Lucifer Rising (The New Doctor Who Adventures)

Rating:
Summary: Two promising writers debut
Review: The TARDIS arrives in the Lucifer system, where a scientific expedition is about to face the greed of the Intergalactic Mining Corporation. Some secrets from the past of recently returned companion Ace will lead to as many complications as the lost history of the previous inhabitants of Lucifer...

This book sees the debut of two authors who will return to write further books in this series solo. And an interesting debut it is, too...

Drawing extensively on ideas from both the original TV series and the novels, it contains an original story which sets in place a number of features which will form a backbone for the Virgin Doctor Who range. It expands on the idea of the Guild of Adjudicators, members of which will be allies and enemies of the TARDIS crew in both the New and Missing Adventures ranges, and draws together elements that have been used in the past into a more coherent view of the universe.

As well as doing that, the Doctor, Ace and Benny find themselves and a complex and convoluted plot which will add to the tension already existing between them. This particular thread runs for many books, which is a good thing in terms of the depiction of the characters, but can be a little unpleasant for the reader.

If this book has a major flaw, it is that it suffers from being a first novel. It is longer than it might be, and contains some extraneous elements that the authors might have removed without any harm to the book.

However, it is a book that certainly does reveal the potential of the two authors which bore better fruit in their future works.

Rating:
Summary: Two promising writers debut
Review: The TARDIS arrives in the Lucifer system, where a scientific expedition is about to face the greed of the Intergalactic Mining Corporation. Some secrets from the past of recently returned companion Ace will lead to as many complications as the lost history of the previous inhabitants of Lucifer...

This book sees the debut of two authors who will return to write further books in this series solo. And an interesting debut it is, too...

Drawing extensively on ideas from both the original TV series and the novels, it contains an original story which sets in place a number of features which will form a backbone for the Virgin Doctor Who range. It expands on the idea of the Guild of Adjudicators, members of which will be allies and enemies of the TARDIS crew in both the New and Missing Adventures ranges, and draws together elements that have been used in the past into a more coherent view of the universe.

As well as doing that, the Doctor, Ace and Benny find themselves and a complex and convoluted plot which will add to the tension already existing between them. This particular thread runs for many books, which is a good thing in terms of the depiction of the characters, but can be a little unpleasant for the reader.

If this book has a major flaw, it is that it suffers from being a first novel. It is longer than it might be, and contains some extraneous elements that the authors might have removed without any harm to the book.

However, it is a book that certainly does reveal the potential of the two authors which bore better fruit in their future works.

Rating:
Summary: Authors Rising
Review: When seeing the two names listed as authors and then looking at the size of LUCIFER RISING (it was the longest New Adventure when it was first released), I had to wonder if perhaps some editing would have been in order. Now after reading it, I would say that my hunch was vaguely correct, but that those problems don't have a hugely adverse effect. The book could have done with either a little more editing or perhaps another draft, but these complaints are minor enough to not stand in the way.

Despite its length, LUCIFER RISING still doesn't quite manage to flesh everything out to its potential. Rather it uses its size to add more plot threads and intriguing characters than the average New Adventure would contain. The leisurely pace allows the characters and setting to develop gradually, and the result is quite effective. We get a very good feel for these people and their situation, so we really empathize with them when everything starts going wrong in later chapters. The scale feels much larger here than it does in the general Doctor Who story. True, this is a story does span a planetary system, but even the scale of the plot has a larger feeling. The authors aim big and they achieve much of what they attempt.

Some of the prose is quite fantastic. Not only are the authors (well, one of them at least) adept at the art of creating three-dimensional characters, but much of the imagery contained here is awe-inspiring. The hard science-fiction concepts of the beginning sections are fleshed out in a sublime fashion that manages to be both detailed and epic. Instead of the familiar Doctor Who characters and themes being dominated by the sheer size of the story, the regulars fit comfortably inside this weighty science-fiction story.

I quite enjoyed LUCIFER RISING. I liked the slow start; the science-fiction concepts are handled quite well and the authors don't let them fall into clichés. While the book goes more in the direction of having lots of fairly developed characters rather than fewer but more distinct people, this does work to its advantage. Parts of the book seem slightly fragmented, but this was definitely a story that I appreciated.