Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams [Hardcover]

Steve Lyons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2006

In the far future, the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where it's a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream. But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back, and the Doctor wants to help - until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares. With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all. Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (January 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0563486384
• ISBN-13: 978-0563486381
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 4.5 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Was I Clever?", June 26, 2006

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams (Hardcover)

The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack find themselves on a planet where the human race has skidded backward. Technology is sluggish, development happens on the same space over and over again, and the media force-feeds the population a repetetive diet of trivia. But most puzzling, all forms of fiction--including storytelling, lying, and dreaming--are strictly forbidden. Anyone caught telling a tall tale winds up in a place of nightmares, the Big White House.

Steve Lyons has created a beautifully complex story that makes you want to keep reading to figure out what's going on and why. He also masterfully separates the principal characters in coinciding adventures, but does a beautiful job keeping all his cards in play. This novel takes on an adventure with an epic scope and complexity far beyond what a sixty-minute TV episode can encompass. And it is no small praise with such established characters to say that, in savvying the dialogue, the reader can actually hear the actors who play these characters speaking.

And may I add, please, that the hardback binding makes holding the book more of a sensory treasure? It underlines the solidity of the story and the mass of the thought underlying the book.

This book isn't without its problems. The author has a tendency to tell parts of the story in flashback--not parts out of the distant past, but bits of business and exposition, presumably as a trick to make sure every chapter begins and ends with action. And there is a certain unremitting urgency to the pace of the story. The author would have been well-advised to write in a moment where the characters stop to catch their breath and think over what happened, because if the characters don't have such a chance, neither does the reader.

But these are quibbles. Sure, the book is imperfect, but it is still very, very good. The characters are well played, the situation is gripping, the puzzle is thought-provoking, and the payoff is tasty. This book will be well-loved by casual fans and die-hard devotees alike, and it makes an excellent addition to the Doctor Who corpus.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clever Puzzle, May 16, 2006

By 

Lisa "lisa m" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams (Hardcover)

"Stealers of Dreams" is a clever puzzle. Without spoiling the plot, let me just say that you'll enjoy reading this book twice--once to gather the pieces of the puzzle, and the second time through in light of the solution.

Steve Lyons has not only written a clever puzzle, but he has also captured the special dynamic of the relationship between the Doctor and Rose in the ninth series. Captain Jack is also in character and in his element.

Although the book is a quick read, Steve Lyons has managed to write a book that transcends the age groups of Dr Who fans. Adult fans will be relieved that "Stealers" doesn't read like a young adult novel, and yet the book is appropriate for young fans.

Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Adveture, February 1, 2007

By 

Sara J. Sexton "Lil'MissSunShine" (Billings, MT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams (Hardcover)

I liked this book very much. It really kept to the spirit of the show, and had a very interesting storyline. Wish this one had been made it into the show!