Subject:      GodEngine - review by the Happy Guy
From:         gaffney@iconn.net (Sean Gaffney)
Date:         1996/06/22
Message-Id:   <4qflq6$mk6@news.iconn.net>
Organization: i-Conn
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.drwho

Well, another NA down the pike.  It's not my usual review, though...

SPOILERS for GodEngine...

Ah, me.  This book had a lot of things that I liked:  the plot, the
atmosphere, Chris.  And it had a *lot* of things I hated:  the
Martian "Neighbours" ripoffs, the techno garbage, the ending.

Onward:

PLOT:  Working in the Dalek Invasion of Earth continuity, Craig
has managed to carve out quite a juicy little plot.  The Ice Warrior
factions revenging themselves by allying with the Daleks...sounds
really cool.  Then there's the execution...

THE DOCTOR:  Didn't really sound like SlyDoc.  As with Gareth's
NA's, I got the feeling that Craig is uncomfortable with Sylv:  Colin
would have done this much better.  The lines especially did not
ring true.

ROZ:  Meh.  Competently written, but we don't really get a lot.
She's closed to begin with, so it's hard to get into her head.

CHRIS:  At last, Chris comes into his own for a book.  He acts
like an Adjudicator, is smarter than he's been in ages, and still
gets to be the overgrown child that we know.  One of the books'
pluses.

OTHERS:  As I've said, I really thought that the Ice Warriors
were...not that good.  Aklaar was OK, but *all* of them were
cliched.  The scientists were a little better.  At least Chris didn't
shag them.

WRITING STYLE:  Did Rebecca and Andy take a holiday while
this book was being written?  If I hear one more time about
McGuire's sodding wife and child, I'll blow up the subway myself.
We also get the fascinating ways that you can repeat, over and
over, "Benny should have been here."  OK, we miss her.  Deal.

ENDING:  Remember back to my review of Infinite Requiem?
Apparently Craig loved that.  I know that getting the "don't
interfere with the Web of Time" moral was needed, but I *hate*
unhappy endings.  At least in Infinite Requiem, I liked the characters.
Not the case here.

OVERALL:  Good points, but in the end, the bad points outweighed
it.  A shame, really, as I loved Millenial Rites.  Stick with Colin,
Craig.  I'll mail you an extra copy of Varos. ;-)  I didn't hate the book
as much as Dave Owen did, but...

4/10.

Next:  Killing Ground, speaking of Colin.

--Sean Gaffney
--"You git!  I thought you were dead!  Git git git!" - Benny, No Future