3) [Doctor Who] I Am A Dalek, by Gareth Roberts
Picked this up on impulse from Forbidden Planet the other week. It’s part of a special BBC series – the only Doctor Who title among them, as far as I can tell – for “people who either don’t have much time to devote to reading or who have perhaps never been bitten by the reading bug”. So I am not in the target audience then.
So, an odd mix of relatively simple language and large print, with relatively adult themes (implied sex, graphic exterminations). I have no idea if it will really succeed in popularising literacy. It’s quite a good read, starting with a strange find on a Roman archaeological dig and continuing with the horrors of aliens in contemporary England. As a Doctor Who story, it adds a certain amount to our understanding of Daleks, picking up both on the Ninth Doctor’s first encounter and, I thought, also on the Second Doctor’s last encounter with them. Purists may wonder about the role played by the Tardis as an agent of adventure.
Fair enough, not watched any of it yet. And yeah, Short Form nominations are cool, but they’ve been getting them ever since reboot, I think the way the story was told throughout deserves Long Form myself. Not that I get to nominate or vote, just curious.
I’ll have another look once the awards are out.