Review: The Last Dodo (Public)
Doctor Who: The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner. HC, 248 pages, BBC Books, 2007.
Martha asks the Doctor to show her one of the famously extinct dodo birds, but the TARDIS homing device lands them in the near future instead, in a strange extinct species museum. Having mysteriously landed in the very section were thefts have been occuring, the Doctor and Martha must solve the crime to clear their name, hopefully before curator Eve realizes that she's speaking to the rarest specimen of all.
*Warning: SPOILERS* Well, Rayner's earned back my goodwill for now. This one was a lot of fun. Sure, it had some of the same obviousness problem that many of the Doctor Who books have, but the important thing was that the characterization rang true and maintained my interest. Maybe Rayner was just having trouble writing Ten/Rose; the plotting and interest was much more like Winner Takes All than The Stone Rose.
I liked meeting the Earther team and I greatly liked hearing from Martha's viewpoint as she's one of my favorite companions (when she's not getting all lovelorn). The I-Spyder game threaded throughout the book was also a nifty device that worked well. So even though it was obvious that Eve was an android from the beginning, overall I quite liked this, and I think it's a good introduction to the 10 & Martha books, probably well suited for a newbie.
Also, I was waiting for a Dodo Chaplet reference, having just been introduced to her via the only remaining part of The Celestial Toymaker, and I got my reference. Go Classic!Who. I'm quite intrigued by Rayner's reoccuring notion that the TARDIS subtly rearranges herself to suit the Doctor's needs. That should be fanon; I just like the idea of it.
In summary, Rayner's back on her game with this one. Martha's viewpoint and the subthread as well as much improved characterization make it a win and a fun read.
Martha asks the Doctor to show her one of the famously extinct dodo birds, but the TARDIS homing device lands them in the near future instead, in a strange extinct species museum. Having mysteriously landed in the very section were thefts have been occuring, the Doctor and Martha must solve the crime to clear their name, hopefully before curator Eve realizes that she's speaking to the rarest specimen of all.
*Warning: SPOILERS* Well, Rayner's earned back my goodwill for now. This one was a lot of fun. Sure, it had some of the same obviousness problem that many of the Doctor Who books have, but the important thing was that the characterization rang true and maintained my interest. Maybe Rayner was just having trouble writing Ten/Rose; the plotting and interest was much more like Winner Takes All than The Stone Rose.
I liked meeting the Earther team and I greatly liked hearing from Martha's viewpoint as she's one of my favorite companions (when she's not getting all lovelorn). The I-Spyder game threaded throughout the book was also a nifty device that worked well. So even though it was obvious that Eve was an android from the beginning, overall I quite liked this, and I think it's a good introduction to the 10 & Martha books, probably well suited for a newbie.
Also, I was waiting for a Dodo Chaplet reference, having just been introduced to her via the only remaining part of The Celestial Toymaker, and I got my reference. Go Classic!Who. I'm quite intrigued by Rayner's reoccuring notion that the TARDIS subtly rearranges herself to suit the Doctor's needs. That should be fanon; I just like the idea of it.
In summary, Rayner's back on her game with this one. Martha's viewpoint and the subthread as well as much improved characterization make it a win and a fun read.