Book 24
Doctor Who: Forever Autumn by Mark Morris (2007)
I don't tend to read much in the way of novelisations these days, but I won this one in last year's FantasyCon raffle, and Mark Morris is a safe pair of hands, and the new series of Doctor Who was starting, so I thought I'd read this to get me in the mood.
Of course, it's not autumn, but I couldn't expect the timing to be absolutely perfect...
It may not be autumn where I am, but it's nearly time for the Hallowe'en Carnival in the small American town of Blackwood Falls. And the monsters are coming out to play: nine-foot-tall ones with pumpkin-like heads and seemingly magical powers of possession and control. Along come the Doctor and his companion, Martha Jones, and the truth is revealed: the creatures aren't supernatural but (of course) aliens called the Hervoken, who crash-landed there long ago and became the stuff of legend. Their science looks like magic to us, and they draw power from human terror. They're planning to go home, but need large amounts of power to do so -- which is bad news for the people of Blackwood Falls. Can the Doctor and Martha save the day? Silly question!
Any story based on a TV series has to get the programme's characters right, and I think Morris captures the manic energy of the Tenth Doctor perfectly; his depiction of Martha perhaps isn't quite so distinctive, but I still found it easy to imagine David Tennant and Freema Agyeman acting out their roles in this story. It's also good fun, Morris writes some vigorous action sequences... That's the good news.
The bad news is that there isn't as much dramatic tension as there ought to be. Morris relies too much on the (apparently) endless functionality of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver as a means to get out of almost any difficulty; and he doesn't place enough restrictions on the Hervoken's abilities, either. In effect, both sides can do whatever they want -- and the story is weakened as a result. So, Forever Autumn is a decent enough romp, but that's about it.
I don't tend to read much in the way of novelisations these days, but I won this one in last year's FantasyCon raffle, and Mark Morris is a safe pair of hands, and the new series of Doctor Who was starting, so I thought I'd read this to get me in the mood.
Of course, it's not autumn, but I couldn't expect the timing to be absolutely perfect...
It may not be autumn where I am, but it's nearly time for the Hallowe'en Carnival in the small American town of Blackwood Falls. And the monsters are coming out to play: nine-foot-tall ones with pumpkin-like heads and seemingly magical powers of possession and control. Along come the Doctor and his companion, Martha Jones, and the truth is revealed: the creatures aren't supernatural but (of course) aliens called the Hervoken, who crash-landed there long ago and became the stuff of legend. Their science looks like magic to us, and they draw power from human terror. They're planning to go home, but need large amounts of power to do so -- which is bad news for the people of Blackwood Falls. Can the Doctor and Martha save the day? Silly question!
Any story based on a TV series has to get the programme's characters right, and I think Morris captures the manic energy of the Tenth Doctor perfectly; his depiction of Martha perhaps isn't quite so distinctive, but I still found it easy to imagine David Tennant and Freema Agyeman acting out their roles in this story. It's also good fun, Morris writes some vigorous action sequences... That's the good news.
The bad news is that there isn't as much dramatic tension as there ought to be. Morris relies too much on the (apparently) endless functionality of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver as a means to get out of almost any difficulty; and he doesn't place enough restrictions on the Hervoken's abilities, either. In effect, both sides can do whatever they want -- and the story is weakened as a result. So, Forever Autumn is a decent enough romp, but that's about it.