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Title: Doctor Who : Coldheart by Trevor Baxendale ISBN: 0-563-55595-5 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: May, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Is that a GIANT SLUG in your pocket...?
Comment: Great, traditional Doctor Who monster story. Genetic mutations are occurring within the population of Baktan and the Doctor has found out the cause (see front cover pic - arrrggghh!!!) You'll find the Doctor beaten up a lot more than usual, Compassion is changing slightly, and Fitz, well, it's revolutionary and girl trouble again for him. Baxendale has a great way in describing his planetary landscape, especially conveying the increasing need and survival the people of the desert city Baktan for water. Nice short chapters urge the story on, so it makes it hard to put the book down. RECOMMENDED to all!!!
Rating: 3
Summary: Flawed, but faintly enjoyable
Comment: Somehow I enjoyed Trevor Baxendale's COLDHEART and I'm not entirely sure why that happened. As I was reading it, I was mentally groaning at the weakness of the plot, the poor characterization and the obviously hasty rewrites to take the New Compassion into consideration. Yet I kept turning the pages, interested in what was going to happen next. It was derivative and unoriginal at every turn, and still it held my attention for the full two hundred and seventy-seven pages, which is quite a feat bearing in mind how thin the story is stretched.
The book has an annoying tendency to end virtually every chapter on a cliffhanger, and given that there are thirty chapters in the book, it means that the characters can't go for more than about ten pages or so without being shot at or grabbed by monsters. This really puts quite a bit of unneeded padding into the story, though it might have been this quick pace that made the book as entertaining as it is. Even though none of the sudden escapes, macho dialogue or improbable turnarounds ends up making any difference in the big picture, it does distract from the flimsiness of plot by slowing down the speed at which it is revealed.
This was such a visual book, that it's hard not to picture this as a novelisation of a television story that we never got to see. While this does result in some breathtaking visuals, it also provides too many awkward moments. Main portions of the plot are revealed by having two people explaining things to each other that they must surely already know. This sort of exposition is allowable in television or film, but it just seems silly to do this in a novel. In addition, there are far too many fight scenes that just don't work in written form. Between these and the numerous unnecessary descriptions of decaying, mutating flesh and mucus (it's not horror, it's just gross), I could have been happy with a book that had about fifty to a hundred less pages.
I can't really say too much about why I enjoyed this. I was not blind to its many flaws, yet despite them I was entertained by the overall story. It isn't especially thrilling or exciting, but it is an enjoyable, if terribly light, read. Just don't think about too much about the plot or the relationship that Fitz has with a camel. Both will make your head spin.
Rating: 3
Summary: A New Author for the Eighth Doctor
Comment: Trevor Baxendale does a decent job of writing for the Eighth Doctor. He manages to come up with an interesting Plot line, as well as using Fitz and Compassion in a decent manner. The only thing that I would say is that it would be best to read some of the other books, especially Paul Cornell's The Shadows of Avalon, to understand some of the things that are going on in this book. Overall, a well done book, and I look forward to reading more from this author.
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Title: Doctor Who and the Taint (Doctor Who Series) by Michael Collier ISBN: 0563555688 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Blue Box (Doctor Who) by Kate Orman ISBN: 0563538597 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Combat Rock (Doctor Who) by Mick Lewis ISBN: 0563538554 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: The Colony of Lies (Doctor Who) by Colin Brake ISBN: 0563486066 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Fear of the Dark (Doctor Who) by Trevor Baxendale ISBN: 0563538651 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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