Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Published Mary Sue?, April 22, 2007
In Fan Fiction, a "Mary Sue" is a clichéd character that the author creates as a way of putting herself into the story. Mary Sue is often faster, smarter, stronger, and more talented than the main characters, and she flawlessly complements them in every way. The story usually revolves around her and it is her brilliant plan that saves the day. In addition, she is frequently the love interest of one or more main characters, who forsake all others to worship at her feet.
From the moment I started this story, James struck me as wrong and out of place. He is a new character to the universe, yet the other characters treat him as if he has always been there. He is stronger and faster, his actions save the day once or twice, and too much of the story centers on him. Worse yet, Gwen is madly in love with him and ready to leave Rhys to be at James' side. In fact, everyone adores James and he seems to have few flaws, if any, making him very Marty Stu-like, the male equivalent of a Mary Sue.
All of this is resolved in the end and everything is returned to normal, or whatever passes for "normal" in the Torchwood universe. However, like others, I found the story somewhat fractured and haphazard. A normal Torchwood story would focus on one or more main characters' reactions to the events around them. Unfortunately, James substituted for a main character for too much of the story, making for a very distracting and disjointed read.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A little disappointing...., March 3, 2007
This would probably rank closer to a 4 star rating if I'd never actually seen any of the BBC television series Torchwood that the story is based on. However, since I have seen the show, and read the first much more superior (in my humble opinion) Torchwood book (Another Life) by Dan Anghelides, I was left feeling rather disappointed when I finished this one.
The story itself showed some potential in places, hence the 3-star rating, but tends to be a bit of a disjointed read. Some of the scenes that can be described as a secondary story to the primary action never really get developed so they come across as being little more than filler. Perhaps the author had to reach a certain word/page count and that was the reason, but it could have all been edited out easily without impacting the main story at all. Or, better yet, the author could have taken the time to flesh out the secondary story so that it tied in more cohesively with the main story arc.
It's actually hard to give a proper synopsis of the book without giving away any of the major plot devices, so here's just a basic rundown of events our plucky cast of characters survive throughout the story. Alien lifeforms that nest in the noses of unsuspecting human hosts, more relationship issues for newbie Gwen, mysterious 11-dimensional sudoku wanna-be free thinking alien games that turn people within a certain range of it into kind of zombie-ish beings, a genocidal sentient robot, a mysterious reappearing church that was demolished 100+ years ago, and of course more alien encounters. Whew, quite a lot to cover in a mere 254 pages.
Don't let my negative rambling above mislead you though, the book isn't really a bad read. I just had some higher expectations based off of what I enjoyed from the first novelization as well as the show.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Torchwood novel without Torchwood, June 7, 2007
The best way to describe this particular novel is really, the Torchwood novel without Torchwood. There is little to no character interaction that does not concern the original character which the author has inserted into every facet of the story. Of the actual (series-based) Torchwood cast of characters, Gwen is the only one who is mostly in-character and in any amount of scenes.
Entire sections of the story, such that it is, are left unexplored because they do not concern the "James" character, who turns out - predictably - to be the most important character in the story and the focus of the limited plot.
Overall, I'd give this story a skip and focus on the much better Torchwood: Another Life. You won't miss it.
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