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Title: History 101 (Doctor Who) by Mags L. Halliday ISBN: 0-563-53854-6 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: July, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: You can make history dull again
Comment: Spain, 1937. Barcelona erupts with internal violence, as various nationalist, fascist, and socialists forces struggle in a burgeoning Civil War. Guernica, meanwhile, is viciously firebombed by the real German enemy.
And the Doctor has lost the TARDIS, again.
"History 101" is the second and final "first novel" of the Eighth Doctor range in 2002. Like Paul Ebbs' "Book of the Still", Mags Halliday's debut book is overloaded with characters, ideas, and concepts. Unlike "Book of the Still", however, this story's central notion calls out for a more understated presentation. The back cover blurb has an amusing conceit that this is actually history text presented in fictional form, but don't be fooled -- the book doesn't read that way. The rest of the way, a bunch of characters clang into each other repeatedly in various parts of Spain. Some characters even have 2 or 3 separate roles to play throughout the book, which obviously adds to the confusion.
At the core, what Halliday is trying to say (I think) is that history is not a set text, but rather a struggle between forces for control over the perception of what actually happened. Then again, I was only a history major for a semester and a half of college, and I wasn't very good at it, either. This concept is presented in the form of an alien race called The Absolute, which in its attempts to understand this difficult time in European history, ends up causing havoc with the timeline. What happens in Spain is really backdrop to a lot of talking and theorizing -- this adventure is not the straight historical, at which "Doctor Who" has excelled in the past. There is a big riot at the end (with a polite body count), but, especially on the first read-through, it's a muddled job figuring out who's who and what's what over the first 200 pages, so the stakes seem very small. And that's a point in itself -- the Spanish Civil War is not one of the Top Ten events of the 20th century -- but not a very interesting novel. There are allusions to Sartre and Picasso and Gaudi, but not deep enough to generate much interest.
If you have the patience to go back and reread portions of the text, "History 101" does resolve itself and become more enjoyable when you mentally separate out the wheat from the chaff. I still haven't figured out exactly what Sabbath was supposed to be doing, however. Maybe I'll pick it up again someday and figure it out.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Recommended Course
Comment: HISTORY 101 is an intelligent and thoughtful novel that treats its central premise in a mature and satisfying manner. The concepts are dealt with quite interestingly and my attention was held throughout the entire story. Although I didn't quite connect with all of the characters, I was intrigued enough by the plot to read through at a very quick rate. The mechanics of the story are all handled quite well, and the book was almost perfectly paced.
As the back cover informs us, HISTORY 101 is about (you guessed it) history and how it is perceived. And this feature of the book is one of its greatest assets. Mags L. Halliday takes this relatively unambiguous notion and draws it out to some very interesting conclusions. Upon reflection, it seems strange now that a science-fiction series like Doctor Who hasn't actually dealt with this idea before; it just seems like an obvious thing to do. Rather than being just a gimmick, the perception aspect is dealt with in a very appealing way. It affects the plot, the characters, and the whole tone of the novel. It adds a fascinating flavor to a story that was already intelligent enough on its own.
The only downside in this book is that there are a handful of places where the central concept is developed a bit too clinically for my taste. The characters are noteworthy, but there are times where I had trouble connecting with them emotionally. They obviously interact with the perception of history quite a bit, but they didn't appear to be as three-dimensional as I was expecting. There are a few notable exceptions, such as Fitz who has quite an interesting subplot of his own. He comes across realistically and forcibly, which is quite notable given how much into the background he has started to fade in the series. Unfortunately, not all of these strengths are continued on into other characters and situations, but that is still a minor defect overall.
HISTORY 101 comes as a recommended course for anyone interested in either the overall story of the current EDAs, or just for someone looking for a pretty darn good standalone story. It's a thoughtful story but with enough thrills and spills to keep one's interest going for the entirety. What struck me most about the book was the feeling at how carefully structured it felt. While this might have caused the story to feel a tiny bit forced at times (rather than flowing naturally), it makes for a very well crafted tale. I look forward to reading more novels from this newcomer to the range.
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Title: Reckless Engineering (Doctor Who) by Nick Walters ISBN: 0563486031 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: January, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Doctor Who: The Last Resort (Doctor Who) by Paul Leonard ISBN: 0563486058 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Heritage (Doctor Who) by Dale Smith ISBN: 0563538643 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Doctor Who Timeless (Doctor Who) by Stephen Cole ISBN: 0563486074 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: August, 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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