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I hate calling these reviews sometimes, especially when they're primarily one paragraph summaries of my thoughts....

Evolution by John Peel [8/10]

I was surprised how much I liked this book; in comparison to Genesys, where I thought that John didn't have a handle on the Doctor or Ace at all. I was even more surprised when it contained one of my "pet peeves", the historical character as pseudo-companion, and not only once, but twice.

The book is a solid adventure story -- it fits in well with the Tom Baker/Sarah Jane period of the series. It isn't at all a continuity-heavy story, and one that fits in a fairly neat fashion.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've read it, and it's sitting better in retrospect than even when I read it. Quite a pleasant surprise.

Lucifer Rising by Jim Mortimore and Andy Lane [6.5/10]

I didn't like this book much. I didn't like "Deceit" either, and this seemed to be playing some of the same notes. It was a bit of a struggle for me to get through -- which could just be me. I don't like the new Ace (which may have been intentional) -- and I wasn't really engaged in the book much.

This period of NAs was really a bit grim -- The Pit, Deceit, and Lucifer Rising all sit towards the bottom of my rankings. Lucifer Rising is probably the best of those three, but both Love and War and The Highest Science are even better examples of books from the same period, and Transit -- while perhaps a riskier venture -- is also better than all of these.

The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks [7/10]

The Eight Doctors is really a sign of some lost potential -- there were at least two really good ideas going into this book. One, had the Doctor slipping through and influencing his former self at crucial points in his development. The second, and also interesting one -- had a series of interactions with the highest ranks of Gallifrey. At times it almost reads like a novelization of the Doctor Who programme guide, which might have been appropriate for a new book starting off the line.

It's an interesting first draft, but really needed some more work. There are some scenes such as those with Sam at the beginning of the book; which distinctly fail to be realistic, and start the book (and Sam) off to a bad start. There's also a few moments of strange continuity -- I get the impression that Tegan had never met any Doctor before the fifth, much less see a regeneration take place.

Most of the Doctor's characterizations are ok, but the Eighth doesn't particularly have any distinct personality (which is different from both Vampire Science and The Dying Days, which better capture the personality of the character as seen in the movie).

It does reference s past Virgin New Adventure; in fact the book has some elements of being a sequel to Blood Harvest. It also -- by sending the Doctor back through his own time stream -- could have the possibility of changing his own past, which could have had a Zero-Hour (from DC comics) like effect, both leaving the *basics* of the old series intact, but allowing for the occasional and inevitable retcon. (The Seventh Doctor's sequence is terribly difficult to match with any particular period in the New Adventures, I'd be interested in a theory... it must be, I imagine, directly before Room With No Doors, while Chris is off doing whatever he does when the Doctor wants to be alone... :)