Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang

You could not get a more textbook definition of a late '70s Doctor Who novelization. That means it has the full benefit of the excellent dialogue from Robert Holmes' original script, as well as the drive of Holmes' story. Dicks, however, hasn't really added anything to the story, and now that Talons has been available in so many home formats - VHS, DVD, even script book - there isn't much to power the novel other than sheer nostalgia. Christopher Benjamin is a fun choice of reader, but he doesn't have a huge range of voices or anything else to seriously recommend spending money on the audibook.

Putting it simply: if you're a fan of The Talons of Weng-Chiang, give it a whirl, as it's likely to spark off many pleasant memories. Otherwise, show more you can skip it and not feel badly in any way. show less

The Talons of Weng-Chiang is one of the most loved Doctor Who stories according to most of the polls and it is for a reason. A great Hinchcliffe story with a gothic mystery in the victorian England. Plus Jago and Litefoot! What not to love about it?

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1007902.html

Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang loses out in the visual stakes compared with the TV version, but gains a bit with occasional tight-third narrative from Leela's point of view, which accentuates one of the successful aspects of the story, the confrontation between her primitive experience and the Victorian era.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-talons-of-weng-chiang-by-dale-smith-and-robe...

The one difference I picked up on this time is that Teresa, one of Greel’s victims, is clearly coded as a sex worker in the TV story but is a gambling hostess in the adaptation.