The Nathaniel Pages

Book #29: 7 August, 2009 to 8 September, 2009

Sting of the Zygons ~ Stephen Cole

This is another Doctor Who novelisation, featuring the Doctor in his tenth incarnation and with Martha as his companion. I wasn't too sure about this book initially, it didn't seem like it was going to be too great, although it did have a bonus in that it featured a new baddie. At least, the Zygons were new to me but the inference in the book is that the Doctor has met up with them before. I presume that's a reference either to a classic episode or even an earlier book as the acknowledgements mentions the book, Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster (DWL040). I've not yet read that book so I don't know if that features the Zygons or not, but I presume that some of that plot links in with the plot of this book. It's nice when that happens, when writers take the time to link up some of the novels, as long as those of us who haven't read the earlier novels yet don't miss out on anything!

It was quite an interesting read, although I don't think it was one of the best Doctor Who novels. There was an incredible amount of secondary characters, and I kept getting mixed up with who was who, or even who wasn't who. The Doctor's characterisation seemed to be kind of flat, it wasn't as good as I've seen him written in other books, although Martha wasn't done too badly. None of the secondary characters seemed to be anything much, I think a lot of that was that there was just too many of them for one to stand out or for the author to put more into. I've made a comment before about how the secondary characters in Stephen Cole's books have been very bland and two-dimensional, and that he's had trouble writing the character of the Doctor - certainly more with Ten than with Nine.

Spoiler alert - if you've not read this book and you want to, there are some spoilers in the following review.
( Here be spoilers )

Not one of the better Doctor Who novels that I've read, but I don't think it's among the worst. I don't seem to be able to get on with Stephen Cole's books though, which is worth noting for the future.

Book #28: 26 July, 2009 to 23 August, 2009

Superior Saturday ~ Garth Nix

This is the sixth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. It's been some time since I read the first five but I soon got back into the plot quite easily. As with all the other books, this one continues on from the events of the previous one - in this case, it starts only a little time after the end of Lady Friday. I do like this technique; it throws you straight back into the story which can be a good thing if you're able to remember where the last one left off, but on the other hand, can be terribly confusing if you can't. I think it makes the books more of a series as they all run together rather than being separated by weeks, months or even years as in the case of other series.

Although Leaf had started to be introduced in earlier books, in this one she plays a very minor role, only being included at the very start and the very end. It's hard to tell from that what kind of part she will play in the next and final book.

In my review of Lady Friday, I wondered what would happen with Arthur's change into a Denizen but it seems quite clear in this book that he has gone too far down that road now. There are several references to how much taller he is now and also how handsome he has become. I do still wonder if he is going to be trapped in the House forever at the end of the series, it doesn't seem at all fair to remove him from his family like that, even if he was going to be taken away from them by Death in the first book had he not gone into the House.

I think out of all of the books so far, I enjoyed this one the most. It may have helped that I had such a long break between reading Lady Friday and this one but I also think that part of it is down to the fact that the series is coming to an end. There did seem to be a sense of urgency and speed in the pace of this book and it was hard to put it down quite often because I was so engrossed in it. It does end on more or less a literal cliffhanger and so it will certainly be interesting to see where Lord Sunday picks up. The book isn't due to be published till March 1, 2010 so there's some time to wait before we find out.

Book #26: 4 August, 2009 to 7 August, 2009

The Stone Rose ~ Jacqueline Rayner

This is the first Doctor Who novelisation that features the Doctor in his tenth incarnation, and it also has Rose as his companion. I've sort of read this book before, but when I say read, I mean, listened to the audio book which is read by David Tennant. Even though it's several months since I did that, if not longer, I had a pretty good idea of the general plot although I'd forgotten most of it. It did come back to me as I read it though but I still enjoyed it.

For the first book featuring Ten, it's a very good choice. I think the character is very well captured here, there's a lot of his energy and babbling and rapid thought processes. I think this has got to be the first time in either the books or the programme that the Doctor changes his outfit! It's certainly a shame that this wasn't an episode, I quite like the idea of Ten in a little Roman number that comes down to his knees. Rose is also well written and the supporting characters are quite good too.

The plot is enjoyable and quite intriguing. There's a little bit of going back and forth in time which could be a little bit confusing, although I think more so for the audio book rather than the eBook. There's also lots of possible paradoxes which can tie your brain in knots if you try to work them through, so it's possibly better to just go with them. I know that reading it this time round, it did make an awful lot more sense and I had a better idea of what was going on.

