Customer Reviews

Another Life (Torchwood)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Doctor Who novels have disappointed me, ranging in quality from mediocre down to virtually unreadable. Those experiences led me to harbor no great hopes for novels about the DW spinoff Torchwood, but I had a promotional certificate soon to expire and rather than waste it, decided to take a chance on buying this book.

I liked it. A lot. The author captures the essence of the characters (his Jack is especially solid) and the story matches the tone of the series quite well. There's some excellent dialogue, notably in a few exchanges between Jack and Ianto. I could imagine it airing on the show. I could also imagine the plot forming a good episode.

Well done. I only hope the other Torchwood novels are near the caliber of this one!

I'm a big fan of the newest version of the Doctor Who franchise (the 9th & 10th Doctors) and Captain Jack Harkness was definitely a favorite character from the 1st series, when I found out he was getting a spin off series called Torchwood I could hardly wait to see it. And therein lies the problem, I most likely won't be seeing it anytime soon. Anyways, when I saw that three books based on the series were being released I jumped at the chance to pick them up and so far with this first I am not disappointed. The plot involves the team trying to track down a murderer who just happens to be possessed by an alien. Oh, and lets not forget the missing containers from the nuclear plant or the mysterious, almost typhoon-like conditions centered over Cardiff.

Probably the strongest part of the book is the dialogue and interaction between the main characters as they try to track down the alien. The pacing, for the most part, is fast and the author literally pulls you into the story. The only downfall in my opinion, and the reason for the 4-star rating, is the fact that it does bog down a bit when one of the main characters, Owen, meets up with an old girlfriend while doing a spot of online gaming while stuck in decontamination, and decides-without bothering to consult Jack, his boss- to try and recruit her to Torchwood. It just didn't seem to ring true to the Owen character from earlier on in the book.

Other than that, the book's an absolutely brilliant read and I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the others. Hopefully they will measure up to the bar set by this book and not be so hit and miss as the Doctor Who books have been in being true to the characters as they appear in the shows.

I'm too big of a Torchwood fan to pass on yet another possibility to read about my favourite characters.
Great idea and plot that just doesn't let you close the book. Nah-ah. I gave up my precious sleep just to learn how the book ends. Brilliant plottwists and suspense you can encounter in the best books in this genre.

The characters are portayed truthfully and the reader feels as if they were taken straight from the TV screen. Brilliant dialogue that fits perfectly with the pace of the story.

The book has only one flaw though. The character of Owen. It seems as if after Owen gets stuck in the Hub, the author is a bit lost and doesn't really know what to do with the character. And that makes the whole subplot of Owen's virual game, meeting a girl etc a bit out of place, boring... Uninteresting. That's the only reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars.

Owen is the featured character in this one, as he finds himself intrigued by an online virtual world where he comes across an old girlfriend from six years back that he decides to look up in real life. Of course, there's also an alien spaceship trapped in Cardiff Bay that's causing massive flooding and the need to track down its body-hopping pilot. I thought the book was pretty well written and has a pretty dark tone, but something about it just didn't quite grab me. It was fun to see one of Owen's old flames (though, as usual in novels like this, things don't turn out well) and the subtle hints about Ianto being up to something in the basement.

This book is as close to an episode as we fans will get with the books. It is interesting with great character interactions and even more spectacular plot twists. It catches the tones of the characters and their relationships. This is the best of all the torchwood novels (at least so far). I really cant recommend it enough!

Another Life is the first of the Torchwood series books I've read. I have to say I was pleased to see the text, in many ways, match the style of the script.

I didn't notice many typos so I'm wondering if some people reading it in the states are mistaking the typos for the British style of writing...

Whereas Torchwood is geared more towards adults than Doctor Who is, so are the novels. The Doctor Who novels are extremely basic, written for younger minds. Another life is definetely adult fare, but still easy to read.. It's not rocket science or beautiful prose, but it is a page turner.

That said, someone not familiar with the TV series may get lost very quickly...

Torchwood, Another Life, is such a well written, well structured story that you could read it without even watching the TV series and still understand what was going on. I am a Dr. WHO fan but have never seen ONE episode of Torchwood yet. After reading this I ordered the first series and, unless UPS screws up, should get it this week.
The story idea is simple. Somebody is eating humans. Chewing right into the back of their heads. Yummy. But this is not just a simple monster story. There is a design, a plot, a plan, being carried out and Captain Jack Harkness and his group have to hunt down who or whom is doing it.
If they fail there may be a lot more people killed. A LOT more.

Of the various authors writing Torchwood novels, Peter Anghelides is the closest to writing Capt. Jack's, Gwen's, Owen's, Ianto's, & Tosh's characters as they appear on television. While the plot is good, Mr. Anghelides succeeds in recreating the atmosphere of Torchwood and adding even more depth to the characters.

If you are a fan of the show, you will enjoy the "Torchwood" books. Easy reading, a bit more insight into the characters; a good "fix" for a dry spell between episodes. Just wish there were more books in the series!

I see more negative reviews than usual for a TW book, but I didn't think it was that bad !