Another great Torchwood novel. Jack and company save the world (again). Recommedned to sci fi fans or fans of Dr Who/Torchwood. ( )

The beginning of the story, where everything is still mysterious, is very good, although I like the attraction between Jack and Gwen to be a lot less specific. The ending, where we find out what actually was going on, is pretty uninspired. ( )

This takes place between Series 2 and Children of Earth. I had a little trouble following the story, especially as the main baddies were written in such a way that I felt like I was supposed to already know who they were. And yet somehow I still spotted the secret weapon/solution to all problems a mile away. Basically, these aliens have decided that Jack and his team will screw up the 21st century, so they send some Big Bad to destroy the earth. Meanwhile, some college kids come upon a funeral procession made up of beasties described a bit like The Silence (but that might have just been the cover art influencing my mental picture). I suspect I would have enjoyed this more had I binge-watched the first two seasons immediately prior to reading it, so I had all the in-show history and characters and nuance fresh in my mind. This was a decent step back into the world of Torchwood, but not my favorite of the novels. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1990023.html

has all the narrative problems of a book set between series 2 and Children of Earth - massive alien menace threatening to destroy the world starting with Cardiff, serious threat to Ianto's life, both of which we recover from effectively with a giant reset button. It is well told, with great scenes from the blowfish and the visceral horror of the undead, but the framework is a bit predictable. ( )

I don't really expect much from TV tie-in books - just give me reasonably competent writing and a fun plot involving the characters I love from the show, and I'm happy. This novel does OK on the first two aspects, but seriously falls down on the characterisation.

It's not brilliantly written - I've read better fanfic - but it's good enough that it's not distracting. The plot is engagingly creepy and has some great ideas, like the assassin parasites and, in particular, the Already Dead and what they're doing down in the church crypt. Purely on the basis of those aspects, it's 2.5, maybe 3 stars: nothing special, but pretty entertaining.

The big problem, though, is that the characters bear no more than a very superficial resemblance to the ones on the show. The most glaring example is that Jack is apparently obsessed with Gwen, while paying very little attention to Ianto: this might just about have been plausible after series 1, but it seems very out of character at this point in the story. Similarly, Gwen freezing up at a crucial point in the plot feels like a relic from the beginning of the show, and I just don't believe that post-series-two Gwen would do that. And in the end, I read these books for the characters more than for the plots, so this is a major flaw.

If this were a fanfic, I would have clicked on the back-button by the end of chapter three. Very disappointing. ( )