Doctor Who

Apr 13, 2012 ~Geektastic~ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, doctor-who, 2011

This is a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey one. Most of the Who books I’ve read so far, all of which have featured Doctors 10 or 11, have involved the TARDIS only as a means to land our hero (and sometimes his friends) in the middle of a conflict. Poor TARDIS, she never gets to be part of the fun. Nuclear Time, thankfully, gives her a chance to shine, if only just a little.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in the middle of the Colorado Desert in 1981. In the scorching sands lies an improbably perfect li...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Dan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who

An epic timey-wimey adventure. It's set somewhere between the Series 5 episodes The Vampires of Venice and The Hungry Earth. The Doctor, Amy and Rory land in the middle of the Colorado desert in a place called Appletown. It's quickly revealed that it's residents are in fact killer androids and the whole place is about to be nuked.

To stop the bomb, the Doctor must live backwards through time. This is very confusing but it works really well. It's even more confusing as time is rewritten so some o...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Miles Reid-lobatto rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have to be honest, I rarely keep up with the Doctor Who tie-in novels. With the early days of the range, with the 9th Doctor books and the early 10th Doctor ones, there was a very hit and miss quality, not helped by a continuous reuse of the same authors time and again. With the 11th Doctor books, I think the range has really hit a fantastic stride and I'm going back and grabbing them to read as quick as I can.

'Nuclear Time' is an interesting beast with a entertaining 'wibbly wobbly timey wime...more
I have to be honest, I rarely keep up with the Doctor Who tie-in novels. With the early days of the range, with the 9th Doctor books and the early 10th Doctor ones, there was a very hit and miss quality, not helped by a continuous reuse of the same authors time and again. With the 11th Doctor books, I think the range has really hit a fantastic stride and I'm going back and grabbing them to read as quick as I can.

'Nuclear Time' is an interesting beast with a entertaining 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey' element that actually puts some of the Moffatt's use of this particular trope to shame. The book has an incredibly fast pace, more like the TV show than a lot of these books do, but is able to leap back and forth in time without slowing. With the elements on hand (A-Bomb testing ground, Military secret projects to build Robot Assassin, cold war politics and wibbly wobbly) there are dozens of Doctor Who stories that could have burst from these. They would probably be a bit more true to form and generic that this wonderfully offbeat story.

I think where the book really hit a high point for me was with the character Geoff, a Vietnam veteren who finds himself in charge of a project completely beyond his expectations. It would be all too easy to have written the character as a gruff, flag-waving military cliche. Instead, he is actually portrayed as a real human being, the little hints of friendship between him and the scientist Albert build to a wonderful moment towards the end where we discover what Geoff was going to give him as a good-bye present should be one of Doctor Who's emotional highlights. Ever. Period.

If the book has a downside, it's that Amy and Rory really don't have much to do for the majority of the book outside run away from Killer Robots. The utterly fantastic TARDIS team of the Doctor/Amy and Rory, something which the new series and the novels have snatched and run away with is tragically short changed. But that doesn't detract from a book that is such a wonderful winner.
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Jul 31, 2011 Avarill rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this one. Oli Smith did a great job with a direct-to-audio romp in The Runaway Train. He also writes what is probably the best Eleventh Doctor characterization in the spin-off media. But by the time I was finished with Nuclear Time, I was by turns bored and offended.

First, the good stuff. Again, Smith's (Oli's) portrayal of Smith's (Matt's) Doctor is spot-on. His mannerisms and dialogue are perfect. Amy and Rory are also fairly on target. The plot has some fascinating tim...more I really wanted to like this one. Oli Smith did a great job with a direct-to-audio romp in The Runaway Train. He also writes what is probably the best Eleventh Doctor characterization in the spin-off media. But by the time I was finished with Nuclear Time, I was by turns bored and offended.

First, the good stuff. Again, Smith's (Oli's) portrayal of Smith's (Matt's) Doctor is spot-on. His mannerisms and dialogue are perfect. Amy and Rory are also fairly on target. The plot has some fascinating timey-wimey elements to keep things fresh, and without that twist, this novel would have been relentlessly pedestrian. It also has a tone more adult than I would have expected from this line of spin-offs.

