Made of Steel
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BBC Books Made of Steel |
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| Author | Terrence Dicks |  |
| ISBN | 1 846 07204 2 | |
| Published | 2007 |
| Synopsis: Returning from the Cretaceous period, The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones journey to the present day, where Cybermen have been teleporting into labs and stealing technology. |
A Review by John Seavey 12/2/08
Part of me dreaded the idea of encouraging Terrance Dicks to write an even smaller, thinner, less substantial book than he'd been doing for the book line up to now; after the last two or three books, I was worried that a less-substantial Dicks offering would be a pamphlet with "Go Watch The Five Doctors" written on it. But, as it turns out, the Quick Reads series is ideally suited to Uncle Terry; he's a master at storytelling economy (a couple hundred Target novelizations will do that for you), and all that he really ditches when he slims down is padding and references to The Five Doctors, which he could probably stand to give a rest anyway. A light, fun read, exactly what the series demands.
A Review by Jamie Beckwith 16/4/11
I know it's fashionable these days for Who fans to bash Terrance Dicks but I have really enjoyed most of the original novels he's written like Timewyrm: Exodus, Blood Harvest, Shakedown and Players. I can see from my rereadings of the novelisations (they're easier to carry on the tube) that they can at times be formulaic but they served their purpose at the time.
However Revenge of the Judoon was one of the worst Who novels I've read and I was thus wary of Made of Steel. I finished it very quickly and whilst it's not terrible, it is very boring.
The plot, such as it is, sees a few surviving Cybermen trying to lure the Doctor in to a trap so he'll reopen the Void and restore the Cyber army. Snooze!
I appreciate and applaude the Quick Reads initiative and love that Doctor Who is a part of that but I don't see that as excuse to just rattle off something quickly. The only other Who quickie that I've read was The Sontaran Games and that was a lot more interesting and whilst not Earth shattering at least felt like a decent if short read. This just seemed rushed, as though Uncle Terry wasn't even trying.