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The Scarlet Empress (Doctor Who series)

The Scarlet Empress (Doctor Who series)

List Price: $5.95
Your Price: $5.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Possibly the worst book I have ever read!!
Review: Dear oh dear, this book should never have been printed. The setting is childish. The characters are immature and unbelievable and Iris Wildthyme is just plain annoying. As for the eighth doctor... well, not too bad, but it didn't feel like Paul McGann. If anyone intends to read this book I suggest they stop at the blank line on page 98. Before that I quite enjoyed the desert setting but afterwards the events descend into a greatest hits compilation of cliches. If you'd stopped after 98 pages it may have been an OK book. As it is, I'm afraid, it's overlong and boring.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Too Much Shift of Focus
Review: Frankly, this book is a trifle boring. And, not to contradict my esteemed fellow readers, but the follow up, The Blue Angel, is worse. There is entirely too much shift of focus. Too bad, really, because Iris Wildthyme could be such a great character. Her TARDIS also breaks the pattern by not being dimentionally larger on the inside than out. All in all, a poor read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Paul Magrs could be the saviour of DR WHO!
Review: Having already read Magrs' novels MARKED FOR LIFE, DOES IT SHOW? and COULD IT BE MAGIC? I was already familiar with his style (and with Iris, who appears in all his books) and this book proves both a valuable addition to the canon of his works and to the canon of DR WHO books. This is definitely the best DR WHO novel since Virgin's LEFT HANDED HUMMINGBIRD by Kate Orman, and I'm looking forward to Paul's next, which he is writing with his boyfriend Jeremy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the best 8th Doctor story's to come out yet!!
Review: I'll keep this simple by just saying I completely enjoyed this imaginative story. It's characters are unique and the story is one well paced jaunt. Here, the Doctor travels cross-country on a distant planet and on a doubledecker bus to carry out a mission with several companions his old friend Iris, a fellow Timelord. Iris alone makes this book worth its value--she's a character like no other and one we can only hope will pop up again sometime soon! This 8th Doctor is just getting better in every book and here he proves he could easily become a fan favorite.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More Praise for Paul Magrs and Iris!
Review: I'm glad to see someone hasn't forgotten the art of storytelling... I don't see how anyone couldn't LOVE this book. It's full of fantastic (in all meanings of the word) settings, great characterisations.. I'm sure that more traditional fans might not like this style of storytelling, but that's what made certain episodes so enjoyable to me, the ones that stood out by using a different style. The sequel "The Blue Angel" is even better, you come to love the character of Iris and her TARDIS shaped like a Double Decker Bus... The short stories written about her are fantastic as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More Praise for Paul Magrs and Iris!
Review: I'm glad to see someone hasn't forgotten the art of storytelling... I don't see how anyone couldn't LOVE this book. It's full of fantastic (in all meanings of the word) settings, great characterisations.. I'm sure that more traditional fans might not like this style of storytelling, but that's what made certain episodes so enjoyable to me, the ones that stood out by using a different style. The sequel "The Blue Angel" is even better, you come to love the character of Iris and her TARDIS shaped like a Double Decker Bus... The short stories written about her are fantastic as well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Scarlet Empress--Doctor Who Meets MindBlowing Idiocy
Review: Imagine throwing in the pure inventiveness of Grant Morrison, the best fanciful idiocy of the Doctor Who television series, and an army of shaved bears, and you may get an idea of the joy Paul Magrs has delivered with 'The Scarlet Empress'. It's been said almost to the point of cliche that this is a 'strange' book--and it is. It's also a delight, moving the good Doctor fully into the possibilities of the narrative imagination. This is not your generic Doctor Who--no running through corridors, no whiffy time mechanics, no playing it safe. This is a Doctor Who adventure that grabs you by the lapels and gives you a big Groucho Marx kiss. Then, when you least expect it, it can break your heart.
You've been warned. If you love Doctor Who being pushed forward, then why are you still reading this? Order, my child. Order.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, an EDA that is not just a third generation rehash.
Review: It's Doctor Who because it's completely unlike anything that Doctor Who has ever done before. Better than that, it's good Doctor Who because it doesn't just stop at pushing the multi-faceted envelope; it's entertaining and interesting at the same time. It even stops at a few points for some interesting self-aware passages that offer some thoughts on the nature of story-telling that were well-written enough to stop just before they became too pretentious.

It's a very complicated book, with many jumps in the narrative from different viewpoints, sometimes several within the same page. This can be a little difficult at times, but it's very rewarding overall. The perspectives from different characters and cultures are very rich and detailed, and all of them are treated with a good degree of respect.

There are one or two weak points. At some places, the plot almost disappears and these sections tend to drag a bit. There are other spots where the suspension of disbelief that was required was just a more than what I was willing to give. I can forgive one or two little coincidences, but there are some in here that are just so great that I felt they hurt the overall quality of the book.

On the whole, this is one of the best EDAs that I have read and is well worth a second read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, an EDA that is not just a third generation rehash.
Review: It's Doctor Who because it's completely unlike anything that Doctor Who has ever done before. Better than that, it's good Doctor Who because it doesn't just stop at pushing the multi-faceted envelope; it's entertaining and interesting at the same time. It even stops at a few points for some interesting self-aware passages that offer some thoughts on the nature of story-telling that were well-written enough to stop just before they became too pretentious.

It's a very complicated book, with many jumps in the narrative from different viewpoints, sometimes several within the same page. This can be a little difficult at times, but it's very rewarding overall. The perspectives from different characters and cultures are very rich and detailed, and all of them are treated with a good degree of respect.

There are one or two weak points. At some places, the plot almost disappears and these sections tend to drag a bit. There are other spots where the suspension of disbelief that was required was just a more than what I was willing to give. I can forgive one or two little coincidences, but there are some in here that are just so great that I felt they hurt the overall quality of the book.

On the whole, this is one of the best EDAs that I have read and is well worth a second read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Something Completely Different
Review: Once I got used to the writing style, I enjoyed the book very much. It was the first 8th Doctor book I'd read and I identified with Iris and her feelings for #8. Sigh.... Ahem, I digress. The characters and setting were like something out of The Arabian Nights. And Iris' TARDIS was smashing! I would like to see more stories featuring Iris and the past Doctors. Paul, are you reading this???


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