Recent Readings

Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark by Andrew Hunt [7/10]

A neat little adventure; the cover is one of the series best. I'm not an expert in the mythology that this book covers, so I sometimes wonder what's nicked from the myth and what's real. There are some nice characters; for example, we meet Britain's answer to Fox Mulder. [It's not a direct steal, since the X-Files hadn't started by this point.] It's also a bit of a Celtic Stargate.

It's odd to read a TV Series Ace after getting used to the one from that later books.

Cat's Cradle -- as a series -- is not very successful. The books don't share much of any theme, and it's clear why the direct linkage in the titles was abandoned after this one. None of the books astounded me [even if Time's Cruicible is important to the Doctor Who mythos established in the New Adventures]

Not an astonishing book, but not a terrible one either.

The Highest Science by Gareth Roberts [7.5/10]

The Chelonians, which are introduced in this book, are one of the major additions to the Doctor Who mythos that Virgin introduced. This is the first novel that they appeared in, and also the first time I've encountered them. An interesting race, a classic "Doctor Who" monster race, and also one that is appropriate for someone with a fondness for the "frockier" alien races in Who. [One of the soldiers, for example, would much rather be a flower gardener.]

Gareth Roberts is one of the highlights of the 90s Doctor Who authors. Like his Missing Adventures, there is nothing dark about his Doctor Who -- it's a Doctor who wants to use the secret weapon of "Diplomacy", a story filled with aliens with silly names.

State of Change by Christopher Bulis [7.5/10]

Christopher Bulis writes "typical" Doctor Who novels -- while this isn't as good as "Sorcerer's Apprentice", I enjoyed reading this book a great deal. It's an easy book tor read. Peri's a little bit more realistic than she was in the TV series, despite turning back into a giant bird.

I do have a few gripes about the book -- like Timewyrm:Genysis, Christopher has the Doctor "call up" the ghost of the Third. It may be easier to put Pertwee's Doctor onto paper than Colin Baker's one, especially if you want to use the stereotypical Doctor, but I think it's a cop out. It doesn't bother me if the Doctor uses skills primarily established with an another Doctor -- after all, the Sixth Doctor is the most physical after the third, and we really don't know the Sixth Doctor as well as we could some of the others.

Out of the three, I wouldn't necessarily say any are required Doctor Who readings; none of them are terrible, but none of them really grabbed me as excellent books either.