strange and random happenstance

Enter Wildthyme by Paul Magrs
Published by: Snowbooks
Publication Date: April 1st, 2011
Format: Paperback, 330 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Iris Wildthyme has been hanging out in Darlington posing as a writer for their annual festival there. Getting herself on the guests list was cover for her investigation to help the annoying and sometimes pedantic secret organization MIAOW. Darlington is a hub for intergalactic travellers, which none of the town's residents seem to notice. There was a meteor shower that wasn't a meteor shower a week or so ago and a very dangerous artifact has fallen to Earth and has hopefully not ended up in the wrong hands. The hands it has landed in are Simon's. Simon is just moving back to town to take over the running of The Exchange, a bookshop that was his refuge when he stilled lived there. Despite his friend Kelly being the best employee ever, for some reason Simon was left The Exchange... and a mysterious glass object, one he quickly looses to the annoying poet Anthony Marvelle and his creepy poodle when they nick it from The Exchange.

Meeting Iris boozing it up at a party, Simon and Iris become fast friends and Simon confesses his lose while Iris confesses her secret, she is an adventuress in space and time with her double-decker bus that is outside. For some reason Simon believes everything she says and is soon aboard the celestial omnibus with Iris, a rather gruff and opinionated stuffed Panda, a sentient vending machine called Barbara, and a mission to thwart Anthony Marvelle. But not before a few more gin and tonics and nice little dinner and perhaps a lie down. Oh, life aboard the bus is never boring, that's for sure.

When I was little I always daydreamed about living on modes of transit. I'm not really sure why, except maybe that I always wanted to travel but at the same time wanted to stay at home, and living on boats or buses, well, then you got both. Or I could have inherited my grandfather's love of RVs and come retirement I'll be going around America in a Winnebago and even being a part of their monthly newsletter... For the longest time though my daydream was of a boat, a nice cosy little pirate ship all my own, and yes, it HAD to be a pirate ship. When I was older and saw The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert I revised my thoughts to a bus. Yes, a bus would be perfect. Now Iris's bus... well, that's a whole other dimension of awesome. Not only is it quintessentially British and has two floors, but it can travel through the maelstrom and take me to France during the height of the Belle Époque for dinner. I feel that Iris's home and my daydreams has made me a kindred spirit with her. She's made me revisit cosy daydreams of years gone by. Even if Paul's writing style wasn't already of the cosy, warm embrace with a cup of spicy tea on the side variety, well, that bus would have warmed my soul. As it is Enter Wildthyme was a loving embrace of a book that you just want to snuggle into.

There's something just wonderful in the interconnectedness of Paul's books. Being a fan of Brenda and Effie, I loved seeing little winks and nods to them. Paul's books are all of the same universe, but it's a fluid universe where things are like but not exact. So while we have pinking sheers that cut the fabric of time and space, which are like those in Brenda and Effie's adventures, can we actually say they are the same? In Paul's universe it really doesn't matter. They could be, they might be, but then again, who knows. It's that fluidity and that nudge and a wink that makes his books so much fun. We have Jessie working at the galactic Hotel Miramar... ah, but could this Jessie be like the Jessie who worked not at the Miramar in Whitby but for Mrs. Claus? The Jessie who had the sad fate of turning into a womanzie? Or perhaps this is a parallel Jessie, a Jessie with a better fate. Every little connection, every little joke just made me giggle and sigh with contentment. If I could find a way to move into these books where after a day of fighting evil and possibly a good old punch up I could settle down in a warm chair and just relax and chat with my fellow friends, now that would be the life. Having a stuffed Panda as a sidekick would just add to the awesome.

Ah, but I do have to address something now that will tie this in with the whole Doctor Who theme I've got going on the blog here. This book is part of the expanded Whoverse. Iris has shown up in four Doctor Who novels, spending time with the 3rd and the 8th Doctor, while in audio... well, she has been very prolific, and is ironically voiced by Katy Manning, Jo Grant from the 3rd Doctor's tenure (and it might be just me, but Anthony Marvelle reminds me of the 3rd Doctor, Jon Pertwee himself). So the Who credentials are solid, but how Whovian is Enter Wildthyme? I would say very, but not in a way you would think, it is more subversive. Iris operates by her own rules and her own methods that are almost diametrically opposite to what one of The Doctors would do. Sure, she has a TARDIS, sure she travels through space and time, but well, her TARDIS is smaller on the inside, he origins, they're a mystery. Sure The Doctor knows her, but is that because she is one of his kind of just one of his ilk. She sets more store in fun and gin and flashy clothes and getting a sing-song going then saving the world. Sure, she will get around to it, but after a nice meal and a party with friends. I've often wondered over the years, don't the companions get tired and hungry? Their lives are all action and adventure, which can be fun, but you do need to unwind. Iris is like the cathartic Doctor, doing all the things you've wanted to, letting your hair down and enjoying the ride. And boy, did I enjoy the ride.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Brenda and Effie, Doctor Who, Enter Wildthyme, Iris Wildthyme, Jo Grant, Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Paul Magrs, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, TARDIS, The 3rd Doctor, The Celestial Omnibus, The Exchange

The thing with Doctor Who is that it's so ridiculously popular and has such a strong fanbase that you can literally never slack the thirst of the Whovians for more more more. Besides the myriad books and comics and episodes starring The Doctor, there is also that time honored tradition of the "spin-off." While there are the more obvious spin-offs, The Sarah Jane Adventures, K-9 (the successful 2010 spin-off, not the failed 1981 spin-off which ironically costarred Sarah Jane), and of course, Captain Jack's vehicle, Torchwood (an anagram of Doctor Who itself), there are more spin-offs then you might imagine. These books and audios and shows have expanded the Whoverse to be something more. The thing is, Doctor Who isn't just about The Doctor. Look at the most wildly popular episode of the new series, "Blink," and you will see that I am right. This episode is Sally Sparrow's, not The Doctors. So where to begin?

First, let's talk about characters that have actually appeared in the television series. There is the hilarious comedic duo of Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot who appeared in the 1977 serial with Tom Baker, "The Talons of Weng-Chiang." These two men made the episode so fun and you just didn't want to leave them at the end of the story when the TARDIS left. The duo of "an upper class gentleman with the voluble cockney showman" was recognised at the time as a winning combination worthy of a spin-off. Sadly, we had to wait over thirty years but Big Finish has now created a series of audio adventures with this daring duo. The fact that characters from one serial could have such a following that they reappear thirty years later shows the loyalty of the fanbase. It must also be noted that if it weren't for Big Finish and their Doctor Who audios, who knows if the series would have ever come back so strong. Other characters from the show that have had spin-offs in printed media are the 5th Doctor's companion Turlough, as well as the 4th Doctor's companions Harry Sullivan, K-9 and Sarah Jane, who all got novelizations in the "Companions of Doctor Who" full-length novels.