The hook, or plot-twist was totally original, and kudos to Smith for thinking of it, and for thinking it through and explaining it well. No other Who story has tried anything like this. But one genius concept cannot alone carry the day. Similar effort needs to be put into the other bits of the story, and I just wasn't feeling it.

It plodded. I got bored. There are a few exciting scenes, yet they are sparse. The bulk of the novel is a combination of exposition that takes far too long, and scenes that are frankly boring. I know the point was to keep the reader intrigued, but after reading sixteen versions of the same plot point, it ceased to intrigue me. And then Smith commits the difficult-to-pardon crime of shunting the companions off for most of the book -- without having them actually DO anything that moves the plot forward. Amy and Rory fall into the boring loop of being menaced for wide swaths of the story, to little point or effect. They only break out of their jeopardy-friendly feedback loop when the Doctor rescues them. I expected them to accomplish more than merely staying alive long enough to be rescued. That was disappointing.

And now to the offending part. The portrayal of the US in Who media is more often disappointing than not, so I wasn't expecting anything wonderful here. I just wanted to be entertained. But as the story plodded on, I began to wonder. Granted, the American government can be a bit sinister under certain circumstances. It can be secretive, and scary, and kind of dumb. Yet I couldn't fathom how it could be so colossally stupid as to perpetrate the idiocy portrayed in Nuclear Time. Why create the ultimate weapon -- and not include an off switch! The whole story I kept wondering -- why isn't there an off switch? Reset button? Failsafe? Gritty realism is not expected from a Who novel, but when pivotal plot points defy all logic, the suspension of disbelief is shattered.

Other government actions -- including summary executions and inexplicable nuke-dropping combined with ridiculous costcutting measures -- were so far out of line that they felt like some political statement. An unnecessary and irritating one. Here's a hint to British Who writers: if you can't imagine the contemporary British government doing something, that probably means the Americans wouldn't, either.

The version I read was the unabridged audio read by Nicolas Briggs. The disadvantage of the audio was that I couldn't skim through the (many) boring and repetitive bits. The advantage was Brigg's excellent reading. He does decent American accents (including a pretty good Clint Eastwood impression), and Amy, Rory, and the Doctor are well-represented. Brigg's Rory, in particular, is notable for his perfect rendition of Arthur Darvill's speech pattern. His deadpan delivery was a lot of fun.

Ultimately, I wanted to like this, and I didn't want to write a predominately negative review. But yourself a favor and go read or listen to The Glamour Chase or The Forgotten Army instead. Or even pop in the CD for The Runaway Train. You'll be glad you did.(less)

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Apr 05, 2011 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who, science-fiction

I fully expected to dislike this. Having thought that Oli Smith's recent Eleventh Doctor audio adventure "The Runaway Train" was absolutely garbage, I rightly expected Nuclear Time to not be my cup of tea. As it turns out, Nuclear Time is my new favorite Doctor Who novel, with the only other one coming close being Steve Lyon's Second Doctor adventure The Murder Game. Smith's prose is strong, and his grasp of the main characters very good, but more notably the plot and supporting characters of Nu...more I fully expected to dislike this. Having thought that Oli Smith's recent Eleventh Doctor audio adventure "The Runaway Train" was absolutely garbage, I rightly expected Nuclear Time to not be my cup of tea. As it turns out, Nuclear Time is my new favorite Doctor Who novel, with the only other one coming close being Steve Lyon's Second Doctor adventure The Murder Game. Smith's prose is strong, and his grasp of the main characters very good, but more notably the plot and supporting characters of Nuclear Time are outstanding.

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory find themselves in Appletown, a mysterious and quiet little cookie-cutter village out in the middle of the Colorado desert in early 1980s. They quickly realize something is awry: all the residents of the idyllic neighborhood happen to be androids, and the village was built for the sole purpose of being nuked to wipe out the robot threat. In trying to escape and prevent the nuclear explosion that could lead to the escalation of the Cold War, The Doctor gets trapped in a strange time phenomenon, and begins going backwards in intervals through time as he tries to peace together all the information he needs to change the course of events once his backwards motion through time crosses the point at which everything goes to hell.

I was thoroughly impressed with the two major supporting characters of this novel. Doctor Albert Gilroy is a brilliant scientist well ahead of his time who invented the androids that have now become a menace. Gilroy has spent the majority of his adult life dedicated to these androids and struggles with the idea of their destruction, no matter how much trouble they have caused. Major Geoffrey Redvers is a military man involved in the project, and the closest thing Albert has ever had to a friend in his adult life. Isley is the first android, and the most sophisticated, of whom Albert is most proud and dedicated, who Albert may try anything to save from the blast.

