Waterstones Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks

Author: Evil Genius

Rating: 5

Review: I bought the original paperback release back in 1991 on the strength of Gary Russell's excellent review and I was not disappointed. Here was story that took you into the mind of the Dalek psyche. We learnt about their language, their tactics, their perceptions. We learnt what it meant to be a Dalek. And then there was the Doctor himself, just how many games within games was he playing? Gone is the clown here and here is a being who is certainly more than just the sum of his parts. Special mention must go to the idea of beginning some chapters with short extracts of books such as 'The Children of Davros' and 'The Zen Military - A History of UNIT' which is a brilliant idea that adds rich background to the story. And the scenes on Ancient Gallifrey? Far from being a distraction, they just add to the mystique around the device and add yet another rich ingredient into this fine broth of a story. Aaronovich also captures the mood of the time with the casual racism and the Powellian fear of being overcome. All the characters are given colourful characterization and there is some sympathy even for those like Ratcliffe. Aaronovich can paint such vivid pictures even of scenes not shown on TV. Consider this extract from when the Hand of Omega arrived at Skaro: "Under the Plain of Swords, the beetles seemed to stir in their nests. In the sky above, the sun changed. One thousand million Daleks stopped. The rock leopards in the mountains howled in terror. The sky turned white hot. One thousand million Daleks cried out in defiance. Then the seas boiled, the metal cities of the Daleks ran like wax, and the atmosphere was blown away into space. Skaro died." How this writer has not written for new Who yet is a crime. Back in 1991 Gary Russell, in his review, said that this was the first Target (as it was then) novelization that a non-fan could pick up and become engaged in without knowing anything of the back story of the show and he's right.

Author: Christopher Long

Rating: 3

Review: When I was lad I sat in front of the TV and watched a funny man with a cool umbrella take on his greatest foes and I loved it. I loved his so eighties it hurt companion. I loved the explosion and the in jokes, that had to be explained to me. I loved the moment when a Dalek finally picked a fight with a flight of stairs and won and every grown up in the room went nuts. So when I decided to pick up some classic DW books, one for each Dr, I knew this would be my 7th Dr trip. Only...only the story wasn't as good as I remembered and the prose reads a little like dated FX. Which surprised me. I like the 7th Dr, well when he got interesting. And I thought this was a great Dalek story. And I like Aaronvitch's other stuff. But this didn't hold it for me. It was a slow read and the action felt a little too desperate. The Doctor feels a bit like a cypher instead of a character. Not that it was terrible. It just wasn't as good as I remembered.