But there is another level to this. There are characters now that have been created in the novels that have then spun-off to their own series or made cameos in the authors own works. The two I am thinking of most are Iris Wildthyme and Professor Archibald Angelchrist. Iris Wildthyme is a character that was created by Paul Magrs and was featured in a few of his books where she exhibited some Time Lord like attributes. Flash forward to the short story "Old Flames" and Iris is hanging out with the 4th Doctor because they are old friends. Iris went on to be in four Doctor Who novels, numerous short stories, tons of audio adventures, and two of her own books so far. Iris has made her mark on Doctor Who and gone on to be just Iris. Though in an interesting case of wibbly wobbly timey wimey, in the audio plays she's voiced by Katy Manning who played Jo Grant on Doctor Who... As for Professor Angelchrist, he made his first appearance in the 11th Doctor's book Paradox Lost by George Mann. But that hasn't stopped him from jumping into Mann's other books and weaving himself into that world. Angelchrist has showed up in Ghosts of Manhattan and talked about Newbury and Hobbes... so it's all worlds within worlds. But for the true Whovian, all this commingling, expanding, and wibbly wobbly timey wimey makes this expanded Whoverse that much more rich and rewarding. So go out and see what else this universe has to offer!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Angelchrist, Big Finish, Captain Jack, Doctor Who, George Mann, Iris Wildthyme, Jago and Litefoot, K-9, Paul Magrs, Sally Sparrow, Sarah Jane Adventures, The 11th Doctor, The 4th Doctor, Torchwood, Turlough

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: November 26th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A rogue ruined . . .

He is the Killer Duke, accused of murdering Mara Lowe on the eve of her wedding. With no memory of that fateful night, Temple has reigned over the darkest of London’s corners for twelve years, wealthy and powerful, but beyond redemption. Until one night, Mara resurfaces, offering the one thing he’s dreamed of . . . absolution.

A lady returned . . .

Mara planned never to return to the world from which she’d run, but when her brother falls deep into debt at Temple’s exclusive casino, she has no choice but to offer Temple a trade that ends in her returning to society and proving to the world what only she knows...that he is no killer.

A scandal revealed . . .

It’s a fine trade, until Temple realizes that the lady—and her past—are more than they seem. It will take every bit of his strength to resist the pull of this mysterious, maddening woman who seems willing to risk everything for honor . . . and to keep from putting himself on the line for love."

I know you've all been waiting for this book like me!

Fairest in All the Land by Bill Willingham
Published by: Vertigo
Publication Date: November 26th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the spirit of FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL and FABLES: WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND comes the first ever original graphic novel from the pages of #1 New York Times bestselling writer Bill Willingham's FAIREST.

FAIREST has explored the secret histories of the most stunning beauties in Fabletown: Cinderella, Snow White, Briar Rose, Rapunzel, and the list goes on and on. In FAIREST IN ALL THE LAND, the best names in comics take their turns fleshing out the pasts of the loveliest Fables in existence. For all those wanting to dive into FAIREST or FABLES, this original graphic novel is a fantastic entry point, as well as a great new chapter for those that have been following Bill Willingham's fairy tale epic for years."

So, 1001 Nights of Snowfall was one of my favorite books of last year, if this can live up to only a little of that hype it's going to be epic! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bill Willingham, Fables, Fairest, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished, Sarah MacLean

The Silent Stars Go By by Dan Abnett
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: September 29th, 2011
Format: Paperback, 279 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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The Doctor has promised to get Rory and Amy home to Leadworth for Christmas. Rory should know by now that, well, there's a strong chance this won't happen. The Doctor does find them a very Christmasy/Christmas-esque, planet. Meaning it's not the planet Earth, but an Earth like planet. At least there are humans though... humans that are scared. Getting quickly separated, The Doctor and Amy are taken to the small settlement and put under arrest, while Rory is the first to encounter the creatures that are terrorizing this small community. The Doctor and his trusty companions are faced with two of their more common problems that can be summed up in one sentence, save the people who don't trust them. So The Doctor vows to help them and his suspicions are soon confirmed... but there are perplexing inconsistencies... what else might be going on here? And can The Doctor ever get Rory home for Christmas... the right one?

My journey with The Doctor has not been the smoothest of rides, but at least it ended on just the right note. The Silent Stars Go By was a quick read that would translate easily to screen and had a wonderful Firefly meets Salem, Massachusetts circa 1692 vibe. While there were things I could nitpick about, instead I will revel in what it nailed. The anticipatory glee that this pre-holiday time of year can bring means that this was a case of right book right time. In this week leading up to Thanksgiving, snow still holds a mystical quality. The big fluffy flakes as they tumble out of the sky have a mesmeric quality. Just last night I watched snow come from the heavens holding my breath to see if the temperature had decreased enough to allow for a little ground covering. I'm not yet at the stage where I wish I had heat vision to melt the snow off my car or am screaming into the wind because it's so cold it's literally making me cry. Dan Abnett caught this elusive and fleeting feeling with his book. He marvelled in the snow with both his Morphan settlers and in Rory's glee to get home for Christmas. There was a childlike wonder that this reverence of the snow captured with this book, a childlike wonder that I think embodies what Doctor Who is all about. Well done Abnett, well done.

With the snow the adversary might be easy to guess, and is really easy to guess if you've seen the non-fiftieth cover. Ice Men... I mean Warriors, Ice Warriors. A lot was made of the Ice Warriors return earlier this year in the episode "Cold War." That episode left me cold... ok, yes, I know, bad bad pun. The redesign of the Warrior itself wasn't the problem, I think that was actually wicked awesome, it was the lack of suspense or any real plot. It was Alien on a sub... so Alien written by Tom Clancy? There's a part of me that so wishes that this book had been the Ice Warriors return to Doctor Who, and not just because I'm a Clara hater... which I am. Abnett was able to capture the menace, yet still show us the multifaceted nature of the Ice Warriors. Oh... just thought of that, the Ice Warriors are like a snowflake, multifaceted, could be good, could be bad, like the first lovely snow fall verses the blizzard that takes out your roof... hmmm, this is something to think more about. But I was seriously almost dancing up and down, if I hadn't been comfortably lounging, because for one of the rare occasions in these books there was a proper use of a monster! Also, near the end, he brings out the big guns and it turns into this Island of Dr. Moreau tribute that made it go above and beyond what I expected and I felt it tied in very well with the show and it's moral questions raised in "The Rebel Flesh."

