Dreamstone Moon
Paul Leonard
Summary: 8/10 Dreamstone Moon finds the Doctor looking for his lost companion Sam in the early 23rd century on a world mined for the valuable Dreamstone. Sam gets a chance to develop further as a character, and is an enjoyable improvement in the line.
After the disappointing Longest Day and a by-the-numbers Legacy of the Daleks, this book is a solid base hit. While it isn't required reading, the book give Sam one of her best stories to date, placing her in situations that challenge her beliefs. But Dreamstone Moon is primarily an action novel as far as she is concerned -- Sam goes through one near-death situation after another.
One of the things that make this book unique is that both Sam and the Doctor are on separate paths throughout the book. This makes this book different from other books; as Sam increasingly learns how to not rely on the Doctor, and the Doctor is given an independent track of her own. I've said that what Sam needed most is novels that give her more and more focus, and I think this is a step in the right direction.
One of Paul Leonard's distinctive marks in his works is the creation of alien species that couldn't have possibly appeared on the series, giant spiders and other aliens that couldn't possibily be a human in a rubber suit. At the same time, they aren't monsters -- they have different cultures, personalities, and backgrounds. This was a delightful strength in this book; much like it was in Genocide
This isn't a terribly radical book plotwise once we get past the separation of the Doctor and Sam -- with its "bad" corporation and discovering that there is more to what the company is mining than it first appears. It is fairly traditional in that regards -- it comfortably fits with the universe of Caves of Androzani.
Some might argue that this book is too much Sam and not enough Doctor -- I disagree. Especially after her absence in Legacy of the Daleks, Sam deserves to be a primary character of the series. The companion should get more, not less, focus than the Doctor -- we should see the Doctor and his universe through the companion's eyes, as that can continually provide for fresh adventures, since not all companions react the same. I think Sam needs the focus more than the Doctor does.
Dreamstone Moon won't be the best book of the year -- my guess is it will be fairly in the middle -- but it's a good solid DW book, and is definitely worth reading.
A typical book, all and all.