Doctor Who: Silhouette

Doctor Who:

Silhouette

by Justin Richards

***Some Reviews may Contain Spoilers***

Crown Publishing Group:  Fall 2014

ISBN:  9780804140881

Ever wish a book was an actual movie or television episode? This book is exactly that one that, once read, is definitely falling into that category.  Especially with the weak writing of Series 8 Doctor Who adventures.

The book is well written, and for an early book on the 12th Doctor, is a great portrayal of this version of the Doctor thus far in literary form.  I also am pleased that we see Vastra, Jenny and Strax in this adventure also portrayed very well minus the lesbian piece between Jenny and Vastra.  This is a novel my 12 year old can read and enjoy as a result.

Kudos to the creative use of the monsters, and unlike the many monsters in Doctor Who, the redemption quality at the end for them.  Also enjoyed was the final ending of the main bad guy as well, justice being served in great fashion.

The book is a fast paced story, and falling short of 250 pages, one can enjoy this one over a long weekend with some time to spare.  The plot does keep the reader guessing as to what will happen and how much of the seemingly fragmented story will tie together in the end.  One of the bad guys seemed to mimic a monster from an episode, so that helped in  retaining the guessing as to the plot.  Humor was well used here.  A scene most enjoyed was when one of the monsters attempts at 'connecting' with the Doctor using vague impressions of...well the reader will have to see.  The 12th Doctor's one liners are also present here which adds to this author's genuine grasp of the 12th Doctor.

While some depth was present, particularly for the Doctor in his 12th incarnation, much of the characters are not as explored as could have been.  It is appreciated that the companion, Clara, was put into the background in this adventure for parts of the story in order for the reader to enjoy some 12th Doctor time.  This again was nice as so much of Series 8 was disappointingly focused on Clara and the Doctor as the focus remains well missed in the television episodes.

All in all, a great adventure and a good first outing to be reviewed on the 12th doctor.

4 out of 5 Stars

Star Trek: Foul Deeds will Rise

Star Trek:

Foul Deeds will Rise

By Greg Cox

***Some Reviews May Contain Spoilers***

Pocket Books:  November 2014

ISBN:  978-1-4767-8324-6

This novel is an original Star Trek crew adventure and falls during the time between Star Trek V:  The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country Films aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.

The novel explores the question, much like the author asks in his afterword, whatever happened to Lenore Karidian and what would happen if she and Captain Kirk met so many years later.  Of course, it was a nice surprise to see our former Lieutenant Kevin Riley present in this story as well since he was in the original episode, "The Conscience of the King," that featured Karidian and the story of Kodos the Executioner that birthed the author's questions.

In reading this novel, it was refreshing that we didn't have a basic shoot them aliens story line so common in today's sci-fi.  The plot was well done and creative in some aspects such as how the assassination piece included an idea from another classic Star Trek episode.

The story had a cool breakup of characters as well with Spock being paired with Scotty, which isn't often a matching seen between those characters.  This lead to the story being expansive in some ways, and allowing for the plot to be bigger and the problems faced by the crew to be multifaceted rather than singular focused.  While some aspects of the plot were a bit predictable as it was a 'peace talks gone wrong with an assassination' it was cleverly done with a semi-quick plot and developed characters.

Once again, kudos to the author, Greg Cox, for another fantastic voyage with my favorite crew.  His work has been enjoyable and often quite true to the Star Trek mythology.

Rating 4 out of 5

Star Trek:

Q are Coridally Uninvited

by Rudy Josephs

***Some reviews contain spoilers.***

Pocket Books:  October 2014

ISBN:  9781476778822

The edition reviewed is the Nook edition.

This is the tale of the wedding between Captain Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher as noted in the expanded Star Trek universe.  The return of the Q villian in this story is most welcome, and honestly, it is probably the best way to tell this story.

The positives of this story is that it is too the point, not drawn out and there is no overused and overdone story of the potential groom rescuing potential bride.  It was very well done in avoiding that storyline.  There is a small amount of humor and it was good to see Lady Q appear and add some twists to the Q we all know and enjoy.  It is also a nice touch that we are not exposed to more 'kill the aliens' storyline as most of Star Trek has been turned into in the past decade.  There is a small yet still present feeling of exploration and discovery in this story which is very much welcomed.

The downside to this story is that it is short and only an e-novella.  Most of the main characters from 'The Next Generation' are not present except in an early chapter.  The piece where Lady Q transports Dr. Crusher seemed a bit to convenient and easy, most likely due to restrictions on story length perhaps, so it seemed a quick fix and a bit cheesy for the plot.

All in all, a quick story that is a fun outing.  It is also a good look at the marriage of two characters that some 'Next Generation' fans have longed for next to the marriage of Deanna Troi and William Riker.

This is a recommend read by Star Trek fans.

Rating is 4 out of 5.

Star Trek:

Lust's Latinum Lost (and Found)

by Paula M. Block and Terry Erdmann

***Some reviews contain spoilers.***

Pocket Books September 2014

ISBN:  978-1-47677-931-7

This is a short e-novella type of Star Trek book.  It is only available electronically.  The version reviewed is the Nook version; however, there is no known difference between versions.