Yet it wasn't just that Abnett used the monster properly, he also understood how to write the story to introduce the monsters to new readers by also to give little jokes to those who are long time fans. Instead of just being an inside joke of saying, oh, Victoria thought of the name Ice Warriors, instead he adds that Victoria was his friend and fellow time traveller! See what a little qualifying can do? It can make a book work for new and old readers alike! The Doctor's throw away line about having a coat around somewhere would just make sense on it's own, but if you know the ridiculous coat that Patrick Troughton wore when he and Jamie, with the aforementioned Victoria, first met the Ice Warriors... well, a little inside joke that works for both levels of readers. Thank you so much for writing a book that didn't require prior knowledge! I didn't have to spend half my time on Wikipedia.

I have seen some reviews that felt it stagnated at parts, which I can't disagree with, because there's only so many chase scenes you can read. You say run on a tv show, it's a nice little romp. You say run in a book, it's pages and pages of boredom, or at least, partial boredom. But then I'd say the feeling of stagnation is one that came and went as I read all the Doctor Who books for the fiftieth. There are some that are wonderful and some that made me want to cut people. A show like Doctor Who which has been on for fifty years will have times when it's right on and times when it doesn't just miss, it strikes out. Yet, at the end, am I glad I did this challenge? Am I glad I read all these books? Yes I am! I feel more connected to The Doctor then ever before. I think I have a deeper understanding of his universe, and I have to say, our world would be a far far sadder place without him. Oh, and just a heads up authors, stop referencing you old covers in your intros. You got pretty new ones, get over it, signed the Graphic Designing book junkie Miss Eliza.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alien, Amy Pond, Cold War, Dan Abnett, Doctor Who, Firefly, Ice Warriors, Island of Dr. Moreau, Matt Smith, Patrick Troughton, Rory, The 11th Doctor, The 2nd Doctor, The Silent Stars Go By, Tom Clancy

Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: December 26th, 2008
Format: Paperback, 242 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Donna has asked The Doctor to take her home so that she can be with her mother for the anniversary of her father's death. The Doctor doesn't really do families well so he tries to stay out of the way of the bickering that ensues once the Nobles gather together. Plus, The Doctor has always gotten on well with Donna's granddad, Wilf, so it's easier to just spend time out with him in the allotment looking up at the stars. In fact there's a few new stars in the sky. Wilf was the first to find one of them and he's getting a dinner in his honor which he hopes The Doctor will attend. The Doctor doesn't seem so fussed about the dinner, but the other new stars, the ones that seem to be coming into alignment, well, they worry him.

At the dinner the other astronomers are grating and Donna is actually a little relieved when Wilf's lady friend, Netty, has an episode. Netty is dealing with Alzheimer's, which means that Wilf and Donna's mom are also dealing with it. Yet when The Doctor fully realizes the impact of the alignment, he has an even better excuse to leave the dinner, Donna in tow. With a cunning use of computers, astrology, genealogy, and astronomy, an old evil that The Doctor has faced before is going to use the human race to launch it's empire across the stars. Something The Doctor seriously wants to avoid happening.

I don't like to read about illness and despair, I have enough of that in my own life, thank you. This isn't the place to talk about it really, but I must touch on the issue so that you'll understand why this book made me want to get up in the author's face and explain a few facts to him, possibly with my fists. When I was in grade school my mom had two bouts of Cancer, which she survived. Though surviving took a toll. The chemo and other therapies sped things up so that while she is only thirty years older than me, her body thinks it's really fifty years older than me, which makes her the same "age" as when her mother got Parkinson's. My mom has Parkinson's. This is a daily struggle. Therefore, I think you can see why I use reading as an escape. I want to be anywhere and anywhen then here, and a book that dwells on these issues, no thank you.

While Russell's use of an incurable illness, in this case Alzheimer's, as the real evil is apt, he goes too far into the braveness of the battle. Netty dealing with her chronic illness bravely and nobly (sorry, I HAD to use that pun) just felt like some sort of propaganda for dealing with this kind of crisis in a stiff upper lip, keeping up appearances way. The message was heavy handed. People who talk about fighting this kind of battle as "brave" or "courageous" just make me want to scream. These are platitudes designed to make you, yeah, you, the one who doesn't have to deal with this shit better. To people in my position, well, it makes me want to punch you. Do you all not understand that there's your public face and your private face? That there's what you should to the world, what you show to the patient, and what you show to yourself? Yes, sure, I guess we could say that at least Donna's mom deals more with the reality of all this, but in the end, no, she doesn't because Netty joyously declares that she wants to go into a nursing home. Please (insert me rolling my eyes)! Show me one person out there who's like, "Nursing Home, SIGN ME UP!" No one will even want this, even if they know they can't handle their life in their current environment. My great aunt, she's 89, and she's steadfastly vetoing any kind of help or assisted living. And she's just the most recent of my family members to do this.

I had such hopes for this book because Donna Noble is my favorite companion in the new series, hands down, perhaps even in all the series. When The Doctor lost Donna, that was really the end of this Doctor. His life after that was filled with sadness and loneliness. The heartbreaking scene when Donna has to have her memory removed has taken on a fuller life her and made into a staggeringly heartbreaking novel. By bookending a story about Altzheimer's with Donna's own memory lose, it's a punch to the gut, that's what it is. But more then that, by showing the struggles that Donna's mother and grandfather are going through, it makes Donna's decision to travel in the TARDIS seem callous. Russell has taken my favorite character and put a spin on her that I don't like one bit. If I where just to say, fuck it and up and leave, well, I don't know what would happen, and that's a fear that I live with all the time. I admired Donna before, now... now I see someone in my position being heartless and unfeeling. Ug, just someone, remove this book from my mind, I want my Donna back.

