Yes, I admit that I've been picking these novels for a certain interest factor... and this one was chosen for it being the first appearance of a Time Lady called Iris Wildthyme. In fact it's the second, but never mind that.
****
I picked this BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures story up second hand on Amazon; I would like to thank the previous owner for adding some annotations to the pages that were actually helpful in explaining some jokes that I would have otherwise missed.****
Where we're at
This is the early part of the Eighth Doctor's history; here he's travelling with the book-only companion Samantha 'Sam' Jones, a blonde, spiky woman from modern Earth... he likes those a lot, doesn't here.
The plot
The Doctor and Sam arrive on the planet Hyspero, a world of wonder, magic and the dangerous ruler called the Scarlet Empress. Teaming with Iris Wildthyme and a group of strange aliens, they engage in a epic journey across the planet.
This is the early part of the Eighth Doctor's history; here he's travelling with the book-only companion Samantha 'Sam' Jones, a blonde, spiky woman from modern Earth... he likes those a lot, doesn't here.
The plot
The Doctor and Sam arrive on the planet Hyspero, a world of wonder, magic and the dangerous ruler called the Scarlet Empress. Teaming with Iris Wildthyme and a group of strange aliens, they engage in a epic journey across the planet.
What works
- Iris Wildthyme a gin-soaked old lady who travels through the vortex in a double-decker bus that is smaller on the inside than out and is even dodgier than the TARDIS, is an enjoyable character with a lot going for her. She's also clearly a huge fibber, claiming adventures that we know the Doctor had. She also has a key weakness that is important to the plot.
- It's worth pointing out that this is not the Katy Manning incarnation of the character; it's an earlier version, which I only found out about from TARDIS Data Core; this is the 'Beryl Reid' version, which works just as well.
- Eight is well written and gets some good moments throughout the story.
- There are some good meta-fictional discussions here, which the last owner happily pointed out.
- There is definitely some strange and at times disturbing imagery; a trance with the seven previous Doctors' heads on spikes for example... as well as some bears who shave themselves and the heavily tattooed Scarlet Guards... who can meet a horrible fate.
- Sam isn't a hugely impressive character; she has her moments, but there are far better out there.
- The book itself is a bit hard to follow and the plot isn't always entirely clear.
- The large number of past references can be a bit excessive... and suddenly going into first person mode for characters is a bit jarring.
An enjoyable tale with some very unusual imagery... but not one I'd read again in a hurry.
7/10
[1]A different version of Wildthyme appears in some non-Who novels by Magr.
[1]A different version of Wildthyme appears in some non-Who novels by Magr.
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