19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quick fun with the Doctor and Rose, August 6, 2006
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
I haven't been a "Whovian" for a long time - I enjoyed Dr. Who every so often back in college (starting with Doctor 4, Tom Baker), but when it went off PBS, I didn't really miss it. But I just went nuts over Doctor 10, David Tennant, and his joyous approach to playing the long-lived, two-tender-hearted, eager, often childlike Doctor. After enjoying the second season, Tennant's first, I decided to try out the first three novels. Of the three, Resurrection Casket is my favorite.
Author Justin Richards captures not only the voices and presence of the actors who created the (current) roles, but like the television episode writers do, he's created a supporting cast of likeable, interesting backdrop characters for Rose and the Doctor to play against. His Doctor is hyper, caring, and brilliant, as he should be, and his Rose is as tender as she is tough, and she's always quick on the uptake. He handles the science of the fantastic world of Dr. Who deftly, mixing the fantasy elements just well enough to allow the Doctor his world of hard science. Richards' story is well-crafted and compelling, with a few nifty twists and turns, and a very polite scary monster named Kevin.
What more could you want?
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Four stars for the book, two for the audio version, March 25, 2007
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
The Resurrection Casket is a 10th-Doctor tie-in novel, an original story by Justin Richards featuring David Tennant's Doctor with Rose Tyler. In this story, the TARDIS is drawn into a sort of mechanical dead-spot in space, where something called a zek drains the power of all electronic technology, leaving an area of floating hulks of abandoned ships, also haunted by krarks, sort of space-borne giant sharks that feed on the oxygen inside the ships and any living being they can get their fangs on. The few people who live on the planets of the area get by on steam power, even in their spacefaring vessels. The result is a Treasure-Island-inspired tale featuring pirates, evil robots, lost treasure, madman and a monster named Kevin that apologizes politely to his victims before dispatching them.
The plot has far-fetched moments (steam powered spaceships??) but the author is enthusiastic enough in embracing the setting and assumptions and energetic enough in plotting and pacing that I was carried along through the story and quite enjoyed it.
I haven't seen any of the 10th Doctor episodes so I can't speak to the characterization of the Doctor as compared to the TV presentation of Tennant, but the character certainly had the feel of a generic Doctor--full of wonder and enthusiasm, naturally brilliant, and quick to call out the bad guys on their evil ways. It's not high literature by any means, but as a way to fill a Doctor Who craving when new episodes of the show aren't available, it will certainly fill the bill.
I also listened to the audio version of the book downloaded from [...]. I listened to it before reading the book and found it a frustrating experience. The problem is the abridgement--great chunks of description, exposition and even whole characters are lopped out in the interest of time. It leaves a story that is skeletal, with poorly realized characters and motivations and great leaps in the story where the characters suddenly move from point A to point B with no explanation of how they got there.
The one bright spot of the audio version is that David Tennant himself reads it and has a delightful voice, particularly (naturally) when reading the Doctor's own dialogue, and made me look even more forward to seeing his episodes.
However, reading the book made me realize that while still fluffy, the full version with more description, characterization and the complete plot, is a worthwhile experience. I would recommend the audio version only if you are dying to hear David Tennant's voice and have already read the full version; otherwise take a pass and stick with the printed page.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another exciting adventure!, October 26, 2007
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
This was my very first Doctor Who novel. I was delighted with how much fun I had reading this book! I believe the characterizations were shot on, the story was fresh, and it was another brilliant adventure with the Doctor and Rose Tyler! I look forward to catching more of the Who novels. :)
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