Science Fiction Books > R Science Fiction Books

Has time run out for the Doctor?

Advantages: Good plot, quick read
Disadvantages: Weak characterisation of the Doctor

...box set of ten new Doctor Who novels from ebay for a very cheap £5, and 'The Clockwise Man' is the first book in the set. It's the second Doctor Who novel that I've read, so I have something to compare it to. It's a good, quick read that should appeal to both adults and children alike. **Blurb** (from back of book) In 1920s London the Doctor and Rose find themselves caught up in the hunt for a mysterious murderer. But not everyone or everything ...
...faceless killers closing in, the Doctor and Rose must solve the mystery of the Clockwise Man before London itself is destroyed... **Plot** (minor spoilers) Being the very first of the New Adventure Doctor Who novels, this features the ninth Doctor (as played by Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler. In my mind, this adventure takes place after "The Unquiet Dead" in series one, and this seems to fit as here, the Doctor and Rose seem to know each ...

amytheduck 06.07.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Doctor Who: The Clockwise Man - Justin Richards

Learning to fly...

Advantages: Great story, good characters
Disadvantages: -

...style and story telling all the more remarkable, as a hidden talent becomes unveiled. The story follows close the journey of Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit with a facility for language, and an emptiness in his soul. Set in the near future when near-earth space travel has become if not commonplace at least not unusual, people are regularly mining the moon and asteroids for minerals and fuel. Sandoz is assigned to a mission near one of the big radio ...
...post discovers a signal from the nearby star system of Alpha Centauri, the process toward the journey begins. While nations debate and plan an exploratory trip, the Jesuit order (well known historically for missionary work) get their own trip underway, with a crew of Jesuits and laypersons each with differing expertise (one in musicology, as the transmission seem musical; and so forth). The process for travel is one that is inventive – essentially, ...

frkurt 03.11.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell

He's Not Selling Any Alibis

Advantages: A decent, entertaining piece of fiction
Disadvantages: None really, but a little strange -ooooooooh

...sure it’s very nice. Certainly the picture Robert Rankin paints of it in his novel, “The Antipope”, depicts an extremely interesting place to visit - full of places of interest and colourful (to put it mildly) local characters. I’m guessing the book is set in the very early seventies, the only clue we get is that two pints of “Large”, the preferred local draught, costs 10/6 (10 shillings and sixpence – ask ...
...that one of the central characters has been dead for a few hundred years the exact timing of the novel's “present day” seems a trifle irrelevant. Much of the action takes place in The Flying Swan, a local pub run by Neville, the part-time barman. Although never actually stated, we are left with the impression that Neville has been, and will be, a fixture in the bar for many years. Two of his work shy regulars, John O’Mally, a drunken ...

Thamisgith 18.02.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Antipope - Robert Rankin

The Hatchet-job of Wimbledon

Advantages: Easy reading
Disadvantages: But so's 'Where's Spot?' and I won't recommend that to you either

...lied to and that all the fantasy fiction of the Victorian era was in fact true. That 19th Century England was in fact full of airships and automata, where Oscar Wilde was a notorious ladies' man and Queen Victoria was the Empire Bike. Airships and automata are familiar enough to any reader of alternative histories. They crop up in anything where Rome didn't fall or the Nazis weren't defeated. To combine this kind of earnest but far-fetched academic ...
...people getting him confused with the man who created Rebus, Rankin is the slow-thinking man's Terry Pratchett. The author of a string of 'comedy' novels set around the London borough of Brentford, these books lure you in with admittedly brilliant punning titles such as '101 Damnations' and things. The contents are generally (I've read three or four over the years, hopefully I've learned my lesson now) meandering tales full of one-note characters, ...

Olly_Plimsoll 26.06.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Witches of Chiswick - Robert Rankin

The second book in the Brentford trilogy

Advantages: Well written, good characters, some superb scenes.
Disadvantages: You'll want to collar friends and read bits out to them

...he returns to Brentford, and the characters from the first novel. This time, it's an alien invasion that threatens the peaceful borough - but much more relevent to Pooley and Omally, the brewery has installed a space invaders machine in their beloved local! How can they get rid of it? And incidentally, stop aliens from taking over the planet. The characters from the Antipope are back, stranger and more lovable than ever, and they're joined by a ...
...The ending is superb, set during the local darts championship - the team from the Flying Swan (the good guys) and the one from the Four Horsemen (the bad guys) battle it out, using every dirty trick in the book - and quite a few that aren't - to try to win the coveted trophy. Quite fantastic. ...

andrewsi 15.04.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Brentford Triangle - Robert Rankin