Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
How do you say "over-rated"?, June 7, 2001
This review is from: The Scarlet Empress (Doctor Who series) (Paperback)
Pual Magrs' first foray into the Whoniverse is written very competently. In fact, I didn't notice any glaring grammatical errors. This is probably the nicest thing I'm going to say about this book. I don't have a problem with magic realism; in fact, I absolutely adore _The Blue Angel_, Magrs' second book with Jeremy Hoad. However, this one just doesn't work. The reason why is simple; Magrs is so busy coming up with neat little ways to describe things that he forgot to include a coherent plot in the novel. The plot loosely revolves around a quest. The Doctor and Sam meet up with a figure from the Doctor's past named Iris, a batty Time Lady who looks a little like the town librarian and seems to be quietly appropriating the Doctor's past adventures for herself. Along the way, they meet up with four terminally uninteresting characters and ramble around in a haphazard manner, fiddling around with various denziens of the planet Prospero and generally being useless. Things culminate in a showdown which completely removes any credibility from the quest. The characters wander off in seperate directions and the reader is left with the shell-shocked feeling that the author is screaming about his cleverness into the reader's ear with a megaphone. Paul Magrs needs a co-writer to be effective; in _The Blue Angel_, various ideas are tossed at the reader all at once, only to be stitched into a coherent picture by the end. The overwhelming feeling left at the end of _The Scarlet Empress_ is, "Um, is that it?"
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Odd but enjoyable, March 22, 2000
This review is from: The Scarlet Empress (Doctor Who series) (Paperback)
This is not a book for anyone who does not *really* enjoy reading, as it is as much a story *about* story-telling as it is a story in itself. Full of digressions, fillips, curlicues, dead-ends, jumps in the narrative, illogicalities, oddities, eccentrics, and just plain weirdness, it is also not for someone expecting a straight-forward adventure tale. The Doctor is as much spectator or participant, the plot is rather thin (until the end), and the prose style dense and ornate. But if you stick with it and savor it for what it is, rather than reject it for what it isn't, you will find it engrossing, delectable, unique, and unforgettable.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Scarlet Empress--Doctor Who Meets MindBlowing Idiocy, February 12, 2002
This review is from: The Scarlet Empress (Doctor Who series) (Paperback)
Imagine throwing in the pure inventiveness of Grant Morrison, the best fanciful idiocy of the Doctor Who television series, and an army of shaved bears, and you may get an idea of the joy Paul Magrs has delivered with 'The Scarlet Empress'. It's been said almost to the point of cliche that this is a 'strange' book--and it is. It's also a delight, moving the good Doctor fully into the possibilities of the narrative imagination. This is not your generic Doctor Who--no running through corridors, no whiffy time mechanics, no playing it safe. This is a Doctor Who adventure that grabs you by the lapels and gives you a big Groucho Marx kiss. Then, when you least expect it, it can break your heart. You've been warned. If you love Doctor Who being pushed forward, then why are you still reading this? Order, my child. Order.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
