Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Hammer Horror Meets Who, 29 Dec 2003
Post-Interference series, late nineteenth century. Middletown has industrialised itself intoan unprofitable corner, leaving the land-owner, Lord Urton, floundering for options. When Roger Nepath offers him one, however strange, the town - and potentially the world - are put in danger. And only The Doctor, and the small blue-black box in his pocket, stand between Nepath and the end of the world.As the first book of a new arc, The Burning is a reasonable enough beginning, steeped in mystery and mysticism. In hindsight, it reads like a Hammer horror film - and Peter Cushing's Doctor might have been better suited for the main role (if spiked with a little less grandfatherliness and more monster-mashing chutzpah), with Christopher Lee as Nepath. This is the sort of horror tale that sees people killed because they seem to lack the commonsense and balance to know when and how to run. At times it feels sluggish, in that I felt the need to move on, peeking ahead through the pages to see what lay ahead. The Earthbound environment, following a lot of stories on aliens worlds, or in alien times, may be at fault for making me feel that way. However, the need to forge ahead and see what happens next seems to have had something to do with the engaging storyline and the loathsome characters - so, it comes recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful mood, gripping story., 4 Oct 2002
By A Customer
After the over-the-top nature of the Faction Paradox arc, the Doctor Who books needed a little more grounding in reality and this is it. Not that this is a purely historical novel - the main plot concerns a fire monster - but it strikes a down-to-Earth (excuse the pun) mood, more gothic horror than insane sci-fi.This is our first look at the "new" Doctor and my is it impressive. The writer's guidelines say that the Doctor should be viewed through the eyes of others to remain an engima, and this is one of the few times I've seen it work well. Without giving us a single look inside his head, Richards paints a picture of a very complex man; intelligent and incisive and compassionate, yet also rather detached. The ending - to give away nothing - is a powerful scene simply because it's the last thing you'd have expected the the "old" Doctor to do. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of this character. Overall, this is a gripping book from start to finish, with great characters and a storyline that actually makes sense. (Although they never did explain the link between the TARDIS and the Burning.) Buy it. Read it. You won't be disappointed!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
"Who... Am... I...?", 9 Mar 2001
By A Customer
Justin Richards has always been, in my opinion, one of those, um, 'dependable' authors - never writing a classic, but never really churning out something hideously bad (oh alright, 'Tears of the Oracle' was rubbish).So it comes as some surprise that 'The Burning' was so much better than I was hoping for. I was expecting it to be... mediocre at best, but it turned out to be a very thrilling little novel. The 'new' Eighth Doctor was interesting to read about, and the book's main threat, the 'burning' creature, was pretty scarey, reminding me of many 'Who' monsters that I found creepy as a child in the seventies. There should be something in 'The Burning' for 'Who' fans old and new alike.
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