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I'm caught in a trap; can't walk out...

Customer Rating:

After a host of original Doctor Who novels for both The Virgin New Adventures series and the BBC books series that followed it, this is Simon Messingham's first Tenth Doctor novel - and it doesn't disappoint. As with the previous book in the series, Martha in the Mirror; some of the elements from stories from both the `classic' (i.e. 1963 - 1989) as well as the current series' are used; something that will appeal to the older fans amongst us as well as fascinating and intriguing younger readers. Robert Shearman's Ninth Doctor adventure `Dalek', immediately springs to mind when reading the account of the space museum housing different alien species, whilst the museum's curator and the despotic ruler of Planet 1 - Sebastiene - has antecedents in both The Celestial Toymaker and The Master of the land of Fiction from 1968 story `The Mind Robber'. Messingham develops an idea first purported in the 2006 TV story `Love and Monsters'; that The Doctor's travels are ardently followed by hordes of fans. Although this idea may seem spurious to the older generation of `Whovians' it provides the necessary backdrop to a story of dim-witted dopplegangers, demented droids and deluded dictators; as The Doctor becomes the prey in a deadly game of cat and mouse... The Doctor's current travelling companion, Donna Noble, is sidelined early on in the story, and this allows The Doctor to fight this particular menace unshackled, making for a fast-paced and fascinating battle of wits.

Planet 1 is Not What It Seems

Customer Rating:

"Excitement, tension, the thrill of the chase, these were a few of his favourite things." - The Doctor Trap, p. 187 Sebastiene is physically flawless, incredibly powerful and more than a little bit maniacal. As the ruler of Planet 1, Sebastiene has everything he could ever want, but that will never be enough. He's taken to hunting down alien species, the more dangerous the better. For his ultimate prize, however, Sebastiene must enlist the help of the Endangered Dangerous Species Society, a group of the most ruthless hunters in the galaxy. Sebastiene wants to add the most dangerous being in the universe to his collection: the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords. Sebastiene uses a genetic copy of the Doctor, a man named Baris, to steal the TARDIS and kidnap Donna. The doppelganger lures the Doctor to Planet 1, but it doesn't take long for the Doctor to turn the tables on his twin. He manages to switch places with Baris, which only complicates matters. Now he has to save Donna, recover the TARDIS and keep the hunters from killing Baris. Can the Doctor escape Sebastiene's trap or will Sebastiene find himself in a trap of the Doctor's design? The Doctor Trap is an action-packed story filled with twists and turns, alternating between confusing and clever. Sebastiene was an interesting villain but I felt that the story would have been stronger without the final twist; it felt rather anticlimactic compared to earlier revelations. This is one of the first novels to feature Donna Noble as the Doctor's companion. While they spend most of the story separated (one of my personal pet peeves with the Doctor Who novels), there are some nice moments of Doctor/Donna banter that the show's fans came to expect during Series 4.

The Doctor trap made my head spin

Customer Rating:

"The Doctor Trap" is one of the first Doctor Who novels to feature Donna as the Doctor's companion. Though, through the first half of the book she isn't very present, as the Doctor and her get seperated on the first pages. Sebastiene, the ruler of his own planet, has set out to hunt the doctor down and kill him. Therefor he brought a couple of hunters to Planet 1, all infamous for wiping out rare species. He even created a Doctor-double, made from the Doctor's "biggest fan", Baris. The Doctor manages to swap places with Baris, though and now has not only to rescue Donna, but also get back his TARDIS and escape from the planet. When I read the book description, I was afraid this could be a second "Last Dodo", another Doctor Who novel where he is hunted for being the last of his kind. But "The Doctor Trap" certainly does not imitate that one. It is faster and more exciting. Again the Doctor and his companion are very well written (including some small banters the way I liked them on the TV series). Plus, I really had to use my brains at one point - the "Doctor Trap" and it's explanation (or the explanation Sebastien though it had), made my head spin. So confusing. A really good read I'd certainly recommend to Doctor/Donna friends.