Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Dark Horizons
Doctor Who Series
J T Colgan

BBC Books (Ebury Publishing, Random House UK)
7 July 2012 (US 4 September 2012) / ISBN 9781849904568
SF/TV Tie-In / 12th Century / Isle of Lewis, Hebrides, Scotland
Amazon / Amazon UK

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

All Dr. Who wants is somebody to play a good game of chess with, and surely if he locates the most famous chess set in history - the Lewis set - he can also find a worthy opponent. What he does find is an island community who are about to be visited by the Vikings, although perhaps not in the usual way. What he also finds is that an alien entity has made its home there and is causing havoc, burning and destroying all life in its path. Can he reason with it, or will he have to resort to more desperate measures?

I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Matt Smith's incarnation of Dr. Who without his usual busload of hangers-on. Allowed out to play on his own at last, Ms Colgan has done a great job in recreating the current actor's delightful depiction of this iconic character. In a book you can do rather more with the story too as this is no whistle-stop tale that has to be squeezed into one or two episodes. There is time to admire the scenery, explore relationships and even tell a love story. Although the language is very modern this seems to be a decent enough description of what the Isle of Lewis might have been like in those days, and we all know about Vikings (or think we do at any rate). There was a mention of a horned helmet in there somewhere, but I enjoyed the way the two very disparate groups of people alternatively pulled together against a common foe and pulled apart again when they remembered who they were. The story does sag a bit in the middle when nothing new is being introduced, but overall I enjoyed this evocation of a people from a time long past menaced by an enemy they cannot fight without a bit of special help. I'd certainly read another and wish the writers of the TV series had come up with something half so enjoyable…

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The Handbook: (Unofficial & Unauthorized Guide to the Production of Doctor Who)
Third Dimension (Unofficial & Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who 2007)
Monsters Within (Unofficial & Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who 2008)
Wiped! - Doctor Who's Missing Episodes
Doctor Who - The Complete Guide
Fallen Gods
The Television Companion (Unofficial & Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who)
Back To The Vortex (Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who)
Time & Relative (Telos Publishing, Novella, #1)
Blood & Hope (Telos Publishing, Novella, #2)
Nightdreamers (Telos Publishing, Novella, #3)
The Cabinet of Light (Telos Publishing, Novella, #9)
Dark Horizons
Cracks In Time (Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who 2010)

 
Reviewed 2012
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