As for the "plot," well, take out the struggle with family and illness and do we really even have much of a plot? No we don't. The author has made a flimsy story about Mandragora returning, which, for those of you not inculcated into every medium The Doctor appears in, television, written, and audio, well, you might be more then a little lost, but Russell doesn't seem to care or even want to explain for those new to this evil. Not every reader knows everything Doctor Who! A book like these needs to be written for all levels of readers. Also the evil computer/world domination bid with some little kids helping out, well, it made it more like a saccharine episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures if it had be touched up by Michael Crichton. Also, the Doctor is more then a bit bitchy and down on humans, oh, and, seriously, authors, don't have the title of your book used like fifty times throughout the story, it's annoying. Ok... I think my rant is over... can't be sure, these episodes are unexpected, much like Netty's... gaw, Netty...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alzheimer's, Beautiful Chaos, Cancer, Doctor Who, Donna, Gary Russell, Mandragora, Michael Crichton, Nursing Home, Parkinson's, Sarah Jane Adventures, The 10th Doctor, Wilf

Soulless Volume 3 by Gail Carriger
Published by: Yen Press
Publication Date: November 19th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 207 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Condemned by society and her werewolf husband due to a pregnancy she cannot explain, Alexia Maccon-preternatural, tea aficionado-seeks an explanation for this "infant inconvenience" so as to cleanse her sullied reputation and prove her fool of a husband wrong. Preternaturals are a rare breed and the only history of their kind lies in Italy with the Templars, a group that once partnered with preternaturals to hunt down werewolves and vampires. Will Alexia find an explanation for her impossible offspring? Or do the Templars have other plans for the curious "Soulless One"?"

I love this manga series! Seriously, I adore the art and clothing, and I mean, it's just a great refresher to remember how good the books are. Plus the ladybirds on the cover! Too perfect!

Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses by Catriona McPherson
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mystery writer perfect for fans of Upstairs Downstairs, Downton Abbey, and Gosford Park, Catriona McPherson has charmed readers everywhere with her fun and clever series set in 1920s Scotland. In this new adventure, witty, aristocratic sleuth Dandy Gilver travels to an all-girls school in the small seaside town of Portpatrick to investigate the disappearance of a childhood friend who taught there. Soon, Dandy discovers that her missing chum is not the only thing that's off in Portpatrick. Other teachers have been disappearing at an alarming rate. The BBC has optioned the Dandy Gilver series for television, and mystery fans will love Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses, the newest excursion with Scotland's most charming sleuth."

This might be my favorite cover in the Dandy Gilver series... well Jessica Hische plus a menacing apple, what's not to love?

The Venom Business by Michael Crichton
Published by: Hard Case Crime
Publication Date: November 19th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"As an expert handler of venomous snakes - and a smuggler of rare artifacts - Charles Raynaud is accustomed to danger. So the job bodyguarding an old acquaintance about to come into a fortune shouldn't make him break a sweat.

But when the attempts on the man's life nearly get Raynaud killed, he's left wondering: is he the killers' real target...? "

OMG! They are FINALLY releasing the full back catalog of Michael Crichton books he wrote as John Lange. "New" Crichton! Be still me teenage heart (yes, as a teenager, I adored all his books and devoured every single one!)

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blameless, Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver, Gail Carriger, John Lange, Manga, Michael Crichton, Soulless, The Parasol Protectorate, The Venom Business

Only Human by Gareth Roberts
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: 2005
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The Doctor was planning on taking Rose and Jack to Kegron Pluva to see the maddest ecosystem out there when the TARDIS gets an alert that someone is using some very dangerous time travel technology outside of London of all places. Pleasure diverted by an investigation isn't anything new, and who knows, this could be more fun! A Neanderthal, Das, has shown up in modern day Bromley. When the three of them finally come in contact with him, he has quite a story to tell about a weird tree and then ending up in a nightclub, like you do. They decide to take him back to his own time but find out that the dangerous technology that has brought him forward far into the future has made it impossible for him to ever go back. Das would literally be destroyed. He is stuck forever in Bromley in the 21st century.

Leaving Jack behind to help their new charge adjust, Rose and The Doctor travel back to Das's time to see what exactly happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again. What they find is beyond weird. Aside from just the prehistoric world with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, there is a secret underground base of people from the far future, way beyond when Rose comes from. Led by Chantal, these subservient people believe they are there to record and observe, or at least make Chantal happy by doing this. Their number one goal is to make Chantal happy. But Chantal has ulterior motives. Behind a big grey door there is a secret she is keeping, the real reason she wanted to go back in time.

Ok, so, I think I can admit to you all that I think I'm starting to burn out a bit with this whole Doctor Who way of life I'm currently living. Right now I'm watching all the first episodes and last episodes of all The Doctors leading up to the fiftieth anniversary, currently on "The War Games" with Patrick Troughton, as well as reading the books in my spare time. I've reached a stage of numbness that unless it's really good or really bad I just go, "meh, that was fine, next." So, while I did enjoy Only Human, it neither offended me nor was a brilliant piece of work, so, I liked it, but still blame it for getting the song "Only Human" stuck in my head, which seriously is a bit of a break from "What does the Fox Say," so I guess, go "Only Human?" Also, I do really like Gareth Roberts, some of his episodes of the new series are the best out there because he actually understands how to write for the product line and for the show. He knows how to properly do an homage and how to properly write for the characters as well as create auxilery characters we actually like and care about. So if I wasn't so jaded at this point, maybe I'd be really cheering this book on, but at least I can see that it's likable.

What really stuck with me was the Douglas Adams factor. Previously, in the Fourth Doctor's book, the author clearly didn't get the homage/rip off delineation. Roberts nails it right on. In the second Hitchhiker's book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the indigenous hominids are destroyed by, basically, inept hairdressers from the future, and humans descend from them. With The Doctor and Rose exploring this prehistoric era, Roberts keeps subtly nudging you with this idea that these idiots from the future could in fact destroy not only the Neanderthals, which humans did anyway without any help from the future, but perhaps also our original ancestors, Homo sapiens. Yet he takes this kernel of an idea and expands it, he makes it not only the idea that holds the whole book together, but it also is able to bring up the destructive nature of humans and the sad fact of extinction. Message and moral through an entertaining medium, plus Rose Tyler doing nails for prehistoric Homo sapiens. Though I did find The Doctor at times a little too down on humans, Roberts was able to show many sides of an argument in an entertaining manner and I think Adams would have approved.

