Doctor Who is repairing the Tardis systems when it is swept up by the Quetzel, a garbage ship roving space. When another ship takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers abroad - there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A mess,
By Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: War of the Daleks (Dr. Who Series) (Paperback)
WAR OF THE DALEKS reads more like one of the Target novelisations than as a work of fiction in its own right mostly due to some terribly clichéd characterizations and some very unfortunate prose. While reading, one wonders if this was not originally a "Junior Doctor Who" novel starring the Third Doctor with Jo and then quickly altered at the last moment to accommodate the Eighth Doctor and Sam. It wasn't, of course, as it was the subject of many an argument between the author and fans on the rec.arts.drwho newsgroup for quite a long time before its publication. The object of discussion was the infamous "retcon" that turned all of the post-Genesis stories on their heads. It's this that the book is most infamous for and I'll speak more about this later, but I'd first like to talk about the rest of the book.There are several ideas present in the book that could, if developed properly, have turned out very well. It would have been interesting to see the Doctor coming to terms with having accidentally wiped out an entire planet with more than just a shrug of his shoulders and a mumbling of, "Oh golly, I feel just awful about those guys." The scenario in which the Thals wished to turn themselves into Dalek-like creatures in order to survive and defeat the Daleks should have been a lot more interesting than it in fact turned out to be. The Doctor merely lectures the Thal leader for a few moments and then the whole matter is dropped from the book without any more expansion. There are some moments of actual interesting interaction that had the potential to develop into intriguing character development. Sam and a Thal war veteran discuss some of the aspects of a race totally dedicated to war with generations upon generations not knowing any other way of life. But instead of the conversations actually going somewhere philosophical or thought provoking, they are resolved with hackneyed dialog and banal observations. Every character is a two-dimensional cliché and each person can be entirely summed up in a word or a short phrase ("greedy", "dedicated, but questioning", "creepy", etc.). Even the Doctor is mostly faceless; the only way we know that it's the Eighth Doctor is that we don't go any more than three pages without being told how good-looking he is. It was certainly a relief when Davros was revived and was one of the only characters not to continually notice how attractive the new Doctor is. The rest of the book is mostly a confused mess. For example, the water planet on the fringes of the Dalek Empire is given the same name as the world that the Doctor is supposed to have destroyed (the editor should have caught this one). The book is so heavy in continuity references to previous Dalek adventures, that one almost needs some reference material in one hand while reading the book in the other in order to make sense of it. While the continuity points may alienate casual and non-fans, the hardcore fans are most likely annoyed that so many of the points are incorrect. The remains of the Dalek battlecruiser that was destroyed by the Hand of Omega near Earth in REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS are found floating thousands of light-years away in a seldom visited area of space with no explanation. REMEMBRANCE took place in 1963 (at least Peel didn't try to retcon away the year of the adventure), yet "about thirty years" later, Earth is supposed to have a giant space empire spanning a large portion of the galaxy. And worst of all, the Daleks actually find the Doctor's TARDIS unlocked, with all of its time-travel capabilities and other secrets available and the most interesting thing they can do is to plant a bomb inside in hopes of killing the Doctor. Now, onto the retcon. The only question that I have is: why? The story could have continued on perfectly well without it and would not have been bogged down for several pages while the Dalek Prime has to explain and re-explain the situation to a confused audience. It isn't needed for the story and only succeeds in making the Doctor and Davros look like complete morons for not noticing that a very important base of operations is suddenly a few thousand light-years away from where they thought it was. It really does not seem to have any reason to be in the book at all. It certainly reads as though the retcon was thought up first and then the rest of the book was structured to make it seem plausible. Even with all the thought that obviously went into devising this, it still does not adequately fit into the rest of the story. The jump from action to long, tortured explanation back to action feels very jarring. The last few chapters of the book are passable if only because at this point one knows to keep one's brain firmly in the locked "off" position. This is not recommended for grown-ups.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Juvenile, badly flawed, but still fun,
By
This review is from: War of the Daleks (Dr. Who Series) (Paperback)
I have seriously mixed feelings about "War of the Daleks". Despite it being clunky, juvenile and containing the most pointless continuity rewrite in the history of science fiction, it's still the only BBC Doctor Who novel (with the exception of "The Infinity Doctors") that I've read more than once. It's a guilty pleasure, like Godzilla movies. Reading it, you know that it's dumb, but you just can't stop. At least, I can't.
