A review by ashlylynne
Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
3.0
Synopsis
The Doctor, along with his companions Sarah and Harry, are trapped on the planet Skaro where a war has torn the surroundings as well as many of the inhabitants to absolute shreds. But, something is happening, something that changed the world forever: This is when and where the daleks were born. Will everyone make it off Skaro alive?
This novel is based on a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 8 March–12 April 1975.
Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
★★★
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: 1976
Source: Barnes & Noble – Bought
On My Shelf: Yes
I originally picked up this book because I’m a huge fan of the 4th doctor without even realizing that this was based off an actual episode of Doctor Who. I should have known better, since many of the old books are simply novelizations of the episodes, but I didn’t even think about it until I was about 1/3 of the way through this. I will say that it’s kind of nice that the most (if not all?) of the DW episodes have been novelized since it can often be hard (at least here in America) to get ahold of the episodes, but I’m not a huge fan of reading novelizations of TV shows unless they’re really well done, and that affected my reading of this.
I’m not saying that this was bad or that I didn’t enjoy it completely, it’s just that it weighted my experience. I found this satisfying to read, but I didn’t find myself wanting to pick this up without a bit of a struggle. I enjoyed the story and always do enjoy those extra tidbits you get from being more inside the characters head, but I don’t always feel like this adds much since, if the actors and writers of the show do their job, there shouldn’t be much extra that is going on past what the watcher of the show already perceives/understands. And so, even though Dicks was a writer on the show (and on this specific episode), I didn’t feel like the novelization added anything extra.
Now, I haven’t actually watched(despite owning a DVD copy of) this episode. I don’t know if that also affected my reading of this, but I’m nearly positive that I will enjoy watching this more than I did reading this. This might, though, be a personal thing as I often only read books based off shows when they give us new story lines and fresh adventures, and this book didn’t give me that.
Also, the writing wasn’t awesome. It was alright, but nothing that I was mesmerized by. I’m not bashing Dicks(okay…I’m actually 12 and yes I totally know what I just wrote there so shut up about it I died laughing too…), but his writing just didn’t really do much for me. It was satisfactory, but not novel-worthy. I think that he did an absolute awesome job writing for the show, but I think his talents really cater to screenwriting and not novel-writing.
Overall, I didn’t think this was terrible or anything and I’d still recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading novelizations, but it just wasn’t great for me.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Ashly Reads.
The Doctor, along with his companions Sarah and Harry, are trapped on the planet Skaro where a war has torn the surroundings as well as many of the inhabitants to absolute shreds. But, something is happening, something that changed the world forever: This is when and where the daleks were born. Will everyone make it off Skaro alive?
This novel is based on a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 8 March–12 April 1975.
Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
★★★
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: 1976
Source: Barnes & Noble – Bought
On My Shelf: Yes
I originally picked up this book because I’m a huge fan of the 4th doctor without even realizing that this was based off an actual episode of Doctor Who. I should have known better, since many of the old books are simply novelizations of the episodes, but I didn’t even think about it until I was about 1/3 of the way through this. I will say that it’s kind of nice that the most (if not all?) of the DW episodes have been novelized since it can often be hard (at least here in America) to get ahold of the episodes, but I’m not a huge fan of reading novelizations of TV shows unless they’re really well done, and that affected my reading of this.
I’m not saying that this was bad or that I didn’t enjoy it completely, it’s just that it weighted my experience. I found this satisfying to read, but I didn’t find myself wanting to pick this up without a bit of a struggle. I enjoyed the story and always do enjoy those extra tidbits you get from being more inside the characters head, but I don’t always feel like this adds much since, if the actors and writers of the show do their job, there shouldn’t be much extra that is going on past what the watcher of the show already perceives/understands. And so, even though Dicks was a writer on the show (and on this specific episode), I didn’t feel like the novelization added anything extra.
Now, I haven’t actually watched
Also, the writing wasn’t awesome. It was alright, but nothing that I was mesmerized by. I’m not bashing Dicks
Overall, I didn’t think this was terrible or anything and I’d still recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading novelizations, but it just wasn’t great for me.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Ashly Reads.