redfiona99 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
redfiona99) wrote2014-10-15 09:45 pm
redfiona99) wrote2014-10-15 09:45 pm
Book Review - SkyPoint by Phil Ford
I did warn you there'd be more of these Torchwood book reviews.
The actual review
The plot is a bit flimsy but it's more than made up for by the excellent characterization of the main characters, Owen and Tosh. Ford really does capture the brittle anger of Owen and Tosh's brilliant intelligence and weaknesses in other areas. The remaining Torchwood crew are well-drawn, especially Gwen and Rhys.
It reads a lot like an unfilmed season 2 episode, and I mean that in all the best ways since season 2 rocked my socks.
It's set after Owen becomes our beloved zombie doctor and so there's a lot of stuff about that and Owen, understandably, not coping well with being the undead. And it's so perfectly in-character that it hurts, and there's this bit where Owen doesn't do something because he doesn't want Tosh crying to be the last thing he sees before he dies and it hurts because of that thing that happened at the end of season two, which still goes down as TV character deaths I am still not over.
And I thought, there's no way Phil Ford could have known, but then I read this bit in the acknowledgements, that goes "... and to all the cast of Torchwood - particularly Burn and Naoko, who brought Owen and Toshiko to life and then so beautifully took them into death." And I'm like, "you rotter, you did that to me deliberately," and it's said with affection and acknowledgement of his skill because argh!
Torchwood: Pack Animals by Peter Anghelides (86.9%)
Torchwood: Consequences by Joseph Lidster (84.5%)
Torchwood: The House That Jack Built by Guy Adams (80.7%)
Torchwood: Risk Assessment by James Goss (78.3%)
Torchwood: Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale (77.4%)
Torchwood: Into The Silence by Sarah Pinborough (75.7%)
Torchwood: Bay Of The Dead by Mark Morris (75.1%)
Torchwood: Trace Memory by David Llewellyn (74.7%)
Torchwood: The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell (73.8%)
Torchwood: Almost Perfect by James Goss (73.7%)
All of them are Torchwood books, several I might well have.
No unsuggestions.
The actual review
The plot is a bit flimsy but it's more than made up for by the excellent characterization of the main characters, Owen and Tosh. Ford really does capture the brittle anger of Owen and Tosh's brilliant intelligence and weaknesses in other areas. The remaining Torchwood crew are well-drawn, especially Gwen and Rhys.
It reads a lot like an unfilmed season 2 episode, and I mean that in all the best ways since season 2 rocked my socks.
It's set after Owen becomes our beloved zombie doctor and so there's a lot of stuff about that and Owen, understandably, not coping well with being the undead. And it's so perfectly in-character that it hurts, and there's this bit where Owen doesn't do something because he doesn't want Tosh crying to be the last thing he sees before he dies and it hurts because of that thing that happened at the end of season two, which still goes down as TV character deaths I am still not over.
And I thought, there's no way Phil Ford could have known, but then I read this bit in the acknowledgements, that goes "... and to all the cast of Torchwood - particularly Burn and Naoko, who brought Owen and Toshiko to life and then so beautifully took them into death." And I'm like, "you rotter, you did that to me deliberately," and it's said with affection and acknowledgement of his skill because argh!
Torchwood: Pack Animals by Peter Anghelides (86.9%)
Torchwood: Consequences by Joseph Lidster (84.5%)
Torchwood: The House That Jack Built by Guy Adams (80.7%)
Torchwood: Risk Assessment by James Goss (78.3%)
Torchwood: Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale (77.4%)
Torchwood: Into The Silence by Sarah Pinborough (75.7%)
Torchwood: Bay Of The Dead by Mark Morris (75.1%)
Torchwood: Trace Memory by David Llewellyn (74.7%)
Torchwood: The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell (73.8%)
Torchwood: Almost Perfect by James Goss (73.7%)
All of them are Torchwood books, several I might well have.
No unsuggestions.