Talis
Not the strongest of the Eighth Doctor books, but worth a look. The use of artificially created Earth environs is one of the most overused in Sci Fi, and comes off here as being rather dry.
The Eighth Doctor is still struggling for a literary identity; in parts of this book he comes across as a great deal like the Third Doctor, although there are some great moments that define him as a new character.
The plot is not great. The central mystery, a legacy of events some years before the Doctor even arrives, is not particularly inspired and suffers from two faults that I might otherwise have said were mutually exclusive. We do not understand what the problem is until too late, and it is solved far too early, leaving the latter third of the book to be a rather over-long action sequence.
However the book does include some good character defining moments with Fitz (possibly my favourite companion).
Paul Beardsley
There's a very funny bit in Earthworld that concerns a Sphinx. It made me laugh aloud. When I read it to some non-Who it made them laugh aloud too. There's another mildly amusing bit about standards of accuracy where Elvis is concerned. But...
I wasn't going to read Earthworld - after six Earthbound books, it seemed too much like taking the mickey. After all, it's not as if the Doctor ever spends much time away from Earth these days. But I eventually tried it anyway.
The action kicks off quite well in the first chapter. Anji is quite well characterised here and throughout, though I could have done without the "I'm a main character" stuff. Come on, everyone is familiar with self-referentiality now; it's time to move on to another joke. There's also something about a fluffy frog in the sky which made no sense to me. Is this a Pink Floyd reference? Did anyone get it and find it funny?
Pretty soon we meet a set of sadistic triplets and their robot doubles. Boring. Then there's the "fight them on the beaches" jape, the first of the "oh how amusing, they've got their history wrong" jokes. I can understand someone finding the first one funny, but the rest are all the same! Then there's some incomprehensible stuff about Fitz not being the real Fitz, which meant nothing to me - so much for clearing the decks of continuity baggage!
Something not many people seem to have mentioned - perhaps because it's so obvious - is the book's resemblance to the Red Dwarf episode "Meltdown". The main difference being that one's a half-hour TV programme with a lot of laughs and the other's a 250-odd page runaround with off-the-shelf ideas and one and a half jokes. Guess which one I preferred?
Grant Foxon
Brilliant! Just the right mix of adventure, mystery and humour. If a little silly in parts.
Anji is a great new companion, and both Fitz and the Doctor are on top form.
David
Generally I liked this. It wrapped up the problem of what Fitz might think of himself after his meeting with Father Krienier in The Ancestor Cell, and lets the Eighth Doctor adapt more to being able to travel in time again.
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