The Quatermass Book Marathon Blog: Seventh Heaven

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Book 50...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Tragedy Day by Gareth Roberts


I'll be frank. I can't think of a decent intro to this review. I have read and reviewed so many Doctor Who novels, I have run out of pithy remarks to make in a preface. Maybe if this one had a link to the past or something, I might have been able to. But no, it's just straight into the review of the New Adventures novel Tragedy Day...

Long ago, on a planet that would later be called Olleril, the first Doctor saves a tribe of people from radiation poisoning from a crashed spaceship. In return, he takes a piece of red crystal which the tribe considers to be cursed. Centuries later, Olleril has been colonised by a militant empire called Luminus, much of its native peoples destroyed, and while the Luminan Empire fell, when the Doctor, Ace, and Benny arrive, there are whispers of Luminus returning, a conspiracy theory that is all too real. The Doctor and Benny make their way through a 20th century-style city that is about to celebrate the hollow charity holiday of Tragedy Day, trying to find answers, while Ace finds herself transported to an island where the Supreme One of Luminus is testing weapons. What is the Supreme One's plan? What links the red crystal shard to the evil empire of the Friars of Pangloss? And can the Doctor not only save Olleril, but evade the assassins sent by the Friars?

Tragedy Day is a competent story, with some intriguing twists (especially regarding the identity of the Supreme One which, while possible to guess, is nonetheless a shocking twist), but it is not otherwise outstanding by Doctor Who standards. The sidestory about the Friars of Pangloss seems a little bolted on, to give the Doctor more reason to be here, and beef up the storyline, and a little bit of time could have been spent developing them as villains.

The Doctor, Benny and Ace are as they usually are in the New Adventures novels, so no real noteworthy things there. However, the Supreme One and his true identity is actually one of the more surprising things in the novel. While I guessed who it was not long before the reveal, it was still a surprise. Forgwyn is an interesting character, though I wish his mother Meredith was more fleshed out, as was Madame Guralza and, as noted above, the Friars. The other characters are fine enough, but not really noteworthy.

Tragedy Day is a fairly average novel by Doctor Who standards. Shame about some things not being developed as well as they could have been, but what can you do?


8.5/10

First words: Sarul opened her palm, offering the grain.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers.)

Book 51...

REVIEW: The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier by D.A Stern


Long ago, I heard the hype about a found footage mockumentary cum horror film known as The Blair Witch Project. I forget whether I watched it on video in my last year or so of high school, or when I began university. However, there was no denying the chilling nature of the naturalistic, albeit staged, footage. But a special dossier tie-in book was released at about the same time. Now, a decade or so after I watched the film, I come to the dossier...

During October 1994, a trio of film students made their way to Burkittsville, Maryland. There, led by Heather Donahue, they would film a documentary about the Blair Witch, a local legend of some repute. However, they disappeared in the woods nearby. The search at the time turned up nothing, but a year later, the footage they shot were found. Hired by Heather's mother, who has become frustrated at the lack of investigation, particularly by Burkittsville Sheriff Ron Cravens, private investigator Buck Buchanan and his team begin digging into the circumstances of the students' disappearance, but even as they try to find a logical solution to the events, they find their investigation increasingly tied into the legend of the Blair Witch...

I don't know whether it is the fact that it has been years since I watched The Blair Witch Project, or maybe the book itself is rather meh, but it feels like it. It's mildly interesting background, and was certainly entertaining enough to kill some time. But I expected more, more interesting stuff, more depth, more horror. As it is, it's little more than a companion piece to a now famous mockumentary horror film.

The story's characters aren't quite that interesting, having usually the depth of a cardboard cutout. The investigation story, however, does throw some new light on the story, and would be best read alongside the film, as it helps explain a little more about the film. Not much, to be fair, and while nothing can be far more scary than something, in this case, it doesn't quite have the quality expected.

The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier is not too bad a tie-in book, but I only found it below average by my standards. To be fair, you should only read it if you're a fan of the film, or want to watch it.


7/10

First words: When I was eight years old, I made a decision that changed my life.

Last words: Let whoever goes searching for it beware.

Book 52...

REVIEW: Dodger by Terry Pratchett


Much of Terry Pratchett's output is occupied by his famous Discworld series, but of late, it seems that he is making a comeback to original novels, particularly for younger readers. In 2008, Pratchett published the alternate history novel Nation, a good but serious work. Now, four years later, he comes to Victorian London, a setting that seems so much like Ankh-Morpork of the Discworld books. And anyone thinking that this will be a Pratchettian take on Oliver Twist is in for a twist themselves...

