October Books 23-33) The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations
Having praised both the Sarah Jane Adventures on television and the associated audiobooks, I thought I should try the 11 novelisations - the pilot, the five stories of the first season, the first two from the second season, one from the third and two from the fourth. Apparently the first ones sold rather poorly, so the decision was made to adapt only a few later episodes; though it's interesting that it was still felt worthwhile to continue with the exercise.
23) Invasion of the Bane, by Terrance Dicks
24) Revenge of the Slitheen, by Rupert Laight
25) Eye of the Gorgon, by Phil Ford
26) Warriors of Kudlak, by Gary Russell
27) Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, by Rupert Laight
28) The Lost Boy, by Gary Russell
29) The Last Sontaran, by Gary Russell
30) The Day of the Clown, by Phil Ford
31) The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, by Gareth Roberts
32) The Nightmare Man, by Joseph Lidster
33) Death of the Doctor, by Gary Russell
I had already read the first four some time back, and the same general observations apply: these are short, cheerful books, full of positivity, with Gary Russell shouldering much of the burden of the transfer (four of the eleven, three of the last six) and doing it rather well. On my first reading I had been a bit underwhelmed by Phil Ford's Eye of the Gorgon, but it grabbed me a bit more on re-reading; perhaps it was just the mood I was in. The one book that I felt missed the target a bit was Lidster's The Nightmare Man, which seemed written for a slightly younger age group - particularly incongruous since it is the rite-of-passage story about Luke growing up.
The chronological skew of the books means that all seven stories with Maria Jackson as a regular character are available in print, while only four of the twenty with Rani made it, and none with Sky (all the books feature Luke, all but the first has Clyde). With the greatest of respect to Anjli Mohindra, I'm a Yasmin Paige fan, so I am not complaining.
And that concludes my October bookblogging for this year.
23) Invasion of the Bane, by Terrance Dicks
24) Revenge of the Slitheen, by Rupert Laight
25) Eye of the Gorgon, by Phil Ford
26) Warriors of Kudlak, by Gary Russell
27) Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, by Rupert Laight
28) The Lost Boy, by Gary Russell
29) The Last Sontaran, by Gary Russell
30) The Day of the Clown, by Phil Ford
31) The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, by Gareth Roberts
32) The Nightmare Man, by Joseph Lidster
33) Death of the Doctor, by Gary Russell
I had already read the first four some time back, and the same general observations apply: these are short, cheerful books, full of positivity, with Gary Russell shouldering much of the burden of the transfer (four of the eleven, three of the last six) and doing it rather well. On my first reading I had been a bit underwhelmed by Phil Ford's Eye of the Gorgon, but it grabbed me a bit more on re-reading; perhaps it was just the mood I was in. The one book that I felt missed the target a bit was Lidster's The Nightmare Man, which seemed written for a slightly younger age group - particularly incongruous since it is the rite-of-passage story about Luke growing up.
The chronological skew of the books means that all seven stories with Maria Jackson as a regular character are available in print, while only four of the twenty with Rani made it, and none with Sky (all the books feature Luke, all but the first has Clyde). With the greatest of respect to Anjli Mohindra, I'm a Yasmin Paige fan, so I am not complaining.
And that concludes my October bookblogging for this year.