DW: Judgement of the Judoon

Colin Brake starts off the next trilogy of books. See if you can guess who the returning "monsters" are in Judgement of the Judoon.

Something strange is going on, something lost must be found, and the Judoon are on the case! And so is the Doctor! Who teams up with the Judoon commander! And a plucky young girl! For danger and excitement!

Or a really boring chase around the city, involving two crime syndicates, and... not much else. I think there were supposed to be amazing character twists and revelations, but I spotted the truth as soon as their characters were introduced. I've just finished it, but even so can't think of it as another other than a boring detective run-around. Yay.

Character-wise, the Doctor is base level frenetic energy, throwing out catch-phrases, and being "sorry, so very sorry". The Judoon (who has a name, Rok Ma, but is only ever referred to as the Judoon) isn't really a Judoon. A large point of the book is about presenting the Judoon as more than just Rhino-Monsters, but though, yes, we should read below the surface, I'm not sure that turning the Judoon into just another brawn not-stupid actually counts as characterisation. As for Nikki... "Nikki Jupiter, at just seventeen, was a very accomplished private detective." Now, I've never seen the series, but I think that maybe, just maybe, she is a take off of Veronica Mars. Meh.

An... adequate book, but not thrilling.

ORDER: Could before or after Planet of the Dead.

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