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Doctor Who Book Review - The Algebra Of Ice

The Seventh Doctor




With today's
whovianesque post,
we're making another
trip down Memory Lane
with a Doctor Who book
reviewed by our friend Roobarb
of 'The Lost Podcasts of
Doctor Who' website,
some pictures of Sylvester McCoy,
and a compilation of some 7th Doctor
and Ace related fanvids.


Totally out of this world!


Enjoy...

Loup Dargent



PS:

By the way, if you have some cool, interesting, informative
Sci- Fi related stuff on your virtual shelves, feel free to
share them with the Science Fiction Related Mixx Community...

Thanks in advance



Update:

We also have now a "Doctor Who and Torchwood Related"
Mixx Community where anything related to Doctor Who,
Torchwood and Time Travel can be submitted...

Doctor Who and Torchwood Related - Mixx Community





Doctor Who
Book Review:
'The Algebra Of Ice
by Lloyd Rose'


Roobarb



Doctor Who and Ace


Featuring: The 7th Doctor and Ace.


Blurb: A genius maths nerd, a weird webzine
publisher and the Doctor's old ally, the Brigadier,
find themselves helping the Doctor and Ace solve
what should be a simple puzzle: the appearance
of a crop circle in the Kentish countryside. Hardly
uncommon. But there are peculiar features. It's
not a circle but a series of square-sided shapes.
It's filled with ice. And it draws the Doctor and
Ace into a confrontation with a reality right
next to zero.


Review: The book itself does not actually start at
the crop circle. It starts with Ace and the Doctor
zipping back and forwards through time and finding
that there have been 'changes'. The Doctor pin-points
these changes to one person - Ethan Amberglass -
the 'maths nerd' as described on the back of the book.


I'd better point out right now that I'm not that fond
of maths. I can manage the basics but anything beyond
every day useful adding up and so on I kinda get bored
of - so maybe a lot of this book was lost on me. Especially
seeing as the main 'villains' of this book are a bunch of aliens
from a dimension entirely controlled by equations. There is
also something to do with entropy as well, another subject
I don't know much about. But don't worry too much if
you're like me and don't know/like either of these subjects -
there's plenty of other stuff to keep you interested.


It's hard to know where to start on this book. It's not
that it's particularly complicated but the plot jumps
around from place to place and by the end I wasn't
sure what I was actually worrying about. You begin
by seeing the effect that the aliens' attempts to enter
our universe are having on time. Interesting but not that
exciting. Then it moves onto two main subjects -
the crop 'circles' in Kent, where UNIT and the Brigadier
have been called in to investigate and are being bugged
by an obsessive webzine publisher called Molecross,
and then the maths genius Amberglass who lives on his
own several miles away. Amberglass is an almost interesting
character. He's had a nervous breakdown and now
mostly stays at home, occasionally hallucinating that there
are people in his flat. Of course, when the Doctor and Ace
turn up he assumes that they are hallucinations too so
they spend a large amount of the first half of the book
gaining his trust - as well as flitting between his flat
and the crop circle.


Between the field and the flat come the aliens
themselves, who you don't meet until very late on,
but who are giving instructions to two men - Unwin,
another mathematician, and Brett, an aristocrat who
for some reason, that the author never really delves
that deeply into, wants to destroy the world.


Brett is probably the weakest point in this book.
At first he seems quite interesting, a rich but reasonably
intelligent man who has set up an alliance with the aliens.
He's a nice mixture of charming and self-absorbed with
just a hint of mystery over why he works for the
invaders. Then, when he finally manages to kidnap
Amberglass so he can use his maths skills, he suddenly
turns into this psychopathic torturer. There's no gradual
change and some of his 'cruelty' lines seem so tacky and
over-used it's bizarre. I really lost interest after
that. I know you're supposed to dislike the Doctor's
enemies but you're also supposed to have a little respect
for them, so that you know they're a worthy opponent.
Brett becomes so suddenly and completely dislikeable
that it felt wrong and a little bit forced. I would have much
preferred him to be sly and devious but utterly
polite and charming. It would have been much harder
for the Doctor to deal with - and Ace too. As it is his
violence towards Amberglass just gives her the reason
she needs to beat him to a pulp.


Which brings me onto the next major part of the book -
the love interest. I don't think I've read a Doctor Who
book so far that's got the love interest right... but maybe
that's because I never want there to be one. But here
it is anyway. And it's not that terrible - but it's
not that interesting either. And seems a bit separate
from the rest of the plot. The unlikely pairing is of course
Ace and Amberglass, who fall head-over-heels in love
when they realise how much they enjoy insulting each other.
It's one of those relationships you know isn't
going to last - for a hundred different reasons - and so
when the ending of the book comes round it isn't really
a surprise. Though it is a bit contrived... I won't give away
the ending. But let's just say this book could have done
without the romance and leave it at that.


Other points? Well the Doctor is well-written and
quite interesting - though also quite useless. He rushes about
doing lots of things but the ending is one of those endings that
you can't help thinking why? (Or in my case 'what?!?') After all
the effort they put into the codes and equations and so on the
final confrontation just really involves the Doctor being
very smart and solving everything with a thought. A bit of
a let down really. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for explosions.
But I did feel like the author couldn't decide what was more
important - the relationship between Amberglass and Ace
(and the questions it raises about the Doctor) or the aliens.
So you get an ending that's halfway between the two.


However the book begins well and is interesting enough to
keep you reading. It has its slow moments but it also has
plenty of action and excitement and some of the characters
are quite odd, which is nice.


Good Points: The Doctor is well-written and his talks
with Molecross and puzzled embarrassment over Ace's
relationship with Amberglass are particularly entertaining.
The first third of the book will keep you hooked. Also
there are several small but entertaining references to
the Doctor's past incarnations which are great when
you spot them.


Bad Points: The relationship between Ace and
Amberglass is more interesting before it happens than
after and I sort of wish it hadn't actually happened but
just nearly happened instead. UNIT and the Brigadier
don't actually do much in the end. There is far too much
needless nastiness from the villain that seems a little fake.
The aliens and the ending are both a bit disappointing.

Rating: 3/5


Overall: A good book for the first half or so and if
you're a maths fan it probably has hidden depths that
I missed out on. However if you're looking for a great
Doctor Who story then this one doesn't quite meet
the criteria. It skips out on a really fascinating ending
and instead spends far too much time worrying
over love interests and morals. The fight between
Ace and Brett is short but entertaining however and
once you start reading you will find yourself curious
to find out the ending.


A story that isn't too bad but isn't a masterpiece either.
Read it for the funny moments and not for the ending.


_____________



The 7th Doctor and Ace



A compilation of Doctor Who
related fanvids that take us back
to the 7th Doctor and Ace's years...




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Edited by loup.dargent on the 14.8.08

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