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chicafrom3Two more down!
The Seventh Doctor and Ace visit a beach resort on a colony planet for rest and recuperation, only for it to be invaded by an unstoppable alien force. Set immediately after Matrix.
Oof. Intense. The Krill are excellent foes, most of the supporting characters work well (Ace gets a boyfriend of the week who's pretty okayalthough he would've worked better as a girlfriend of the week), but the main thing that makes it work is the way it deals with the fallout from Matrix. Both Ace and the Doctor are reeling from their experiences in the (alternate? virtual? i'm still not sure) Victorian London, and the Doctor's betrayal of Ace there. While they both pretend to each other to be okay, it takes them most of the book to actually come to terms and really repair their friendship.
I'm also quite fond of Ace's recurring worry that she's abusing Rajid's interest in her by making him her companion.
The plot loses the thread briefly (still not totally sure of the point of the revolution on the Cythosi ship ship, given that it ended with everyone dead), but mostly trotted along well without balls being dropped; all the threads were tied up in the end.
The Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe accidentally stumble into the final confrontation in the war between humans and Selachians, and must figure out how to get out with their lives intact and without changing history.
Notably, this is the first PDA to feature Zoe.
A pretty brutal war novel. Everyone but team TARDIS ends up dead. Jamie spends most of the book insisting the Selachians are monsters so they might as well just wipe them out, then befriends one and tries to help deactivate the bomb that's going to destroy the Selachians' home planet. Zoe spends most of the book in captivity being starved and tortured. The Doctor spends most of the book bouncing between camps, helplessly trying to figure out how to a) save Jamie and Zoe, b) try not to get killed himself, and c) try not to change history because this is (what would later come to be called in New Who) a fixed point in history, a goal he eventually gives up on in favor of the first two points; he does in fact change the events that happen at Ockara pretty drastically, although since everyone there dies the big picture of history remains unchanged.
It's brutal.
I will say I thought Zoe's fellow prisoner Paterson was going to turn out to be seriously untrustworthy in some way -- directly stab her in the back -- and he did not. So that was a positive.
Our team TARDIS spent almost the entire book separated from each other so there's not a lot of character interaction to comment on. The interactions they had with their supporting characters was pretty great -- Zoe stepped up as a leader with her fellow prisoners (she gets a lovely moment where she draws on what the Doctor would do, and then hopes that she comes off as more confident and less transparent than he does); Jamie befriends one of his fellow soldiers/COs and then the Selachian prisoner and the way those two friendships conflict is really wonderfully done; the Doctor deals with all of the people in charge (and his continuing efforts to get Mulholland to confront her with responsibilities with the G-bomb, and the eventual payoff from that, is heartbreaking).
But the reunion is worth it:
The Seventh Doctor and Ace visit a beach resort on a colony planet for rest and recuperation, only for it to be invaded by an unstoppable alien force. Set immediately after Matrix.
Oof. Intense. The Krill are excellent foes, most of the supporting characters work well (Ace gets a boyfriend of the week who's pretty okay
I'm also quite fond of Ace's recurring worry that she's abusing Rajid's interest in her by making him her companion.
The plot loses the thread briefly (still not totally sure of the point of the revolution on the Cythosi ship ship, given that it ended with everyone dead), but mostly trotted along well without balls being dropped; all the threads were tied up in the end.
Smiling, he tousled her hair. "This hasn't turned out to be much of a holiday, has it?" he said apologetically.
Ace grinned. "It's wicked, Professor," she said.
The Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe accidentally stumble into the final confrontation in the war between humans and Selachians, and must figure out how to get out with their lives intact and without changing history.
Notably, this is the first PDA to feature Zoe.
A pretty brutal war novel. Everyone but team TARDIS ends up dead. Jamie spends most of the book insisting the Selachians are monsters so they might as well just wipe them out, then befriends one and tries to help deactivate the bomb that's going to destroy the Selachians' home planet. Zoe spends most of the book in captivity being starved and tortured. The Doctor spends most of the book bouncing between camps, helplessly trying to figure out how to a) save Jamie and Zoe, b) try not to get killed himself, and c) try not to change history because this is (what would later come to be called in New Who) a fixed point in history, a goal he eventually gives up on in favor of the first two points; he does in fact change the events that happen at Ockara pretty drastically, although since everyone there dies the big picture of history remains unchanged.
It's brutal.
I will say I thought Zoe's fellow prisoner Paterson was going to turn out to be seriously untrustworthy in some way -- directly stab her in the back -- and he did not. So that was a positive.
Our team TARDIS spent almost the entire book separated from each other so there's not a lot of character interaction to comment on. The interactions they had with their supporting characters was pretty great -- Zoe stepped up as a leader with her fellow prisoners (she gets a lovely moment where she draws on what the Doctor would do, and then hopes that she comes off as more confident and less transparent than he does); Jamie befriends one of his fellow soldiers/COs and then the Selachian prisoner and the way those two friendships conflict is really wonderfully done; the Doctor deals with all of the people in charge (and his continuing efforts to get Mulholland to confront her with responsibilities with the G-bomb, and the eventual payoff from that, is heartbreaking).
But the reunion is worth it:
With a cry of useless defiance Jamie tackled the nearest figure, expecting to hit hard metal. Instead, his victim wailed and collapsed beneath the young Highlander's weight.
Confused, Jamie blinked and tried to focus on the pale blob of the figure's face, beneath him. Gradually it gained definition, and became very familiar indeed.
"Yes, Jamie," spluttered the Doctor, "I'm very pleased to see you too."
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