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88th out of 142 books
—
71 voters
Doctor Who: Forever Autumn (Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #16)
by
Mark Morris
It is almost Halloween in the sleepy New England town of Blackwood Falls. Autumn leaves litter lawns and sidewalks, paper skeletons hang in windows, and carved pumpkins leer from stoops and front porches.
The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something long-dormant has awoken in the town, and this will be no ordinary Halloween. What is the secret of the ancient chestnut...more
The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something long-dormant has awoken in the town, and this will be no ordinary Halloween. What is the secret of the ancient chestnut...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
September 6th 2007
by BBC Books
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I had to pick this one up because it's Doctor Who meets Halloween, and it was more fun than I expected! This is a pretty good story, though of course you know, since it's a "mere" tie-in novel, that all will be returned to status quo, and it's a convincingly rendered version of Tenant's Doctor. Morris really understands this incarnation's cadence and choices for figures of speech. A third, extra-textual pleasure here was in observing the idiosyncracies that arise when a clearly British writer te...more
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Reads like YA Stephen King, if he were British and bafflingly unfamiliar with American lexicon. And if he suffered from some ailment that resulted in sudden trouble with typical thriller plot structures. And if he were really phoning it in.
I probably shouldn't say all that, since I haven't read anything King has written since the mid-90s. I read IT in the sixth grade, terrified for the entire month it took me to finish the book. I later watched the movie--very likely more than once--through the...more
I probably shouldn't say all that, since I haven't read anything King has written since the mid-90s. I read IT in the sixth grade, terrified for the entire month it took me to finish the book. I later watched the movie--very likely more than once--through the...more
Though in general these media tie-in novels are meant for a younger audience, I hadn't actually felt like I was being talked down to in any other Doctor Who novel until I read Forever Autumn. The first few chapters were grueling, marked by writing that would have been ashamed to have shown itself among the likes of a Three Investigators series book or a newer Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys spinoff.
If it hadn't said Doctor Who on the cover, I'd have suspected this was a pilot screen playturned into a stor...more
If it hadn't said Doctor Who on the cover, I'd have suspected this was a pilot screen playturned into a stor...more
In the New England small town of Blackwood Falls the Doctor and Martha emerge out of an eerie mist, a strange book has been dug up from among the roots of an creepy black skeletal tree and a slumbering menace has awakened. Think Sleepy Hollow with aliens: the Hervokan. They are an ancient race whose science of gestures, psychic connection, ability to bring to life inanimate objects and take over minds looks to human eyes like black magic. With their giantlike spindly figures and jack o lantern s...more
Somewhere in New England there’s a very old and strange tree, the tree that gave the town of Blackwood Falls its name. When three boys dig up an old and musty book near the base of the tree it begins a Halloween like none the town has ever experienced, or would ever want to experience. What better time and place for a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and his companion to visit? When the eyes of all the cats take on a strange glow and even the rubber Halloween decorations take on a life of the...more
I LOVE Doctor Who. Totally. Have loved Doctor Who since we watched it through static on a crappy Philco television via antenna. The reason I only gave this book two stars is that it was a little too juvenile. I realize I would not have my beloved TARDIS if it weren't for this show being geared toward scaring children in London, but this book was not listed as Juvenile Fiction and was, in fact on the shelf with the same Urban Fantasy books I do enjoy. If I had gone into this book knowing it was a...more
I have yet to read one of these books that I didn't like, but this one annoyed me. The writing was fine, the Doctor and Martha were spot on, there were some amusing minor characters, and the villains were a tie-in to the Carrionites and their ancient word based science from "The Shakespeare Code" episode; It had all the elements of a great Doctor Who tale.
That being said, the deeper I got into this book, the more it reminded me of King's "The Tommyknockers" novel. An alien ship buried under a s...more
That being said, the deeper I got into this book, the more it reminded me of King's "The Tommyknockers" novel. An alien ship buried under a s...more
A novel featuring the tenth doctor who and his companion martha jones. As ever with this range it's an all new story that runs for 244 pages, and it's designed to be read by readers of all ages. And the two main characters are perfectly captured by the writing, with dialogue that you can imagine them saying on screen.
The story of this one involves the doctor and martha visiting a small town in america at halloween time. Just as the discovery of a strange old book sparks a series of bizarre and s...more
The story of this one involves the doctor and martha visiting a small town in america at halloween time. Just as the discovery of a strange old book sparks a series of bizarre and s...more
Aug 23, 2012
Zelda of Arel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
doctor-who,
audiobook
I listened to this as an audiobook.
