Subject:      SLEEPY - review by the happy guy
From:         gaffney@iconn.net (Sean Gaffney)
Date:         1996/03/10
Message-Id:   <4huvcg$ob9@news.iconn.net>
Organization: i-Conn
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.drwho

Sleepy time.  If you don't want to know, here's a quick precis:
wonderfully Who-ish, happy, intriguing book.

Now, for those who do want to know,

SPOILERS!

Sleepy is Kate's third book, and very different in style from the other
two, possibly because there is less at stake in the overall arc.  All the
characters are getting along, and there's no carry-over evil.  It's just
a normal New Adventure.  Even Harry Rags could read it.

Plot:  Pleasingly complex, plus tying in with the "psi" series, though
only by using the powers.  The virus is well thought out, and the only
nit I have is that the cure being given to Benny and Roz is a bit deus-
ex-machiny.

The Doctor - Marvellous.  Tying in with Head Games, he's decided
that no one's going to die, and watching his plan revolve around that
is exciting.  With Kate, you know that you needn't worry about the
Doctor not being McCoy-ish.

Chris - Well-written, for the first time since The Also People.  Chris is
the hardest companion to sink my teeth into, but I got more of a sense
of his personality here, plus he doesn't fall in love!  Hooray!

Roz - Well characterized, and if she seems different from Warchild
and Just War, they're by different authors.  Still suffering from a nice
whack of "they're not like us" xenophobia, but it's getting better.

Benny - Brilliant.  She gets to be an archaeologist, she has several
soul-searching moments about having children, and, though it's not
in the text, according to the illustration she catches the bouquet.
I'm really going to miss her.

Others - I kept waiting for people to die, in the time-honored tradition.
They didn't.  The wedding that I thought was doomed happened
after all, and even the bad guys got to change their tune (Yellow was
extremely well-written.)  The reason I hated Infinite Requiem is that
it killed the two people we cared about just to drive home its moral.
In Sleepy the moral gets driven home without anyone needing to die.
(Well, almost...add another rec.arts.drwhoer to the book list...I need to
post more often, so I can get famous enough to be in a book.  These
reviews simply aren't cutting it.)

Things I loved:
Robot Roll Call
Fred Nurk (Yes, folks, it's me, Neddy!)
frocks vs. guns
Sontaran lightbulb joke
Spotting real people (Sarah Groenwagen's in there, too)

In conclusion:  Well, you could have predicted this, really:

10/10

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