This book was a disappointing Star Trek novel.  While it follows the character of Quark in the expanded Deep Space Nine Universe, it is mostly a book that focuses on Quark's desire to purchase the rights to a holosuite program in the character's favorite series called "Vulcan Love Slave."  The book itself is not for children at all, as it has some strong sexual content.  It's also a story that is basically about Quark chasing after his own lusts.  In the end, it appears that an attempt to justify it by making Quark's pursuit a bit costly and not exactly what the character bargained for.  While that seems to be the standard Quark storyline moral lesson, it was just not worth an entire book.  In terms of Star Trek, this is a disappointingly poor story, and offers little to no insight into the expanded universe of Deep Space Nine.  With a new station and changes in characters, a novel like this would have been better off giving us more of a sneak peek of this newly improved expanded Star Trek universe of Deep Space Nine.

In addition to being a missed opportunity to psych the folks up to the newly updated Expanded Star Trek universe, this was also just terrible to read in relation to the topic at hand.  It was simply not entertaining to read about twisted sexual desires of a Ferengi, Quark, who is notorious for his old school Ferengi values of objectifying women and chasing profit.  Just not the quality reading hoped for by Star Trek fans.

This book is not recommended.  Nothing is gained by reading it and nothing is missed by not reading it.

Rating 1 out of 5

Doctor Who:

Engines of War

by George Mann

***Reviews may contain some spoilers.***

BBC Books July 2014

ISBN 978-1-4767-5308-9

This is the first official War Doctor Novel detailing an adventure of the War Doctor during the Time War.  This adventure has most of the elements that one would expect with a Doctor Who Adventure.

The key element of the story is the planet Moldox which is located near a giant space - time anomaly.  As with any Doctor Who story, the plot twists and turns as you go.  Part of the story lands on Gallifrey and back on Moldox while you guess at who is actually on the Doctor's side.  It is a fascinating look at the Timelord leaderrship during the Time War as well as what weapons they had developed in order to survive.  One of the coolest was the possibility engine, which was a timelord that was connected to the matrix and caught in a regeneration cycle.

The companion was a young female fighter named Cinder, and to be honest, I suspected her fate from the opening just based on the tone of the novel.  It is a darker Doctor, and a darker story, which leaves little room for the humor that we have come to associate with the characters and storylines of Doctor Who.  In place of the humor there is a significant amount of action that keeps the story moving, and it is a quick read through despite the page count being over 300.

The only thing in this story that might have been a nice touch would have been the appearance of Leeta, the fourth Doctor's companion.  The part of Gallifrey the War Doctor visits just seemed to scream Leeta's appearance yet we didn't have it, although the story may have become much more complex than desired by the author.

The one lacking element is the development of the War Doctor as a character.  In this novel, he seemed a little flat as a character.  One would expect to see him be munching on Jelly Babies or some version of that for this doctor's incarnation.  Perhaps a favorite trinket like the Second Doctor's recorder or a favorite saying like 'bowties are cool' to give him more of a standout from his other characters.  Although this may have been overlooked intentionally for fear of taking from the dark character that is the War Doctor.

It is hoped to see another adventure from this author as well as from the character of the War Doctor.

The book is a 4 out 5.

Star Trek: Section 31 Disavowed by David Mack

Star Trek:

Section 31 Disavowed

by David Mack

***Reviews do contain some spoilers***

Pocket Books October 2014

ISBN 978-1-4767-5308-9

This is the latest Star Trek novel release from Pocket Books.  This outing continues with the expanded universe mythology of Star Trek, going past the Star Trek:  Nemesis time period by a few years.

In this outing, the storyline focuses on Doctor Bashir following the events in the novel series Star Trek:  The Fall.  Essentially, Doctor Bashir and Serena Douglas continue their desire to take on the shadow organization of Section 31.

During the original run of Star Trek Deep Space Nine on television, the Bashir character was well known to be interested in spy life, particularly of 'old earth' in movies and other forms of entertainment.  It made sense to have Bashir's character eventually be involved in cloak and dagger activities in some fashion, and Star Trek's Section 31 series of novels is the best way to do it.  Many years ago, there was a crossover set of four novels based on Section 31 and this novel appears to be a loosely based sequel on that concept.

The highlight of this novel is a trip into the mirror universe and a chance to see how that universe has developed and changed since we last visited there a few novels ago.  It was also great to see a neat space - time loop occur at the end of the novel that wrapped up a piece of the story regarding a crashed ship.

The struggle I have with this novel, as with many works set in the Star Trek Universe currently, is that the exploration of new worlds and deep storylines that wrestle with moral issues and promote character development do not seem to be there anymore.  This novel is not an exception.  It is a fast paced story with a lot of action that honestly is better suited for a Star Wars novel rather than someone who prefers classic Star Trek such as myself.

Don't misunderstand this review, objectively it is a well written novel with some character development and a plot line that is fun to follow.  For a great action novel, set in a sci-fi realm, this is a good one.  As far as good Star Trek goes, this novel is far from that.  It misses the target of exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations.