It's a shame, then, that it really is a rather awful slab of pulp.

I should say, first off, that this isn't really Gary's fault. The book's major flaw is the fact that it's written for preteens, and I think I'm safe in thinking that this wasn't Gary's decision. Whoever did make the decision clearly had little idea of what he or she was dealing with, because this fact in of itself completely ruins any attempt Gary made at producing a quality piece of writing. Not only has Doctor Who fandom in general matured since the early days of the Target novelizations when he books actually were written for a younger audience (just look at the novelizations of "The Curse of Fenric" and "Remembrance of the Daleks" and tell me if *they're* aimed at the same audience as this book!), but so has the content of the programme. The movie is clearly aimed at an older, even adult, audience and to try to shoehorn that into a book written for nine year-olds is ridiculous. Consequently, many of the passages come off completely wrong, and give he proceedings and almost farcical air.

I can't completely absolve Gary of blame, however. The prose lacks any kind of energy or spirit, rather unfortunately recalling the Dicks-o-Matic releases of the late Seventies. And while Gary does do good by mixing in some additional scenes, for the most part these just don't work very well and seem like excuses for Gary to namecheck his friends (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with namechecking, of course :-)). The scene where Gareth meets Sophie (presumably intended to be the girl we see kissing him at the end of the telefilm), or instance, could have been a nice chance to expand the characterization of an incidental character, but just comes off hokey and melodramatic.

That said, Gary does make some nice additions. There are a reference or two to the New Adventures, for instance, and a greater (and, fortunately, not gratuitous) use of Doctor Who continuity in general, which is pleasing to us veterans but shouldn't at all interfere with newcomers' abilities to understand the book. Gary also (fortunately) sheds a bit more light on some of the major plot points of the movie, which were glossed over far too much onscreen; an explanation of the Master's snake form, for instance, is most welcome, and proves perfectly sensible.

The characterization is, of course, essentially the same as we saw it onscreen; these passages are largely Matthew Jacobs' words, not Gary's. Indeed, it must be said that when Gary does diverge from the dialogue heard onscreen, it often feels wooden and unnatural. Gary does do a good job of making up for the absence of actors, however, as the Doctor and the Master in particular come off well, and Chang Lee is perhaps even better characterized here than in the telefilm, as the opportunity to look into his thoughts explains away some of the apparent illogic in his reactions onscreen (his sudden turning against the Master, for instance).

All in all, however, the novelization is an unfortunate and vacuous piece of writing. No doubt hamstrung by the restrictions on the book's target audience, Gary has churned out a thoroughly uninspired work which is certainly not representative of his previous books -- even though I didn't really like either "Legacy" or "Cat-People", both were far better than this. The novelization is an inauspicious start to BBC Books' involvement in Doctor Who novels; I can only hope they iron out the kinks before the regular series start in mid-1997.

3/10.

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