review of Unnatural History
Well, I say "review," although book reviews are technically supposed to be coherent. How about "reaction"?
UH was my first official EDA (Fear Itself doesn't count) and it was pretty strange as an introduction to Sam, since it is in fact an introduction to Alternate Sam… but I thought it was an awesome book. Not a flawless book, but so much fun that I didn’t care about flaws.
My copy has the unfortunate quality that pages 91-122 are printed twice. In any other kind of book this would be a very minor inconvenience, but since it’s a DW book I read a fair ways into the repeated section, thinking it was a nifty time loop or something. But then I noticed the actual page numbers were duplicated. Oops. In my defense, this is the kind of novel that can end a chapter in the middle of a sentence (Ch. 20), and I am positive that wasn’t a misprint.
Some things I loved in UH:
* Fitz is so matter-of-factly devoted to the Doctor (yes, I've read 2 books with Fitz and that has become one of my favorite things already). He wants to quit smoking and clean up his act, because he thinks the Doctor needs someone like that… (aww…)
* Brutally killing off lovely sympathetic one-off characters (Kyra!! No!!).
…What? It’s a fine old DW tradition. “The Horror of Fang Rock” is one of my favorite serials.
* Geeky references. First the X-Files movie… and then Sam distracts the villain with a Babylon 5 plot. Yes, it is sad how happy those made me.
* Car as character. The VW Bug gives its live for the cause. Reminded me not only of the Third Doctor’s Bessie, who was almost a character, but also of the tragic death of the Bluesmobile at the end of The Blues Brothers, when Elwood takes off his hat for a moment of silence. (Professor Joyce tells the Doctor, “Give yourself time to mourn” before replacing his Bug.) I know. You should have seen me cry when I had to junk my beloved 240SX a couple of years ago.
* Little bit of meta. Our villain is one of those fans who really want the Doctor to have one consistent, coherent, linear life story. He will make it make sense by any means necessary!!
* The villain is also interesting and scary in his own right, the “unnaturalist” with access to the fifth and sixth dimensions, which gives him creepy powers. The Doctor channels Flatland a bit while explaining them. If anyone hasn’t read Flatland, it’s apparently available free at Project Gutenberg… http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/201 (I strongly suspect Orman and/or Blum already read it. And the Doctor, he’s definitely read it.)
* I really liked Alternate Sam; I really felt her freak-out at the stuff that is happening to her. Also, the almost/coulda-been/barely-started romance between her and Fitz, I thought was touching. I got the feeling that Fitz and the Doctor couldn’t win; whichever Sam they ended up with, they’d just be missing the other one. But both couldn’t exist at once.
Some things I didn’t love:
* I don’t think much of this biodata stuff. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. If it was supposed to be magic, I wouldn’t expect it to. Of course, the veneer of science fiction covering Doctor Who oftentimes gets a little bit thin, so it’s not like that is unique to UH.
* I like the Doctor to be a little more badass. Of course it’s also cool to have his companions bail him out from time to time. But sometimes the Doctor in print doesn’t seem as inhumanly competent as the TV Doctors we know and love. This problem is really rampant in fan fic, which is probably why I’m getting more touchy about it. In UH, the Doctor figures things out, but it’s Sam whose action saves the day (a couple of times).
* I felt like it would have improved my experience to know who the heck Professor Joyce is supposed to be. I guess I’ll discover him sooner or later as I read other books? The idea seems to have been that people would read the EDAs in order. At this point it’s a bit daunting to start that. On the whole UH stands alone well enough that I still enjoyed it and wasn’t too confused most of the time. I am going to go back and read Alien Bodies though, to be belatedly introduced to Faction Paradox. Besides, people say that it is great.
Verdict: Fun, clever novel that works on two levels, adventure story and commentary on DW fandom. Some moving character moments for Fitz and Alternate Sam. I’m definitely encouraged to read some more EDAs, and make sure that the Blum/Orman ones are on my list.
UH was my first official EDA (Fear Itself doesn't count) and it was pretty strange as an introduction to Sam, since it is in fact an introduction to Alternate Sam… but I thought it was an awesome book. Not a flawless book, but so much fun that I didn’t care about flaws.
My copy has the unfortunate quality that pages 91-122 are printed twice. In any other kind of book this would be a very minor inconvenience, but since it’s a DW book I read a fair ways into the repeated section, thinking it was a nifty time loop or something. But then I noticed the actual page numbers were duplicated. Oops. In my defense, this is the kind of novel that can end a chapter in the middle of a sentence (Ch. 20), and I am positive that wasn’t a misprint.
Some things I loved in UH:
* Fitz is so matter-of-factly devoted to the Doctor (yes, I've read 2 books with Fitz and that has become one of my favorite things already). He wants to quit smoking and clean up his act, because he thinks the Doctor needs someone like that… (aww…)
* Brutally killing off lovely sympathetic one-off characters (Kyra!! No!!).
…What? It’s a fine old DW tradition. “The Horror of Fang Rock” is one of my favorite serials.
* Geeky references. First the X-Files movie… and then Sam distracts the villain with a Babylon 5 plot. Yes, it is sad how happy those made me.
* Car as character. The VW Bug gives its live for the cause. Reminded me not only of the Third Doctor’s Bessie, who was almost a character, but also of the tragic death of the Bluesmobile at the end of The Blues Brothers, when Elwood takes off his hat for a moment of silence. (Professor Joyce tells the Doctor, “Give yourself time to mourn” before replacing his Bug.) I know. You should have seen me cry when I had to junk my beloved 240SX a couple of years ago.
* Little bit of meta. Our villain is one of those fans who really want the Doctor to have one consistent, coherent, linear life story. He will make it make sense by any means necessary!!
* The villain is also interesting and scary in his own right, the “unnaturalist” with access to the fifth and sixth dimensions, which gives him creepy powers. The Doctor channels Flatland a bit while explaining them. If anyone hasn’t read Flatland, it’s apparently available free at Project Gutenberg… http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/201 (I strongly suspect Orman and/or Blum already read it. And the Doctor, he’s definitely read it.)
* I really liked Alternate Sam; I really felt her freak-out at the stuff that is happening to her. Also, the almost/coulda-been/barely-started romance between her and Fitz, I thought was touching. I got the feeling that Fitz and the Doctor couldn’t win; whichever Sam they ended up with, they’d just be missing the other one. But both couldn’t exist at once.
Some things I didn’t love:
* I don’t think much of this biodata stuff. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. If it was supposed to be magic, I wouldn’t expect it to. Of course, the veneer of science fiction covering Doctor Who oftentimes gets a little bit thin, so it’s not like that is unique to UH.
* I like the Doctor to be a little more badass. Of course it’s also cool to have his companions bail him out from time to time. But sometimes the Doctor in print doesn’t seem as inhumanly competent as the TV Doctors we know and love. This problem is really rampant in fan fic, which is probably why I’m getting more touchy about it. In UH, the Doctor figures things out, but it’s Sam whose action saves the day (a couple of times).
* I felt like it would have improved my experience to know who the heck Professor Joyce is supposed to be. I guess I’ll discover him sooner or later as I read other books? The idea seems to have been that people would read the EDAs in order. At this point it’s a bit daunting to start that. On the whole UH stands alone well enough that I still enjoyed it and wasn’t too confused most of the time. I am going to go back and read Alien Bodies though, to be belatedly introduced to Faction Paradox. Besides, people say that it is great.
Verdict: Fun, clever novel that works on two levels, adventure story and commentary on DW fandom. Some moving character moments for Fitz and Alternate Sam. I’m definitely encouraged to read some more EDAs, and make sure that the Blum/Orman ones are on my list.