Favourite New Adventure.

[Dirk Gently]

I didn't really like the book and couldn't see why everyone raved about it as being the best DW book ever.

This doesn't happen often but the above quote got me thinking, what are your (and my) favourite New Adventure books. I don't think I'd rate Human Nature as my favourite NA. But would you?

You can list your top 10 or however many you want.

Also you can list you favourite Missing Adventures as well.


Oh why not go the whole way & list your least favourite while you're at it.

[Captain Tancredi]

I'll think about this more later on and perhaps give you some kind of order, but Blood Heat, Theatre of War and All-Consuming Fire spring to mind first.

[Paul Clement]

A few favourite NA's:

White Darkness, Blood Heat, Blood Harvest, All Consuming Fire, Sanctuary, Human Nature, Just War, Theatre of War, Conundrum, Head Games

Least Favourites NA's:

Transit, The Pit, Death and Diplmacy, Sky Pirates,

Favourite MA's:

Goth Opera, Plotters, Dark Path, Cold Fusion

Least Favourite MA's:

Evolution, Dancing the Code, Invasion of the Cat People, Managra.

[Andrew Curnow]

I've only read the first 51, plus The Dying Days, and those only once, and the most recent was 2002. So I can only go on the rosey-tinted memories I have of them. In general, I'm a big fan of the NAs, which (IMHO) gave Doctor Who a whole new lease of life back in the 1990s - RTD's made it his trademark, but I'd say the 'emotional depth' was added to Doctor Who by Paul Cornell.

My favourite is probably "Love and War" because it perfectly balance the new, emotional, more character-driven style of the books; with a fairly traditional 'aliens invade a planet' story. It's also Benny's debut, and her scene with the Doctor in her tent is a delightfully-written piece. "There is a corner of the Doctor's mind that is forever Benny" is a lovely line that always makes me smile.

I also loved "Happy Endings" which although in many ways an absurdly OTT celebration of the NAs, managed to be a good, entertaining read in its own right - and, again, with some powerful emotional moments. When the Doctor tries to slip away alone, as the only way he can think of to protect his fellow travellers (ie, by not having any) it's quite a shock - when Benny brings him back ("Are you crying?" "No." "Oh.") it's a real tear-jerker.

There are also some of my all-time favourite moments in the NAs - the discovery of the hollow spaceship in "Zamper" would have made a superb season 17 part 3 cliffhanger; the reveal of a spaceship hidden behind a door in "Original Sin"; the setting for "The Also People"; the assassination of the Queen in "Head Games"...

Oddly enough I can't remember much about "Human Nature" so I'm really looking forward to the TV version, knowing just the very basic gist of it.

[Milky Tears]

I'm rereading Human Nature right now. Only 78 pages to go.

I'll be back with a list later...

[Dave Lewis]

I think Human Nature is good, and certainly better than any dross by Steve Lyons or whoever, but it may be my least favourite Paul Cornell New Adventure... I certainly think I've read it the least of all of them, including Happy Endings. John Smith is pretty crap for most of the book, worst of all in the dreadful scenes early on with Tim where he's trying to 'make a man of him', even though he knows inside that it's not the right thing to do. Although it's got some good moments, and it's extremely well-written, I don't really like it until the Doctor becomes himself again. Then he saves the world and breaks up with his missus. Those latter scenes with Joan and how he can't love her anymore, are the heartbreaking highlights of the novel - tragic, but in a good way. I actually think that it won't work in the TV series 'cos the Doctor's already been in love, so the contrast between cold, unloving alien and human isn't as stark. But I'm rambling from the point.

My favourite NAs are (off the top of one's head): Timewyrm - Exodus, Love and War, Blood Heat, No Future, All Consuming Fire, Just War, The Also People, and Return Of The Living Dad.

And Cold Fusion... it counts!