Throughout the novel, John Peel does a great job of showing us how good it could have been, as he breaks up the main plot with small vignettes from the greater galaxy as it grapples with the Dalek threat. These are gripping stuff indeed, epic adventures against an implacable and ruthless foe. The opening scene, a vast battle between the Daleks and Thal special forces, is equally gripping and for some reason reminds me of many of the scenes in Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". If the book had continued along those lines, it would have been superb; miltary SF in the Doctor Who universe is something we really haven't seen before, and Peel infuses the battle scenes with great tension and drama, whether they be between the Daleks and lone security agents, custodial robots or Draconian starships. He proves that he certainly has the ability to write this kind of stuff well, which is why the direction he takes with the rest of the novel is so irritating. In between the battle scenes, Peel manages to create some very interesting characters and then gives them very little to do. The Doctor, supposedly the hero of the story, literally does nothing to affect the plot at all throughout the entire book. Yes, he gets to solve problems, but it is plain that those problems are largely of no consequence and that most of the events of the novel would have occurred in exactly the same way were he present or not. Given that Peel's characterisation of the Doctor is extremely generic, I'm convinced the book would have been far better had it been written as a standalone book without the Doctor in it at all. The biggest problem with the book occurs when the plot moves to Skaro, the Dalek homeworld. Since the Doctor blew it up in the TV episode "Remembrance of the Daleks", the fact that it still exists drives what is left of the plot. It's at this point that pretty much all the characters switch their brains off and Peel reveals the real reason the book was written in the first place; to undo the destruction of Skaro as seen on TV. Apparently the creator of the Daleks, Terry Nation, objected to the destruction of the Dalek homeworld, despite okaying it for broadcast (he had script approval and the ability to veto anything he didn't like), and Peel took it upon himself to "undo" that event. To do so, he concocts the most bizarre, convoluted, risky and ultimately pointless conspiracy I've ever come across, rewrites over a decade of Doctor Who history and makes both the Doctor and Davros (the mad scientist who first engineered the Daleks) look like complete idiots. When the book was first published, the sound of Dalek fans all over the world going "huh?" was almost deafening. After waiting years for a new Dalek adventure, to be presented with something so mediocre that showed the skeleton of the classic it could have been was almost too much to take. And yet I keep re-reading it, almost as if I keep hoping that since the last time it'll have metamorphosed into the book it should have been. It's the literary equivalent of a dumb popcorn movie, complete with spectacular set pieces, implausible plot and dodgy acting. If I can keep my brain stunned into silence for the duration, I enjoy it. It's only when I start asking questions that I realise how bad this thing is. Still, if you - like me - love the Daleks and have been starved of new adventures for years, you could do worse than pick this up. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
GRAND IDEAS,
This review is from: War of the Daleks (Dr. Who Series) (Paperback)
This - the fifth book in the Eighth Doctor's adventures - fares better than the fourth, but is still a troubling read. Perhaps the worst of this book is the attempt to somehow join together nearly 30 years of Dalek history into one volume and have it all make sense... it dosen't, it can't, it won't - but that hasn't stopped John Peel from making a go at it. Much of the drama involved with the Daleks here actually reads more like Terry Nations's color weekly comic that was run in the the late 60's and early 70's - which features the Dalek Prime fighting for his right to rule against all comers - and just like the comic, the Daleks are given independent thought, will, voice and emotion - which totally contridicts everything we've come to know and even love about the Daleks from the series. Davros is dragged out once more and is put little or no use here - he is neither given any grand speeches or dramatic confrontations with the Doctor - which lessens both his place in the story and the Doctor's as well - both come across very dull, and these early 8th Doctor adventures still have not found their footing with their hero - coming across more like the 7th mixed with a poet (which is commented on a few times in the course of the book). Perhaps the weakest point in this whole story is Sam's teenage girl crush on the Doctor - it's uncomfortable when Peel relates how she blushes when the Doctor kisses her forehead, or how warm she feels towards him (ick - and if you're like me - then you might agree that the only one true love the Doctor might have ever had was in fact with Tegan - they worked so well together). But all is not lost - there are a few moments that work well, and one INTERLUDE that is just fantastic, well written and so interesting that I wish the entire book had been written in this manner - check out INTERLUDE: HESPERUS (pg: 213) to see what I mean. These early adventures may not be the best - but they are getting harder and harder to find, and always worth picking up as both a fan and a collector. Not perfect, but all is not lost.
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