Subject:      DOWNTIME (The Book) - review by the happy guy
From:         gaffney@iconn.net (Sean Gaffney)
Date:         1996/01/14
Message-Id:   <4dbbd7$3su@news.iconn.net>
Organization: i-Conn
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.drwho

Well, time for another review...

n.b.  I have not seen the DOWNTIME video yet, so this is strictly
by the book.

SPOILERS!

Well, probably not a lot.  This is another in a long string of MAs to
start out very slowly and pick up about halfway through the book.
I had a lot of trouble with the beginning of this book, mainly because
Marc had the Brigadier as the protagonist, but he wasn't at the beginning
of the story.  So we had Victoria, who was too confused by the
Intelligence/her own grief to be as effective as she should be.

Despite that, the characters worked very well.  The Brig was excellent,
and his emotions as he reunites with his estranged daughter are very well
done.  She is well written, though a bit wishy-washy.  Sarah, freed from
the role of companion, is just what fans wanted:  a hard-nosed, efficient
journalist, with no trace of the screaming, "Oh, Doctor" companion we saw.
And the other one-shots were also well carried off, even Bambera (who I
gather was not in the video).

Plot - Ehhh...well, this is essentially SYSTEM SHOCK with the Great Intelligence
thrown in.  I don't know which originated first, but SS came first as an MA,
so this is the book that suffers.  Plus, there is use of Cyberspace, so Dreamwatch
will hate it.

Writing style - As I said, slow going at first, but once the Brig becomes the focus,
it really picks up.  Also, this book feels like a UNIT story.  The plot and writing,
for once, are economical when they need to be, and evocative when they can.
No overstressed prose and extra adjectives here!

Climax - Well...lots of dead Chillys, but that's okay, 'cause they were layabouts.
That's the only bit I had trouble with.  The meeting of Brig and grandson was
excellent.

Other - Code NN and QQ indeed.  Plus we had Chap with fur - fire when ready,
and I'd rather have a pint.  But hey, steal from the best. :-)

By the way, did I mention that there's no Doctor?  Oh, the second appears
in flashbacks, and the third pops up at the end to chat with Victoria, but other
than that...and he wasn't really needed, either.

8/10.

Next - well, when they arrive, WARCHILD and THE MAN IN THE VELVET MASK.
Both of which I expect to have one common characteristic - length.

--Sean Gaffney
--"You git!  I thought you were dead!  Git git git!" - Benny (or Trina, whatever), No Future :-)