Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch

Morning, everyone! Today is my third stop on the TLC book tour in honor of the Doctor Who 50th anniversary books. This time I'm up with the Doctor 7 installment (Sylvester McCoy), Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch.

The Daleks have returned to Earth in search of the Hand of Omega, a powerful Time Lord device that will allow them to better harness time travel. Fortunately, the Doctor and his sidekick, Ace, have arrived just in time to spoil the Daleks' plans. But the Doctor soon discovers that they are in the midst of a confrontation between two different Dalek factions. 

Unlike the first two titles I've done in this tour, this particular entry is actually a novelization of a multi-part episode (Remembrance of the Daleks) that originally aired in the 80s, kicking off the 25th anniversary season of the show. I think it's probably a super fun one (two, three) to view but in novel form I found it quite erratic, jumping from scene to scene without smooth transitions. It made it difficult to follow the plot as a whole. I wish I'd actually been able to just watch the episode instead. I'm actually a big fan of Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series. Huge fan, in fact. But as Aaronovitch points out, this particular Doctor Who novel was his first time writing a novel and it was based on his own script for the show.

I thought it was really cool that the story returns to a previous Doctor Who story - the first story, in fact (according to Wikipedia). And having seen part of the first anniversary special this year I'd actually seen the opening sequence to the original episode where Ian and Barbara follow Susan to the Tardis. This takes place at Coal Hill School (where a set of scientists are monitoring magnetic fluctuations at the beginning of the book). For all it's misses, Remembrance of the Daleks is still a fun Doctor Who outing for fans.

Trivia: According to Who-Ology,  Russell T. Davies had planned to bring Ace (companion to Doctor seven, Sylvester McCoy, from 1987 to 1989 - and here in the book as well) back as a "tough but classy businesswoman" in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And if Sylvester McCoy looks familiar (to those of us who missed him as the Doctor), it's because he's currently starring as Radagast the Brown in the new Hobbit movies.

Rating: 3/5

To see all of the stops on the tour and a full list of the anniversary titles, check out the official TLC tour page here.

And don't forget, there's still time to enter to win your choice of Only Human by Gareth Roberts (Doctor nine's anniversary installment) or the soon to be released Who-Ology: Doctor Who The Official Miscellany by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright. I'd originally set the contest to end on June 2 but I've extended it out to June 16 and am including it here. Please note, if you've already entered via one of the other tour posts here on my blog, you do not need to enter again. Though the rafflecopter appears on each post, it's one entry form so entering on either post is valid for the whole giveaway.

The publisher is offering up winner's choice of either Gareth Roberts's Only Human or the newWho-Ology. Simply fill out the rafflecopter below between now and midnight, June 16 to enter. This contest is open internationally!


a Rafflecopter giveaway