Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom

A Doctor Who book with "Doom" in the title is bound to be an exciting adventure, and this one is no exception. It begins in the Antarctic, with research scientists discovering a mysterious seed pod, and shifts to London, where the pod is discovered to be the seed of a terrifying plant being called the Krynoid. Under no circumstances can it be allowed to reproduce; otherwise, it will destroy the Earth.

Overall this book met my expectations. It was a very quick read, the Krynoid was really creepy and the pace was relentless. All excellent qualities in a Doctor Who novel. However, there were some examples of word usage that were sufficiently startling to lower the rating from 3.5 to 3. As an example: "The Doctor doffed the chauffeur's show more peaked cap, glanced appreciatively at himself in the mirror and eased the car forward." Since doff means remove, this does not make sense. Why would you take OFF a hat if you are using it as a crucial part of your disguise? This sentence should say "The Doctor DONNED the chauffeur's peaked cap". That was a pretty big error, in my view.

Other than that, the story itself is perfectly fine. For those who like the Fourth Doctor (and Sarah Jane) especially, this is worth reading. show less

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Hinchcliffe was the producer of Doctor Who in arguably its greatest days, and his two novelisations of stories from that time give us an insight into what he thought he was doing. His Fourth Doctor is much closer to the Tom Baker screen version than the somewhat more overtly clownish character of the Dicks books; he sticks closely to the script but concentrates perhaps a bit more on the horror elements of the story, and the villainous Harrison Chase is memorably evil.