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42nd out of 155 books
—
44 voters
Made of Steel (Doctor Who: Quick Reads #2)
The third Quick Read title featuring Doctor Who.
An obscure Government Ministry is blown up, and secret decoding equipment disappears. High-tech equipment is stolen from an army base. Mysterious figures raid an electronics shop, take the new games consoles and then vanish. Could the Cybermen be back?
An obscure Government Ministry is blown up, and secret decoding equipment disappears. High-tech equipment is stolen from an army base. Mysterious figures raid an electronics shop, take the new games consoles and then vanish. Could the Cybermen be back?
Hardcover, 99 pages
Published
2007
by BBC
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The Doctor and Martha find themselves returning to Earth so Martha can visit the hospital and check in on her old co-workers. Things are well enough until the Cybermen start showing up stealing high teach equipment. With all the Cybermen believed to have been sucked back into the Void (from the TV series), the Doctor must figure out what the Cybermen are up to and how to stop them. The military gets involved and there are references to Torchwood that tie into the story.
This was a very quick rea...more
This was a very quick rea...more
Terrance Dicks is one of the oldest and most prolific Doctor Who writers and authors of all time. He has been involved with the series from the start, so it’s nice to see him offer stories for the latest incarnations of the Doctor. “Made of Steel” is a pretty standard Who story where the Cybermen threaten to assimilate the world with only the Doctor and Martha in their way.
Dicks writes in a confident manner, but his storytelling is rather dry. The characters don’t really come alive, even though...more
Dicks writes in a confident manner, but his storytelling is rather dry. The characters don’t really come alive, even though...more
Made of Steel really is a "Quick Read", a short novella in a line aimed at helping people learn to read. A fun read from the pen of Terrence Dicks, an old pro at writing episode-length stories. (He was script editor in the Pertwee era and wrote for 4 Doctors on tv, as well as penning most of the Target novelizations.) I'm most struck by his ability to let us know a little about even the lowliest of guest characters, often just before they get killed. It's a brief tale about Cybermen that survive...more
Another fun, fast Doctor Who read. These are part of the "Quickreads" program designed to encourage British children to read. I figure as an American Adult it should be about my speed. These are fun quick adventures and reading them is like finding an episode I forgot to watch. The first one I read featured the 10th Doctor and companion Rose Tyler, and this one paired #10 with Martha Jones, so it was like spending time with old friends. I'd definitely suggest these little books to any fans with...more
On a tendance à ne pas attendre grand chose d'un quick read, ce qui rend la surprise de tomber sur Made of Steel encore meilleure.
D'abord parce qu'il répond à une question qu'on s'est tous plus ou moins posé, ne serait-ce qu'en regardant la cyberwoman de Torchwood: quand le Doctor a renvoyé tous nos copains métalliques interdimentionnels dans le void, il ils sont devenus quoi ceux qui avaient été créés en route sur notre bonne vieille Terre, sans avoir été contaminé par les particules de rien-du...more
D'abord parce qu'il répond à une question qu'on s'est tous plus ou moins posé, ne serait-ce qu'en regardant la cyberwoman de Torchwood: quand le Doctor a renvoyé tous nos copains métalliques interdimentionnels dans le void, il ils sont devenus quoi ceux qui avaient été créés en route sur notre bonne vieille Terre, sans avoir été contaminé par les particules de rien-du...more
Meh The adventure starts out ok, but I found it never really delivered. It was started and finished without really GOING anywhere. Martha seemed fairly flat and shallow (she never was the greatest of companions, but this made her seem worse) and while the Doctor was. . .well, mostly in character, he never really got a chance to shine either.
All in all, the story seemed more like a short story one might find in a magazine, than a full blown novel.
Not *bad*, but definitely not one of my favourite...more
All in all, the story seemed more like a short story one might find in a magazine, than a full blown novel.
Not *bad*, but definitely not one of my favourite...more
Another fascinating tale of Doctor Who and Martha against the remnants of the Cybermen that were destroyed at Torchwood Tower when the Doctor opened the Void and sucked them all in. It even went as far as to mention that Martha's cousin had worked at Torchwood at the time, which, if you've seen the episode, it actually is Freeman that plays that part and becomes a Cyberman during the episode. Very interesting. As far as the book goes, it's another tale in the long history that is the Whoniverse...more
This book is really pretty good for what it is. It's a quick, easy read, and evokes some nostalgic memories of reading Dicks's novelizations when I was younger. Dicks writes a pretty good Tenth Doctor, though I was less happy with his characterization of Martha - at one point, he has her flummoxed by the term "teleportation device", but any companion savvy enough to reference the grandfather paradox on her first trip to the past has got to have enough sci-fi familiarity to know what a teleportat...more
First Doctor Who book that I have read, so many to choose from but thought I would give it a try since it was only 99 cents! Well, worth it, great way to get started reading this series. I'm newly initiated into the Doctor Who world and so I'm not as well versed as most but I was able to follow along.
