The Twilight Streets

The season two Torchwood books are much, much different than the first season books. The new books actually have *our* characters (as we know them second season) and are about half the length. They are more fangirly and they are tied in to the show accurately. I couldn't say any of that for the first season books. Spoilers: Twilight Streets makes several references to character developments and events through the end of season two - Although I personally don't think someone who hadn't seen season two would be spoiled badly by them. They are things you would spot if you were in the know, and would probably miss if you weren't.

The rest of my comments contain HUGE SPOILERS - beware if you haven't read the book yet...

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I loved this show more book - There was heaps of great banter and character scenes, the characters were totally *our* characters, there were many canon references that tie in with season two (making the story feel more convincing,) we got a ton of *extra* character development (which I'm inclined to take as canon, but we all differ on that,) and it had great humor, snark, and pacing. Plot - I can't speak to... I'm pretty easy. Although it seemed convincing to me - Even the AU part (and I hate AU realities, really.) But it all got a bit complicated toward the end with Bilis and frankly, I stopped paying attention to detail - Maybe it sucked, I don't know.

Moments of fangirl joy:

One of my very favorite things was that the author totally fanboyed out on us and pulled in a background extra from Dr. Who as a main character - the Cardiff Mayor's secretary from Boom Town gets a full-fledged role. Which tickles me greatly for some reason. :-) I wonder if someone told the actor that his character has this whole life created for him somewhere...? He even gets to snog Cpt. Jack... Sort of. ;-)

There were some really gorgeous scenes between various characters - My very favorite was between Gwen and Ianto (pg. 125+) where Ianto snarks out and has a rather profound discussion with her about being bi. The whole first half of the book is one great banter scene after another. :-)

I actually really dug the AU part of the story - Normally I hate that stuff (it confuses me and feels out of character) but this time, I liked it. I loved Ianto's desperate end - Although it leads me to the only plot-problem I had with the book... Ianto's reasoning in this last scene, and the fact that it actually WORKED, feels a bit silly to me. But hey, *serious* angst generated by said act - always a plus. There were times when the AU scenes had me going WTF? with minor details and timeline stuff and so forth - The author obviously didn't have a lot of space to devote to making this really polished - but the basic framework of the AU story was pretty cool.

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Sixth of the Torchwood tie-in novels, set late in second season and with a lot of canon references. And my most favourite of all the canon references is the return of Idris Hopper, the Mayor's secretary from the Doctor Who episode Boom Town. :-)

There is a small block of streets in Cardiff, built by a Victorian businessman as model housing for his workforce. And never occupied for more than a few weeks at a time. Things happen to the people who try to live in Tretarri. Jack doesn't know why, because Jack can't get in. He gets a three day migraine every time he tries. But now the Council is renovating the block, with full-on gentrification and street parties to show off the results. Not just on the rate-payers' money, either -- private show more sponsorship is paying for the celebrations. But the block becomes more than a minor mystery for Jack's off-duty hours when it becomes apparent that Bilis Manger is behind the plans for change. And Bilis is still using visions of the future to prod the team into action.

It seems simple enough. Another round of stop Bilis Manger and save the world. But the old man's relationship with Good and Evil is rather more complex than that...

Really enjoyed this one. It's got an interesting plot, some excellent character development, and entertaining interactions between the various characters. All the regular characters get some page space, and there's some good stuff on the Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys and Tosh-Owen relationships. Also a delightful little scene in which Ianto tells Torchwood's Little Miss Sensitive (yes, he calls Gwen that) some home truths about what it's really like to be bisexual. :-> There's a lot of stuff referring back to canon, but most of it is tied into the story in such a way that it enhances the story for those who've seen the episodes without excluding those who haven't. It also includes a good in-universe explanation for why the Tardis crew didn't encounter Torchwood during the events of Boom Town (the external reason, of course, being that Torchwood the series was still a twinkle in RTD's eye at the time). The reason for the AU future's potential existence got a bit woolly in places, but the story in that timeline is really well done, if possibly over-angsty for some fans. Which is why I liked it, of course. :-)

Oh, and a word of praise for cover artist Lee Binding, who has done a lovely job in depicting some key elements of the story. show less

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Really a rather good Torchwood novel, taking Bilis Manger from the end of the first season and Idris from the Who episode Boom Town, and also an alternate timeline which foreshadows a lot of future developments (blowing up the Hub, leaving Gwen, Rhys and their baby as the sole survivors of Torchwood). To a large extent it's a sequel to the episode End of Days, but much better. Lots of good character moments and exploration of what it means to be inside their skins. I must say that the Torchwood novels are proving generally rather a cut above the usual Who range; it's a shame that tie-in works get so little critical attention.

Several of my friends regularly watch/watched Dr Who and Torchwood. I managed to never get into Torchwood when it was on the air. I was familiar with the characters and concepts due to catching bits and pieces of the show or hearing friends discuss some point or other. I'm more of a reader than TV watcher, so I started reading this series as I was interested enough to see what it was all about. At first, I had assumed the novels would just retell the events from the TV show, but these are totally different stories. The books do occasionally touch on stuff that happened in the show as the events they portray sort of happen between episodes. After reading the first 12 novels in this series, I actually went back and watched the whole show, show more too, since I liked the characters so much. show less

This set of Torchwood novels is much better than the last. This is my favourite of the set, and has some pretty good stuff going on. The ending's not huge on the making sense, but that's not something I really demand from the show, anyway.

Something is going on in Tretarri which also happens to be the one place in Cardiff that Jack physically cannot enter. Elsewhere, we see Bilis Manger busy with plans that cannot come to any good - or can they?

Fairly Jack-centric, giving further glimpses into his past.

Out of all the Torchwood Novels, this is my absolute favorite so far. Very in character and an intriguing storyline!