[Jon Masters]

Its a list thread

AFA Human Nature goes, I agree with Dave that the emotional stuff is very good. Its the sort of fantasy-quirky elements of it that I don't think gel well into a DW book.

For NAs I'm slightly biased in that I only read up to Sleepy, and then had trouble buying them. Although I've filled most of the gaps now, and started reading them in sequence again I've sort of got distracted at the Conundrum stage . So I think I'll leave an NA favourites list for now.

MAs are much easier though:

Managra - one of my favourite DW books ever (so @ Paul for not liking it). I love the outrageous setting and characters, the Doctor gets to be very dark and there's lovely hints of a big back story going on that sounds intriguing.

Sands of Time - for all its cliched set pieces and clever structure.

Romance of Crime - IMO Roberts' best book; 4D + Romana + K9 never bettered.

Shadow of Weng Chiang - an oddity that turns Mr Sin into a 3 foot Terminator, and good for it !

Time of Your Life - a great outing for Colin, and some nice swipes at TV at the same time.

Worst MAs:
Invasion of the Cat People - oh dear, Gary, what were you thinking ?

The Crsytal Bucephalus - not very interesting Resteraunt at the End of the Universe stylee

Venusian Lullaby - it may seem lubbly, but its so friggin DULL !!

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh yes - All-Consuming Fire. Dave's mention of that has reminded me of one of the series' real gems. When I saw it in magazines, I thought the cover looked awful, and it really put me off the whole book (I know, I know, don't judge a book by its cover). But when I finally got it, I almost couldn't put it down, it was just such a lovingly-written, rattling good yarn - and the richness of the colours on the actual book made the cover look quite good too. A lovely Holmes/Who crossover, beautifully told.

I really enjoyed "The Left-Handed Hummingbird" too, although I would say that Kate Orman's "Set Piece" was probably one of my least favourites, so nobody's perfect!!!

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh, oh, and also "Strange England" - I know it always gets a bad press, but I actually really found its weird tale rather engrossing. And the back cover blurb about "The Doctor has not yet dreamed me fully - but he will" is one of the best.

What a bloody excellent range of books the NAs was, wasn't it.

[Dave Lewis]

All Consuming Fire is possibly my joint all-time favourite NA, with Just War.

Possibly.

The Hummingbird is okay, Set Piece is alright, but Return Of The Living Dad is - shit title aside - Kate Orman's best book in the range. Unless Sleepy is a work of genius... alas, I've never read it.

[Andrew Curnow]

Conversely I've not read "Return of the Living Dad" (crap cover though) but have read "SLEEPY". Other than the misleading cover, I found that one actually rather good - and from what I remember, it doesn't have a real villain as such, which is a nice touch.

[Andrew Curnow]

And, at the risk of just being absurdly over-effusive and saying that I love absolutely everything about everything, I really enjoyed David A McIntee's historical tale "Sanctuary" - and, yes, even Dave Stone's "Sky Pirates!".

[Captain Tancredi]

You can tell the people who've read 'SLEEPY' because they write it like that rather than 'Sleepy'...but it's the only one that took me two goes, possibly because I was ill first time around.

Simon Messingham took several goes to really find his feet, I think, and having just finished 'The Slow Empire', I've reached the conclusion that you either get Dave Stone or you don't- it depends on how much you're prepared to put your feet up and take everything at face value.

[Paul Clement]

I couldn't stand a single thing Dave Stone wrote.

[Andrew Curnow]

I enjoyed "Sky Pirates!" despite expecting not to; wasn't very struck by "Death and Diplomacy" (other than being impressed with the plot-twist); and was amazingly disappointed with "The Slow Empire" which was pretty darned dire.

But "SP!" was a very clever story, and I loved the fierce internal logic which was able to justify such things as the heroes landing on the sun and going down inside it. Fun cover too!

[Dirk Gently]

I think I'm yin to Andrew's yang. I quite liked Death & Diplomacy but couldn't stick Sky Pirates! I thought it was too long & too convoluted.

