A review by ofclumsywords
Doctor Who: The Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The adventures of Rose and the Doctor continue. This time we find our favorite duo arriving on a strange planet after the TARDIS takes a detour. Mischief quickly follows them (as it always does) and Rose and the Doctor end up separated almost immediately and find themselves on a prison planet where they are each taken to a prison for aliens and a prison for humans respectively. It was really interesting to see Rose go at it alone and figure out what was going on without the Doctor's constant smarts and figuring it out quickly. Not to say Rose isn't smart, because she quickly finds out things are going hinky and has to get to the bottom of the mysterious governor who is running the human prison. At the alien prison with the Doctor, we are reintroduced to a very familiar aliens, the Raxacoricafallapatorians (no I am not making that up, if you know you know). We get to see where the Slitheen family ends up 500 years in the future after the first run-in with them in London all those years before and even introduced to another family, the Blathereen, as the story progresses. The rivalry between the families was a great addition, to see the Raxacoricafallapatorians dislike each other and work against each other when one would assume because they were from the same planet that they would band together. It is family loyalty for them above anything else along with making as much money by destroying as many planets for profit as they could.
It was interesting to see Rose and the Doctor separated. To see the Doctor work alone as he has done in the past but for Rose, this was one of the first instances she truly found herself alone on an alien planet and got herself out of a mess. During the Doctor's parts all he could think of was Rose and getting her back. He never once doubted that she could take care of herself. But even so early in the series since their meeting, you can instantly tell how much she means to him and how he would do anything to get her back. And that at the center of it all is what the Doctor truly is. He may act cold and distant (who wouldn't after all he has lost and how old he is) but it's just a front to protect himself. He cares for his companions and feels the loss of every one of them when their time to part comes. Another part that was right on character for the Doctor was the ending, where even though there was loss of life, he was upset about it. He feels every death and will do everything in his power to prevent anyone from dying, be it the good guys or the bad. After all he went through in his past and losing his entire planet you can see in every single decision he makes to prevent loss of life and the author hit that spot on.
The plot of the book itself was interesting. I was a little lost during some of the technology speak since it was things that were never a part of the series. I give this storyline props for how original it was and even though it was a book instead of a TV the visuals of what they were doing and using the technology was a little lost on me, by no means was this a bad book. I liked every bit of it and for the first alien planet that Rose and the Doctor go to in this book series, I'm glad there were some familiar aliens and that we got to see where the Slitheen family ended.
It was interesting to see Rose and the Doctor separated. To see the Doctor work alone as he has done in the past but for Rose, this was one of the first instances she truly found herself alone on an alien planet and got herself out of a mess. During the Doctor's parts all he could think of was Rose and getting her back. He never once doubted that she could take care of herself. But even so early in the series since their meeting, you can instantly tell how much she means to him and how he would do anything to get her back. And that at the center of it all is what the Doctor truly is. He may act cold and distant (who wouldn't after all he has lost and how old he is) but it's just a front to protect himself. He cares for his companions and feels the loss of every one of them when their time to part comes. Another part that was right on character for the Doctor was the ending, where even though there was loss of life, he was upset about it. He feels every death and will do everything in his power to prevent anyone from dying, be it the good guys or the bad. After all he went through in his past and losing his entire planet you can see in every single decision he makes to prevent loss of life and the author hit that spot on.
The plot of the book itself was interesting. I was a little lost during some of the technology speak since it was things that were never a part of the series. I give this storyline props for how original it was and even though it was a book instead of a TV the visuals of what they were doing and using the technology was a little lost on me, by no means was this a bad book. I liked every bit of it and for the first alien planet that Rose and the Doctor go to in this book series, I'm glad there were some familiar aliens and that we got to see where the Slitheen family ended.