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Doctor Who & Torchwood Books


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Until recently, I've avoided picking up any of the Doctor Who books, although I can't pinpoint why! However, I was recently sent one to review, and I was rather impressed.

 

I really like the small hardback format, and it was a nice fast read. For this one in particular, I felt that the Doctor's character had been caught rather well, but not so much Martha's. However, this is obviously going to change from book to book, dependant on the skills of the writer.

 

All in all though, it did feel like I was reading a TV episode, and I will certainly be looking out for more. (There's a list here.)

 

I was also sent a Torchwood one, which I'm reading now. I'll share my thoughts on this one when finished, but once again, I'm keen to read more. (List here.)

 

I'm sure some of Doctor Who / Torchwood fans have read some of these, so which have you enjoyed, which ones are good stories, and which seem to catch the characters well?

 

For fans who haven't yet tried them, is there a reason why? Do you think you may now be tempted to give one a try?

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I don't know why, but I've never read any TV programme tie-in novels, or even considered them. Maybe I think they won't match up to the series? Or that they're somehow "cashing in"? I know there are plenty of Buffy and Angel books out there too, so maybe I should give them a chance. On the other hand, if I like them, it could prove expensive!

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I've read all of the Doctor Who books, and I love them all! I think one of my favourites is "Stealers Of Dreams" with the 9th Dr, Rose and Jack in.

 

I've also read three of the Torchwood books. Not sure how many there are. Like those, too. I think my favourite of the three I've read would be "Another Reality", but I like them all.

 

 

They come out in threes, and I'm one of those weirdos who has to spend several minutes working out which came first by looking at the list of books in the front XD

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I've only read The Stone Rose, which as you'd guess, is a Tennant/Rose Tyler novel. Not bad. Not great, but far from awful. Why did it take me so long? I have no idea...it was a very fast read and the photo of The Tennant on the cover was a bonus. :D

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  • 6 months later...

Finally! I have been looking for this thread! I have read all the Doctor Who books they are brilliant and I have read some Torchwood books which are also fantastic!

Wetworld and Feast Of The Drowned were very good!

The Twilight Streets and Something In The Water blew my mind away!

I am a massive fan of RTD as you might have guessed from my user name!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Doctor Who books, now where do I begin?!

I've got a pile of the old Target novelisations, from the original series, but I didn't start reading Doctor Who in earnest until Virgin started publishing their original novels in the early nineties (these were of a much more adult nature than the current incarnations, and featured novels by some now familiar names - Mark Gatiss, for example. They also featured the story by Paul Cornell that was later adapted him into the excellent third series two-parter Human Nature and The Family of Blood).

Of the current range I have only read Sting of the Zygons, which was okay, but I felt the Doctor was a bit OTT! I like the hardback format as well, but if you just want to read the books, keep your eye on The Book People catalogue, as they often sell ten of the stories for

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Non-fiction wise, I've recently finished reading A Writer's Tale, by Russell T. Davis and Benjamin Cook, which chronicles - in e-mails - a year in the life of Russell T. Davis as producer and the show's lead writer. It's a very interesting read, and for anyone interested in Doctor Who, or script writing in general, this is a must-read (and the good news is, you can get this at the mo for only

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  • 3 months later...

Ive read a few of the doctor who books and the first one is still my fave, its set around halloween time and is not cheesy at all considering how bad it could be,

its called FOREVER AUTUMN if I can spell autumn right :D its the best doctor who one I've read, but I've never read any torchwood ones :D

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  • 1 month later...
Finally! I have been looking for this thread! I have read all the Doctor Who books they are brilliant and I have read some Torchwood books which are also fantastic!

Wetworld and Feast Of The Drowned were very good!

The Twilight Streets and Something In The Water blew my mind away!

I am a massive fan of RTD as you might have guessed from my user name!

 

 

I totally agree! Somethig in the Water was way the best Torchwood books and I love the hard back covers, they look soo nice on my shelves! Has anyone read the new Doctor Who ones with Donna in? They are class!

Edited by Christie
Left out Doctor Who
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I totally agree! Somethig in the Water was way the best Torchwood books and I love the hard back covers, they look soo nice on my shelves! Has anyone read the new Doctor Who ones with Donna in? They are class!

 

No, but I have heard good things about Prisoner of the Daleks, by Trevor Baxendale, I will be hunting that down at some point.

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  • 4 months later...

