andystehr's review
3.0
Dark and forboding. The 7th Doctor finds time travel experiements and ends up facing two beings of incredible power.
nwhyte's review
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1960139.html
There is a format that works much more often than not for Doctor Who: take an isolated building, and develop beyond the usual base-under-siege story by making the inhabitants a collection of strange indiviuals each with their own hidden motivations. Ghost Light on TV, The Chimes of Midnight on audio, last year's New Who book Dead of Winter are all good examples; so is Falls The Shadow, a Seventh Doctor story in the New Adventures range featuring Ace and Bernice Summerfield, which runs through changing topography, off-stage sex, weird androids, temporary deaths, and mysterious travellers in a satisfying and well-written text. Seemed a bit longer than most in this series, but maybe that was just my frame of mind.
There is a format that works much more often than not for Doctor Who: take an isolated building, and develop beyond the usual base-under-siege story by making the inhabitants a collection of strange indiviuals each with their own hidden motivations. Ghost Light on TV, The Chimes of Midnight on audio, last year's New Who book Dead of Winter are all good examples; so is Falls The Shadow, a Seventh Doctor story in the New Adventures range featuring Ace and Bernice Summerfield, which runs through changing topography, off-stage sex, weird androids, temporary deaths, and mysterious travellers in a satisfying and well-written text. Seemed a bit longer than most in this series, but maybe that was just my frame of mind.
nukirisame's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
hammard's review
3.0
I have to wonder about the choice of book releases by the Virgin team at this time. This came out only 3 months after Strange England and 3 months before Ghosts of N-Space meaning that around a quarter of the books in this period are weird haunted house stories. Plus we also have the gothic horror infused Evolution and the violent religious imagery in Goth Opera, Strange England and St. Anthony's Fire.
On top of this it is given an additional 25% page count when the story really doesn't require it. It just seems to stretch it out. I feel it could really have done with being delayed for another 6 months and reworked as a Chris and Roz story to see how they cope with this kind of story, rather than have Ace deal with it for the umpteenth time.
Having said all that, I am a fan of this kind of story so I still quite enjoyed what was going on. It has a very Sapphire and Steel sense to it with a lot of atmosphere and good writing. However, it also has a lot of padding and little action for a main team.
On top of this it is given an additional 25% page count when the story really doesn't require it. It just seems to stretch it out. I feel it could really have done with being delayed for another 6 months and reworked as a Chris and Roz story to see how they cope with this kind of story, rather than have Ace deal with it for the umpteenth time.
Having said all that, I am a fan of this kind of story so I still quite enjoyed what was going on. It has a very Sapphire and Steel sense to it with a lot of atmosphere and good writing. However, it also has a lot of padding and little action for a main team.
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