Subject:      Speed Of Flight - review by the Happy Guy
From:         gaffney@iconn.net (Sean Gaffney)
Date:         1996/12/07
Message-Id:   <58adec$4vd@news.iconn.net>
Organization: i-Conn
Newsgroups:   rec.arts.drwho

Well, finished Speed of Flight, and was...ambivalent.

But first, I Am the Doctor is great.  I'm not the biggest 3rd Doctor
fan in the world, but I have the greatest respect for Pertwee the actor.
This autobiography is an excellent way of remembering the actor, and
gives lots of funny anecdotes as well.  Great. 9/10.

Now, SPOILERS! for Speed of Flight...

This book was OK, but no great shakes.  Paul was trying to do Ursula
LeGuin, and it didn't quite come off.

Plot:  Confusing.  I know it was supposed to be revealed gradually,
but not enough was revealed at all.  The whole idea of the dead was
never really explained (and was I the only one to be humming Gene
through the book?), and several times the alienness of the world was
given as a reason, without further explanation.  Still, the pace
gallops along.  Actually, that's another problem; the book starts
*too* fast - there's no time to build up, to get to know these people.

The Doctor:  Fine, when he's there.  Why do Pertwee authors feel it
necessary to have him absent from half the book?  What we see of him
is fine, though.

Jo:  Well, when she's Jo, she's fine too.  Nice reaction to Mike's
killing her - I can see why the relationship sorta died there.

Mike:  Not especially necessary, in my opinion.  There were no real
reasons for Mike to be in the book, except that Paul wanted him in
it.  And he spent far too much time confused, IMO.

Others:  Epreto was the only one that made an impression on me, and
I'm not sure about his "repentance" in the end.  The others really
didn't gel in my mind.  Unlike Damaged Goods, Speed of Flight didn't
really seem to *want* you to know its minor characters.

Style:  Pretty good.

Overall:  Workmanlike, but no great shakes.  Oh, well.

6/10.

Next:  ...oh god, mommy, make the bad writing man go away...

<shudder>

Sorry.  The Plotters.  Gareth Roberts.

<pause>

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

--Sean Gaffney
--who wants Amnesty International to look at The English Way of Death