Doctor Who: Engines of War (Mann)

Doctor Who: Engines of War, by George Mann, 2014

The Time Lord who rejected the name "The Doctor" nonetheless picks it up again, mostly because readers need to call him something. Likewise, so do the rest of the Time Lords on Gallifrey, including Rassillon, the Daleks, and, of course, his latest companion.

Taking place in the middle of the Great Time War, the Doctor is part of an attack fleet that's ambushed by Daleks. He crash lands on the planet Moldox, infested not only with Daleks, but with Skaro Degradations with new weapons. The Temporal Cannon removes the target from history, though gaps seem to remain. Even though a soldier never existed, his cot is still there, even if you can't remember whose cot it was. (Problems like this occurred with the crack in the universe in the first Matt Smith series.)

The Doctor and "Cinder", whose family was killed by Daleks when she was a child, head off to Gallifrey where the Council decides to kill the Daleks by destroying the Tantalus Spiral and annihilating billions of lives (along with Daleks), which are acceptable losses to save trillions of others. Oh, and kill the Doctor. The Doctor does his best to make sure that neither of those happen.

Long time fans of the series (from before the revival) will be rewarded, but no viewers won't be left scratching their heads.

It reads like a long episode, and that's not a bad thing. It's a satisfying read, but it doesn't really give us more insight into the War Doctor, except that he's already tired of War. He rejects the name Doctor, but that's all he ever seems to be. Again, not that that's a bad thing.

Babylon 5: In the Beginning (David)

Babylon 5: In the Beginning, Peter David, based on a teleplay by J. Michael Straczynski.

Very good. Not like the last novelization I read. (I haven't seen the TV movie.)

Peter David did an excellent job on this book. It read nothing like a script. It read like a story. I appreciate that. As for the story, it tied in a lot that I already knew about the Babylon 5 universe from watching the series. Good job.

Star Trek: TNG: Unification (Taylor)

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Unification, Jeri Taylor,
story by Rick Berman and Michael Piller

Adaptation of two-part TNG episode. About standard for a novelization; mediocre for a book. You could see the scene fades and cuts. Some dialogue could've been cut and replaced with description or exposition. Or they could have just told the damn story! Quick read even though I've only seen a portion of part two (and none of part one) on TV. Recycled it.

And by "recycled", I believe I mean that literally. It didn't go back to the used bookshop to exchange for another. It went out with the newspapers.

Babylon 5: Book #8 - Personal Agendas

Babylon 5: Book #8 - Personal Agendas

A total and complete abomination! The jacket says that Al Sarrantonio has won several awards -- he won't win any here! A 200-page book with 61 chapters??? First indication that something was wrong. Such a blatant and direct translation that he might as well included the camera angles and lighting instructions. Two saving graces: 1) 50 cents went to the Brooklyn Public Library for this purchase. 2)No one else will ever take this book out again.

Five or six years later, I'm still bitter.

Roar (Kiernan)

Roar, Sean Kiernan, 1998
based on the TV series created by Sean Cassidy and Ron Koslow

Very enjoyable. A keeper. Based on the series pilot (which I didn't see -- I only saw 1 or 2 later episodes). The story starts with Longinus and the Crucifiction, jumps 400 years and shifts to Ireland and spans another 25 years. The story has solid characters multiple interwoven storylines that don't all end with someone dying. A little open-ended, but it was a series pilot, so that is to be expected. Well-written, especially for an adaptation.