Torchwood: Slow Decay, by Andy Lane

Published 2006

The first thing I look for in a TV tie-in novel is for the characters and feel of the series to be faithfully reproduced. Of the three Torchwood books released last December, I chose to home in on Andy Lane's story, because he has previously written some fantastic Dcotor Who and proven to be a very clever writer. He has not let me down here.
The recent Doctor Who novels, tied-in to the new TV series, have generally disappointed because they have to cater for a younger, easier audience and lack sufficiently advanced concepts. Torchwood, it would seem, has no such similar concerns, allowing Andy Lane to weave a much more involving 'adult' concept into his 'episode'. There may also be benefits from having several regular human characters to work with, rather than just one omnipotent time-travelling alien and a daft assistant.
After a shaky start, the vibe and humour of the show is rendered quite well against the backdrop of the drama, and there is even a very good sense of character development.
Lane takes good advantage of the opportunity to get inside everyone's heads and have a good look at what makes them tick. Backgrounds are subtley fleshed out in addition to the detail provide in the series, and there are even overlying story-arc hints dropped - all as if this genuinely were a 'missing episode' within the structure of the first season.
In some ways, it might be sucessfully argued that Torchwood gains from portrayed in novel form. Sci-fi concepts and personal storylines can be more deeply explored and noone is subjected to John Barrowman's acting!

Well-rounded and easily devourable, with little of the usual remorse associated such trash.

Torchwood: Slow Decay -

The House of Doctor Dee, by Peter Ackroyd

First published 1993.

OK. Having been passed through the hands of two other book-crossers whilst managing to not yet be completely read, I was determined to plough through this one.

How difficult a task had I set myself?

It was whilst trying to explain to my wife how I felt about this book that I think I hit upon a winner: Reading this novel was like watching a film by David Lynch. You know that what is going on is amazing, well-written stuff, but it is all so damn high-brow that it walks that very very fine line between 'brilliant' and 'extremely difficult to understand'.

I am on record for hating David Lynch. He is a talented Director that never seems to use his talents to create coherent stories.
Do I hate this novel? Not quite. The individual scenes - both in present-day London and the pre-scientific world of advanced philosopher John Dee - were sometimes vividly realised and most of time extrememly interesting. Yet it was a deep struggle to maintain enthusiasm for the overall book because of the obscure themes.

Without giving anything away, the final plot twists/revelations are of the kind that either make you re-evaluate the entire novel or shake your head in dismay. Personally, I like the type of questioning of the reality of narrative that the conclusion introduces, but it was too little too late to rescue the ungraspable, high-brow nature of the majority of rest of the book.

This may be an absolute gem for the right person. Perhaps a historian/scholar in early science/magic or someone really interested in philosophical thoughts on the identity of great cities like London over vaste expanses of time.

Give it a go, but don't hesitate to pass it on if you don't like the first three chapters. It doesn't "settle in" at any stage.

One of those deals where you suspect that the fancy ingredients are supposed to impress you, but they're not as good as more common fare. Chicken generally tastes better than pheasant.

The House of Doctor Dee -

This was a book-crossing book.

I Capture The Castle (2003)

Dir: Tim Fywell

Had all of the right ingredients and great service, but the memory of this one is already fading...

I Capture The Castle -

Minority Report (2002)

Dir: Steven Spielberg

An old-fashioned recipe prepared for modern tastes. Classic science fiction gets the Super-Size treatment, but still grimly retains some of Philip K. Dick's secret herbs and spices.

Minority Report -