[Milky Tears]

The Dying Days
Just War
Human Nature
Lungbarrow
The Also People
Timewyrm: Revelation
Nightshade
Timewyrm: Exodus
The Left-Handed Hummingbird
All-Consuming Fire
Damaged Goods
Happy Endings
Blood Heat
The Highest Science


Bubbling under: Return of the Living Dad, Bad Therapy, Original Sin, No Future, Theatre Of War, Love and War, Birthright and Blood Harvest

Cartmel's "War" trilogy is also worth a spurt.

No McIntee books in my list since I started reading his posts over on OG.

[SiHart]

It's been a long time since I read any of them, but the ones I remember liking a great deal were:

Timewyrm: Exodus
Nightshade
The Highest Science
Bloodheat
Conundrum
Blood Harvest
Human Nature
Damaged Goods
Just War
The Dying Days

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Although it's universall-slated, I'd like to put in a nostalgia-fuelled word for David Banks' "Iceberg" - I read the whole thing over one weekend back in 93?94? and really enjoyed it. It may well be badly-written, or whatever other complaints are levelled against it, but I found it a compelling page-turner, and it deserves points for that.

And "The Highest Science" definitely - Gareth Roberts just doing his own thing for the first time. There's a line something like "And just as in the old days it was luck, rather than planning, which saved the Doctor's life" which made me smile when I read it - I guess that sums up GR's opinion of the 'dark' seventh Doctor.

Stinkers, on the other hand - "Tragedy Day" (again, GR) was just such a struggle to get through. "Falls the Shadow" wasn't a struggle to get through exactly, but was 100 pages more than it needed to be, and so just like the interior of the Shadowfell house it seemed to just go on and on and on forever.

[Milky Tears]

I think I might agree with Mr. Curnow about Iceberg, Falls The Shadow and Strange England.

Three times in one day!!

I'm off for a lie down...

[Rob McCow]

I read up to 'No Future' back when they first came out, then Doctor Who was dead to me, for at least 5 years. I also re-read from Timewyrm:Genesis up to Love and War last year.

The truth is that I can hardly remember a thing about them, apart from the obvious, eg: The Doctor became a manipulative git. Bernice was great. etc.

So I'd say my favourite New Adventure related book was "I, Who", with the tagline "We've read them so you don't have to!"

I might come back to this thread with an opinion at some point

[Jon Masters]

OK, going from memory (please don't shoot me if I pick a crap one by mistake):

Good ones : Nightshade, Lucifer Rising, White Darkness, Blood Heat, Theatre of War, All Consuming Fire, The Highest Science, Just War, Dying Days

Bad Ones : Warlock (as far away from DW as its possible to be), Parasite (dullness personified), The Also People (far too up itself with a pathetic plot), No Future (fan fiction at its worst), Witch Mark

There's a lot in the middle that I remember little about and only read once though....

Oh, and anything with alternate dimensions (e.g. Transit) or virtual reality just seem sooooo dated now

[Andrew Curnow]

Three times in one day!!

I'm off for a lie down...

Yes, I always need a lie down after three times as well...

[Dave Lewis]

Although it's universall-slated, I'd like to put in a nostalgia-fuelled word for David Banks' "Iceberg" - I read the whole thing over one weekend back in 93?94? and really enjoyed it. It may well be badly-written, or whatever other complaints are levelled against it, but I found it a compelling page-turner, and it deserves points for that.

I like Iceberg too, particularly because of the gratuitously profane opening...

"Just **** you, you ****ing wanker!"

NA-tastic! Ticks all the boxes! Although I think the Doctor calling Ruby Duvall a "****-loving little ****bag who likes big ****s and Cyber****s with big **** and ****ers who wear ****ing ****s on their ****mats" was a bit too much.

[Rob McCow]

None of that is as bad as Cartmel's loving description of Ace's brown nipples in Cats Cradle: Warhead. Meep.