Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Nightmare Of Black Island (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover))

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am nine years old and a big fan of Doctor Who. This is the first Doctor Who book I have read. When I started reading this book, I could not put it down and I had to finish it that night. I could get a very good picture in my head of what was happening. It's about as good as the TV series.

After jumping head-first into the world of Doctor Who a few months ago, I quickly found that simply watching the show was not enough. I decided to take the plunge and start reading the novels too. This happened to be the book I chose and wow, I could not have picked a better one! Mike Tucker really knows his Ten, and Rose - their voices and interaction with each other are spot-on! The story itself is very well-written; it's scary, thought-provoking, and even funny at times, just as all good DW adventures should be!

I've since read three more of the DW novels, and have found that none of them compare to this one - in quality of writing, character development, or plot. If you're interested in getting into these books, this is certainly the place to start!

The Dr. Who books, devoted to the last three years, are formulistic and basicially themed alike. Ordinarily this would be a problem, but with these chracters it is a delight. Kind of like the Bond films and Sherlock Holmes pistaches. We expect something of The Doctor and we are not let down. Certainly "The Nightmare of Black Island" does not let the reader down and it is fast moving from cover to cover. As I said in a previous review, the books that have Rose Tyler make you miss her even more. However, the new partner on TV has grown on my family and I look forward to the books that include her. What has helped in this series of books is that the authors know who they are writing about Some, like Mike Tucker, have been associated with the TV series.

The BBC's series of Doctor Who novels are written for a built-in niche audience: almost everyone who picks up one of these books has at least some prior knowledge of the series, and usually of the particular Doctor and companion around whom each book revolves. So, unlike other books, character-development and background exposition are almost non-existent -- and that's perfectly OK. Who wants a re-hash every single time they start a new adventure with characters they already know so well?

What one does look for in a book that seeks to continue the adventures of well-established television characters, is a sense that the text versions are the same people as those portrayed on-screen by the actors. And in Doctor Who: The Nightmare Of Black Island by Mike Tucker, that's exactly what you get.

When the Doctor and Rose land on a small, Welsh fishing village, they're immediately besieged by strange, deadly monsters that stalk the woods. They manage to scramble to safety, and, upon further examination, they learn that the townsfolk no longer move around after dark for fear of being attacked, and that the village's children have all been plagued by distressing nightmares for the last several months. Sounds like a job for Ten and Rose!

I'm a Doctor Who geek, and David Tennant is my Doctor (not to mention my favorite actor) -- so I was thrilled to find that Mike Tucker's characterization of both Ten and Rose was spot on. The plot was intricately done and interesting, and Tucker perfectly captured the tone of a Ten-era Who episode: a delicious blend of comedy, horror and pathos. The dialog was especially well-done, as I could hear both David Tennant and Billie Piper delivering those lines.

For me, this novel really felt like a lost episode, and let me feel like I had my Doctor back -- if only for awhile. Highly recommended to Doctor Who fans looking to spend some more time with Ten and Rose.

I can probably read anything with 10 and Rose..but this one did take me some time to get into. It ended up being an interesting story..but kind of emotionless between the Doctor and Rose. I don't expect a romance..far from it..but this just seemed quite dead in the area of showing the reader their special friendship yet at the same time it seemed to have a lot of cliche' comments between them. But I guess that is good for people who don't know the characters already. Most of the sleuthing was done apart from each other ..I didn't care for that..and Rose handled most of the danger on her own. I gave it 4 stars still because it was well written and I could really get the feel of where they were and it was an interesting story. It was just missing that spark of what makes Rose and the Doctors friendship so special.

Just another great Doctor Who story. It holds a certin mystery that keep you wondering what the Doctor will do next :)

This is the first of the Doctor Who books that I read. I didn't know what to expect, but, I rally liked it ! The story was a typical Doctor Who story, and the characters' dialogue was just as if the actors themselves were speaking. Very much in character, right down to David Tennant's silly grin ! I was hoping that the other books would be just as good, and so far, most of them are very enjoyable.
The only negative is that, since they are a fast read, the price should be a lot lower.

A story in the true spirit of The Doctor. I won't go into the details of the story but being this is the first book by this author I've read I was pleasantly surprised. The story moves along nicely with a pace similar to the tv series. I enjoyed it and will continue to read more of these books.

This is among the best Doctor stories I've read, and most of them are pretty good. The characterizations of Rose and the Tenth Doctor are excellent. More than anything else, Tucker demonstrates that he knows how to tell a balanced story - everything fits and plays nicely into the entire narrative. It's also a charming paean to youth. Definitely worth your read.

An enjoyable read. If you like doctor who, you'll have fun reading this book. :-)