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Beltempest (Doctor Who S.)
 
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Beltempest (Doctor Who S.) [Illustrated] (Mass Market Paperback)

by Jim Mortimore (Author)
1.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 249 pages
  • Publisher: BBC Books; illustrated edition edition (16 Nov 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0563405937
  • ISBN-13: 978-0563405931
  • Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11.2 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 1.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 436,074 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Doctor Who has generally been about the small stories--individual acts of heroism and courage which make life better for the majority. Only occasionally does the Doctor have to make one of those impossible decisions where he must sacrifice the lives of the few in order to save the lives of many.

One of the problems with Beltempest is the immense loss of life which is simply glossed over. The Doctor and other characters are simply onlookers as entire planets are torn apart and space craft wrecked, their inhabitants and occupants dying instantly. This story must have the highest death-count in a Doctor Who novel and yet it all seems so cold and unemotional. There are other problems as well: the Doctor seems at odds with previous characterisations and often does not appear to be the 8th Doctor at all. Sam also undergoes some strange developments, even becoming immortal at one point.

The plot is another interplanetary adventure involving suns not behaving quite how they should, and this more overtly science-fiction approach may be part of the problem. If the Doctor is going to get involved in this sort of adventure then the lives of millions of humanoids do become insignificant compared to the events unfolding around them. Do construction workers worry about the lives of ants as they cover their nests with concrete in order to build? Are humans concerned about the death of microscopic bacteria every time they clean the kitchen? This is the dilemma here. Jim Mortimore has painted his canvas too large, and any human interest has been shunted to one side in favour of the incredible science fiction concepts he is describing.

Beltempest could just as easily have been a story told through the eyes of Captain Kirk/Picard/Janeway and crews, or something encountered by the assorted folks on Babylon 5. It lacks that hard-to-define Doctor Who-ness. --David J Howe

Product Description

A novel featuring the eighth Doctor Who. The Doctor and Sam arrive on Bellania IV to find 20,000 people under threat as a catastrophe threatens: immense gravitational and dimensional disturbances are rioting through their sector of space.

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
1.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars stuff happens, 20 July 2006
By Paul Tapner (poole dorset england) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Jim Mortimore is an incredibly variable writer. he's done some very good books. And some very bad ones. This is one of the latter.

The worst thing about it is that it totally lacks in plot. Bad things happen on a planet. The doctor and sam are there to get caught up in them. They react to them. Philosophise a bit. And the book ends.

The tardis crew are characitures rather than characters, and the supporting characters can't even be called that as they're so badly drawn they might as well be cardboard cutouts. A disappointing read that isn't worth your time
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Doctor What?, 21 Feb 2003
By Mr. Derek Pike "Pikeymon" (Southampton UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
There are a number of factors that make Doctor Who so enjoyable, amongst those are humanity, humour, credibility and fun. Beltempest lacks all of these things and instead goes for a hard core science fiction approach which was simply unintelligable for most of the book. I'm sure there is a place for Beltempest in the vast Science fiction canon, but it should not be a Doctor Who book. The characters of the Eighth Doctor and Sam have developed nicely through the previous books, but Mr Mortimore seems to ignore this and almost creates new characters for this story. The Doctor dances around with glee at the birth of a new planet, despite the millions of deaths that are occurring and Sam becomes immortal and then (maybe I missed something here) returns to mortality after a few wise words from The Doctor.
This is a complete mess and possibly the worst BBC Doctor Who book I've read, unless you're a true Doctor Who fan or a lover of deep and intelligent Sci fi, avoid at all costs.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Er, what was all that about?, 24 Aug 2000
By A Customer
Might just be me, but having finished Beltempest half an hour ago, I'm left wondering exactly what happened. I don't mean I didn't understand the book, but I couldn't actually determine what exactly the plot was supposed to be. From what I could gather, it was all about stars undergoing transformations and the consequences of such events, with a very Trek twist. Then there was stuff about religion and immortality and death, or something. Unfortunately, I didn't feel much actually happened. Still, better than sitting like a vegetable in front of the telly, i suppose. And that doesn't mean it was a bad book, it just didn't measure up to some of the excellent ones in the series like Seeing I or Vampire Science!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A Guide to Putting People Off Science Fiction
'Doctor Who: Beltempest' has to be the worst DW tie in novel I have read to date; and this is a series of books that I do not expect much from. Read more
Published on 20 July 2007 by Sam

2.0 out of 5 stars Not one of the best in this series
I did not really enjoy this story. There was an interesting plot down there somewhere but the whole thing was too vague and uncertain and with not enough going on to be sure... Read more
Published on 30 July 2000 by A. CHARLWOOD

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