DW: Sick Building

Next up: Suck Building, by Paul Magrs. See that big beastie on the cover? The author describes it as as big as a land mass... and with no teeth... oh well, at least they tried.


I've never been a fan of Paul Magrs, so approached this book dubiously. I could easy do without more talking dogs or two-dimensional people or, heaven forfend, Iris frakkin' Wildthyme! However, it looks like writing for the BBC kids range has curbed these excesses, and what we get is a rather decent read.

In some ways this is a disaster story (although I might be thinking that because of recent influences), where a looming menace is set to destroy everything in a tight timeframe and the characters must run around a lot to escape. Certainly, this story could easily have finished 50 or a 100 pages earlier and tell just the same story. What "Magrs-isms" we are given are the Servo-furnishings (aka robots), and Paul invests a lot in their personalities, focusing on just a few, and bringing them to an enjoyable depth of character. (Paul also manages to get his usual screaming mad dame in in the form of the Domovoi.)

The characters are all well done, but the Doctor seems a more superficial portrayal that his on-screen persona. We do get the obligatory young kid, but he's not as annoying as most. For some reason, I kept seeing Tiermann as being played by Philip Madoc, or possibly Emrys Jones...

Overall, a decent read, but overpadded.


ORDER: Reference to 42, so after that'll do nicely!

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