Then there's an aspect of science fiction that I love that Only Human employs. The future that is old yet new. Like watching an old film and seeing how they pictured what the future would be like, there's a fascination, a nostalgia that captures you. The idea of this whole society hidden underground, having arrived from the far future, knowing the complete map of the human brain, but being unable to have any kind of technology that wasn't analogue, fantastic! I loved this little wooden shanty town with it's pneumatic tubes and typewriters. This world reminded me of Brazil, in my mind one of the best science fiction dystopian movies ever created, I'm talking about the director's cut here. I even picture the people as kind of stylized that way, with the 40s clothes, like Bladerunner. In fact, annoying lady who wrote the Eighth Doctor's book, this is how you get a Bladerunner feel without being a plagiarist. It captured this amazing vibe, I felt like I was in this anachronistic world, part Brazil part Deadwood part Nextian, and just loving it, though I wouldn't love being a minion of Chantal's!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bladerunner, Brazil, Captain Jack, Doctor Who, Douglas Adams, Gareth Roberts, Jasper Fforde, Neanderthal, Nextian, Only Human, Rose, TARDIS, The 10th Doctor, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Thursday Next

Earthworld by Jacqueline Rayner
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: April 5th, 2001
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

The Doctor is off on another adventure with Fitz. Anji, a survivor of their last adventure is looking for a lift home, little does she know that more "adventure" is in store. They appear to land on a prehistoric planet, but everything is off. Soon they realize it's a theme park designed to be like "ancient earth," ie, Anji and Fitz's lovely 20th century. Though anachronisms abound in absurd and disturbing ways. All they really want to do is get back to the TARDIS, but with The Doctor's memory problems... well... will they be able to get out? Separated from each other they soon hear of the deaths that have been plaguing the park. The security team seems to think that it links back to a teenage terrorist organization, oddly named ANJI, but once they all meet the president's three teenage daughters, everyone is pretty sure they're the homicidal maniacs playing their own game within the park. Can a foggy Doctor, one loyal companion, and one inadvertent companion save the day? Or will they become the triplet's newest victims?

I've seriously thought this over and come to the conclusion that all Doctor Who books could only be read by fans of the show. Anyone who would pick up a random Doctor Who book would be at sea, unable to know what was going on. Even if you're just a fan of the current rebooted series, you know a bit about the history, about the past regenerations, you have some basis, some reason for going into a bookstore and picking up this book. I think reading about the eighth Doctor must be like the uninitiated reading just a general Doctor Who book. I had to actually do extensive research online just to figure out who these new companions were and what was going on with The Doctor. In an interesting inverse in proportions, The Doctor with only one appearance in film is the one that everyone writes about. Of course, this does make sense. He doesn't really have a fixed mythology, or character like those set in celluloid. Therefore it feels like a bit of a free for all for authors. Here's someone they can leave their stamp on. They could mold this Doctor into their Doctor.

This lack of restraint has led to some very odd things. Lots of amnesiatic problems, latching onto a fact from the tv movie, weird companions that are simulacra of the real companions that are long gone, hundreds of years where The Doctor was doing nothing, something? Gallifrey is gone? I was just so out of my depth at references and asides that I couldn't really enjoy anything. A good author will help you to understand what exactly is going on, especially if that author was in charge of the eighth Doctor's range of books... but from this outing, I have to say, Jacqueline Rayner isn't a good author. I felt no connection to anyone in the book. How can I like The Doctor if I don't know who he is, I mean, HE doesn't even know who he is!?! As for the companions. Fitz... well, him and The Doctor have tons of past history, you'd think he'd be good to help us understand what was going on? But no, he'll just reference tons of adventures that you have no idea about and will therefore make you want to join the triplets in killing him. As for Anji... well, let's put a pin in that rant for a second why don't we. Yet I will say, Anji should have been our entry into this adventure, being the new kid of the block, but, well, it failed miserably.

Getting to the actual story, well, I have to quote Patrick Stewart on Extras, "I've seen it all." There was so much unoriginality in this story it was mind boggling. I don't mean to always go, hey in this episode of Red Dwarf you're ripping off... but, well, she did rip off Red Dwarf a lot... and it was funny and fresh in Red Dwarf. A book should not make me want to go and watch Red Dwarf instead of reading it right? The way Fitz comes to terms with being "not the original" because he can play wicked guitar, because in the original Fitz's mind he could... well, that's the end of the Red Dwarf episode "Psirens!" As for Earthworld itself, yeah, not that original, and I know Red Dwarf didn't create the idea with the episode "Meltdown"... but all the Elvis stuff... Red Dwarf again. The medieval stuff I kind of liked, and in fact, that's what brought it up a full star, because in those instances there was a unique story with just The Doctor helping this "kingdom." It was contained, it was simple, it didn't rely on me having these vast pools of knowledge from other sources. If this little section had been the book, sigh, what a good book it would have been. But instead I will just be left quoting Patrick Stewart.

Though all this pales to Anji and what she represents. Anji the new companion, having just gotten into the TARDIS to get a lift home after her boyfriend was killed in the previous adventure... an adventure that might have made a better selection for this fiftieth anniversary perhaps, I don't know. But also, you don't ever ask for a lift from The Doctor, you won't be home for awhile, but then, Anji has issues... Anji's internal monologue is just so misogynistic and sets women's lib back years I was SHOCKED that this book was written by a woman. All Anji does is think about herself in a couple with the dear dead Dave, think about her shoes (of course she's wearing high heels), think about how she was wanted by all the other men at her office, yet she was faithful to Dave, and then, in her final "email" to Dave she actually says: "What's a step up from a man? (XY chromosome that is, none of this 'mankind' stuff, women are definitely a step down officially.) " EXCUSE ME!?! If the previous hundred some pages hadn't been a slap in the face for any smart independent woman, you have to state it as clear as possible. We are less? Well, obviously you are. You have some issues. Also the fact that Fitz is having inappropriate thoughts about teenagers, really young teenagers... I think someone needs some therapy. Perhaps it's me for actually finishing this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 20th Century, Anji, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Book Challenge, Earthworld, Elvis, Extras, Fitz, Gallifrey, Jacqueline Rayner, Patrick Stewart, Red Dwarf, TARDIS, The 8th Doctor, Womens Rights

Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ex-spy ‘Belle Boyd’ is retired – more or less. Retired from spying on the Confederacy anyway. Her short-lived marriage to a Union navy boy cast suspicion on those Southern loyalties, so her mid-forties found her unemployed, widowed and disgraced. Until her life-changing job offer from the staunchly Union Pinkerton Detective Agency.

When she’s required to assist Abraham Lincoln himself, she has to put any old loyalties firmly aside – for a man she spied against twenty years ago.Lincoln’s friend Gideon Bardsley, colleague and ex-slave, is targeted for assassination after the young inventor made a breakthrough. Fiddlehead, Bardsley’s calculating engine, has proved an extraordinary threat threatens the civilized world. Meaning now is not the time for conflict.