I was astonished at how well Smith developed the supporting characters; I genuinely felt invested in the stories of Doctor Gilroy and Major Redvers by the end, and was really left wanting more. I feel so strongly about this novel that I would say, despite series five been excellent, if this were an episode from that wonderful year, it would easily make my top two or three episodes. Any Doctor Who fan should read this novel; it is an absolutely indispensable tie-in.(less)

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Feb 07, 2011 Daniel Kukwa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who

It’s the weakest novel of batch #2, but it’s also the most ambitious, the most outrageous, and the most mind-shredding. It’s the first novel to play temporal games & poke at the nature of the TARDIS in some considerable time, and the weakness merely stems from the fact that it could use 100 pages of extra characterization…because the material DEMANDS more time. It’s settling for very good when it could have been MAGNIFICENT, on the level of Lance Parkin’s "The Eyeless".

But fear not…for what...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Creativity's Corner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, adult-lit

If there is such a thing as guilty pleasure books, the Doctor Who books are it for me. They're not even that good, but boy do I love them. I'm slightly embarrassed to even admit that I read them, but for posterity (and challenges) sake, I'm going to at least write down a few thoughts.

This is one of the newest ones, about the Eleventh Doctor and his companions Amy and Rory. They land in Colorado during the Cold War in a town that is too perfect. Of course, that's because all the people are robot...more If there is such a thing as guilty pleasure books, the Doctor Who books are it for me. They're not even that good, but boy do I love them. I'm slightly embarrassed to even admit that I read them, but for posterity (and challenges) sake, I'm going to at least write down a few thoughts.

This is one of the newest ones, about the Eleventh Doctor and his companions Amy and Rory. They land in Colorado during the Cold War in a town that is too perfect. Of course, that's because all the people are robot assassins, about to be terminated because they couldn't tell the difference between the target and everybody else.

The book overall reminded me of the episode Amy's Choice, and not in a good way. It was one of the less well written in the series, simply re-using bits and pieces from the series in a different order and slapping in a bit of admittedly accurate dialogue. That was the best part, really, because Smith got the voices of the characters just right.

I guess, in the end, the books can never live up to the series. One of the reasons I love the series is the way the writers are so careful about tying in loose ends and tying the entire series together. It really makes the show for me, and it tells me the writers truly care about the story and not just how many viewers they can get. True, each series has its own one-off adventures, and some are better than others, but they all tie in somehow, even if it's just the mention of a few words or a shot of a crack in time at the end. When you have a series made up of thousands of books each written by a different author, and often written before a series has even finished airing, it's really difficult to tie the stories in. So instead, you get a bunch of one-off adventures, some better than others, but without much relation to the series itself. It's good enough to tide you over when the next episodes are nearly a year away, but not the real thing. (Kinda like being on a diet. You can't eat the real thing, so you make do with something that's close to satisfy your cravings. Not a perfect metaphor, but you get the point.)

Anyways, overall, I wouldn't recommend this one, mostly because it's my guilty pleasure, and that's the only reason I enjoyed it. Only someone else as obsessed as me would get the enjoyment.(less)

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Sep 21, 2011 Aidan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who

The Doctor and his companions Rory and Amy arrive in a village that does not seem to make sense. There are no roads connecting it to the outside world and the fixtures and fittings in the houses have not been completed. It is all very strange and the explanation, which we receive quite early in the novel, is a satisfying one. It is however only the start of the adventure for the Doctor as he must prevent a massacre, the death of his companions and the start of a war between the United States and...more The Doctor and his companions Rory and Amy arrive in a village that does not seem to make sense. There are no roads connecting it to the outside world and the fixtures and fittings in the houses have not been completed. It is all very strange and the explanation, which we receive quite early in the novel, is a satisfying one. It is however only the start of the adventure for the Doctor as he must prevent a massacre, the death of his companions and the start of a war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

I cannot think of another New Series Adventure that is quite as ambitious as Oli Smith’s Nuclear Time. Not content with a narrative structure that moves backwards and forwards in time, Smith also has the Doctor experiencing events backwards. It is an intriguing concept and at times it can be quite effective, though there were points when I was wondering if it all makes sense (and even now I cannot be entirely sure that it does).

