lordroose's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jamietherebelliousreader's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars. This was chaotic and wonderful. These books are just the episodes with more added to them and that’s what makes them so much fun. It follows Rose and the Tenth Doctor and honestly, can you name a more iconic duo? I’ll wait. Anyway, I loved getting Rose’s thoughts after the Doctor’s regeneration and just how freaked out she was. It takes her a while to accept that he is the Doctor as she was wanting the Ninth one back. I will say though, as much as I love Rose she was never good enough for Mickey. Poor guy deserved so much better. I’ve never liked how she did him and this book just reminded me of that. Other than that, this was great. I preferred the previous book but this was still a joy to read. I’m enjoying these Target books so far and I look forward to reading more.
crookedtreehouse's review
3.0
A delightfully cheap, easy read. I could never get into the Target books by Terrance Dicks that served as screenplays with occasional attribution, but a few months ago, we ordered some of the new Target books for subscriber at the store I work at. That person never picked them up.
Jenny Colgan's prose is breezy and well-constructed, and perfectly brings to mind The Christmas Invasion episode while adding just enough to the narrative to make it feel like a book and not an adapted screenplay (though it is an adapted screenplay).
If you're a fan of the show, and have long commutes with no access to streaming services, this book is a fun way to enjoy Doctor Who.
Jenny Colgan's prose is breezy and well-constructed, and perfectly brings to mind The Christmas Invasion episode while adding just enough to the narrative to make it feel like a book and not an adapted screenplay (though it is an adapted screenplay).
If you're a fan of the show, and have long commutes with no access to streaming services, this book is a fun way to enjoy Doctor Who.
supeskenobi's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Ah the Target Novelizations. The only way for people to revisit their favourite Doctor Who episodes, in a by-gone era where repeats and VHS/DVDs; didn't exist. Now as someone who grew up with Nu-Who and the almost endless repeats on BBC 3, I consider myself and people of my age incredibly lucky that we had easy access to these stories right from the very beginning of our Doctor Who fandom thanks to BBC 3 and the old basic DVD releases (with up to three and sometimes four Who stories!!!), so when the BBC announced they were bringing back the Target Novels for a brand new era of the show, I was excited and curious to see if it would work. Spoilers: it did.
'The Christmas Invasion' was selected along with a handful of other episodes to be turned into a novel by the BBC due to its impact on the shows history, being a) the first episode of Doctor Who to air on December 25th since 1965's 'The Feast of Steven' (episode seven of the twelve part epic 'The Dalek's Masterplan') and b) the first story of the ever popular Tenth incarnation of the titular hero, played by David Tennant. Whilst being written for television by the then, and current show-runner Russell T. Davies, this novel has been written by author Jenny Colgan whom I can say does a wonderful job of capturing the style and feel of the RTD Era of the show.
Whilst the book does bounce around from different POV's, sometimes in the same chapter (though never for too long), it fleshes out quite wonderfully many moments from the episode, whilst still staying loyal to what was transmitted. OK the story is more or less a copy of what was on screen, with a few addition of deleted material, which could be a turn off for some readers; but because I knew the story like the back of my hand, this was no problem really as it really felt like there was a movie (well TV show) playing in my head.
Where the book shines, is with its fleshing out of certain characters and moments from the episode, giving us more to them and to their fates. Most fleshed out was Daniel Llewellyn, head of the Guinevere One Space Mission. A side character in the episode, Colgan allows us inside his head and gives him a nice little romantic storyline that makes one all the more upset when he is killed by the Sycorax Leader. If you're angry at me spoiling this, it aired nearly eighteen years ago and if you haven't seen it; then what the hell are you doing reading the bloody novelization? Go watch it now, and come back later.
With the inclusion of the Children in Need Minisode 'Born Again' at the beginning and epilogue, we get some truly lovely insights into the thoughts of Rose, Mickey and Jackie and how their lives are effected by The Doctor, which is something the show touches on, but due to the forty-five minute runtime; never got more than a brief moment or two.