Now Bardsley and Fiddlehead are in great danger as forces conspire to keep this secret, the war moving and the money flowing. With spies from both camps gunning for her, can even the notorious Belle Boyd hold the war-hawks at bay?"

The newest Clockwork Century Book and it looks like a good one, love just random Pinkertons. Oh, plus it is the last!

Long Live The Queen... and God Save Us All by Kate Locke
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: November 12th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Xandra Vardan thought life would be simpler when she accepted the goblin crown and became their queen, but life has only become more complicated. Everyone -- vampires, werewolves and humans -- wants the goblins on their side, because whoever has the goblins -- wins.

Queen Victoria wants her head, Alpha wolf Vex wants her heart, and she still doesn't know the identity of the person who wanted her blood. What she does know is that a project from one of the 'secret' aristocrat labs has gotten free and she's the only one who can stop the perfect killing machine -- a sixteen year-old girl. With human zealots intent on ridding the world of anyone with plagued blood and supernatural politics taking Britain to the verge of civil war, Xandra's finding out that being queen isn't all it's cracked up to be, and if she doesn't do something fast, hers will be the shortest reign in history."

Steampunk day for both sides of the Atlantic!

Egyptomania by Bob Brier
Published by: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date: November 12th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The world has always been fascinated with ancient Egypt. When the Romans conquered Egypt, it was really Egypt that conquered the Romans. Cleopatra captivated both Caesar and Marc Antony and soon Roman ladies were worshipping Isis and wearing vials of Nile water around their necks. What is it about ancient Egypt that breeds such obsession and imitation? Egyptomania explores the burning fascination with all things Egyptian and the events that fanned the flames--from ancient times, to Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, to the Discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb by Howard Carter in the 1920s. For forty years, Bob Brier, one of the world’s foremost Egyptologists, has been amassing one of the largest collections of Egyptian memorabilia and seeking to understand the pull of Ancient Egypt on our world today. In this original and groundbreaking book, with twenty-four pages of color photos from the author's collection, he explores our three-thousand-year-old fixation with recovering Egyptian culture and its meaning. He traces our enthrallment with the mummies that seem to have cheated death and the pyramids that as if they will last forever. Drawing on his personal collection--from Napoleon's twenty volume Egypt encyclopedia to Howard Carter’s letters to an actual mummy--this is an inventive and mesmerizing tour of how an ancient civilization endures in ours today."

Um, yes, I suffer from this. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bob Brier, Cherie Priest, Clockwork Century, Egypt, Egyptomania, Fiddlehead, Kate Locke, Long Live the Queen

Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: 1990
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

The Doctor and Ace have returned to the beginning, Coal Hill School, London, 1963. The Doctor in his 1st incarnation left behind The Hand of Omega, the device that supposedly gave the Time Lords their control of time. But The Doctor doesn't just leave behind anything that could be dangerous in enemy hands... and the Daleks sure think they could do some damage with this device. In fact two waring factions of Daleks have descended on this small area of London and will fight to the death for this device that could make them masters of time. So what is The Doctor's plan? Let them have it... or at least make sure that the Dalek faction he wants gets it. Therefore the question needs to be asked, what is The Doctor planning and what will happen to the Daleks when they do get The Hand of Omega?

This book is unique in that instead of being an original story it is an adaptation of the episode that launched the shows 25th anniversary. While there might be readers out there that cast a gimlet eye on fleshing out a television episode or movie as a novel I will never be one of them. In fact, I would not be the reader I am today if not for these adaptations. Back in the mists of time... aka the eighties... I was not a big reader, I liked tv, movies, and video games. Then one day I picked up the novelization of the movie Willow (no judging, Willow is freakin' awesome and I will fight anyone who says differently.) I remember one Sunday sitting in my grandparents double wide armchair in the living room, far enough away from the tv so that I could concentrate, and just falling into the book. It was the first time this had happened to me. The movie I knew and loved was fleshed out, expanded, the same, yet different. My love of reading continued from this point, first bridging out into related reading, such as Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, continuing the Star Wars storyline, of which the original trilogy is my most watched films of all time, and then into literature. So why am I saying this? I'm saying this because I do not look down on this book for being what it is, I look down on it for being a bad version of what it is.

Yes, it is a bad adaptation. Now though I'm going to reveal something that will make you question how I can even make this judgement. I've never been the biggest fan of Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, even though he is the only Doctor I have actually met. So... well... here goes... I haven't actually seen the episode "Remembrance of the Daleks." Now you're up in arms saying, you can't judge something if it's based on something you've never seen... well, yes, yes I can. The reason is that this book doesn't work on it's own. A successful novelization has to work on two levels, first it has to work on it's own, then it has to work as a reflection of what it is adapting. If it fails at the first part, the second part is inconsequential. So there. Also, if this book is any reflection of the actual episode, and seeing as they were both written by Ben Aaronovitch, I assume they are, then I never ever want to watch this episode, no matter it's significance, no matter that it delves into The Doctor's past, no matter what, sign me up for a boycott. The book is a jumbled mash of action that maybe made sense on screen, but so didn't on the page that I can't forgive it.

Remembrance of the Daleks just grated on me because it felt like Aaronovitch was trying to use a new medium to jazz up what the show couldn't afford to do. Mainly cool special effects. The special effects were never what Doctor Who was about. The show hung off the acting and the storytelling, not the dubious monsters and sets. So taking a Doctor Who story and just upping the techno babble without adding any true insight just goes against, well, everything Doctor Who. In fairness I think Aaronovitch knew the failings of the book because in his intro he asks to not judge a new writer harshly. Well, I'm sorry that I do have to judge him harshly. He was unable to take a script and flesh it out. The characters are wooden with weird flashbacks to moonlight lovemaking. And that's if you know who the characters even are. He makes no effort to establish place or character and what techno babble he adds is so incomprehensible, the book feels like one giant long rant about Daleks that I found myself reading as fast as I could, when my mind didn't try to wander off to more pleasant thoughts.

