BBC Books Another Life A Torchwood Novel

Author	Peter Anghelides
Published	2007

Synopsis: Someone has been killing the homeless of Cardiff by chewing out the backs of their necks and eating part of their brains.

• A Review by Shawn Metz

A Review by Shawn Metz 12/3/12

This is the first in a series of TV tie-in novels featuring our heroes of the Hub, Torchwood. As this is the first novel, the original characters are in play: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato,Owen Harper, and their mysterious leader Captain Jack Harkness. Going back even further, this novel is set prior to the first season story Cyberwoman (more on that later).

Peter Anghelides' novel is a decent introduction to the team and the themes that run through the show. The plot is straightforward (if a little simple and reused from other shows and movies), and most of the characterization of the regulars is spot on, save for Toshiko Sato.

The plot involves an alien ship that has come partway through the rift under the bay. This causes a heavy downpour, flooding the streets of Cardiff. Prior to the chaotic weather, three divers find the ship. The creature that inhabits the ship captures them and is able to transfer its mind to each person thus allowing it to leave its ship without being noticed and steal the fuel source it needs from the Blaidd Drwg nuclear facility. The alien of the novel, however, is forced to feed on the spinal fluid and brains of humans in order to survive. A rash of murders involving vagrants with the backs of their skulls crushed open attracts the attention of Torchwood.

There is a subplot which involves Owen meeting an ex-girlfriend, Megan, on an MMORPG called Second Reality. He contacts her in the real world and tries to get her to join Torchwood. I felt this was tacked-on and did not really add any depth to the main plot. Also, since Owen is my least favorite character on the show (he is just too whiny) I did not care all that much about his past girlfriend, their history, or her inevitable fate.

As I stated, a simple plot that has been used before. The reader barley gets to know the alien as a character, so it simply comes across as a monster-of-the-week from an episode of Torchwood or The X-Files (which also had an episode revolving around a creature that needed to feed on brains to survive). As there is not much plot, let's take a look at the characters.

When it comes to tie-in novels, I tend to get picky about how closely the character is captured in written form. As we do not have the benefit of the performers, the voice of each character can be difficult to recreate on the written page. Fortunately, Anghelides captures four of the five main characters.

Captain Jack is spot-on. I could easily hear Barrowman's voice as I read his dialogue. Jack still comes across as the mysterious leader that he was in the first season. Gwen and Owen are also characterized perfectly. Gwen still acts as the moral heart of Torchwood and struggles with balancing her work life with her personal life, and Owen is as sarcastic and unpleasant as ever. Ianto, like in the first season, spends most of his time in the background, but he is still captured well, including his preoccupation with private research deep in the bowels of the Hub. Lisa is even mentioned in passing, though nothing about her cyber-implants.

The only character who is really off in this book is Toshiko. She was written as more sarcastic and less meek than in the series. There is one scene I must call foul on with her character. It is when Gwen is trying to drag an unconscious person out of the spaceship and Toshiko grows extremely impatient. In fact, she even threatens Gwen, telling her if she does not keep up with her, Toshiko will leave her behind. Sorry, that is not the Toshiko we know from the series.

All in all, Another Life is a decent read. As I have not read the other novels in the series, I can't make any comparisons. This is a good introduction to four of the five main characters with a story that has been done numerous times (and could easily have been an episode), thus putting the book in the category of okay. 5/10