I do love a Moon-based Doctor Who story and Eleven was credible, but the mechanism for alien invasion was not entirely satisfactory. It felt a bit too much like homeopathy. ( )

Good little read ( )

Apollo 23 is an Eleventh Doctor and Amy adventure.

I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of an Old School Who episode, sinister goings on at an isolated base, with the Doctor blundering in.

The book has lots of really neat touches, like the Doctor's child-like glee at getting to ride in an Apollo spacecraft, and something which feels like the author using descriptive flannel turns out to be a vitally important detail.

It catches the Doctor just right, I particularly like the line about "I've got a different ridiculous plan to defeat you". Amy is also nicely done, as are the rest of the characters. The creepy bits are suitably creepy, and the atmosphere (or lack thereof on the moon) is well rendered.

Definitely worth reading. ( )

Reading this book is a lot like watching the show. I think the author did an amazing job of capturing Matt Smith's portrayal of the Doctor. I will say that the plot is less complicated than that of Night of the Humans, but the story is better written and uncluttered with unnecessary words. I especially liked the larger amounts of dialogue, which helped to round out the characters as well as provide a lot of laughs. If you love the 11th Doctor, you need to read this one!

Light and entertaining, Justin Richards knows how to make Who fiction work, even under the constraints of making it kid-safe. The plot is made interesting with some clever ideas such as the quantum mechanics involved in the transportation between Earth and the moon as well as the later use of water molecules as data storage for computers. The backdrop of secret US Apollo missions and a lunar base makes this story fit right in with the 3rd Doctor era stories of near-future tech thrillers. In fact, there is even a few nods to the Pertwee days as the Doctor drops mention of being incarcerated on the moon in the future (Frontier in Space) and mention is made of UNIT and a failed British mission to Mars (Ambassadors of Death). The 11th Doctor and Amy are clearly captured right down to the Time Lord's new catchphrase of 'Geronimo'. The supporting cast is fairly two-dimensional with the emphasis on action and plotting. The alien threat raises one's expectation of a return of some old Who enemies such as the Autons or the Great Intelligence, but instead we get some rather lackluster bags of air, but their appearance on the page is so late in the game it doesn't spoil too much. A diverting enough read, but nothing to rush out to the book store for. ( )