I know this is about the show rather than the books, but I was hoping someone here would know, are the Dr Who books suitable for a 12 year old do you think? I've been thinking about getting some for my sister for xmas as she loves the show, but she gets scared quite easily so didn't want to get the books if they'd be too scary

Edited by Michelle
moved to existing book thread
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I've only read a few of them, but I would say they're suitable for a 12 year old (although I don't have kids so I'm not an expert). None of the ones I've read have been as scary as episodes like "Blink" or "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" which I found really creepy.

 

I've read The Stone Rose (Tenth Doctor/Rose), Sick Building (Tenth Doctor/Martha) and I've listened to the audio of The Feast of the Drowned (Tenth Doctor/Rose) and I didn't find any of them scary.

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  • 1 month later...

Has anyone read the Decide your Destini Doctor Who books? My sister's a huge fan of David & the series so I was pondering getting her the series for Christmas (and/or The Writer's Tale) but... are they up to the standard of the "normal" DW novels - which I know she devours?

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  • 2 months later...

I have never read any of the Dr Who or Torchwood books, I adore both series, but I have just never read any books of series I love. I love Star Trek, Buffy, Angel etc, so there's plenty if I wanted to.. but somehow it feels to me like they wouldn't live up to the series. Also, I always get the feeling they would be like, easy books. You know, an easy and cheap read? I don't know if they are, I just know to me, it would feel like I am cheating on the rest of my books by reading something from a TV series. I'm weird, I know. :smile2:

 

Plus, when I read, I want something new, or some world explained to me in words, not in pictures. I like to develop my own characters, the sight of them, not go by how they look in the series. Which is why I hate reading the book after I've seen a film (though for instance with Anne Rice's books, the image I have in my head of the characters is very different than the film(s)).

I think the change from seeing all those things, to have them described would maybe be too much. That the chance would be high that I'd hate the books just for that reason.

Hard to describe really, but I think that, except for when I really run out of anything to read, I won't be reading any of them. :yahoo:

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Most of the Doctor Who and Torchwood books currently available (and Star Trek, for that matter) are original stories, not adaptations of TV episodes, and both their quality and the readership they are targeted at can be very variable.

I started out reading Star Trek books back when I was sixteen, and over the years I've read quite a few of them (and quite a few Star Wars and Doctor Who books as well). In recent years I've tended to only read one or two a year (if that) because my taste in literature has changed over the years and I know there are better stories/authors out there to be read.

The Doctor Who books that are currently being published are targeted, like the show, towards a generally audience - in other words they are written so that children, or at least teenagers, can read them as well as adults. The two I've read from the current range (Sting of the Zygons and Prisoner of the Daleks) have both been okay, but they were both generally light-weight reads.

The New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels, published during the nineties by Virgin, and the BBC range that followed, had some cracking stories, written by the likes of Mark Gatiss and Paul Cornell who have both written episodes of the new series (in fact the series three story Human Nature/The Family of Blood was originally a New Adventures novel written around the seventh Doctor). These books were aimed squarely at adult readers, and were generally a lot more complex than the novels they publish now (they also only feature the first eight Doctors).

When Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2005 the BBC dropped this range of books, which was a shame, but they wanted to push the new series and make it more child friendly, so the more adult books had to go.

In summary, I would say there is some very good stuff out there, if you are willing to put in the leg work to find it (don't read Doctor Who sites for book reviews by the way, they don't tend to be terribly subjective!), but the most I think you can expect from the current range is an enjoyable read.

Michelle may be able to comment on the Torchwood books, I

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There are plenty of the old Target (or Star) paperbacks from the golden age of Who still available in second hand bookshops, and from reading them in bulk as a teenager I remember them being quite good. Much better than some of the early Star Wars tie-ins, but not quite as good as the Virgin Doctor Who books.

 

I like tie-ins for the most part (save for Charmed, which vacillated between moronic and vapid, rarely capturing character or place) so have no problem with reading books based on television shows or films. There are a stack of Sabrina YA paperbacks in my TBR pile for a project I'm working on at the moment.

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I had a load of the old Target Dr Who books back in the 70s and if I remember correctly they were novelisations of the TV episodes not original stories unlike the modern Dr Who and Torchwood books.

 

They are, I still have a small pile of them too!

 

Mark Gatiss did a very interesting half-hour program on them on Radio Four at the end of last year.

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