation was going to be that he had never been there and Rose was being effected by the reveal for a large portion of the story; which with Rose's characterisation being so accurate and The Doctor's almost being a 'hero' version of himself would have made a lot more sense in the context of the story.
The characterisation of The Doctor seems to mostly follow what we would expect from the 10th Incarnation, however some instances are taken to the extreme or are completely out of character which can be quite jarring as the book moves between the characterisations.
Some examples include
Spoiler
out of character acrobaticsSpoiler
not reacting to a murder in front of himRose's characterisation on the other hand is flawless, which makes The Doctor's inconsistent characterisation even more disappointing.
As for the story, the initial mystery is intriguing and engaging and Jacqueline lays a strong foundation for the rest of the book in terms of setting and characters.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel as though the rest of the book always met the same quality as the beginning.
It started to falter for me when the
Spoiler
colosseumFollowing this section the quality improves again until the resolution of the story, which didn't really have a satisfying explanation.
Some closing thoughts..
Spoiler
Ultimately The Stone Rose felt like a story created for Rose and The Doctor was added later on, if you remove the colosseum section I feel you could call this a 'Doctor-Lite' story.
At the point where The Doctor is removed from the story I honestly thought the revelation was going to be that he had never been there and Rose was being effected by the reveal for a large portion of the story; which with Rose's characterisation being so accurate and The Doctor's almost being a 'hero' version of himself would have made a lot more sense in the context of the story.