The solar system is being spring cleaned. Under the supervision of celebrity planetary make-over decoratiste Arisotle Halcyon the number of moons of Jupiter is being brought down to an aesthetically pleasing level. But with eco-terrorists taking an active - and deadly - interest in the work, corrupt officials lining their own pockets, and incompetence leading to the demolition of the wrong moon, the Doctor and his companions realise that not everything as is aesthetic and innocent as it seems. Will the Doctor be able to stop dangerous experiments in genetic engineering and overturn a clandestine evil plan to conquer the solar system? Will Trix escape from the deadly space sheep? And will Fitz become the galaxy's next megastar designer on the future equivalent of 'Changing Planets'?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Jane Aland
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The 72nd (and penultimate!) 8th Doctor novel features the Doctor, Fitz and Trix investigating mysteries surrounding the destruction of Jupiter's excess moons to improve its sheng fui. The novel starts amiably enough with the trio causing chaos on a space station, and with it's tongue in cheek parade of Who clichés reads like Season 17 - only without the jokes. Unfortunately a tedious overlong middle section drags the book down, with characters flying in space opera circles, all with hidden motives and a plot that Cole refuses to let the reader in on until the books three quarters over. The revealed central storyline concerning artificial hypnotic art-loving space-slugs is ridiculous, but Cole manages to at least give the book a good send off with some action packed exciting final scenes. All 3 leads get a good share of the book, though another doomed love affair for Fitz fails to convince as he's had so many of them in the past, and Trix's total lack of character background makes her a generic modern-female companion. A struggle.
Format:Paperback
The last two eighth doctor books were so good, and had gotten the range back to basics, so I was really looking forward to one more adventure with this tardis crew before the end.
But what a disappointment this one was. A very tired book that just marks time before the impending end of the range. The tone of the writing shifts uneasily between comedy and very gory violence. Fitz has a doomed love affair. He's done that so many times before. Trix is very well characterised and fights the baddies well. But even so, it took me three days on and off to get through this one, and it didn't engage at all till the last fifty pages. And it all seems to have been written just to correct one minor scientific error in a 70's story! Did it really matter?
Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if I hadn't known the end was nigh.
But what a disappointment this one was. A very tired book that just marks time before the impending end of the range. The tone of the writing shifts uneasily between comedy and very gory violence. Fitz has a doomed love affair. He's done that so many times before. Trix is very well characterised and fights the baddies well. But even so, it took me three days on and off to get through this one, and it didn't engage at all till the last fifty pages. And it all seems to have been written just to correct one minor scientific error in a 70's story! Did it really matter?
Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if I hadn't known the end was nigh.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2.7 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed review...
17 July 2006
By Michael Valdivielso
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Doctor Who: To The Slaughter, is a book which continues the adventures of the Eighth Doctor. The setting is the outer planets of the solar system, the long abandoned, slightly worn, seat of Earth's empire. The Doctor and his two friends, Fitz and Trix, soon find that the moons and planets are either being moved or destroyed so improve its Feng Shui.
No, I'm not kidding. But as the Doctor, and gang, digs deeper they found out that somebody, is in fact, trying to hide the development of a deadly weapon. Then they find out that somebody is trying hard to hide the fact that no weapon was developed. Then they find out...you get the picture.
Giant industries, corrupt officials, hidden subsidiaries, terrorists, aliens and artists are just some of the players within the twisted knot called a plot. Or should I say plots. Dune or The Fellowship of the Ring was less complex. Which is good - I hate guessing within the first five pages what's going to happen in the next 200 and so pages.
I also had fun guessing two out of the three alien bidders. One was a Kroton and one was a Sontaren.
Now for the bad. I never saw the made for TV movie that launched the Eighth Doctor into the world and, even after reading a few of the books starring him, I don't know if I like him or not. His character is hard to pin down and seems to be all over the place.
Now for the Ugly. The whole book feels like the author was making a script for the Doctors of the 60's and 70's. As if he was working with the idea that he had a low budget. So not a lot of special effects, no costly aliens and not too many scenes outside the bland cockpitsof the ships, sterile science labs and carpeted business offices of the space stations and so on.
Also I went through much of the book wondering what life was like in the outer planets. What was the food like? Were all spaceships shaped like bullets? Did space suits smell? For a book with over 270 pages I came away with very little impressions in the way of the background. Once again, I got a generic feel from the setting. And there were some mistakes, as the sentences sometimes seemed to have words missing. Nice cover. Get it used.
No, I'm not kidding. But as the Doctor, and gang, digs deeper they found out that somebody, is in fact, trying to hide the development of a deadly weapon. Then they find out that somebody is trying hard to hide the fact that no weapon was developed. Then they find out...you get the picture.
Giant industries, corrupt officials, hidden subsidiaries, terrorists, aliens and artists are just some of the players within the twisted knot called a plot. Or should I say plots. Dune or The Fellowship of the Ring was less complex. Which is good - I hate guessing within the first five pages what's going to happen in the next 200 and so pages.
I also had fun guessing two out of the three alien bidders. One was a Kroton and one was a Sontaren.
Now for the bad. I never saw the made for TV movie that launched the Eighth Doctor into the world and, even after reading a few of the books starring him, I don't know if I like him or not. His character is hard to pin down and seems to be all over the place.
Now for the Ugly. The whole book feels like the author was making a script for the Doctors of the 60's and 70's. As if he was working with the idea that he had a low budget. So not a lot of special effects, no costly aliens and not too many scenes outside the bland cockpitsof the ships, sterile science labs and carpeted business offices of the space stations and so on.
Also I went through much of the book wondering what life was like in the outer planets. What was the food like? Were all spaceships shaped like bullets? Did space suits smell? For a book with over 270 pages I came away with very little impressions in the way of the background. Once again, I got a generic feel from the setting. And there were some mistakes, as the sentences sometimes seemed to have words missing. Nice cover. Get it used.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too bad
1 July 2006
By Howard Tate
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I found this book to be unreadable. The flippant writing style distracted me from the story.
Hopefully, some readers will enjoy the author's writing style.
Hopefully, some readers will enjoy the author's writing style.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doctor Who: The Slaughter
9 Feb 2007
By Matthew W. Clemons
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book in the Dr. Who series is very well written and was a very enjoyable read
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Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews
2.7 out of 5 stars
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