Oh dear...
Dreamstone Moon by Paul Leonard
Eighth Doctor Adventures number: 11
Originally published: May 1998
Companions: Sam
Sam is on her own, but her distance from the Doctor doesn't make for a trouble-free life. Rescued from an out-of-control spaceship, she finds herself on a tiny moon which is the only known source of dreamstone, a mysterious crystalline substance that can preserve your dreams — or give you nightmares.
Pitched into the middle of a conflict between the mining company extracting dreamstone and ecological protesters, Sam thinks it's easy to decide who the good guys are — until people start dying, and the killers seem to be the same species as some of her new friends.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has tracked Sam down, but before he can reach her he's co-opted by the Dreamstone Mining Company and their sinister military advisers. Suddenly, it's war — and the Doctor is forced to fight against what he believes in. He alone suspects that dreamstone isn't what it appears to be. But nobody's listening — and nobody could dream who the real enemy is...
So it was bound to happen sooner or later.
All these Doctor Who novels - all these stories and ideas of ways to expand the universe of our favourite Timelord. All these reviews. And I've finally come to a book that I found so dull, unengaging and even tedious - that I actually contemplated not finishing it.
Yes sorry Paul Leonard, but "Dreamstone Moon" is that book.
It didn't bode well when I realised that this was a novel that spent most of its time with Sam - the blandest of bland companions. Books revolving around the companions do work - after all Bernice Summerfield developed into a much loved character with novel and audio series in her own right. So maybe this would give Sam some much-needed character development then ?
But no - when the main focus becomes less interesting than the supporting cast, you know you're in trouble
And they genuinely are the most interesting thing in the whole novel - although that's not saying much.
Tentacled Krakenites, Spider-like Arachnons, wasp-striped Zmm-Zmms, Anton's cat girlfriend - they're all fine examples of the kind of alien species we've come to expect in Doctor Who, even if they all only have a couple of character traits and none of them really do very much. Apart from Aloisse - who seems to constantly rescue Sam - the rest are mainly fodder for the monster, but hey, it's worldbuilding of a sort.
It's still better than the humans. Anton, Cleomides, whoever else there was (I can't even remember their names now) are just puppets for whichever way the plot decides to turn - their motivations wandering all over the place.
Oh yes - there is a plot. But its one we've seen a hundred times before. People going up against the evil corporations and sticking it to the man. Monsters in the tunnels. Creatures dying. Aliens are not to be trusted. Mining is bad.
Nothing wrong with a message - but guess what - the planet being mined is alive ! Really ? That old chestnut ? And the dreamstones themselves could have been an interesting way to explore the characters minds - but no, they're actually part of a big space brain.
There was potential, but it was just wasted.
Instead, it's endless scenes of Sam falling into one disaster after another. In quick succession she is nearly killed when an Earth ship tries to blow up the dreamstone cavern, but is rescued and taken to a hospital ship. This is then destroyed by marines, so she takes shelter in a medical pod, which is ejected from the ship when the hull is breached. And so on and so on...
All I wanted was for the Doctor to show up and save *me* from this tedium.
By the third or fourth "Oh no, the Doctor's dead - he's definitely dead this time. I'm so sad, how can I go on - wait, no actually he's alive. I'm so happy" - I wanted to throw the book across the room. I think at one point his "death" and recovery even happen on the same page.
And the multiple times where Sam and the Doctor almost reunite, but just barely miss each other, was laughable - except that I don’t think it was intended as joke.
Eventually, the Doctor is around enough to affect the outcome of the plot. But - twist - the planet isn’t intelligent at all, it's all Anton's fault for infecting it with his misery. So what does the Doctor do? He convinces the poor guy that the danger is past, and - Anton dreams himself to death ! Sorry - what?
All that and Sam's still AWOL - after more whining about how she's embarrassed and ashamed.
Sigh.
Look, apologies for the grumpiness of this review. Maybe it was the wrong week for me to read this particular novel, although I'm not sure another time would have really improved my opinion of it.
I've not read any of Paul Leonard's other works as yet - so those might be amazing and up there with the best of the best - but based on the strength of this novel, I'm not in any rush to get there.
Verdict? Utterly forgettable.
No comments:
Post a Comment