Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Forever Autumn

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Recently I bought the third season (or series if you're a Brit) of the New "Doctor Who" so I was ready to enjoy more adventures featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.

However, I will admit that I was a bit leery since lately I've been disappointed by several Science Fiction/Fantasy books that I've bought and have failed to finished some of them due to boredom. I also was leery because the "Doctor Who" books are tie-in books assigned to various authors who could be viewed as "hired guns" simply brought on board to meet a certain quota of books to earn BBC Books a good profit. The danger with this is that "hired gun" authors can be rushed due to insanely short deadlines so their work can read like "hack jobs" at times.

Fortunately though "Forever Autumn" neither reads nor feels like a rushed "hack job." Now granted it's no Shakespeare or Charles Dickens but Mark Morris does a good job of writing an entertaining "Doctor Who" book.

"Forever Autumn" has a good balance of atmosphere, pacing, plot, and character perspective that makes the story both engaging and fun to read.

I really liked how he gave just enough description from different characters' points-of-view to establish a good sense of mystery and creepiness. The secondary characters, who many times can be dull in tie-in stories, were not dull in this novel. They were mostly interesting and seeing how the creepy Green Mist affected each one of them in the small town was very interesting too. I also must emphasize that I really like how he paced this book. Within certain chapters, Morris intercutted between different characters' perspectives as they encountered strange things caused by the Green Mist. This technique (which reminded more of television writing in a way) helped to keep the suspense going.

Morris also did a good job of capturing the voices of David Tennant's Doctor and Freema Agyeman's Martha. I felt like I could actually hear these actors performing while I was reading the story. They both said and did things that I expected the Doctor and Martha to say and do. It's too bad that this storyline wasn't used in the television series because it would have been a good creepy episode.

Also, I must add that I like the cover design of this book as I do for basically all of the New "Doctor Who" books. Turning photographs of the current actors into creative illustrations is a brillant idea and it especially looks good on hard back covers.

Having now read "Forever Autumn," I'm willing to read another "Doctor Who" book. I really like Mark Morris' style of writing but until I can find another book written by him, I'm willing to give some of the other authors a try.

This is the second Who book I've read and so far they're just right: Fairly quick reads paced much like an actual show, neat villians that fit right in and the main characters voices are captured terrifically, making it easy to hear their voices when they speak.
This was the first one that I felt I had to buy as it combines the Doctor and Halloween. This story would make a great creepy show.

It's the day before Halloween in the small New England town of Blackwood Falls. Every home is decorated with jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and goblins; the children are choosing their costumes from Tozier's Costume Emporium, and the adults are making the final preparations for the town's annual Halloween Carnival. But Halloween in Blackwood Falls will be anything but ordinary this year...

Rick Pirelli and his best friends Thad and Scott love Halloween. Before they head off to pick up their costumes, they notice an eerie green glow coming from the base of a tree in Rick's backyard. The tree, with bark as black as pitch, gave the town of Blackwood Falls its name. The boys unearth an ancient book filled with strange symbols, and unwittingly set into motion a chain of events that will endanger the entire town.

The Doctor and Martha arrive just as an ominous green mist descends upon Blackwood Falls. The mist seems to be coming from the exact spot where the boys found the strange book. The unnatural fog soon has people in the town feeling uneasy, and the Doctor notes that it seems to be feeding off people's deepest fears. When monstrous creatures called Hervoken begin attacking residents of Blackwood Falls, the Doctor and Martha are the town's only hope. Can they stop the growing threat before it's too late?

This is one of my favorite Doctor Who novels. Mark Morris did an excellent job in capturing the spirit of the television show while still making the story his own. The Doctor and Martha are portrayed very well, and there are a lot of fun references to past adventures. Forever Autumn is a great Halloween read for any Doctor Who fan.

Curiosity killed the cat, or so the saying goes, and it fits the bill perfectly in "Forever Autumn" by Mark Morris. When three young boys dig a book out of the roots of the town's namesake tree, they unknowingly awaken a sinister, emotionless force that wraps the town in a green mist. The Doctor and Martha arrive soon after the boys' discovery, and they immediately begin looking for answers to the strange new developments in the town. People begin to go missing, cats become "possessed," and seemingly harmless costumes and Halloween decorations come to life. Who or what is causing all of this? Can the Doctor save Blackwood Falls from a fate that's been buried beneath the town for centuries? Read this swiftly paced tale in order to find out.

While there is a large amount of creepiness to this tale, if you can handle the revived series of Doctor Who, you can handle this book. It's scary in a fun sort of way and reads exactly like one of the shows from the series. Morris has a solid handle on the characters of the Doctor and Martha as portrayed by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman. It's quite easy to visualize both of them as this adventure unfolds. Morris also tosses in a few references to the television show, listing some of the experiences and creatures encountered by the Doctor and Martha.

The book itself is quite nice, too. It's a hardback book that's the size of a paperback reader. The cover artwork is excellent. It features the Doctor and Martha, the official Doctor Who logo and a sinister jack o'lantern set on a dark background of an old twisted tree and cemetary headstones.

Fans of the recent Past Doctor books published by BBC will notice that this tale is seemingly written for a younger audience. Don't let that deter you from picking it up though. This is a fun, easily digestable story that might actually make you think twice before plunking down money to buy some discounted bat decorations for Halloween this year. I highly recommend it to fans of the new and classic Doctor Who series and to younger readers aged twelve and up who can appreciate a good science fiction tale.

I listened to the audio book of this story, so bear that in mind.

I found this an interesting story. Mark Morris creates a convincing atmosphere, and certainly it is very creepy. His characterisations seem good, though Martha doesn't get much to do at all.
The aliens were good, though, and their ability to possess things makes them really quite effective. The resolution was good, though the sonic screwdriver yet again becomes the universal plot device. I'm surprised it doesn't chop like a knife set too!

Overall, quite pleased with the story. I wasn't expecting high art, but I got an entertaining listen.

You really should watch the series before reading the book (or at least some of the series) just to get the accents in your head.
The book is fairly true to the characters and the services. It is always interesting to se what different forms 'aliens' and their interactions with humanity can take. This book keeps the humor and 'wackiness' of the series.
And of course, Martha is a stone fox. I would get the book just cause her picture is on the cover!
Aliens, fog, the cat lady and Halloween. The DR saves the day (aided by Martha of course).Good concept.

The doctor who novels are nothing more then glorified fan fiction, some are good, some are bad. I didn't hate Forever Autumn, but I didn't hate it either. The charactorisation of Martha and the Doctor wasn't terribly off, but they do and say things I couldn't see them saying or doing. The plot was decent and the villins were actually really cool. Most of it was told in the point of few of a whinny kid though, so that sometimes got annoying.

If you like fan fiction, give this book a try, if not don't waste your time.

Listened to this as an audiobook and loved it. A good bit of fun mixed in with a bit of head-scratching. Perfect for a dreary October afternoon.

I admit I had a hard time getting into this story. I love Doctor Who and Halloween so perhaps my expectations were too high. I thought the Doctor was portrayed quite well, the mix of humor and sternness captured David Tennant's portrayal nicely. Not so much with Martha, mostly she ran around thinking "what would the doctor do".

I got the impression this was written as more of a story for young people, there were a lot of kids involved. The behavior of a lot of the "extras" was somewhat predictable, but that's not much different from the TV series.

If you are a young person this would be a great book, older audiences might want to save this for the "OK I've read all the great ones what's next" list.

I really enjoyed this one, I love reading Doctor Who, the more I read the more I like the Television show. They are a great combo.