Written in the same flat style as most of Dicks' prose offerings, this is a novelette that sends Ten and Martha up against nuCybermen. Given its intended audience, the simplified narrative is understandable...I just tend to find Dicks' prose style patently horrible.
It was good for a quick read. Martha's character was written well, kept in the style of her character in the show as well as showing the emotion needed for her run-in with the Cybermen. The Doctor too was kept in character for the linear progression of the show.
A quick, entertaining enough read. Dicks has a good grasp on David Tennant's voice and mannerisms as Doctor. The story wasn't anything special but it was a decent coda to Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.
Decent, quick romp through the mid-Tennant era of Doctor Who. Provides some background on Martha's cousin, Adeola, who featured in "Army of Ghosts." It's Terrance Dicks, you can't go wrong.
This is the second title in the "Quick Reads" series. First one was I am a Dalek. This is more like a novella. Less than a 100 pages. Read it under an hour. Still a fun read. I'm getting a little tired of the Doctor in manic mode speech. It's becoming a short cut. A very tiring short cut. I mean, yeah, it's the way Tennant delivers dialog and used once in the story where it's like appropriate but not three times in less than 100 pages. But overall it was a nice little adventure. Cyberman trying...more
This is an entertaining "Quick Read".
Some Cyberman were left on earth after the season two finale. The story is fast paced and entertaining and both the Doctor and Martha are written well.
Some Cyberman were left on earth after the season two finale. The story is fast paced and entertaining and both the Doctor and Martha are written well.
A little nostalgia and a very quick read. Enjoyed, not exactly challenging as it's probably for 8 year olds. Gimmme more!
Nothing really exciting about the story but it was a really quick read. Makes a nice companion piece to the series.
Oct 21, 2007
Nicholas Whyte
added it
http://nhw.livejournal.com/842281.html[return][return]Yes, Terrance Dicks is still out there, still writing Doctor Who novels; this is in the BBC's
Fairly enjoyable, but not many twists. The Cybermen seem a little simplistic, but still a better read than Twilight...
Just read this in about ten minutes. Good short story with the Doctor and Martha defeating the Cybermen.
Meh. A quick, but ultimately uninteresting read. All-around weak even for a simple Doctor Who book.
bit short, but then again it is a quick read, and my seven year old son loves it.
When they say "Quick Read" they sure do mean it! This book is extremely fast paced, and while Dicks does accomplish a lot in a short time, we never really get anywhere. Just enough to whet your appetite for more Doctor!!
Good book, but I don't think it works well with the Cybermen.
Another Doctor Who "Quick Read." This seemed very much like a recycled plot with a recycled enemy. On top of that, the Doctor seemed way out of character. It was almost like a totally different person just reciting the Doctor's quirky lines. The only redeeming value in this book was that part of it was referenced in a future (better) story, Sting of the Zygons.
Jul 27, 2012
David Orphal
added it
fun quick read. about the lenght of a one-hour episode. quick, strsiggt-forward plot by the cyvermen to bring their army back from the void to overrun earth.
As it says on the cover, this is a quick read. I finished it in less than an hour. The plot is interesting in some parts but the book is too short to really go into anything intricate. It is fairly Martha-centric which was nice.
Martha Jones and the Cybermen! What was I thinking? It is no wonder I didn't like this book, considering the fact that I do not like Martha or the Cybermen at all. Ugh-I'm glad that experience is over!
good short read
Not a bad read and definitely better than Revenge of the Judoon. Still, the book was a little too thin and the Cybermen were way too disposable.
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Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.
His break in television came when his friend Malcolm Hulke asked for his help with the writing of an episode of the popular ABC (ITV) action-adventure series The Avengers, on which Dicks received a co-writer's credit on the broadcast. He als...more
More about Terrance Dicks...
His break in television came when his friend Malcolm Hulke asked for his help with the writing of an episode of the popular ABC (ITV) action-adventure series The Avengers, on which Dicks received a co-writer's credit on the broadcast. He als...more
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