The Ripple Effect

The idea of the Doctor being forced to confront good Daleks has potential, but I don't think it's always realized to the extent that it could be. Dark Eyes explored it as part of its theme of "hope," for example, but sort of chickened out before the end, not quite tackling the idea that the one bit of hope the Doctor will never allow himself to have is that the Daleks could be good. The Ripple Effect offers some interesting moments, too, and some effective characterization of the seventh Doctor and Ace (one of my favorite TARDIS teams), but the necessity of returning to the status quo means the story gets too bogged down in "TIME WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE THIS WAY," which I think is hard to create compelling drama from.

I am a sucker for a good-Dalek story, and this one was pretty good. A fun, easy read. ( )

This is the seventh book in the 50th anniversary series. Luckily, right before reading this book, I had watched the BBC special about the seventh Doctor and his companion Ace.
The Doctor and Ace are trapped in a plexus. To get out they need to blow up a star. This act causes an alternate reality to exist. In this reality the Daleks -- the Doctors arch-enemies - are peace loving scientists who share their information with species from all over the galaxy. The Doctor has to erase this reality before the entire universe collapses.
This one was a lot of fun. Having watched the special before hand helped a lot with my understanding of this Doctor. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2149967.html

The latest of the short Puffin books doing a Doctor a month, and this being July it's the Seventh Doctor and Ace, slipping into a universe where the Daleks inexplicably appear to have become the good guys. Blackman puts the Doctor in an existential moral dilemma with regard to the Daleks rather well (and I notice that the Third Doctor has a similar problem with the Master in Alastair Reynolds' recent novel; coincidence, or subtle clues about the 50th anniversary special?) but unfortunately is much less good at catching the nuances of the Seventh Doctor and Ace as characters; it is of course entirely possible that she has not read all that many of the 75 Seventh Doctor novels out there. Still, I think the originality of the plot is commendable in such a short book.

(And as far as I know, Blackman is the first woman of colour to write a Doctor Who story in any medium.) ( )