As for their characterizations – well, the Doctor is a pretty good match for the Matt Smith portrayal and though Smith catches Amy’s speech style most of the time odd lines occasionally ring false. Rory however is a different case, seeming too assertive and confident – particularly for a story set during Series 5. It is not enough to derail the story, particularly given how the two characters are so inconsequential for most of it, but it did mean the sequences they get together never quite convinced me.

The secondary characters are more interesting. I liked that there really isn’t a villain to the piece – this is not an evil scientist story (or an evil military story) but rather a story in which events have spiraled out of these characters’ control. Accordingly those characters’ motivations are actually quite interesting and I appreciated that there are aspects to both Geoff and Albert that are quite sad, giving the story some moving moments, particularly towards the end of the novel.

Which brings me on to one of the biggest problems with the story: really after page 80 Rory and Amy become pretty irrelevant to what happens as they are no longer in sync with the Doctor’s timeline. Though Smith takes the time to update us on what the pair are up to, those sequences mostly consist of them running around the village trying to avoid being killed. This quickly becomes repetitive and the sequences only serve to slow the story down.

It is this uneven pacing that ultimately sunk the novel for me and made it such a frustrating read. I enjoyed discovering just what has happened to cause the events that the Doctor, Rory and Amy become trapped in but I couldn’t shake the feeling that a third of the novel feels wasted and that, if this had been an adventure with the Doctor travelling solo, this story could have been so much better.(less)

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Sep 24, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-loan, fiction, audiobooks

I found it a bit hard to follow this - it might have worked better as a book where you can flip back and check the date/time stamps.

An interesting story of the early 80s US government finding itself with sophisticated android weaponry that is proving too much of a handful. The plan is to corral and nuke them in the Colorado desert which has serious political consequences. The Doctor finds himself moving backwards in time (which includes talking backwards) to save the day while Rory and Amy try t...more

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Aug 17, 2010 stormhawk rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

If it weren't for my love of all things Whovian, I would have stopped reading this book and added it to my so-bad-I-couldn't-finish shelf. This tale of the 11th Doctor twists time and even the fairly lax credulity of the average Who-fan. I've enjoyed the current doctor quite a bit, but unfortunately, none of the rakish charm that Matt Smith brings to his portrayal of The Doctor is translated into the book version.

Not that the plot wasn't bad enough, it's very noticeable to an American reader tha...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

This one had potential,but unfortunately the writing was terrible. The author did not have a very good grasp on Amy's and Rory's characters and how they interact with each other. The Doctor was better, but some of the things he said were very un-Doctory. Also, it takes place in the United States, with Americans, who would be speaking American English. They would not have called dollar bills "notes" and the only time an American says "Cheers" is when they're toasting. The story itself was an inte...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Alexa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fan-girl

This book was such as pleasant surprise! I love reading media tie-in books from my favorite shows because it provides new stories with my favorite characters, but some of them are definitely better than others. This book not only was a great story, but it managed to surprised me. The plot had many twist and turns and I even had to re-read certain parts because it was so intricate. I would highly recommend this book to fans of the show, and even people who just want to see what Doctor Who is all...more

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Mar 17, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, doctor-who

Eh. I was slightly disappointed by this book. Good plot, bad writing. Which is surprising because apparently Oli Smith has written many other Doctor Who books for other Doctors. Maybe that's the problem. I felt like he didn't have a handle on these characters. The Doctor didn't seem to be Matt Smith (which is a common problem with these 11th Doctor books) but Rory was way too brave and there was something off about Amy too, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Oh Well. Still, it was a Do...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Meagan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: whoverse, read-in-2010, eleventh-doctor

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 16, 2011 Christa L rated it 2 of 5 stars

The "timey wimey" parts of this novel were VERY interesting. Other than that this was a pretty poor novel. I know the first set of books based on a new series usually struggle to get the characters right because there's not much to go on, but they were so out of character I had trouble staying in the story. The Glamour Chase did a much better job with characterization. That said there are a few original characters in this novel that I liked quite a bit. This one's definitely a mixed bag.

