Book Reviews
Welcome to our book review archive. This part of the site is still in its early stages, but as time progresses, it will feature a selection of reviews of all kinds of SF/Fantasy books from reference works to novels, and graphic novels/comics both new and old. To make things easier to find the review you are looking for, you can click on the buttons below to jump straight to a series or type of book...
"Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Script Book" - Season 2, Volume 3
Review by Sven Harvey
When picking up this book, the immediate response is to view the volume as good value for money, as at £10 it is thicker than many books of this large format selling at double the cost.
But then again this is a script book. It is printed entirely in mono on reasonable quality paper, and is simply the final shooting scripts from the second season of the show covering the episodes "Surprise", "Innocence", "Phases, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and "Passion".
These are some of the most tense and emotionally explosive episodes of Buffy thus far with Angel returning to his Angelus persona, the dispatch of the The Judge with Xander's arsenal acquired thanks to his GI Joe Halloween outings knowledge impartation, and the cruel termination of Jenny Calendar just to get at Buffy and Giles.
The script book of course allows you to direct your own version of the episode in your minds eye, and it is sometimes interesting to question the choices made by the director in question of the episode itself. It can indeed be an engaging read and as they go it's a good script book as script books go.
But... Why do script books always arrive in this form? Would it really be difficult to have a couple of picture montage pages of important scenes from each episode, or even behind the scenes photos, even if they are in black and white (a few colour pages in the centre would be better though).
As script books go though, it's decent enough, and script books are not really my "thing", so its a testament to the quality of the episodes that I give this volume a solid 85%.
"Cybermen" by David Banks
Reviewed by Sven Harvey
Published in 1988, this book actually pre-dates the final Cybermen episode of Doctor Who, "Silver Nemesis" which aired in November 1988. Written by David Banks, the perennial Cyberleader from "Earthshock" onwards, the actor and now writer has also played the Doctor himself on stage, filling in for the late Jon Pertwee when the third doctor fell ill.
Available in both hard and soft (paper) back this book includes a complete listing of those who worked on each Cyberman story, a guide to Cyberman spin-offs (including comic strips and merchandise), a text story telling the origins of the Cybermen on their home planet of Mondas, a full guide to each televised story, a chapter on the Cyberman concept including a look at how modern medicine and science threatens to make this science fiction a possible science fact and 'Archive' - a history of the Cyber race derived from the nine Cyber stories in Doctor Who.
The "Concept" chapter introduces the theories behind the Cybermen and the development of cybernetics and robotics in science fiction and science fact including the development of artificial organs and limbs the first step towards Cybermen (and also shows that Star Trek's Borg race are very similar to the Cybermen... Could they be the same race??).
"Archive" features some lovely artwork and great pictures to go along side a well written storyline that the Cyberman episodes fall into including a time line which explains a few of the more interesting cyber-stories and how they relate to each other.
The third chapter goes behind the scenes of the making of the Cybermen episodes including the final "Silver Nemesis" story and also features some wonderful photographs and a print of a great artists impression of what the Cybermen could have become.
The final part of the book is dedicated to the merchandise and television guides but had the origin story "Legend - the Genesis of the Cybermen" - a story by Gerry Davis which depicts the first steps that the Mondassians took toward Cybernation.
This really is a lovely polished reference work which deserves a place on the shelf of anyone with even a passing interest in the Cybermen.
"The Element Of Fire" by Jason Henderson
Reviewed by Simon Plumbe
This is the first in an on-going series of original novels based on the highly successful TV starring Adrian Paul, which was based on the Christopher Lambert movies. It features a fairly complicated plot, but doesn't get bogged down by it.
One of the earliest Immortals, Khordas, was sacrificed at an early age to an ancient God. Instead of dying, he rose again, and not understanding the nature of his immortality, he believed that he was the God re-incarnated. A young Immortal girl, Nerissa, was also sacrificed at the same time and became his life-long companion. Thus, the Immortal Khordas The Salamander was born, and every year he took of offerings of sacrifices in fire to honour him. Until he encounters a young Immortal and his teacher - Duncan McLeod and Connor McLeod; the Highlanders.
A fight ensues, and Nerissa is killed. Khordas vows to take his revenge on Duncan, and over the centuries attempts to do just that, and manages to cause death on a mass scale in the process, "honouring" his dead companion.
For a first novel, I have to say that I was very impressed with Jason Henderson's work. The novel starts off in the time of Khordas, then progresses starting with Duncan's discovery by Connor, and progressing through a series of eras until the end of the novel set in the late nineteenth century. There are some wonderful scenes between Duncan and Connor, as Duncan is taught the ways of swordplay and the rules of the Game in order for him to survive to the time of the Gathering.
Characterisation is superb throughout, but special mention has to go to the development of Khordas. Although he is obviously the villain of the story, you can't help feeling sympathy for his plight, believing that he is a God when there was no-one around to tell him otherwise. It raises questions for Highlander fans as to what might have happened to any number of other characters had they not been found by a mentor, and what would happen to Immortals discovered by one such as Khordas.
Probably the highlights of the novel for me are the background scenes with Connor and Duncan, and the display of the obvious insight and knowledge of the series that Henderson has. Throughout the book there are small references to past historical encounters that either Duncan or Connor have had, flashbacks to old memories, and references to other characters from the films/episodes such as Kurgan, Amanda and Ramirez. It's just little touches like these that add to the feeling that you are reading a book based on an episode, rather than an original work of fiction, which in my opinion enhances the reading pleasure.
The pace of the story doesn't let up for a moment, with plenty of action sequences, intertwined with the character-based elements. Once you have started reading the first chapter, the book manages to keep you gripped and on the edge of your seat until the book's climax 212 pages later.
While the novel is somewhat more graphic in it's description of the violence, leaning towards the movies rather than the TV series, I have to say that this is a good first book, and a very enjoyable read. Highly recommended to all Highlander fans.
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