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Rating: 
Summary: Dining in the 10th Millennium
Review: Craig Hinton's first Doctor Who novel, The Crystal Bucephalus, sees the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough whisked away from their dinner, finding themselves in the middle of a time-travelling restaurant in the 10th millennium, accused of murder. There are gangs, cults, scientist love triangles, and even the odd Silurian, Alpha Centauri and Sontaran. To complicate things, it seems the Doctor owns the restaurant, as the result of an investment he made to rid himself of compound interest.
For a first novel, it's a fair effort. You get thrown straight into the action, which I thought was quite refreshing from the usual Who set up (prologue, TARDIS materializes, "where are we?", etc). The plot twists and turns are quite interesting, and it's exciting to see the various pieces fit together. The descriptions of certain aliens and planets were wonderfully surreal too. The characters are interesting, although not so much for who they are as what they've done.
Being a book where the physics of time travel takes centre stage, much of the intrigue and action gets bogged right down in psuedo-scientific babble, particularly towards the end. This was very disappointing. Time bubbles, reality quotients, I'm not quite sure how the book got to end the way it did, I couldn't understand what was going on. I'm not stupid or anything, but when a whole lot of jargon is used in the middle of a fast paced action sequence, it is hard to keep up. I suppose in that way it fits in with many of the 1980s Doctor Who television stories it is set amongst.
The shape shifting android Kamelion features in the book (which is no spoiler, as he's on the front cover). Just like in the TV series, I feel he is a tad underused here. Sure, he does do a lot more shape shifting than in the show (into some pretty amazing stuff at times), but he doesn't appear until halfway through the book! Even then, Turlough gives him a lot of grief. Poor Kamelion, I feel sorry for him. Still, it is good that he does appear, he is such a neglected character.
I was a little disappointed, but if you can keep up with the techno-talk, there is plenty in this book to keep you interested.
Rating: 
Summary: A raucous sci-fi adventure & standout in the Dr Who series
Review: Craig Hinton's first two novels for the Missing Adventures series ranks, I think, as some of the most imaginative Dr. Who fiction to date. Hinton clearly realizes that the success of the books hinges on the expansion of the Doctor's universe outwards from the confines of the BBC studios, and he achieves this admirably in a bizarre tale set in the distant future involving a time-travelling restaurant, the murder of the most powerful man in the universe, a resurrected saviour, and of course, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough. Kamelion makes an appearance, to boot
Rating:
Summary: Tuck in!
Review: The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are enjoying a meal in a restaurant when they are swept up in a space-time event and wind up in the Crystal Bucephalus - a restaurant wherein diners can choose any restaurant from history to dine in, and the space-time mechanism of the Bucephalus will arrange it. And the Doctor, much to his chagrin, is the owner - having invested mnoney to lose it in the restaurant's creation. But with space-time accessible from the Bucephalus, there are others who are keen to get their hands on it...Setting this book in a restaurant is an inspired idea, as you may very well feel like you've had a banquet by the time you are finished. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are quite well portrayed, and even Kamelion gets to do something (although it is, yet again, being controlled by someone else...). While you are enjoying the main plotline, the story is embroidered with many many references to Doctor Who (and other, including Star Trek) trivia. While perhaps a little rich for some tastes, it is still a book many will savour!
Rating: 
Summary: The Crystal Bucephalus
Review: This one didn't work for me. First of all, the Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough--oh yeah, and Kamelion--never seem more than peripheral to the story. This is a Doctor Who novel, but our main characters barely get invited into the story-proper. Tegan and Turlough spend the entire book getting transported or transplanted, to various ships, moons, restaurants, evil headquarters, or unutterable cosmic voids. This creates much frenzy, but I got tired of characters showing up somewhere, finding themselves in danger yet again from Time Vortex backlash, or spillage, or cosmic explosions, or whatever. Meanwhile, the plot requires that the Doctor act like Joe Average for the first half of the book, concealing his Time Lord heritage. This makes him as dull as the guy who sold me a burger and fries this afternoon. Then, when he's required to act more like a hero revealed, and get away from all those computer consoles he's been standing in front of for chapter after chapter, his activities consist mainly of hooking up cables and tinkering with unstable machinery which, at least if he gets things right, would solve the problems that have got his friends running around like maniacs. The actual main characters in the book are Arrestis the villain, Lassiter the friendly but misguided chronal meddler who tries vainly to keep The Crystal Bucephalus time-projector under his control, Diva the mystery woman, and Matisse the villainess. All of these cliche-ridden characters are connected in a rather convoluted way--many of them having loved and then dumped each other, meaning there a few "jilted lover" scores to be settled. Even if you get that angle all sorted out, remember, it doesn't have much to do with the Doctor or his frenzied companions. The idea of the Crystal Bucephalus as a nexus point for accessing all the galaxy's best restaurants is a good one; too bad it's wasted in a story that chases its tail until it runs out of energy and drops in a heap. If you want a worthwhile Dr Who novel by Craig Hinton, access The Quantum Archangel. It's in print, and it's miles better than this earlier episode.
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