Customer Reviews

Dr Who: Sick Building (2CD)

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

 

 

The new line of Doctor Who books are meant to be juvenile-friendly stories. No problem. I'm a big kid. However, juvenile-friendly sometimes translates into silly. In Sick Building, we have a giant, planet-sucking blob, a house that's gone crazy, and a vending machine with a bit of a crush on the Doctor. The threat never really seems all that threatening, perhaps because the solutions are, well, silly: the Doctor doing a one-man (and two-machine) cover of Bohemian Rhapsody to sooth the savage beast (OK, I chuckled at that); and an ending that involves a lot of soda pop and a very loud PA system.

Heaped on top of the silliness is a cliched arrogant genius serving as the antagonist. He's just not interesting enough, and far too predictable, to drive the story.

There are good points, though. Paul Magrs has a solid writing style and he does a decent job of voicing the Doctor and Martha. He sets up a nicely awkward relationship between Martha and the teenage boy, Solin, who is unusually mature and direct in expressing his interest in Martha. And the Doctor teaming up with a rag-tag assemblage of intelligent household goods, called Servo-furnishings, is rather sweet and very Doctor-ish.

I'm surprised by the amount of people who gave this book low ratings. When I pick up a Doctor Who book, I expect the book to be beyond believable...even to the point of almost insanely silly. Since that was expected in the first place, I just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the unbelievably crazy ride.

The concept for this story was great, and very old series like. A small group of people, an insane machine, an imminent threat, time running out.

But what happened? A mess, that's what. Perhaps the most jarring thing was the sugary sweet 'disaster averted in the last 5 minutes' ending, which need not have happened. Since the surviving characters were about to escape, they could have left the planet to be destroyed, but some silly Deus Ex Machina plot came along to drive off the monster.

The Doctor and Martha don't get much to do here, in fact nothing much happens at all. The antagonists are pretty dull, and the supporting characters are dull and/or silly. Really, a vending machine and a sun bed?

This story suffers from poor pacing, coincidental chances and a vanishing villain. It is not explained why the mad computer vanishes, it's kind of just ignored.

I didn't like this story. Just because a story is written for a younger audience doesn't mean it should have a bad plot and characters. I've liked several of these new adventures (Sting of the Zygon for example), but this one just didn't do it for me at all. What's worse, there was a lot of potential here.

The author does a wonderful job capturing the Doctor and Martha's characters in this book. There are references to past episodes, Rose, and the Doctor sings Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen to scare away a monster. That scene alone made the book for me. :-) I enjoyed the book a lot, and I think it's one of the better tie-in novels I've read.

I see that most people who reviewed this book thought it was childish and silly. However, it was also clever and creative and very doctor who like in its delivery. In my estimate very underated. What is wrong with a toaster and sun bed that come to life and befriend the doctor. He gives them purpose and sees beyond their basic function. They remind me of thee the misfit toys in Rudolf the rednose reindeer. And who did not like the ending of this book. I thought it was great. Only in a doctor who story would burping be the key to saving the day and the other life forms on a planet. Please read as I don't want to say too much. Basically, because the writer was clever and witty in many silly ways throughout this story I give this book 5 stars.

I have just finished my used copy of Sick Building. I am happy that I bought it used instead of new. It was a pretty silly story and the villain was more of a pathetic delusional man who thinks he can keep his family safe from the voracious craw. The Doctor is pretty silly throughout the book, especially during a part where he and two robots sing Bohemian Rhapsody to some bear like creature and finally solving the problem with the voracious craw involving soda pop and loudspeakers. I found it laughable when he is aided by two robots: a vending machine and a tanning bed. I didn't see Martha do much in the story except keeping her distance from Solin and his major crush on her. I have read several Dr. Who books ranging from pretty good to pretty silly and this one falls under the silly category.

I own every one of this Doctor Who series for children up to Sick Building. Usually i can't put them down till they're done. Some of the series are not so good at characterisation, some of them you can figure out the 'answer' before you're halfway, but they were all good fun and pretty easy to forgive for their failings

However, Sick Building i could not finish. It is so poorly written, clumsy phrasing, slow to get moving, poor plot.... it's the dud i've been dreading. Clearly the writer had a lot of problems getting this book done, but i cannot believe the publisher actually printed it, it is FAR below the charming standard of all its predecessors.

BBC seem to have doubled the number of books coming out each year, but if that means that much lower quality writing like this one are released, I have to quit this series of books. I STRONGLY URGE YOU to read the first few pages before buying this book.

A great quick read i really enjoyed this book It was like watching an episode of Doctor Who. Can't wait for season four to come out on dvd.

I read this book in two days (half one day, half the next) and was not thrilled during the entire event. I do not feel as though I wasted my time reding this but I did not gain anything from it either. The ideas are very juvenile (I know, I know, it's for kids) and the premise was predictable. The villian was a gasbag and the most interesting character (Solin) had a rather small role in the whole affair.

It's a quick read and for that I was thankful.