Review: Doctor Who: Made of Steel by Terrance Dicks

[wshaffer]

Doctor Who: Made of Steel by Terrance Dicks


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book is really pretty good for what it is. It's a quick, easy read, and evokes some nostalgic memories of reading Dicks's novelizations when I was younger. Dicks writes a pretty good Tenth Doctor, though I was less happy with his characterization of Martha - at one point, he has her flummoxed by the term "teleportation device", but any companion savvy enough to reference the grandfather paradox on her first trip to the past has got to have enough sci-fi familiarity to know what a teleportation device is.

I am amused that Dicks makes reference to an untelevised adventure in which the Doctor and Martha visited Vesuvius. Someone out there really ought to write some fanfic which has the 7th Doctor and Mel, 10th Doctor and Martha, and 10th Doctor and Donna all racing around Pompeii and just missing each other.

View all my reviews >>

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I've found the writers on the novelizations really hit or miss on Martha characterization. I did enjoy the one called Peacemaker quite a bit, although that was largely due to the old West setting, which was brilliant. :)

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I think Martha is trickier to write than some companions. She's got a real strength of character, but she's not loudly feisty like some companions. And she's smart and geeky, but not a super-science genius. It takes some work to capture the nuances.

Yeah, I think Peacemaker might be my favorite of the New Series novels that I've read so far. Although the one with the pirate space badgers (I'm blanking on the title) would be a close second.

[nimbusxl.livejournal.com]

That was The Pirate Loop.
I tend to follow the novels on audio rather then paper and naturally the characterisation of Martha comes across better on these because the narrators are trying to act like Freema Agyeman acts Martha (in a few Freema herself is narrating so of course Martha is even more accurate)
But of course the Quick reads weren't adapted to audio and I was dissapointed in both Made of Steel and Revenge of The Judoon, both by Terence Dicks, I thought it was a poor grasp on Martha, in Made of Steel this is more forgiveable because in some strange twist this book ws out on shelves before 'Smith and Jones' had even aired, so Dicks mightn't have been as familiar with Martha as he should have.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

You're right - I hadn't thought of the timing of Made of Steel, but Dicks did pretty well for someone who probably only saw a script or a synopsis of "Smith and Jones".

I go back and forth between audio and paper editions of the books. The performances on the audios add a lot to the books, but it bothers me a bit that the audio versions are abridged.