Forever Autumn, as can be seen by the cover, is a Halloween story. I did wish I had kept it to Halloween, but I'm going through the books in publication order, and this was next.
The story itself reflects the mood of Halloween very well. There are cats, bats, a weird tree, fog, all the things that make Halloween a fun time. At times, it was genuinely frightening as well.
Will Thorpe reads the story, who played Toby Zed in "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit"....more
Forever Autumn, as can be seen by the cover, is a Halloween story. I did wish I had kept it to Halloween, but I'm going through the books in publication order, and this was next.
The story itself reflects the mood of Halloween very well. There are cats, bats, a weird tree, fog, all the things that make Halloween a fun time. At times, it was genuinely frightening as well.
Will Thorpe reads the story, who played Toby Zed in "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit"....more
Mark Morris' Forever Autumn could actually be an episode of Doctor Who. In fact, it's everything a Halloween Special should be, that holiday's version of The Christmas Invasion. Halloween decorations and costumes come to life in a New England town (with a link to the Carrionites!) in this Spooktoberfest story, which has a pretty effective atmosphere, some interesting set pieces, and charming interplay between the Doctor and Martha. Oddly, it's the first of these novels to further the so-called "...more
I was hoping that this book would be better than the last Doctor Who novel I read which was only okay. But it wasn't. This book dragged on and on and after a while I didn't really want to read it anymore because I became so bored with it. Even though the Doctor's in it there isn't really that much of him which is a shame 'cause he seems to be the best part about the book in my opinion. He has some witty moments here and there but at the end they make him really serious and not very enjoyable to...more
Forever Autumn was a surprisingly captivating read from the very start. Unlike many of the other Doctor Who novels that I have read, this particular story's plot enthralls you, and is truly one that would make a fantastic edition to the constantly growing list of produced episodes. The side characters included in Doctor Who novels are occasionally the let down, though all of those in Forever Autumn were interesting and believable. The enemy and its impact on the plot were a standout. With the vi...more
Certes, la couverture est explicite, mais là, c'est vraiment Halloweenesque à l'extrême. Donc si vous l'avez sous le coude aujourd'hui, attendez octobre prochain avant de le ressortir.
Et on y passe tous les classiques, la sorcière et ses chats maléfiques, et le livre magique, et l'épouvantail à tête de citrouille, et le clown-qui-fait -peur (ben quoi, c'est flippant les clowns. Surtout celui-là ).
Mais même en juillet, l'un des intérêts du roman reste qu'on s'y marre beaucoup, pas tant à cause d...more
Et on y passe tous les classiques, la sorcière et ses chats maléfiques, et le livre magique, et l'épouvantail à tête de citrouille, et le clown-qui-fait -peur (ben quoi, c'est flippant les clowns. Surtout celui-là ).
Mais même en juillet, l'un des intérêts du roman reste qu'on s'y marre beaucoup, pas tant à cause d...more
The Doctor and Martha materialize on Earth (What a surprise in the Russell Davies era!), in Blackwood Falls, USA, on the day before Halloween. Three local boys have dug up a strange book at the base of what looks like a strange dead tree (Is it really a tree; for that matter, is it a book, or are they actually examples of ancient alien technology?!) So begin the strange events that could end in the destruction of the town and the hideous death of its inhabitants. (Good thing the Doctor showed up...more
It’s the day before Halloween in the small New England town of Blackwood Falls. Every home is decorated with jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and goblins; the children are choosing their costumes from Tozier’s Costume Emporium, and the adults are making the final preparations for the town’s annual Halloween Carnival. But Halloween in Blackwood Falls will be anything but ordinary this year…
Rick Pirelli and his best friends Thad and Scott love Halloween. Before they head off to pick up their costumes, they...more
Rick Pirelli and his best friends Thad and Scott love Halloween. Before they head off to pick up their costumes, they...more
Excellent creepy read for the month of October! I really did enjoy it.
That said. LOL First off, I can't get a handle on the writer - the book is so loaded down with British slang (far more than ever used on the show, especially by the Doctor) that it almost seems like an American desperately throwing in everything he's ever heard. But then the American slang (it's set in New England) is cringe worthy and false. Utterly annoying, the both of them.
