Review: Doctor Who: Shada

Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd love to give this 4 stars, for I think quite faithfully capturing the feel of a Tom Baker Dr Who serial; the problem is that I'm just not sure how well that works as a book. Tom Baker was one of my favorite Doctors growing up, but he really was just a nonsensical larrikin without a plan, carried largely by the force of Baker's on-screen personality. In a book you lose that charisma, and the relentless pace of events carrying you forward, and end up with a little too long to think about how silly he is sometimes.

The novelisation is good, and bears the clear stamp of the Douglas Adams original in it. It's a little choppy in delivery, with a lot of two-page chapters, flicking back-and-forth between different characters perhaps a little too quickly. Overall fun, but not brilliant.

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