Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Monsters Inside (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover))

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

 

 

Yeah...sure it IS a cliche', but it's one of my favorite cliches and one I've wanted to see a Dr. Who slant on.

The 9th Doctor and his current companion Rose Tyler accidently land on Justicia, prison camp consisting of over six planets. The pair are immediately locked up. The Doctor is trapped with the rest of the aliens in a scientific labour camp. While Rose is in with the human "bad girls" who immediately welcome her to the teen borstal.The two work against the odds to find one another and escape, but as the Doctor says, "You've got two hopes- BOB HOPE and NO hope."

Writer Stephen Cole does a nice job of capturing the feel of the 900 year old, regenerating, time-traveling Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston (the 2005 season of the 40 year old British sci-fi series). Fans of the show will enjoy this original Dr. Who adventure which is similar to the style of the old Target books episode-by-episode TV tie-ins. These have more dynamic plots and lovely HARD-BACK editions. Given the 9th Doctor's short 13 episode run, I look forward to stretching out his "time-line" by reading A bunch more of these.

I didn't expect much from "The Monsters Inside". It's so unusual, however, to find a "Doctor Who" novel without a completely embarrassing, amateurish covers, so already the book exceeded expectations before I'd even opened it up.

Author Stephen Cole also gets extra points for making this book read like a seamless part of Season 1 of Russell T. Davies "Doctor Who". The story's villains, as promised on the back cover, are drawn from an alien race that appeared in three of the 13 Christopher Eccleston TV episodes. Much is made of this being Rose's first trip to an alien planet -- something that she didn't accomplish on the small screen. There's even a "Bad Wolf" reference.

As a Davies "Doctor Who"-era novel, "Monsters Inside" does what it's supposed to do. Negatives: I couldn't find Christopher Eccleston's "voice" as the Doctor during most of his scenes here. Jac Rayner got his essence much better in "Winner Takes All". While I don't believe that this was an old 8th Doctor outline that Cole recycled on short notice, I did find myself continually reading the Doctor as Paul McGann -- the Doctor that Cole is probably most familiar with from his years as writer and editor for BBC Books' 8th Doctor series. This is most evident during a scene where the Doctor spoils his own prison break by talking too loud.

The secondary characters are your standard combination of way- over-the-top, and absolute cardboard. The main villain, head of a family crime ring, is named "Don Arco" but, to hedge his bets, he drops the occasional Yiddish vulgarity. OK, I almost get the point. To be fair, this might have been funny on TV with the right voice-actor.

It's great to have some Ninth Doctor novels, now that Eccleston's too-short tenure on TV is over. Reading "Monsters Inside" is comparable to watching a fair-to-middling episode like "Aliens of London" on video, but it's nice to have the extra stories around.

This is the best book so far in the 9th doctor line. Funny, scary, fast paced, this book is a good read. The plot was not totally predictable, and had some great twists and turns (guess who is the monster!). While the book would have read better if I had seen the BBC series, I can't blame that on the author. I also enjoyed the charecters. So many Who novels have such flat static people, but this one actually had people who developed with the story. Most important, the premise was diffrent then most new Who novels that just try to capture the old series style. If I wanted the old series, I would watch/read the old series. I am looking for new who novels to expand and build on what's been done before (and not just doing cruel things to Ace). All in all, a good solid read that has restored my hope for the 9th doctor novels. Here's hoping the next three are more like this one.

This book is a definite collector's item as it is the first alien world adventure for Rose mentioned in the TV series but never actually seen. Given the imaginative escapes and creatures on Justicia that's a good thing as they'd need a Star Wars budget to pull it off.

The 9th Doctor and Rose are very true to form, each doing their best to survive their situations. Surprise reveals abound and danger lurks around every corner as you're not really certain who is on your side.

As for the book series, these small hardback novels look beautiful on a collector's shelf. They hold up to wear and tear. And the stories are about on par with most Doctor Who novels. Great for fans of the series.

This adventure of the Doc. and Rose works very well. It doesn't interfere with the TV series "cannon", nor does it mess with the characters and their presentation.

All in all, a very good story told well within what the Doctor and his companion are supposed to be like. The Slitheen are a bit tired, but still excellent antagonists.

NIce little hardcover for future reading in the car; I have to say I like it!

This was a wonderfully written adventure that held TRUE to the characher so Fantastically played by Christopher Eccleston. The first book did not capture the right attitude or air for the doctor, and fankly the plot was flat....THIS one was wonderful. It was exciting, fun, and mysterious .... Just the way Doctor Who should be. Skip Clockwork Man and go right to this book.

The book was well written with a good pace and feel. The author had a good feel of the characters that sprang to life from the pages. I read through it in three days, it was hard to put down. A great book and worth the money. I also appreciate the hard cover, as I prefer those over paperbacks.

The author does a good job of capturing the Doctor and Rose: They actually seem like Nine and Rose (I can think of only one moment that seemed out of character). The story is a good romp, and the secondary characters are convincing and kind of funny. But I am reminded why I don't normally read these books: zero character development. How can there be? The show's creators need all character development to happen on-screen, or it won't make sense to viewers.

This book isn't a bad read, it held my interest. The plot was okay, nothing exceptional but not bad. The Doctor and Rose where mostly true to their characters. There is a lot of parts that I found boring and the ending wasn't as epic as the endings of the shows. Still, it's a lot better then some of the other books out there.

I'm in the throes of Doctor Who love, reading everything I can get my hands on, but this one disappointed. It may be partially due to my perspective (female, not a teen), but what really makes Doctor Who work for me is the relationship between the Doctor and his companion, and given that the two spend almost the entire novel apart in prison there is sadly little interaction between the two.

The action is fine; I was not a huge fan of the Slitheen so their return didn't do much for me, but I did enjoy the Doctor's relationship with a research group of alien scientists - his immediate bond with them is utterly true to his character. And Rose's triumph over adversity is true to her character, as well... the book worked, but it just didn't give me what I wanted; "Winner Takes All" by Jacqueline Rayner is much superior.