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SavageScribe — Doctor Who Review - Evolution
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Published: 2015-11-22 11:05:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 1095; Favourites: 6; Downloads: 2
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'The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane land in Victorian England and tackle a Sherlock pastiche that boasts a giant hound, Conan Doyle himself and genetic science gone terribly wrong. But can it deliver?' WHOCritique examines...So, this is something new in my Doctor Who reviewing travels: my first novel review as usually I stick to TV and audio. It was a tad tricky, as I don't have the luxury of say special effects or sound or cinematography or production design to comment on, and only have words to talk about more words (that makes me sound smart, don't it...) so much like many things in life, I decided to do something straightforward and simple. Here, I tackled one of the earliest titles from the Virgin Missing Adventures, a series in the 90s that's exactly what it sounds like: new stories with Classic Doctors. This was later followed by Past Doctor Adventures from BBC Books when they took back the license. Some of the most famous titles you may recognize from this range include the Gareth Roberts Fourth Doctor Trilogy (The Romance of Crime, The English Way of Death and The Well Mannered War), Gary Russell's The Scales of Injustice (which gave a proper departure story for Liz Shaw) and David A. McIntee's The Dark Path (which showed how The Master, Delgado's incarnation, turned to evil).
Now, here's a quick and easy means to read the book (plus, it's been out of print for 20 years, so it's hardly piracy): ia802505.us.archive.org/2/item…
Check out more of my Who reviews here: savagescribe.deviantart.com/ga…
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Speaking of Who, I am contributing a short story to the charity anthology 'Time Shadows'.
All proceeds from the sales go to E-Nable. Read up more here on their site:
timeshadowsanthology.wordpress…
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Comments: 3
Your review was as thorough and insightful ever! I feel like what I have to say is just reiterating what you've said, but I'm going to share my thoughts anyway. This is going to be a long one...
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun, pleasurable read. One thing that stuck me right away was that the Doctor and Sarah stayed in character. I’ve only watched a few DW episodes with them in it, but I could right away they weren’t going to be OOC. Another thing that I took a liking to was the way the book flowed. Every transition worked, and as you’ve pointed out, there wasn’t any excess detail. That’s part of the reason why it made for such a great read.
The plot of the book was interesting. It kept me guessing all the way throughout the story. There were bits of humor added here and there, which I liked. Ross as a villain did seem a bit…mad-scientist-y cliché, but it wasn’t all that bad. The fact that the whole scheme had to do with mixing animal and human DNA, corrupting both species, seemed very Doctor Who-like to me. (And even the Sontarans were mentioned at one point!)
As far as characters go, I thought Ross (the good one) was an interesting. For a while I feared he would turn out to be one of the antagonists, so the fact he was a secret agent for the queen genuinely surprised me. I’m glad the Doctor got on his case about pulling the trigger too quickly though. Something needed to be said about that…
Kipling’s character didn’t strike me as anything special, but it was sort of fun to read the banter between him and Sarah.
Arthur Conan Doyle, on the other hand, was perfect! I loved how he was learning from the doctor, and making all his little deductions. (And also talking about being a writer, hehe.) At the beginning of the book, the Doctor took on a very Sherlock-like demeanor, which I saw you also picked up on. (Now I see where Doyle got the inspiration for his books…)
Sarah was just as fierce and brave as ever. She complained at times, but boy, she knew how to pack a punch at the end. I just wish that she was a little more careful with what she said. (Putting the whole future in danger by mentioning you’re from it…not a great move.)
One thing that surprised me was that I really sympathized with Lucy and the mer-people. Putting those interludes in there told from her perspective was a good call. And the fact that she cared for all the younger ones was so adorable! I didn’t think she, or the others were going to wind up being so important, but clearly I was wrong.
I think putting the Semi-Historical notes at the end made the whole book even more satisfying. It was nice to see what became of every one after the Doctor left.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I would certainly want to read another one like this again.
Update: I just noticed now that the Doctor is wearing a very Sherlock-like hat on the cover. What a nice touch. ^^
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Well, that was thorough!
And the hat is called a deerstalker. Ironically, not something from the books but from the early stage versions of Holmes, and then later the movies.
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Haha, when it come books, fanfiction, short stories, etc. I'm ALWAYS thorough. Or at least I try to be. I find it's easier for me to elaborate on a story, rather than a TV show, movie or script. (Though I don't mind reviewing them.)
Huh, that is pretty funny. Well, I'm glad they started using the deerstalker. It fits Sherlock. ^^
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