Speaking of unpleasant thoughts... Daleks. I'm sick of Daleks, sick sick sick of them. You know why people love the episodes "Blink" or "Silence in the Library?" Because it was something new, something fresh. Not the same old same old again and again. How many times do we have to get ride of the Daleks till they stay dead? Seriously, I want to know so I can wait for that episode to air. Daleks are just stupid. Having them kill each other, even stupider. Yet, this was just one of the many many problems I had. The Doctor being so squeamish about killing one Dalek when, spoiler alert, his plan was to destroy their whole planet and kill them all... well, hypocrite much? I can say that this book has honestly not made me anymore interested in the Sylvester McCoy years... also, it made me realize more and more that if this is the level of storytelling in the final years before the successful reboot it's not a surprise it was cancelled.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blink, Daleks, Doctor Who, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary, Doctor Who Book Challenge, London, Remembrance of the Daleks, Silence in the Library, Sylvester McCoy, The 7th Doctor, Timothy Zhan, Willow

Players by Terrance Dicks
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: April 26th, 1999
Format: Paperback, 306 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

While trying to show Peri a glamorous time after a particularly sewer based adventure, the TARDIS gets the right when not the right where and they end up smack in the middle of the Boer War. Not only in the middle of the strife in South Africa, but in the middle of an assassination attempt against a young Winston Churchill. Winston pooh-poohs the idea that the assassin was after him, but the Doctor knows how integral Churchill is to the coming century so he can't discount this theory. By eliminating Churchill the entire course of future history will be changed. What's more disconcerting is that this has happened before, in The Doctor's second incarnation, almost twenty years in Churchill's future, there was an odd assassination attempt during WWI that The Doctor thwarted. Could there be someone, or a group of someones, so invested in the death of Churchill that they would be willing to wait decades till the perfect opportunity to strike presented itself again?

The Doctor is disturbed by these events and decides to set himself and Peri up in London society in the 1930s. They're bound to run into Churchill, Peri will get her luxury and glamour, and The Doctor will get his answers. Not long after they arrive there is an attempt on their lives quickly followed by one on Churchill. The Doctor doesn't take any risks and hires some Pinkerton agents to see to their safety. But whomever their opponents and would-be killers are, determined and ruthless is how they operate. In the midst of the abdication crisis, could these mysterious assassins be playing some sort of game with The Doctor as their pawn and Churchill's death as a significant move?

One of the fun aspects of Doctor Who is that because he can go anywhen, well, we have the chance to run into some rather august personages, even previous versions of himself. So far in this series of books he hasn't run into anyone of note, but then again, he hasn't really been hanging around earth that much...  in the television series he has met everyone from Dickens to Da Vinci, here we have someone who has even shown up on the show, Winston Churchill. I like that this gives a little bit of context and background to The Doctor's relationship with Churchill, because when the 11th Doctor gets that phone call at the end of "The Beast Below" there is obviously a prior and congenial relationship between the two. I like to think that this book is where it all started.

Yet at the same time I couldn't help be reminded of the first Thursday Next novel by Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair. While I know that this book came out after Players, the fact remains that it is more well known, and I can't help but keep thinking about Thursday's father showing up again and again and asking if she knew who Churchill was. Because, quite literally, if there's one person who was a force for good in the last century, it was Churchill.

And because we are dealing with Churchill, well, we are dealing with some of my favorite time periods. Africa, England, pulling together for the empire in times of crisis... ah, this book had me hooked from page one... but then it lost me. I wanted to love it, it was a fast read in a time period I love, but it just flat lined. The problem I had was with the anachronisms. In any historical fiction, and in particular in a story dealing with time travel and the ability to accidentally change the past, butterfly wings and all that, there are acceptable anachronisms and unacceptable anachronisms. There can be things played for laughs, like in Blackadder: Back and Forth when Edmund messes up the time lines and Shakespeare ends up being known as the inventor of the ballpoint pen. And there can be serious changes, like here if Winston Churchill were eliminated before England's hour of need.

But then there are things that just get under my skin and piss me off, aka, the unacceptable anachronisms. In this book there where two that just drove me crazy. One was the fact that while playing out the abdication crisis with Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII that Wallis was going to be there for his abdication broadcast. Now the clever and acceptable anachronisms is what was going to happen because of the Players... what annoyed me was Wallis's presence. She had fled the country at this point! You can mess with history, you just can't mess with it this much. It's keeping the details intact that make a story like this work. As for the Pinkerton Dekker, who is a little too much Harrison Ford in Bladerunner, well, he was too much of an earlier era. His tommy gun wielding prohi just felt so out of place, it's like Terrance Dicks was taking Boardwalk Empire and trying to force it to breed with the new Upstairs, Downstairs. It was so wrong, not all period dramas mesh, and it didn't surprise me in the least when I learned that Dekker was in a previous Terrance Dicks novel... sometimes you just need to let your characters go. And don't get me started with the Rebbecca joke or the fact Dicks then pulled a Dashiell Hammett and decided to bring in the Continental Op... sigh, sometimes less is more and it's best to separate styles.

As for our big bad? I really loved the Players and their nebulous unexplained nature. In the previous book with the 5th Doctor, Fear of the Dark, I felt that one of the failings was taking a mysterious entity and making it have too too solid flesh. By instead having this race of immortals from who knows where or when and them just playing a game with our history just for fun... well, I like it. I also like that they will obviously return. But what I loved is that at the end they let The Doctor live, not because he wasn't a threat to them, but because they saw his potential as either a player or a very powerful pawn.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blackadder, Bladerunner, Boardwalk Empire, Boer War, Doctor Who, Jasper Fforde, Peri, Players, Terrance Dicks, The 6th Doctor, The Eyre Affair, Upstairs Downstairs, Wallis and Edward, Winston Churchill, WWI, WWII

Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests?

Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot--one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

In this sequel to bestselling author Gail Carriger's YA debut Etiquette & Espionage, class is back in session with more petticoats and poison, tea trays and treason. Gail's distinctive voice, signature humor, and lush steampunk setting are sure to be the height of fashion this season."

Though the first book did let me down, I'm still optimistic that this one will redeem this new series for me.

Sherlock Holmes: The Will of the Dead by George Mann
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young man named Peter Maugram appears at the front door of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson's Baker Street lodgings. Maugram's uncle is dead and his will has disappeared, leaving the man afraid that he will be left penniless. Holmes agrees to take the case and he and Watson dig deep into the murky past of this complex family."

George's writing plus Sherlock Holmes, um yes!

Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield
Published by: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"ONE MOMENT IN TIME CAN HAUNT YOU FOREVER.

Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget . . .

Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, his fortunes begin to turn—and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner. Together, they found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman and Black is born."

While me and Setterfield's first book didn't quite get along, it can't be denied that it left an impression, so I might just pick up this one.

