Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Hammer Horror Meets Who December 29, 2003
P. Baldowski (Stockport, UK)
Post-Interference series, late nineteenth century. Middletown has industrialised itself intoan unprofitable corner, leaving the land-owner, Lord Urton, floundering for options. When Roger Nepath offers him one, however strange, the town - and potentially the world - are put in danger. And only The Doctor, and the small blue-black box in his pocket, stand between Nepath and the end of the world.As the first book of a new arc, The Burning is a reasonable enough beginning, steeped in mystery and mysticism. In hindsight, it reads like a Hammer horror film - and Peter Cushing's Doctor might have been better suited for the main role (if spiked with a little less grandfatherliness and more monster-mashing chutzpah), with Christopher Lee as Nepath. This is the sort of horror tale that sees people killed because they seem to lack the commonsense and balance to know when and how to run. At times it feels sluggish, in that I felt the need to move on, peeking ahead through the pages to see what lay ahead. The Earthbound environment, following a lot of stories on aliens worlds, or in alien times, may be at fault for making me feel that way. However, the need to forge ahead and see what happens next seems to have had something to do with the engaging storyline and the loathsome characters - so, it comes recommended.
 Wonderful mood, gripping story. October 4, 2002
After the over-the-top nature of the Faction Paradox arc, the Doctor Who books needed a little more grounding in reality and this is it. Not that this is a purely historical novel - the main plot concerns a fire monster - but it strikes a down-to-Earth (excuse the pun) mood, more gothic horror than insane sci-fi.This is our first look at the "new" Doctor and my is it impressive. The writer's guidelines say that the Doctor should be viewed through the eyes of others to remain an engima, and this is one of the few times I've seen it work well. Without giving us a single look inside his head, Richards paints a picture of a very complex man; intelligent and incisive and compassionate, yet also rather detached. The ending - to give away nothing - is a powerful scene simply because it's the last thing you'd have expected the the "old" Doctor to do. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of this character. Overall, this is a gripping book from start to finish, with great characters and a storyline that actually makes sense. (Although they never did explain the link between the TARDIS and the Burning.) Buy it. Read it. You won't be disappointed!
"Who... Am... I...?" March 9, 2001
Justin Richards has always been, in my opinion, one of those, um, 'dependable' authors - never writing a classic, but never really churning out something hideously bad (oh alright, 'Tears of the Oracle' was rubbish).So it comes as some surprise that 'The Burning' was so much better than I was hoping for. I was expecting it to be... mediocre at best, but it turned out to be a very thrilling little novel. The 'new' Eighth Doctor was interesting to read about, and the book's main threat, the 'burning' creature, was pretty scarey, reminding me of many 'Who' monsters that I found creepy as a child in the seventies. There should be something in 'The Burning' for 'Who' fans old and new alike.
!!JUST GO BUY IT!! February 1, 2001
This book is a great example of why we love DR Who? he is a man of mystery and until quite a bit in to the book its hard to know which of 3 chars. he is dont let anything put you off reading this book. I am converted. and that takes some doing ! and yes Paul IS the eighth Doctor I couldnt say just how but he IS. past Dr novels give you the warm childhood glow of nostalgia but this is all NEW stuff BRING IT ON . ps hands up those of you who have toyed with the idea of going to St. louis in feb?
 New story arc off to an average start September 19, 2000
"The Burning" is the start of a new story arc for the Eighth Doctor. Stranded on Earth in the late nineteenth century without his TARDIS or memory after the events of "The Ancestor Cell", we find the Doctor caught up in events that relate to the fate of the village of Middletown, whose major source of employment (a mine) has just closed down.Enter the mysterious Roger Nepath, traveller and collector of artefacts which relate to the topic of fire, and his plan to reopen the mine? As is normal with the Doctor, he turns up and all hell breaks loose, although that looks like more than a turn of phrase in this book. The cast of characters in this book are quite well-defined, although some of them undergo a transformation in fairly short order. The actual nature of the menace is kept concealed for much of the book, although from the title, the striking cover, and the number of times early chapters end with the phrase "And the burning.", you're on safe ground betting that it has something to do with fire. While the revelation is not something new in Doctor Who, it should take quite a few people by surprise. My one complaint is that Justin Richards, who is he BBC's consultant on its range of Doctor Who books, didn't really give me a strong impression that the Doctor has lost his memory. There are a couple of things he should have recognised, but other than being told he has no memory a few times I didn't really get that impression. Not the most auspicious start for a new story arc. A book which spent more time on the changes in the Doctor's circumstances would have been better, with this perhaps the second. Still, it's worth seeing where this is taking us.
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