Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper) is a pleasure to listen to. I liked this book, too. It was not predictable, for the most part, and I enjoyed the story. ( )

What a surprisingly delightful read. That’s what I came saying right after finishing “Torchwood: Border Princes” by Dan Abnett. This time around Mr. Abnett flexes his immense word-smithing muscles on the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood with gratifying success. The novel starts off with a number Romero/Whedon like scenes but then adroitly delves into the nuances of not just lives of the Torchwood members, but the idiosyncrasies of all those in the connecting storylines; this is where Mr. Abnett shines. Mr. Abnett is able to display depth of character with such alacrity and profundity that it sometimes leaves this reader breathless and wishing for more information regarding these incredible personas. In any case, Border Princes is an excellent novel. Will I pick up any of the other Torchwood novels? I am unfamiliar with the other authors but based on this novel, I just may take the dive. ( )

In 2007, three Torchwood novels were released, although it seems a little unclear whether they have a particular order. For anyone who hasn’t seen the show, this book is probably not a good introduction, as it throws you straight into the story, without giving any kind of background. For those who have seen the show, however, this does not pose a problem.

Whereas the Doctor Who book I recently read felt like a TV episode, this has a longer feel to it. Running alongside the main story are other smaller storylines. In the TV show, Torchwood deal with one neat story every week, but this book has a more realistic feel to it, as they go from one problem to another.

The characters were fairly well captured, as I found it quite easy to picture them. However, Ianto plays a very small part, and Jack doesn’t feel quite right.. he seemed more ‘relaxed’ than I remember him in the first series, plus the leadership skills aren’t that apparent.

A rather confusing factor is the introduction of a new character, James.. but bear with it, as it does all make sense at the end.

The actual book is a fast paced read, it hooks you in, and keeps you turning those pages. Highly recommended for fans, and I’m certainly hoping to pick up some more!

Sadly the worst of the three books.

It is a nice idea for a Torchwood story, but sadly utterly predictable when you know before you start that everything has to return to the way it was on screen afterwards.

The subplots were interesting but once or twice too distracting, giving the impression they were more important than the actual (yet boring) main plot. It felt like an accumulation of different shorter stories most of the time, which were in the end far too elaborate to weave them together. Abnett did his best and ignored them, concentrating on the rather expected ending of the supposed 'tragedy'.

The main plot was utterly boring and confusing, with me thinking the author got Ianto's name wrong for the first two chapters and then having the words 'Gary Stu' stuck in my head for the rest of it. That felt even more true because the rest of the team acted kind of flat and strange.

It was a nice idea to explain why the team doesn't really feel like a team on screen and why Gwen started something with Owen later on, but I always feel cheated by endings like this. ( )