I do have to say that when the instigator, for want of a better word, was revealed, it was a bit strange and really very silly. Up until that point, I'd thought it was a really good book but that just kind of spoilt it for me. It was still very typical Doctor Who fare but it was one of their more silly episodes than anything else and as such a bit of a letdown. Quite a shame really because the part of the book before that had been so very dramatic and serious but the instigator was the complete opposite. It was like having a series of brutal grisly murders but finding out that the killer was a malfunctioning teddy bear. It was still very well written and a good read despite the ending.

I did really badly this month. I only managed to finish 2 books! Now that it's past the halfway mark of the year - and isn't that a scary thought - I can see how badly I'm doing and how much I need to catch up to make the target of 50 books this year. I've not even got halfway through that amount so I'm really going to have to pull my socks up!
Total completed: 24 down, 26 to go.

Books Completed
Deviant Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
The Shakespeare Secret - J.L. Carrell

Books ongoing
Traditional Tales From Long Long Ago ~ Philip Wilson
Boston City Guide ~ Mara Vorhees and John Spelman
Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide ~ Kate Bornstein
Superior Saturday ~ Garth Nix

Book #24: 2 July, 2009 to 25 July, 2009

The Shakespeare Secret - J.L. Carrell

I saw this book back at the beginning of the year in Waterstones and nearly picked it up to buy but decided not to. I put it on my To Read list though and finally managed to get it from the library. When I read the blurb on the back of the book, I wasn't sure why I'd wanted to read it because it was listed under crime and seemed to be pretty much about finding a killer who murdered people by copying the way Shakespeare killed off his characters. I'm not a big fan of crime books and don't generally read them but for some reason, I decided to give this one a go. I'm glad I did. The blurb does not do the story justice and for some reason, it concentrates solely on the fact that people are being killed but not the reason why which I would have thought is the more interesting part to include.

Spoiler alert - if you've not read this book and you want to, there are some spoilers in the following review.
( Here be spoilers )
It's definitely a good read though and certainly a page-turner. I was really disappointed by the ending which was quite a let-down and certainly not the way I was expecting it to turn out. The little epilogue at the end is also nothing more than pure syrup. I'd recommend this book though, especially to those who like Shakespeare.

Book #23: 15 July, 2009 to 22 July, 2009

Deviant Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)

This is another Doctor Who novelisation, this time featuring Nine and Rose along with Jack. I originally started reading it way back in November last year, but stopped it halfway through. I'd been reading it at work and hadn't finished the book when I left. I needed something to read at work for my current job so this was my first choice. I couldn't remember any of what had happened so I had to start it again from the beginning.

It's set in a small village in a remote part of Russia which has more or less been completely abandoned by everyone, including the military, despite the nuclear submarines they've left there! However, the village has a much bigger problem than that.

This is quite an enjoyable read, and although at first it doesn't seem to be anything other than a run of the mill hidden spaceship with aliens attacking kind of story, later on there's also zombies and a woman who won't die. And let's not forget the nuclear submarines! Initially it does seem pretty clear cut what the plot is going to be as soon as the blob creatures appear, but towards the end there are so many plot twists that I thought the book was never going to finish. It was as if the writer couldn't decide on the ending and so put them all in!

I think it's certainly an engrossing read although like most Doctor Who novelisations, it's not brilliant writing, the style is pretty simplistic and not particularly taxing to read. The characterisations weren't too bad; the Doctor was fairly brusque which is about right for this incarnation but I thought Rose was a bit lacking. Jack shows his softer side in this story
which is interesting and I did think at the end that it was a shame that Valeria's condition wasn't reversed.

Book #22: 27 June, 2009 to 30 June, 2009

Wetworld ~ Mark Michalowski

This is another Doctor Who novelisation, this time with Martha as the companion. In this one, the TARDIS lands on a planet called Sunday which is quite amusing considering the Doctor's later comment to Donna that he never lands on Sundays because he finds them boring. Not so this Sunday! The TARDIS ends up in a swamp where there's a creature who is extremly interested in the human colonists on the planet, but that's not all.

