Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29177 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Synopsis
In the far future, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where its a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream. But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back. And the Doctor wants to help until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares. With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all.Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth. Featuring the Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, together with Rose and Captain Jack as played by Billie Piper and John Barrowman in the hit series from BBC Television.

About the Author
Steve Lyons has written nearly twenty novels, several audio dramas and many short stories, starring characters from the X-Men and Spider-Man to the Tomorrow People and Sapphire & Steel. He has also co-written a number of books about TV shows, including Cunning: The Blackadder Programme Guide and the bestselling Red Dwarf Programme Guide.
His previous Doctor Who work includes the novels Conundrum, The Witch Hunters and The Crooked World, audio dramas The Fires of Vulcan and Colditz, and work for the official Doctor Who Magazine.
He lives in Salford, near Manchester.

Customer Reviews

Excellent story (and that is the truth)!
I have been a little disappointed with the earlier 9th Doctor novels, however this is the first to be of a quality and complexity to rival the previously released (and on average vastly superior) Virgin New Adventure and BBC 8th Doctor series.

The story deals with some very complex issues around truth and fiction while capturing the disparate personalities of the Doctor and his companions, especially Captain Jack - who didn't have any where near enough screen time with the Doctor.

The ending is particularly satisfying, veering away from the overused cliché of baddie blows themselves up. The identity of Hal caught me off guard (but I won't spoil it).

Didn't quite steal my heart
Despite the refreshing enthusiasm of the previous reviewer I have to admit to finding this the least enjoyable of the 4 original Ninth Doctor novels I have read so far.
The premise is intriguing but little more than a spin on the standard sci-fi theme of a repressed society; this time a society where fiction is anathema.
The Doctor Rose and Captain Jack become embroiled in the rebels' ('Geeks' as they are known) attempts to beat the system and the story cracks along at a good pace. The main problem is that there isn't really much for the Doctor to do and we don't see any more of this regeneration's persona than we do on TV.
To some degree this is understandable; these books are not aimed at adults or even older teenagers however it would be good to see a greater emphasis on The Doctor and his attempts to fight injustice and less on his companions.
I did like the way the story ended; a refreshing twist lifted it out of the ordinary but the less we see of 'Captain' Jack the better - leave him to TORCHWOOD...

refreshing!
Ignore the synopsis on the back cover of this book. It makes the story sound very unlikely and as if the deliberate suspension of disbelief would take a monumental effort. Surprisingly, it doesn't and the result is a wonderfully challenging story with great character writing for the Doctor et al. The subject is dealt with imaginatively whilst sustaining great credibility and some real old style DW horror regarding the mystery around some of the characters. Any of the other Doctors would have slipped rihgt in to this story in the 9th Doctor's place and the reader would not be shortchanged. My only whinge about this or any of the other new DW books (except for one) is that they are too short. This was one of the books that I couldn't put down when I started it, so I finished it the day I bought it... boo hoo!