Doctor Who: The City of the Dead
by Lloyd Rose
This is another Eighth Doctor Adventure from the era where he was traveling the universe with amnesia, accompanied by Fitz and Anji. Here he lands in near-future New Orleans and tangles with dark magic. I realized while reading it that this is the third book of this era I've read in a row... and all three of them have been written by women. Like
Jacqueline Rayner and
Kate Orman, one of Rose's high points is her characterization.
I really like how the Doctor comes across here: recognizably Paul McGann, but a different McGann than we might get in the audios. He's got the Doctor's insight and enthusiasm; what he lacks is the Doctor's self-confidence and certainty. After all, he doesn't know who he is. There are lots of good lines here. Rose does okay by Fitz, too, and I particularly liked her Anji. Anji comes in for a lot of stick in online discourse around the EDAs, but I've found her to be a strongly delineated, enjoyable character in each of the three books I've read with her.
I will admit I didn't entirely follow the turns of the plot here, but this is the kind of book that 1) has enough good stuff going on that you don't care, and 2) is good enough otherwise that you kind of trust that it
does all work out if you want to follow it. (Plus, I read it in fits and starts between Hugo finalists, and I'm sure it wasn't meant to be read across a couple months!) There's a lot of atmosphere, strong characterization, a neat sense of history, and a good sense of magic. The villain became a little obvious too quickly, but other than that, I enjoyed the journey a lot even when I didn't understand it. I remember really liking Lloyd Rose's other EDA,
Camera Obscura; now I will have to track down her third and final
Doctor Who novel,
The Algebra of Ice.
I read an Eighth Doctor Adventure every three months. Next up in sequence: Trading Futures
No comments:
Post a Comment