I found this book to be quite a good read and certainly kept me engrossed. I managed to finish it in three days flat which is some indication of how much I enjoyed it, I think. The characterisations of the Doctor and Martha are pretty good; this book has more of the manic Doctor but it's not overdone and does seem to capture him quite well. The supporting characters are possibly a little less rounded but still well-written and I think the character of Ty came out better than the rest. I do think the show book was stolen by the otters though. When they're introduced, it's pointed out that they're similar to Earth otters but with some marked differences. It's only discovered much later on exactly how marked these differences are and I certainly wasn't expecting them to be quite so different. I'm not sure whether it was just a tad too far-fetched but if it was, it didn't bother me or put me off. They were still very cute and it was such a shame that the only image of them was in my head.

The plot is typical Doctor Who fare - mysterious creature attacking the population and the companion gets captured within two seconds of the opening - but I think it's got a little twist in the way it's handled here. The creature in the swamp is particularly gruesome and there are some moments that made me think I probably should not be reading it before going to bed! I did wonder how Martha felt about spending a good portion of the book running around in nothing more than a hospital gown and badly fitting pair of slippers but it didn't seem to bother her. I think this was a pretty decent book, and a nice revist to Classic Who albeit in a New Who way.

Book #20: 18 May, 2009 to 4 June, 2009

Beautiful Chaos ~ Gary Russell

Spoiler alert - if you've not read this book and you want to, there are some spoilers in the following review.

This is a Doctor Who novelisation and features the Tenth Doctor with Donna as his companion. I'm not a big fan of Donna at all - actually, I completely dislike her - so choosing to read a novelisation with her in is a bit tricky. I've only read one before, but in that one, Donna was mostly unconscious and barely featured in the book at all so that was fine. I wasn't expecting any such luck with this one. However, it also featured Wilf so that was a bit of a bonus. The characters weren't too badly written. I thought Wilf was particularly well done but I wasn't too sure about the others. The Doctor seemed a bit flat and lacking his usual spark and I suppose the same could be said for Donna too. Donna's mum is also featured and although comes across as her usual brash self, there are also some softer moments as well as an explanation for her behaviour which is quite nicely done and certainly something that could have added to her character in the actual TV series. There's also a new character, Netty, who is Wilf's girlfriend and nicely written.

The book starts off with a little prologue which sets where it sits within the timeline of the fourth series which I found to be quite helpful. It made me wish that the other books did the same thing. It also finishes with an epilogue which returns to the earlier timeframe of the prologue as a summary and explanation of what had gone before.
( Here be spoilers )
All in all, it's quite a decent book and certainly one of the better novelisations. I do think I would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't had Donna as the companion because I just found her to be very irritating with her constant 'skinny' and 'martian boy' comments and it's even more annoying on paper.

I've done quite well this month and managed to complete five books. Unfortunately, as I did so badly in April, I'm still a little behind target but I've got a large stack of books from the library that I'm working my way through so that should up my total. I've got plenty of time to catch up though so I'm not worried. Yet.
Total completed: 19 down, 31 to go.

Books Completed
The Stealers of Dreams ~ Steve Lyons
The Secret Supper ~ Javier Sierra
The Black Book of Secrets ~ F.E. Higgins
The Accidental Mother ~ Rowan Coleman
City of Bones ~ Cassandra Clare

Books ongoing
Traditional Tales From Long Long Ago ~ Philip Wilson
Boston City Guide ~ Mara Vorhees and John Spelman
Deviant Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide ~ Kate Bornstein
Beautiful Chaos ~ Gary Russell

Book #18: 19 May, 2009 to 24 May, 2009

The Accidental Mother ~ Rowan Coleman

I only read this book because there was nothing on TV so I wanted something to read and this was at hand. It's not really the kind of thing I like to read at all and I didn't really think a great deal of it.

The story is of a young woman with a perfect life as a party planner. Unlike most stories of this kind, she doesn't have a boyfriend because she is unable to read men's signals and realise that they are attracted to her. At least that was a bit different. Then, out of nowhere, she finds out that her best friend has died suddenly in a car crash and she has been named as the legal guardian of the two children. She has to learn not only how to look after children, but how to become a working mother and fit her perfect job round them.

It still seemed to be pretty typical of its genre. Even with the being unable to pick up on men's interest aspect, it still ended up exactly the way I thought it would. I could see the ending coming from halfway through the book. I found the initial part where she was learning about dealing with the children was rather unrealistic but also most of it was cut out with a simple 'two weeks later...'. If you like these kind of books, it's probably a great read, but I didn't really enjoy it at all.