Doctor Who: Harvest of Time

Written by Alistair Reynolds - anyone bought this or read it? Planning to buy it?

 

It's on my pile of books to be read.

 

Alastair Reynolds

The cover looks a bit phallic.

I'm tempted -- his Revelation Space stuff is ace.

 

I just read it this past week. I'm really not the biggest Pertwee era fan but Reynold's love for the era is obvious and infectious. He also really loves the Master; the story is really more about the Master than the Doctor in the end. In fact, at times I kind of wondered if he'd rather be writing Master Who. But still, it was well written and enjoyable.

 

I read it last Saturday. I really enjoyed it.

 

Al Reynolds is probably my favourite modern science fiction author, so I've been excited about this from the moment it was announced. I've got about a hundred pages to go, and the full review will be up on my website next week, but so far I'm loving it.

Off to grab a shower, wrap up the new tattoo for the night, then get snugged with the Doctor, the Master, the Brigadier and Jo Grant :-)

 

Harvest of Time is all kinds of cool. A lot of the time, these books written by the big name authors just feel like original works by those authors with the Doctor and his companion(s) inserted in. Michael Moorcock's Coming of the Terraphiles and Stephen Baxter's Wheel of Ice are perfect examples of this. But Harvest of Time really does feel like a Doctor Who story from the Pertwee era. Sure, there are things that they couldn't have done on a 1970s BBC TV budget, and the book does do "future referencing" that tie-ins covering an earlier era of an old franchise sometimes indulge in. In this case, there's something from the Tennant era that turns up. But the premise is totally something that could have easily been done in the Pertwee years had budget not been an issue and writing and characterization of the Third Doctor, Jo, and the UNIT gang is spot on.

One particular highlight is the Master. This novel is an excellent spotlight for the Master. Indeed, without giving too much away it would be accurate to say that for a decent portion of the novel, the Master becomes the Doctor's companion. This is written perfectly and it's very easy to visualize Pertwee and Delgado doing this stuff.

Yeah, Harvest of Time is an excellent book. Definitely worth it for any DW fan, but if you're a fan of the Pertwee era it's got to be a must-read.

Only a bit?

 

I love Reynolds, bought and Reynolds, ordered and received the book, but haven't had time to read it yet. Looking forward to it!

Mr Awe

 

From the cover, that book should be called "The Penetration of Time".