Rating: 
Summary: Insubstantial as fire.
Review: THE BURNING takes place entirely in and outside a nineteenth century English village fast on its way to economic decline. It is winter, yet this is tempered by unexplained cracks in the earth that deliver unnatural heat. Enter one Roger Nepath, a mysterious entrepreneur with a plan to revitalize the town and an unhealthy fixation on a dead sibling. What's his connection with the strange geological activity, and what does he really want?This is an eighth Doctor adventure, and my first exposure to the character since the unjustly maligned TV movie some years back. I was disappointed to find his appearance here distinctly lacking in personality. I found as I read on that the Doctor had lost his memory in a previous adventure, but this doesn't really excuse the weak characterization. He says and does very little for most of the novel, and except for a few brief heated dialogues, is almost a nonentity. Perhaps if I'd read previous novels I'd see this development more clearly as far as the big picture goes, but the book gives no indication that knowledge of prior adventures is necessary (or at least helpful.) I know that some of the novels state where a story takes place in the larger mythos, but that is lacking here -- an unfortunate oversight. It's fine if they want to carry ongoing subplots, but I'd like to know about it beforehand. I felt like I was in the dark as much as the Doctor was. If, like me, you do not intend to read every Doctor Who novel that is published, and prefer to pick and choose, you may want to pass on this one as it doesn't stand on its own very well. The story itself is weak. I can't mention many details without spoiling it, but the whole thing simply does not come together as well as it should. There is much time given to the supposed importance of a strange new mineral, yet it proves to be completely irrelevant to the latter half of the story. The villain's plan is also not explained adequately. In the end, everything conspired to make THE BURNING an unsatisfying read.
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