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A review by nightshade_novels
Doctor Who: Ghosts of India by Mark Morris
3.0
I picked this book up for a quick read and was not disappointed. I am always a bit wary of books which have been written based on a TV series or film. It can be hard to turn a good book into a film, but I think sometimes it can be even harder to turn a show into a good book. However, I have found that the Doctor Who books are fairly good and I think part of this is due to the fact that some of them are written by the authors that write the TV episodes. You do notice between the books the slight differences in the way the different authors perceive the characters.
This story was laid out in traditional Doctor Who fashion: Doctor and companion arrive in a new location, companion is lost, in searching for each other they come across an alien invasion and become friends with the locals who happily trust these strangers, and finally they solve the alien problem before leaving.
The invading alien in this story was a Jal Karath; “black, sinuous and weed-like... composed of dozens of thin, twining limbs, attached to a thicker central stalk... covered in clusters of blinking, milky-white eyes.” This particular Jal Karath has the typically complicated alien name of Darac-Poul-Caparrel-Jal-7 which is conveniently shortened to Darac-7. Darac-7 is harvesting humans to create gelem warriors; described as “Daleks without the intelligence” they are used to fight wars.
One of the locals that they befriend is the famous Mohandas Gandhi. Now Doctor Who is no stranger to name dropping or actually including famous people in the stories. Generally a good job is done of being historically accurate (albeit with the odd alien thrown in) and successfully bringing them to life. Gandhi was no exception with Morris writing him in just as you would expect and you find yourself loving the gentle little man. His peaceful personality is perfectly highlighted when Gandhi breaks Darac-7’s machine by being too good.
The story was well written with enough intrigue to keep you wanting to read more. It receives 3 stars.
This story was laid out in traditional Doctor Who fashion: Doctor and companion arrive in a new location, companion is lost, in searching for each other they come across an alien invasion and become friends with the locals who happily trust these strangers, and finally they solve the alien problem before leaving.
The invading alien in this story was a Jal Karath; “black, sinuous and weed-like... composed of dozens of thin, twining limbs, attached to a thicker central stalk... covered in clusters of blinking, milky-white eyes.” This particular Jal Karath has the typically complicated alien name of Darac-Poul-Caparrel-Jal-7 which is conveniently shortened to Darac-7. Darac-7 is harvesting humans to create gelem warriors; described as “Daleks without the intelligence” they are used to fight wars.
One of the locals that they befriend is the famous Mohandas Gandhi. Now Doctor Who is no stranger to name dropping or actually including famous people in the stories. Generally a good job is done of being historically accurate (albeit with the odd alien thrown in) and successfully bringing them to life. Gandhi was no exception with Morris writing him in just as you would expect and you find yourself loving the gentle little man. His peaceful personality is perfectly highlighted when Gandhi breaks Darac-7’s machine by being too good.
The story was well written with enough intrigue to keep you wanting to read more. It receives 3 stars.