The Left Handed Hummingbird

<aside> Damn. I've read more pages of Doctor Who in the last week than I have in years...two NA's and one MA. And I've started, following the recommendation of others, Love and War, so it's getting worse.... However, it's already been a couple days since I finished Hummingbird, and it's almost 3:00 AM, so I'll probably keep my comments on this one short. </aside>

Summary: 9/10 The Doctor, Ace, and Bernice get a message from Cristian Alvarez and show up in Mexico City, 1994. Cristian apparently knows the Doctor and company, but they haven't met him yet.

Oh I quite liked that one.

When I reviewed Blood Harvest a few days ago, someone mentioned [and I forgot who it was, as usual...] that the Left Handed Hummingbird had a similar style of baddie as Blood Harvest. It also is somewhat similar to Pyramids of Mars, in so far as it's Doctor vs. a God again...

That said, this book is really not about Huitzilin, but another chance to jump all of the main characters through some hoops, and get a good chance too see how all of them tick. Oh, and have the Doctor drop a lot of acid. :-)

The chance to put the villain and the Doctor in the same body [more or less] made for an interesting perspective on the Doctor. There's a really nice scene withe Ace, when she holds a gun against him, asking if he's ready to die. It contrasts well when Ace is possessed, and stabs the Doctor, leaving a scar. [The Doctor's unwillingness to tell Ace that she was responsible for it was also quite a nice touch, and I thought all of it worked very well.

I had a lot better handle on Bernice, and I'm pleased to see some discussion of why someone would stay with the Doctor [and why he has companions] in the course of the book. One problem I had with Blood Harvest was that no real time was given to get inside these new companion's heads, and have a chance to get to know who they are, and I thought Hummingbird did a much better job at that, and as such would probably be a better first NA.

The book also put a nice perspective on some of the continuity references; nothing that felt out of place, especially the reference way back to "the Aztecs".

I also liked the bouncing around from one time period to the next; especially seeing "first encounters" happen out of order, like it does with Cristian, or Lt. Macbeth.

If there was a weak point, it was being "too cute" in including the Beatles, or the Doctor and company on the sinking of the Titanic. Of course, these are both traditional Doctor Who set-ups, going all the way back to the beginning of the show...and I'm sure that they're both quite popular with a lot of people. It wasn't what happened around those subjects, just that they were there, and I have to list something as a weak point.... :)

I could go on a bit more, but needless to say, the reputation this book has as one of the better New Adventures's is well deservered and is recommended to all. 9 out of 10 lumps of sugar.

For further humming, go to Kate Orman's Web Page