Doctor Who: Wishing Well (Hardcover)3 out of 5 starsA Who novel with a difference? ...,
- By
SeriouslyKooky
... Sadly, no. Formulaic but fun would be the best way to describe this Who-on-Earth story. Dealing with a village’s tourist attraction – a wishing well with stories of buried treasure – the Doctor and Martha are intrigued enough to stick around. Alas, I nearly wasn’t. The story took a little while to get moving. With chapter endings not leaving me with an inherent desire to stay awake enough to read on, I could have easily given up after chapter five, so thank goodness for chapter six and its last line of “The Doctor had to die”. Hallelujah! A cliff-hanger-inducing statement at last! From here on in, the story began to pick up pace, however; it still occasionally felt as though it was running in concrete boots.
So I turned to the familiar in search of hope. I found some in the Doctor. The character was well-written, with descriptions of him thinking situations through and finally “getting it” deeply similar to the television Doctor of David Tennant. Even the dialogue was carefully thought out, with David Tennant/Doctor phrases familiar to the watcher, making the character more amiable to the reader. At times I could swear I could hear David in my head. Hmmmmm, dreams … sorry, got distracted there.
Anyhow, with the characterisation of the Doctor so competently written, would Martha fare any better? Would I hear Freema Agyeman in my head? With a wishy-washy portrayal of such a strong companion, I’m sad to say that the character of Martha didn’t get the treatment it deserved. There were opportunities for Martha to become her usual dominant self, especially when the Doctor got himself into his usual bit of trouble (hence the formula) whereby he needed rescuing by his puzzled companion (more formula). Martha’s character was a little shy of dominance shy though she eventually took charge with the help of two old ladies who had more about them than our faithful friend! To say I found this character unfortunately lacking in depth would be an understatement.
So, to the “bad guy” itself. Without giving too much away, there were parts of this that felt like something we’d met before (nameably the Nestene Consciousness). On a plus side, there was something new about it, too. Its weakness (that formulaic one that the Doctor has to be puzzled about for ages before he clicks his fingers and finally works it out) was new to me and one that actually made me feel a little sorry for the creature. It was doing the only thing it knew how to do – survive.
Now, I know that television Doctor Who relies on formula and I guess the books do too but the written word offers more creative freedom so I expected more. Fun it most definitely was – light-hearted with some of the familiar quips we’ve come to know and love from the Tenth Doctor. However, it just didn’t break the mould for me.
