Doctor Who: Amorality Tale by David Bishop

Doctor Who:

Amorality Tale

by David Bishop

***Some Reviews may Contain Spoilers***

BBC Books 2015 Edition

ISBN:  9781849909044

This novel, starring the 3rd Doctor, is a great outing for Doctor Who.  The story is focused on the final time of the 3rd Doctor as he is soon to regenerate.  The story is a time travel based story but not the kind that you have to work hard at.  It starts with the the Doctor already in the past, as a photograph he came across in the future of him in the past lead him there.  The characters are well written and the 3rd Doctor is portrayed very true to the actor's portrayal in the series.  The secondary and guest starring characters are multi-dimensional and contain various twists as well.  I was glad to see the story also be tied into the original historical events of the time, and based upon the author's note at the end, also based in actual historical locations.  Well done and well researched.  If you are a fan of the classic Doctor Who series, particularly the 3rd Doctor and / or Sarah Jane Smith, you will enjoy this story.

Four out of Five Stars

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Star Trek: The Original Series: Elusive Salvation by Dayton Ward

Star Trek The Original Series:

Elusive Salvation

by Dayton Ward

***Some Reviews may Contain Spoilers***

Pocket Books May 2016

ISBN:  9781501111297

This novel takes place during one of my preferences of the Star Trek mythology:  prior to Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Kahn but after the time of the original series.  The refit Enterprise is by far the best Enterprise in my opinion and that time period is very unexplored time in both the characters development and the Star Trek mythology as a whole.

The story portrays an Admiral Kirk, who despite what we see in the first and second movies, is quite well adjusted and enjoying his time as an Admiral.  His crew and friends are close and he is still able to take command of the Enterprise when he wants to go out on missions.  While this is not quite fitting into the character as we know him, seeing Admiral Kirk this way was fantastic and refreshing.

The book bounces back in time and back again.  (Extra spoiler alert) A couple of things stood out, one being the very ending where Roberta Lincoln detects Kirk and crew arriving in San Francisco of 1986.  After reading this short segment, I am just not sure why we didn't see Gary Seven in Star Trek IV.  I'm also confused as to why Gary and Roberta didn't try to prevent the whales from dying off and endangering the future of Earth when that was their mission from the Aegis.  So yes, I'm kind of shooting a small but important plot hole in the fourth movie.  Thanks to the author for this.  The second was that we have an aliens and alien tech on Earth, and like the echos of the the Eugenics War novels, current events were utilized to play into the Star Trek universe.

Very creative and a fun fast past story set in the timeline of the mythology many fans want to see more of.  A good read for pre-summer.

Rating 4 out of 5 Stars

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