The
thing that struck me most about The Hollow Men was every time I picked
the book up I found myself, after reading a few pages, unconsciously turning
the book over in my hands to look at he cover illustration. I wasn't admiring
the menacingly drawn scarecrow... no, I was reminding myself which Doctor
I was reading about. There's only one Doctor it could possibly be as Ace
plays quite a prominent role in the advancement of the plot but I still
kept glancing at Sylvester's mug just to make sure every so often. Although
the dialogue never strays away from what the Seventh Doctor and Ace might
say it seemed for the most part to have been plonked down on the page as
if the authors assumed the readers would supply the colour and tone themselves.
| It's
not a bad book, it was voted best book in the 1999 Shelf Life awards
in the Other Doctor category, but I still don't know why it proved
to be so popular. I suspect it has something to do with the popularity
of the combination of the Seventh Doctor and Ace. There are some decent
elements like the sub plot about Shanks and the Doctor's interaction with
him past and present. The first third of the book seemed quite intriguing
with its Wicker Man style village with a hidden secret but as soon
as the Doctor gets whisked off to Liverpool things start to flag. |
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