I love it when previous species return but with a different Doctor which is what happens in this book. The 10th Doctor encounters the Autons who are powered by The Nestene Consciousness which appeared in the first episode with the 9th Doctor and Rose.

I love the fact it was based in my lifetime and as I read the book I could see the story playing in my mind like an episode to me this means the book is well written. ( )

Entertaining in typical Doctor Who fashion. The dialogue is a little lacking though

I've started reading the Doctor Who series recently since we love the TV show so much, and I continue to enjoy each book. This was probably my fourth. Compared to a lot of the other, non-Doctor Who books I read, the reading level is easy and it's good for nights when I just don't have a lot of concentration left over before falling asleep mid-page.

As far as the book goes, I didn't find the plot particularly unique for Doctor Who. There were a few more deaths than usual, and the amusement park setting was kind of fun. I do wish he'd have a companion, but there are definitely other books in the series which do. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1947037.html

Blythe brings back the Autons with a proper reboot, updating them to the new century in a way that wasn't possible for the TV episode Rose (which also rebooted the Autons, but much else besides) and actually paving the way slightly for the new wrinkles to the Autons that we saw in the first Matt Smith season. Lots of decent action, though the gruesome deaths don't quite fit with the general impression of Who novels of that year of writing for a younger age group. ( )

*Spoiler alert - if you've not read this book and you want to, there are some spoilers in the following review.*

This is a Doctor Who novel, with the Doctor in his Tenth incarnation, although this is the penultimate book for Ten. He has come to Earth in the year 2013 to visit Hyperville, a 24 hour entertainment complex containing more shops than you can imagine, a casino, theme park rides and a hotel. However, there's something hidden on Level Zero and the cover makes it fairly obvious what that is.

Although the Autons are not a new baddy to the Whoniverse, they've not been used very much so there's not so much of an 'oh god, not them again' aspect. Part of that might be because there's not really a great deal that can be done with them regarding scenarios; plastic dummies are kind of limited to shop windows really. However, in this book, there's a newish breed of Autons, ones that have been programmed with memories to live hidden amongst the population until they are needed. This does open up the possibilities for them.

I rather enjoyed this book. It was nicely pacey and the characterisations were quite good. Some of the minor characters weren't brilliant, such as the children and their parents, but they weren't in it a great deal so it wasn't that much of a problem. The Miss Devonshire character reminded me very much of Miss Foster, the nanny from Partners in Crime for some reason. Perhaps it was the immaculate attire coupled with single-mindedness regarding the alien she was working with. I'm not entirely sure why she had to be American, or why so much was made of this and her accent. Surely if she'd been in the UK from such a young age as she said, most of her accent would have disappeared anyway.

Kate, the young woman that the Doctor takes a shine to, reminded me a great deal of Rose. She was very willing to jump straight in with both feet, had a lack of fear with regards to the danger ahead and was quite happy to do the dangerous work the Doctor asked of her. She was nicely fiesty and had some good banter with the Doctor. There were some obvious references between her and Rose, such as the way they both first meet the Doctor in the basement of a shop while there's Autons attacking. There's also an amusing repeat of the London Eye joke from the episode Rose too. There's also the amusing irony in Russell T Davies' era starting with the Autons in Rose and ending with them here.

The book is full of references to current culture and previous aspects of Doctor Who itself. There's very obvious nods to The Apprentice and David and Victoria Beckham, although it seems to be done more tongue in cheek than a blatant steal. I thought the anti-plastic being put into the sprinkler system was rather reminiscent of the antidote in New Earth as well. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a deliberate nod with the amount of other references there were, or if it was just accidental. There were a couple of minor details that didn't quite work for me, such as the setting. I couldn't understand why it was supposed to be Earth in 2013 which is only a few years off and yet Hyperville and its technology is well out of our reach yet. I also had a bit of a quibble with a phone that gets completely drenched with water and anti-plastic yet still manages to work. Those were very minor things, they didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book at all and it was definitely a good read. ( )