When an outpost in space begins to break up, with the TARDIS crew aboard, escape is only possible in tiny life-capsules. Fitz is bundled unconscious into one, while the Doctor and Compassion take another. Steering the capsule back to its planet of origin to try and get help, the Doctor finds a hostile welcome awaits. Fitz's capsule takes him to the apparent safety of the colony of Mechta. The Doctor decrees that Fitz's new-found utopia must be totally destroyed.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A dark, but fun, installment,
By
This review is from: Parallel 59 (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) (Paperback)
This is the first novel by both series editor Stephen Cole and co-author Natalie Dallaire, and it's a good, fun, straightforward science fiction adventure. Slightly reminiscent of the previous book, Frontier Worlds, in tone, this book begins in media res, with the Doctor and Compassion separated from Fitz early on. Fitz winds up in utopian Mechta, while the Doctor and Compassion find themselves on the planet Skale, where power blocs called Parallels are engaged in a tenuous, paranoid cold war. Specifically, they end up in Parallel 59 (no surprise there), which keeps the population in the dark about other Parallels much like the society in 1984. Can the Doctor and Compassion uncover 59's Big Secret Project and its connection to Mechta? Does a duck quack? Ordinarily, I have trouble with books that introduce an alien society. Just trying to remember all those alien names and picture what everything is supposed to look like gives me a headache. The authors keep things fairly straightforward and recognizable here, which allowed me to concentrate on the story and characters. They did a particularly good job bringing the Doctor and Compassion to life, and Fitz's portrayal was a logical extension of the character we've seen in other books. The supporting cast is likeable, particularly the people in Mechta. The only real letdown came after I'd finished the book and thought about it. Once the Big Secret Project's secret is revealed, it's never really explained why anyone would go to that much trouble in the first place. At that point, though, the story was moving so quickly that I didn't notice it at the time. Doctor Who fans who prefer stories that play with the formula more, like those by Lawrence Miles or Paul Magrs, may find this book a little too straightforward for their tastes. For those who just want an entertaining Doctor Who story, this should fill the bill quite nicely.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fifty Nine Fifty Nine Times,
This review is from: Parallel 59 (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) (Paperback)
While not the greatest of the BBC books so far it was far from the worst and I would gladly try any other book by either writer in the future. The dialogue was very good, characterization was very consistent, and the book had the feeling to it that the authors had pictured a whole world even though they were just presenting the slice of it necessary to the story. There were only two areas I felt could be improved: First was the lack of any imaginative twist or turn to the story. (mechta for example. If you don't guess THAT one your book's missing some pages) Then there's the characterization of Compassion and Fitz. Compassion was created to be the Anti-Sam, a human whose thought process was totally alien. Now they've already started to strip that away, even as they continue to destroy everything about Fitz which made him so perfect for the series to begin with. All in all, tho' the book was well worth recommending. Maybe not a good jumping on point to entice friends with but a good book nonetheless.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fitz outdoes the Doctor!!!!!,
By Daniel Firli (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Parallel 59 (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) (Paperback)
I love it when a Dr Who novel starts part way into the story. The Doctor, Compassion and Fitz are separated right from the beginning as a result from fleeing a doomed space station. Sadly I found the only interesting bits to be read were about Fitz's exploits on the other world, Mechta, a colony for convalescents, whereas the Doctor was tending not to do much and Compassion was being annoyingly annoying once again (still with no insight of who or what she is). The action and pace does pick up in the 3rd part of the story, giving the Doctor and Compassion a more interesting exciting role to play. Worth a read, but don't expect much from it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