A nice little read, that was a breeze to get through (even if you haven't seen the episode for a number of years).
'The Christmas Invasion' was selected along with a handful of other episodes to be turned into a novel by the BBC due to its impact on the shows history, being a) the first episode of Doctor Who to air on December 25th since 1965's 'The Feast of Steven' (episode seven of the twelve part epic 'The Dalek's Masterplan') and b) the first story of the ever popular Tenth incarnation of the titular hero, played by David Tennant. Whilst being written for television by the then, and current show-runner Russell T. Davies, this novel has been written by author Jenny Colgan whom I can say does a wonderful job of capturing the style and feel of the RTD Era of the show.
Whilst the book does bounce around from different POV's, sometimes in the same chapter (though never for too long), it fleshes out quite wonderfully many moments from the episode, whilst still staying loyal to what was transmitted. OK the story is more or less a copy of what was on screen, with a few addition of deleted material, which could be a turn off for some readers; but because I knew the story like the back of my hand, this was no problem really as it really felt like there was a movie (well TV show) playing in my head.
Where the book shines, is with its fleshing out of certain characters and moments from the episode, giving us more to them and to their fates. Most fleshed out was Daniel Llewellyn, head of the Guinevere One Space Mission. A side character in the episode, Colgan allows us inside his head and gives him a nice little romantic storyline that makes one all the more upset when he is killed by the Sycorax Leader. If you're angry at me spoiling this, it aired nearly eighteen years ago and if you haven't seen it; then what the hell are you doing reading the bloody novelization? Go watch it now, and come back later.
With the inclusion of the Children in Need Minisode 'Born Again' at the beginning and epilogue, we get some truly lovely insights into the thoughts of Rose, Mickey and Jackie and how their lives are effected by The Doctor, which is something the show touches on, but due to the forty-five minute runtime; never got more than a brief moment or two.
A nice little read, that was a breeze to get through (even if you haven't seen the episode for a number of years).
duncan_mcguire's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lokster71's review
4.0
I've been impressed with all these 'New Who' Target novelisations (and I'm about to start Steven Moffat's 'The Day of the Doctor') so far. I notice though that those not written by their TV writer's - this one and Paul Cornell's 'Twice Upon A Time' - feel more Terrance Dicks novelising other people's scripts than they feel like the later Sylvester McCoy era ones, which were often used by their TV writer's to add additional depth to the story - see Ben Aaronovitch's 'Remembrance of The Daleks' or Ian Briggs's 'Curse of Fenric' as examples. That isn't a criticism btw. Terrance Dicks was the master of turning a Doctor Who episode into a rattling good read and that's what Colgan's done here.
Having said all that the book does give us an interesting insight into Rose's response to The Doctor's regeneration. And once again makes me feel sorry for Mickey. I do find it hard to like Rose occasionally - see 'Tooth & Claw' for how horrible she & The Doctor can be together - but in this book, she's the central character. As she was in the TV version.
Anyway, I'm waffling. This is good. Have a read.
Having said all that the book does give us an interesting insight into Rose's response to The Doctor's regeneration. And once again makes me feel sorry for Mickey. I do find it hard to like Rose occasionally - see 'Tooth & Claw' for how horrible she & The Doctor can be together - but in this book, she's the central character. As she was in the TV version.
Anyway, I'm waffling. This is good. Have a read.
tempus's review
3.0
A good novelisation of the episode with added backstory and relationships for almost all characters.
thoroughlymodernreviewer's review
4.0
(3.5/5)
Jenny T. Colgan had the hardest job of any of the four authors who novelized an episode for this first wave of new Target books: she had to take an episode that I really didn't care for and make it a good novel. I just really didn't care for the televised version of The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor's asleep for nearly 3/4 of the story and I never much cared for Rose and Mickey, so it's near the bottom of my list of favorite Christmas specials. I say this to explain why I didn't adore this book. All the problems I have with it boil down to the problems I had with the original script and not with the actual writing of this novel. Jenny T. Colgan has a gift for prose and her prose is what makes this novel actually enjoyable. The plot is still extremely weak, but the way Colgan describes everything and the way she's able to get into the heads of each of her characters, and deepen our understanding of them, their emotions, and their motivations makes this book a worthwhile read.