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Oct 11, 2011 Jenna rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about the Doctor, Amy and Rory stumbling upon a town of Stepford Wives and their husbands, and things not being as simple as it seems. I think this book captured the characters well, and I loved the storyline. I could definitely see how it would pan out on the television, and that's always important to me when reading adaptations of a television series. The storyline was interesting, and it was nice to see Amy and Rory working to look after themselves without the Doctor guiding them...more

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Nov 03, 2010 Claire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who

All of the Doctor & Amy books I've read haven't really sounded like them. I think this book has the worst characterisation so far especially how the Doctor talks to Rory, and he sounds like the tenth doctor most of the time anyway. Amy's charaterisation is also quite bad with some of the things she says. Also the Doctor, Amy & Rory are not really in the book very much either so I found it quite disappointing.

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Mar 03, 2012 Bludhaven rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, doctor-who-and-related, science-fiction

This was an enjoyable short read, although I think the author was a bit too ambitious and couldn't quite deliver on the timey-wimeyness of the tale.

The premise is quote interesting, if a little generic: sentient robots that (of course) are turned into killer machines by the military and an atomic bomb makes the Doctor live through part of the story "backwards" and for that reason the story is told in a slightly fractured way. It's sad that this wasn't used with enough skill to be either convinc...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Carole rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pas mal mais pas inoubliable. L'idée de départ est fascinante pourtant : le Docteur vit à
rebrousse-temps suite à un incident et doit changer la ligne temporelle très vite s'il ne veut pas disparaître ! Le problème, c'est qu'il est séparé d'Amy et de Rory les 3/4 du temps du coup ! En plus, je n'aime pas trop l'environnement il il évolue : les robots-tueurs sont assez basiques et les personnages secondaires pas assez développés à mon goût ! Ça se laisse lire, mais sans plus.

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Jun 26, 2012 H3dakota rated it 2 of 5 stars

So in this story, we have super advanced androids that are well beyond the technology of 1981... but no explanation whatsoever of just how THAT might have happened. No, instead it focuses on the scientist that is in love with one of the androids and, oh yeah, the nuclear bomb the military drops to destroy the androids.

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Nov 02, 2010 Anne Barwell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 17, 2012 Nicholas Whyte rated it 1 of 5 stars

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1867991...

Some interesting concepts, particularly the moving of the Doctor both backwards and forwards in the same timeline, and the intersection of the Whoniverse with the US politics of the Cold War era, but Smith's style is irritatingly unpolished in places.

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Aug 25, 2011 Corey Dutson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who

Boooorrriiiiing.

Very typical Who fare. It's a bit reaching, even for Doctor Who, and I didn't really feel anything fot this book. To top it off, a good portion of the Amy/Rory dialogue just didn't sound right. It read like people pretending to be them, acting it out... badly.

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May 23, 2012 Amanda [Novel Addiction] rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, series, doctor-who

Another good one.. and once more, I wish I had a better knowledge of science and time-lines. It would have really come in handy with this book.

On another, Doctor Who-related note, I just acquired two more Doctor Who audiobooks and I can't wait to start listening!

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Oct 10, 2012 Dingetje50 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well, this one was a lot different from what I expected it to be. It was a really easy read, and a bit confusing at times. A real downside is the complete lack of character development or even descriptions, which reduced the rating from 5 stars to 3.

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Oct 17, 2010 Shruti Rao rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: aai-own

Light on Amy and Rory, and takes a lil time to get your head wrapped around the visual of it all, but a decent read. The characterization of the Eleventh Doctor didn't seem to sit well in the book. :-/

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Oct 05, 2011 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fiction, tv_movie

Timey Wimey stories are the best, and this one was really clever. My only real problem was with Amy and Rory's characterizations - their interaction was a bit off, but not enough to really hurt the story.

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Mar 31, 2013 Emmalee Miller rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It's a nice complement to the series. It's wonderful to read these while waiting for the Christmas Special and the next season to air on television.

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Dec 23, 2012 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi

kind of Dr who with shades of the terminator..or a village full of domestic terminators!!..a fun read all the same and a quick one too..dispatched in a couple of hours.

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Oct 26, 2012 Janet rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: doctor-who

The story started off very interesting but I got confused when the Doctor kept changing the timeline. And I thought the mad scientist falling in love with the robot he created was a bit creepy.

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Doctor Who: Nuclear Time (Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #40)

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