DW Review: Wooden Heart

The last of the current triptych of books: Wooden Heart by Martin Day.

It's not set on Earth! Hoo-ray! It doesn't feature a setting that would be Earth! Hoo-ray! It does come close, but it's quickly evident that this is no normal place. This has been the major stumbling block with previous books: they get away from Earth then have an incrediably Earth-like setting. Not here!

There are obvious parallels with The Girl in the Fireplace, what with the space station seemingly linking to a psuedo-Earth locale, which is a big parallel, but that's about as far as that link goes. I wasn't totally sure what the village was to the space station (and, frankly, it isn't explained anyway), but the changing of settings enables the TARDIS to be away from easy access and affords some moments of tension about "will they get out?" (as much as the two script-safe leads can generate anyway).

The plot ticks over at a decent place, and Martin Day proves to be a more than capable writer. Chapter Eleven seems to go a bit hay-wire, but one quickly settles into it and the meaning becomes clear soon enough. Events are wrapped up well enough, but there are some explanations lacking.

Such as the Dazai. At many times, she's written as a female Doctor, and on one occasion I did mis-read her name for his! There are three other main characters, easily distinguished, with the token child (June) not too annoying. The Doctor and Martha were well written, but could have been substitued for another pairing easily (such as, for example, a certain other Doctor/companion pair favoured by this writer).

Overall, a decent read at the end of which things stop happening more than are finalised, but worth a go.

Order: Eh. Between Lazarus and 42 again, I guess.