On the surface, it's probably the novelization that stays the closest to what we saw on TV. Like Paul Cornell's Twice Upon a Time, she doesn't change a whole lot from the televised story to the novelization, but she does add some new stuff. Most of that new stuff comes in the form of superb characterization. There aren't many new scenes, but the point of view is often different when compared to the TV version. Colgan takes us into the heads of a lot of different characters, and the way she does that really elevates this mediocre story into an enjoyable one. She spends a lot of time with the UNIT folk and Harriet Jones, and the way she fleshes out all of those characters helps us forget the absence of the Doctor for a little bit. It helps that she's able to do the thing that Terrance Dicks (legendary Doctor Who writer who wrote like half of the original Target novelizations) did: she can weave a tapestry with just a few words and make it beautiful.
The Christmas Invasion is a weak story. The Doctor's literally just regenerated and he spends the vast majority of the story completely unconscious. That may have been super interesting and subversive when it aired, but it doesn't hold up all that well. You spend the whole time wishing it could just get on with it and bring the Doctor into the story. But it doesn't until the very end, and sure, that climax is really good, but it doesn't make up for the forty-five minutes that led up to it. Colgan's novelization suffers from this, too, but it's saved, primarily, by her excellent characterization and her beautiful prose. She's able to turn an episode I really dislike into a book I enjoyed well enough. It's easily my least favorite of the four new Target novelizations, but it's still very good. It's a big improvement on the actual episode and an enjoyable read, overall.
Jenny T. Colgan had the hardest job of any of the four authors who novelized an episode for this first wave of new Target books: she had to take an episode that I really didn't care for and make it a good novel. I just really didn't care for the televised version of The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor's asleep for nearly 3/4 of the story and I never much cared for Rose and Mickey, so it's near the bottom of my list of favorite Christmas specials. I say this to explain why I didn't adore this book. All the problems I have with it boil down to the problems I had with the original script and not with the actual writing of this novel. Jenny T. Colgan has a gift for prose and her prose is what makes this novel actually enjoyable. The plot is still extremely weak, but the way Colgan describes everything and the way she's able to get into the heads of each of her characters, and deepen our understanding of them, their emotions, and their motivations makes this book a worthwhile read.
On the surface, it's probably the novelization that stays the closest to what we saw on TV. Like Paul Cornell's Twice Upon a Time, she doesn't change a whole lot from the televised story to the novelization, but she does add some new stuff. Most of that new stuff comes in the form of superb characterization. There aren't many new scenes, but the point of view is often different when compared to the TV version. Colgan takes us into the heads of a lot of different characters, and the way she does that really elevates this mediocre story into an enjoyable one. She spends a lot of time with the UNIT folk and Harriet Jones, and the way she fleshes out all of those characters helps us forget the absence of the Doctor for a little bit. It helps that she's able to do the thing that Terrance Dicks (legendary Doctor Who writer who wrote like half of the original Target novelizations) did: she can weave a tapestry with just a few words and make it beautiful.
The Christmas Invasion is a weak story. The Doctor's literally just regenerated and he spends the vast majority of the story completely unconscious. That may have been super interesting and subversive when it aired, but it doesn't hold up all that well. You spend the whole time wishing it could just get on with it and bring the Doctor into the story. But it doesn't until the very end, and sure, that climax is really good, but it doesn't make up for the forty-five minutes that led up to it. Colgan's novelization suffers from this, too, but it's saved, primarily, by her excellent characterization and her beautiful prose. She's able to turn an episode I really dislike into a book I enjoyed well enough. It's easily my least favorite of the four new Target novelizations, but it's still very good. It's a big improvement on the actual episode and an enjoyable read, overall.
autiedragon's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0