Earthworld

The Doctor, Fitz and new companion, Anji Kapoor arrive on a world that honours the planet Earth by showcasing time periods in a fun park manner. Whilst getting lost on the world all three must deal with dangerous dinosaurs, Killer robots, homicidal triplets, talking Sphinx and Elvis impersonators before they can work out what exactly is going on.Jacqueline Rayner's first foray in to the BBC Doctor Who novels is brilliant. What better way to have Anji's first real adventure than to throw her into a really bizarre situation to flesh out what her character will be like..Alongside Anji trying to come to terms with the loss of her boyfriend, Dave (Escape Velocity), and trying to deal with this bizarre new life she has with the Doctor, Fitz also must come to terms with the knowledge that he is not the original Fitz Kreiner, only a `remembered' copy. Plus the Doctor is once again showing that he is not the man he was by acting in a more violent manner.Overall, a great break in the serious books preceding it, very funny moments with great character development. RECOMMENDED!

EARTHWORLD is quite an oddity. Not only does it do strange and unpredictable things, but one can't even anticipate when it will be bizarre and when it will become sober. The goofiness peaks earlier than one might expect, leaving the rest of the story to take a surprisingly serious turn (though it's still not all that serious). EARTHWORLD is one of those wacky stories that defy categorization. This is sort of a mixture of Douglas Adams, Terrance Dicks, and Isaac Asimov, with a dash of Red Dwarf and a measure of Blackadder. That doesn't really sum it up, of course, but it does give you the basic idea of what's going on.The story begins in full romp-mode. Some of the early jokes don't work as well as they might, and right away one wonders if this is going to be a long, dull collection of jokes that are supposed to be funny, but just aren't (the only thing worse than a joke that falls completely flat is a book full of jokes that fall completely flat). Fortunately, the book steadies itself quickly enough and becomes much more assured and enjoyable. All of the regulars shine with Anji in particular given some very good character development in her first story away from Earth. Placing her in the middle of an action romp while she's still grieving over the events from the previous story might seem like a terrible idea, but its one that ends up being played extremely well. I was worried at first, as all that Anji seemed to be doing was to deliberately distract herself from the issues, and I was afraid that the whole book would be spent avoiding the subject. To my surprise and great enjoyment, the matter was not only brought up, but handled extremely well. The smooth way in which this is handled is fairly indicative of the book as a whole; it starts off light and frothy, but when you aren't looking it becomes something much more subtle and strong.Any way you look at it, EARTHWORLD was an enjoyable read. It entertains, it amuses and it is very well written for a first novel. There are some companion issues dealt with here that have needed to be addressed for quite some time, and it's nice to see the book not dance around the problems. The opening sections do have an overly light feel to them, and the way that a few jokes fail may give the reader a little pause to wonder if he/she really wants to finish the rest. Fortunately, EARTHWORLD is one of the few Doctor Who books that starts mediocre and rises to the occasion. The final seven pages are pure, understated wonderfulness.

Following on from the events of 'Escape Velocity', the Doctor, Fitz and Anji find themselves back in Earth's prehistoric past encountering, is short order, a dinosaur and a caveman. Since these two are from different periods, it is plain something is wrong. They soon pass through barriers to other time periods, which also show a similar degree of wrongness. What has caused this? And are they even on Earth?The first new adventure of the Doctor travelling through time and space following the stranded on earth story arc borrows significantly from the past: we have a beginning that looks like the changeover between the first two episodes of the TV series, a world set up not dissimilar to that in 'The War Games', a Doctor without his memories like 'Spearhead from Space', and so forth. And then it borrows from a movie, the name of which I won't reveal to avoid giving away the plot, but it is something-world, too.So with all these references, how does the book stand up? Very well, thanks. Despite them, the novel is very much itself - its tone is nothing like those it recalls, and Jac Rayner is obviously in control. The story contains a variety of humorous elements, ranging from light to quite black, but the humour doesn't unduly dominate.Perhaps most importantly, the characters of Fitz and Anji receive a lot of focus. This is Anji's first book as a full-fledged companion, and she wasn't the most sympathetic character in her first appearance. She ends up far more rounded, and the repeated literary device of her composing imaginary emails to her dead boyfriend helps to deepen both her and her now lost relationship.Fitz has been out of the books for a while, and there are some facts about the character that really haven't been given due attention. This book helps to reintroduce him as a sort-of lovable loser while bringing these difficult facts to the foreground and having them dealt with - for the moment, anyway. With the Doctor still not having fully recovered his memory, Fitz has many more cards in his hand than either of his travelling companions, but needs to be conscious of what gets out as it may force the Doctor back to the state that his century-long recovery on Earth has been meant to heal.Character driven and with a fun plot, this book is a good read. It is possibly a little overly backwards referencing for it to be a good start for new readers of the series, but regular readers should enjoy it.