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Pantheon
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is moving to the fall!

In the latest book in the beloved best-selling series of mysteries set in Botswana, Mma Ramotswe is asked to help the proprietor of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, who is having trouble with her business. The salon has suffered some unfortunate events, including face cream that burns the skin. Could someone be trying to put the salon out of business? Meanwhile, on the home front, Mma Makutsi is going to have a baby. But in Botswana—a land where family has always been held above all else but which is on the crossroads between old and new—this may be cause for as much controversy as celebration."

Ok, I just love this title. It's just too too funny.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

"Here William Goldman’s beloved story of Buttercup, Westley, and their fellow adventurers finally receives a beautiful illustrated treatment.

A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts—The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic.

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchman, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she'll meet Vizzini—the criminal philosopher who'll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik—the gentle giant; Inigo—the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen—the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup’s one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate."

Well here's a conundrum... I will probably buy this because of my compulsive need to own all editions of this book... but, how can this imagery jive with the movie. Because, let's face it, I'm going to totally be comparing every single illustration to the movie.

Grimm: The Icy Touch by John Shirley
Published by: Titan Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Portland homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt discovers he is descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as "Grimms", charged with keeping balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world."

I'm always interested when shows get popular enough to warrant books. Now if this book was all Monroe all the time, I'm even more interested!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alexander McCall Smith, Diane Setterfield, Finishing School, Gail Carriger, George Mann, Grimm, Monroe, Sherlock Holmes, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, The Princess Bride, William Goldman

Fear of the Dark by Trevor Baxendale
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: January 6th, 2003
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The Doctor and his companions, Tegan and Nyssa, are aboard the TARDIS when a malign influence infiltrates Nyssa's dreams. The fact that there is something that could breech the protections of the TARDIS worries The Doctor and he decides they must track this evil to its source. Arriving on the small moon of the benighted Akoshemon, the travelers stumble upon a mining operation masquerading as an archaeological dig. Stoker and her men are hoping to get a jump on the mining Consortium that is pushing honest pirates out of work. Thanks to a hot tip this planet could be Stoker's biggest payday ever, making her and her team millionaires if the Lexium deposits turn out to be as wealthy as supposed. Yet one of her team, Vega Jaal, who comes from a sensitive race of miners, feels that something dangerous is lurking in the depths of the moon and that they should abandon their mission. Nyssa and The Doctor also feel the danger, but there appears to be no way to convince Stoker of the danger.

Then the first death happens. Then they find the door. There is a subterranean lab that appears to have been used for studying suspended animation. But the next two deaths force one of Stoker's team, Bunny, to go behind her back and issue a distress beacon. Of course the only chance of rescue they have is from the Consortium, the very last people Stoker wants to see. They could override her claim on the Lexium find. Yet when they do arrive, it's the Captain that has a bigger effect on Stoker. It's her lost love, Lawrence. As the death toll mounts and the dangers increase, there appears to be a darkness, "the" darkness, that is manipulating events and people to it's own end. Could the destruction that reigned down on Akoshemon happen to the rest of the universe if The Doctor doesn't succeed?

Fear of the Dark is dark in name and dark in nature. This book is so dark that if you're looking for a good time with The Doctor, well, stay well clear. Now this isn't a criticism of the book, far from it, the story and the emotions that play throughout are interesting, terrifying, gut wrenching, and tearful. This book is packed with an emotional punch. Yet like how Houdini died (he didn't have time to prepare for the blows) if you aren't prepared for the depths this book will take you to, well, it will be a rough ride. It mines the depths of human despair, suffering, and loss. I kid you not that death upon death is in your future if you pick this book up. The fact that Baxendale made you care for each character before then killing them shows what a good job he did, that sadistic bastard. At one point I was hopeful that someone other then our core three whose fates weren't in Baxendale's hands would survive... but no. There is no hope. There is no chance of survival. The Doctor's success might save the entire galaxy... but not those he meets on this desolate moon. No chance. No chance at all. Why, you might be asking am I telling you this? Because it was the false hope being ripped out from under me that undid me the most, emotionally. You need to prepare yourself for this book. So you are now hopefully prepared.

As for the 5th Doctor... I've always had such a warm spot for him, and Baxendale captures him and his companions perfectly. What's even more perfect is that this is after Adric's death. Yes Adric, I do hate you so, I'm smiling as I think about your death. Blue star my ass. Ok, back to The Doctor and his companions that are still living... for some reason I must have blocked out Time-Flight (which I'm sure my friend Paul would complement me on) because I didn't realize that Tegan was away from the TARDIS for a year before rejoining The Doctor and Nyssa. Which does play into the story kind of significantly. Which makes me wonder, yet again, who would read these books but die hard fans? I mean, yes, the story does a nice job of kind of explaining what was going on with Tegan and what happened, but even I was a little confused. Now someone who'd never seen any of this series? Well, they'd be lost. But on the plus side, they wouldn't be hearing Tegan's voice in their head during her dialogue in the book, which isn't as annoying by the way as hearing Peri's voice in your head, just fyi. While I'm still dwelling on The Doctor I would like to also compliment Baxendale on creating a book that has not just captured THIS Doctor, but a basic Doctor core. I could just as easily see this story staring 11 and the Ponds.

As for things I really liked, well, Baxendale takes us straight into the action. There is no lenghty set-up. We see The Doctor working among Stoker's team and get flashbacks to how they all met much later on. I can't tell you how refreshing this was. Usually it's tons of time going about explaining that it's just "Doctor" and that he just dropped by and everyone is suspicious until they finally see he's there to help. Instead, bam, he's there, he's helping, he's trusted. Short track to success, switch things up. Two big thumbs up. Of course, the fact that each of the three sections of the book could have used severe editing and seriously, they typos were appalling... plus the depressive nature of the book, well, it did cost the book a star. But way to bring your "A" game Baxendale. And now... for the monster. The writers of Lost should have taken note, this is how you make an unsubstantial monster terrifying. Seriously, The Dark would have that smoke monster pissing himself. Of course, no monster is perfect and his little substantial minion kind of took away a bit of the mystique of this malign nothingness... but no book is perfect, but this is a huge step up from the previous book. Faith restored in this series... onto 6 and Peri...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Doctor Who Book Challenge, Fear of the Dark, Lost, Mining, Nyssa, Peri, TARDIS, Tegan, The 11th Doctor, The 5th Doctor, The 6th Doctor, The Dark, The Doctor, Time-Flight, Trevor Baxendale