“Sebastiene was human... once. He might look like a nineteenth-century nobleman, but in truth he is a ruthless hunter. He likes nothing more than luring difficult opposition to a planet, then hunting them down for sport. And now he's caught them all - from Zargregs to Moogs, and even the odd Eternal. In fact, Sebastiene is after only one more prize. For this trophy, he knows he is going to need help. He's brought together the finest hunters in the universe to play the most dangerous game for the deadliest quarry of them all. They are hunting for the last of the Time Lords - the Doctor!”
The
Doctor Trap is fairly standard original novel, but has a series twists and
counter twists which makes it a tad special. I was often reminded how much
Sabastiene reminded me of STAR TREK episode The Squire of Gothos, which had an
omnipotent being with unlimited powers who basically wants to have some fun.
What makes it work is the Doctor having to really struggle, as the odds are
really stacked against him. Thus it felt like odds were real and not just
clever plot tropes. There is also some deliberate misdirects by Messingham
which at times made it difficult to ascertain exactly where the Doctor was. It’s
clever, but it can be convoluted. Also, the relationship between Donna and the
Doctor is at its weakest here. I’m not sure when Messingham actually started
writing this book, but he did not really capture their voices, which is hard
one hand, as Catherine Tate and David Tenant have great on screen chemistry and
that’s sometimes hard to translate onto page. So I get that, but on the other, Jacqueline
Rayner’s Legends of Camelot does a better job. Of course, there are 14 years between these two
books, but if there is one thing to be said about these novels that sit outside
the TV narrative is some authors are great at capturing the voices of the
current or past TARDIS crew while others seemly miss the target.
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