The life of a tosher is a hard one, scavenging valuables from the muck of London's sewers. The street-savvy kid known as Dodger is a little more fortunate than most, in that he has lodgings and a man looking after him. And so many people in the rookeries and other low places of London know him. But when Dodger saves the life of a young woman, calling herself Simplicity, who escapes from a carriage, he finds himself under unwanted attention from corners both benign and malevolent. There's Charlie, the journalist and aspiring novelist, and associate Henry,both well-to-do men who are concerned about the state of London's poor. But there is also those behind the attack on Simplicity, and they will stop at nothing to get her back. Dodger is thrown into an unfamiliar world of poshness and politics, where a woman's life is a price willing to be paid for peace between countries, and heroes and villains are easily manufactured at the stroke of a pen, but Dodger's street smarts might just put him out on top...

Anyone expecting Dodger to be about the character from Oliver Twist are going to be disappointed, although there is indeed a Dickensian slant to the whole book. And Dodger does not explore as many of the deeper themes as Nation does. But while there is a lack of actual depth compared to that story, Dodger more than makes up for it in entertainment value. To be sure, there are some rather dark themes for even older children (Pratchett revisits the spectre of miscarriage from I Shall Wear Midnight very early on in the novel), but at the same time, it's also lighter than many of his previous books for older children. It's a rocking good yarn that will no doubt interest many people in the history of the time (a number of the characters are actual historical personages, with Charles Dickens and Robert Peel being the most famous) as a beneficial side-effect, even if the tale, in the end, feels a little like a tale of sound and fury, signifying little (with apologies to Mr Shakespeare).

I wish some of the characters were a little more fleshed out. Dodger doesn't seem like that well fleshed-out a protagonist in many regards, but he is a competent and interesting hero nonetheless, and Simplicity, while her backstory is interesting, feels just a tad too flat for my liking. Solomon is a rather more interesting character, as is the brief cameo of a certain homicidal barber. Charlie (aka Charles Dickens) is also interesting, although it feels more like London and its society as a whole is a far more interesting character than the vast majority of those here, real or fictional.

Keep in mind that these criticisms are more nitpicks than anything else. Dodger is certainly leagues above many other books, and while dark, it is certainly alive and interesting and entertaining, and will appeal to fans of Pratchett, Dickens, and Victoriana in general...


9/10

First words: The rain poured down on London so hard that it seemed that it was dancing spray, every raindrop contending with its fellow for supremacy in the air and waiting to splash down.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

The next, and probably last book for this book-reading blog, will be the latest A Song of Ice and Fire book, A Dance With Dragons.

Book 53...

REVIEW: A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin

With what may be my last review for this book-reading blog, I come to the last currently published book in the series of books called A Song of Ice and Fire. This dark, hard-hitting fantasy series impressed me, even with ups and downs in quality, and I was eager to continue. And now, I come to the latest book in the series, A Dance with Dragons...

Intrigue and chaos still plague the lands of Westeros and Essos, and the game of thrones reveals players both known and unknown. Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen must learn how to command, but Jon might end up alienating his comrades in the Night's Watch, and Daenerys may end up turning her back on everything she stood for. Bran Stark and his sister Arya begin to fulfill their respective destinies, Bran with his abilities as a warg, and Arya becoming a face-changing assassin, losing her very identity. Tyrion Lannister, fleeing after murdering his father in revenge for his ill treatment, uncovers a very big secret, one which may save Westeros, or destroy it utterly. And a broken man called Reek, cruelly treated by the sadistic Ramsay Bolton, starts on a journey to remembering his true identity as Theon Greyjoy, and to redemption...

A Feast for Crows, the predecessor of this novel, has had a bad rap, and while the book itself is better than many other novels, it is rather lower quality compared to this one. Indeed, A Dance with Dragons not only seems like a return to form, but a return to the heights achieved in A Game of Thrones. Maybe it's because all the popular characters are present, or maybe all the better bits were taken out of A Feast for Crows when it was split up with A Dance with Dragons. However, there are many revelations aplenty, and the only real complaint I have about the story is a sight too many cliffhangers, particularly for one popular character.

As usual, the characters that populate the world of Westeros and Essos are all interesting to one degree or another. I can't say that Quentyn Martell is interesting, but Melisandre (who gets a POV chapter) is more interesting and given ever more complexity. There's also a welcome return for Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Tyrion, with all three getting meaty plots, and Arya gets a very important plot development finishing (for the time being) what began in A Feast for Crows. Others are variable, either being too brief or else not quite interesting enough, but these are the most minor of quibbles.

A Dance with Dragons joins the original book A Game of Thrones in the 10/10 book list. Thirteen books now. And the series will hopefull go from strength to strength...


10/10

First words: The night was rank with the smell of man.

Last words: And in their hands, the daggers.

I might start up another book-reading blog before long. Watch this space...