Then, has this writer seen the Tenth Doctor very...more
That said. LOL First off, I can't get a handle on the writer - the book is so loaded down with British slang (far more than ever used on the show, especially by the Doctor) that it almost seems like an American desperately throwing in everything he's ever heard. But then the American slang (it's set in New England) is cringe worthy and false. Utterly annoying, the both of them.
Then, has this writer seen the Tenth Doctor very...more
Sep 05, 2009
X5-494
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone who likes the Tenth Doctor and Halloween
Shelves:
audiobooks
I don't know whether ALL readers (or better listeners) loved that audiobook as much as I did or if it's just me, because I'm such a Halloween addict and the story was just exactly my kind of thing.
However. I'd have never thought I could love a narrator even remotely as much as David Tennant, but Will Thorp ("Toby Zed" from The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit does an incredible job on this audiobook. He sounds pretty much exactly like the Tenth Doctor, and that says something.
However. I'd have never thought I could love a narrator even remotely as much as David Tennant, but Will Thorp ("Toby Zed" from The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit does an incredible job on this audiobook. He sounds pretty much exactly like the Tenth Doctor, and that says something.
I told a friend of mine I was reading this and he asked me if it was good, or just upgraded fanfiction. The answer? I wouldn't call it upgraded. I have read better fanfiction (though not for Dr. Who)than this. That's not to say the book was BAD, exactly, but compared to the show it is based off of, it falls flat. I sympathize with the author. Both Chris Eccleston and David Tennant play the Doctor with an almost feverish pitch - to capture that on paper would better writers than this. The real pr...more
Enjoyed the story, and the creepy, Halloween setting. However, points taken away by parts where the POV was from American characters and British slang pops up. The father hands the boys a ten dollar note to go off to buy some food. Note? Yes, technically correct but I've never heard anyone say anything but "a ten dollar bill." And another American character eats a ham and salad sandwich. What????? Is this a ham salad sandwich, or some weird British concoction I haven't previously come across? Th...more
It wants to be a creepy-and-disturbing story akin to "Something Wicked This Way Comes"...but it committs the worst crime a Doctor Who novel can make: it's TOO TAME! A pity, as I always enjoy Mark Morris' easy writing style...but he does a much better job with novels such as "Deep Blue" and "Ghosts of India".
Not as good as some of the other Doctor books, though the basic premise was entertaining. My biggest complaint was that the writer either a.) did not bother to do basic research on American slang (not hard to do, y'know!) or b.) decided to 'dumb it down' for British kids who might not know that we call torches 'flashlights' or a car's boot a 'trunk.' Either way, I find it to be inexcusably lazy. Other than that, however, there's a nice chance for Martha to show her stuff as a Doctor-worthy compa...more
This was quite short, just something to finish the day with.
I rather liked it. Definitely had a Sleepy Hollow/Halloween feel to it.
The narrator did a good job most of the time (though his American accent was a little annoying at times for a few of the characters).
I rather liked it. Definitely had a Sleepy Hollow/Halloween feel to it.
The narrator did a good job most of the time (though his American accent was a little annoying at times for a few of the characters).
This Doctor Who novel was OK. I enjoyed the fact it was the doctor... but the story itself just didn't do it for me. That happens sometimes. I think the problem with this one is that it was very visual so it would go well for the show, just not as great in the book.
I love having the supernatural explained with science, whether it be everyday science or sci-fi from another planet science. It helps give it an extra layer. I would have given it a 5 out of 5, but the teens got on my nerves a bit.
Good clean fun. Basically your run-of-the-mill Halloween Episode of Doctor Who (Ten&Martha). Some of the New Englandisms were a little "off," as may be expected from a British writer, but not annoyingly so. Plus, killer clowns.
This is one of my favorite Doctor Who novels. I also thought it was awesome that it was set in the US, since it's the first one I've read that was. ^_^
I really enjoyed this, its very New Who. Morris captures Tennants Doctor well, I could almost hear him saying the dialogue. Overall a fun read.
This book was really good i flew right thru it it kept me guessing and i love Halloween and fall so this was classic who monsters making you hide behind the couch
This book has me wanting to read more Dr. Who books for sure. The use of Halloween combined with aliens was awesome!!
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who Book Club: **ALT PICK DISCUSSION** --Spoilers | 1 | 3 | Oct 01, 2012 12:03am |
![Doctor Who: Forever Autumn [Abridged] (Audio CD)](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327570375s/2896629.jpg)
Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range.
His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide va...more
More about Mark Morris...
His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide va...more
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