Doctor Who: The Dalek Generation: A Novel

Who better to write a book featuring Daleks than Nicholas Briggs? (He's the voice of many violent, irritable "pepper pots.") It was fascinating to read about the Daleks behaving in strange and new ways. Benevolent and generous Daleks? Daleks who build worlds to give humans a better life? What are they up to?I love the children the Doctor finds himself responsible for looking after. It's a treat to see him taken on a parent role.The only thing that kept me from giving this five stars, is that the end seemed a bit rushed and didn't seem to fit the theme of most episodes.

For almost as long as Doctor Who has been on television screens, his adventures in space and time have seen him facing, time and again, his enemies from Skaro: the Daleks. Yet the Daleks have rarely featured in the Doctor's paperbound adventures, appearing in a mere three novels outside of the Target novelizations of their appearance in the old series (and even then, two of the TV stories were never novelized). 2013 though has seen a new addition to those adventures with The Dalek Generation, an eleventh Doctor written by none other than Nicholas Briggs, the man behind the Dalek voices heard in the new series. How does his tale stand up then?For those who might be in the dark as to who Briggs is, he is far more than just the voice of the Daleks on TV. Through his work on the Doctor Who audio adventures produced by Big Finish Productions, Briggs is also a writer, producer and director with many Who stories under his belt as well as voicing the Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors and other aliens both for Big Finish and on TV. So this isn't the case of an actor being turned lose to write a tie-in novel simply because he's an actor on the series. He's a writer in his own right.Briggs obviously knows his Daleks well and he puts them to effective use. Fans are used to seeing the Daleks as an invading and destructive force, exterminating all those who stand in their path. But what happens when the Doctor lands on a world where the Daleks aren't a force of evil, but instead quite the reverse? It's a premise that has been touched upon only a handful of times by the series (notably in the lost second Doctor story Power Of The Daleks as well as the recent new series episode Victory Of The Daleks) and Briggs puts it to fine use here as the Doctor finds himself on one of the 400 Sunlight Worlds, set up by The Dalek Foundation, and trying to convince people of their being evil. Briggs also brings some new elements for the Daleks, including a Dalek type originally introduced for the Big Finish audios that becomes pivotal to the plot here. The novel then features both classic Who monsters and a classic Who premise put to excellent use.The Dalek Generation also captures a lot of the feel of the new series as well. Briggs' plot has a "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey" element to it that becomes more and more apparent as the novel heads towards the end. The novel features the Doctor traveling on his own (judging from both the cover art and his attitude at various moments, it would appear to be set in the gap between the recent episode The Angels Take Manhattan and The Snowmen) and Briggs does an effective job of capturing the various, often contradictory, character traits of this Doctor. The book features a group of children effectively becoming the Doctor's temporary companions, something else that we've seen in the eleventh Doctor's TV stories as well as his excellent rapport with them, with some of the books best moments being the scenes the Doctor has with them. That it captures the feel of the show has a downside though.The novel has one very sizeable flaw, one that it shares with some recent episodes of the new series: it's rushed. Briggs pacing keeps it moving and it is certainly never dull. The problem is that the reader rarely gets a grasp on where they are and what's going on. The Sunlight Worlds, the Cradle Of The Gods and indeed the Daleks plan are all highly intriguing concepts but are never fleshed out. For that matter, neither are most of the characters for that matter with the exceptions of the Doctor and the children, many seem like caricatures rather than fleshed out. The result is the Daleks plan ends up feeling more abstract that concrete. The ending itself is very rushed and feels oddly derivative of some of the episode endings that we've seen recently and as a result feels quite hollow. The book might well capture the spirit of the new series a bit too well then.The Dalek Generation then is a good Doctor Who adventure, if a flawed one. It puts the Daleks to good use in a new way, captures the feel of the televised series quite well and features a strong characterization of the eleventh Doctor that could easily come straight out off of the TV. Yet it's rushed pace causes its settings and supporting characters to come across as intriguing at best and at worst as caricatures. The results are enjoyable but one can't help but yearn for more.

A fantastic story full of unexpected twists and turns. Just when I thought In had figured thermally out, the author sends you and the Doctor in an entirely New direction.

Mr. Nicholas Briggs is a voice actor, actor, voice director, writers, has worked for both Doctor Who and Torchwood, and knows his Daleks. His story is twisted, with some action, very strong characters, and a plot that is both horrible and horrible. Let me explain that without giving away any spoilers. The Daleks have a very complex, detailed plan that will only work IF the Doctor does certain things. In other words, like in Victory Of The Daleks, the Daleks must trick the Doctor. But this time they also use a special Dalek and their knowledge of time. Very clever.The horrible part is how vague and unclear it all is. You never really feel the threat towards the billions of humans, the millions of planets, nor the rest of the universe. Also, many a time the Daleks could have just shot him and killed one of their greatest enemies! He is the biggest threat to them - every other plot, every other plan, every other operation should be tossed to one side if the Doctor is detected. In the end the story comes across as somewhat weak, the Daleks as somewhat harmless, the Doctor as somewhat helpless. The cover promises action and adventure and you really get very little of that. This is the rainy day book. Or staying home with the flu book. I would not even suggest it unless you are a huge Dalek or Doctor Who fan. I don't see myself reading it again. Kind of along the lines of  Legacy of the Daleks (Doctor Who Series)  which had Daleks IN it. But failed to deliver us the Daleks we wanted. I think the problem may be that Mr. Briggs likes the Daleks and has a hard time writing for them. He, deep down inside, does not wish to make them the bad guys!Get it used or take it out of the library.

the 11th Doctor never disappoints and is always full of surprises and extremely talented. Get to see some of Dark Side Doctor in some parts of the book. Started it this morning.... Got done about 4 hours later. Self-Explanatory. Could not put the book down. Nicholas Briggs really captured the essence of Matt Smith's 11th Doctor. Also the Eleventh Doctor is well.... The Doctor.

The Daleks have always been used more sparingly in the Doctor Who novels than the programme. This means that a new Dalek novel is met with a certain level of anticipation. Written by the current Dalek expert and actor who voices them on screen, it would be easy to expect that this is going to be a novel concerning sweeping Dalek forces and invasions. It is a lot more toned down than that and the Daleks actually hardly kill anybody. Rather than warmongering this book features Daleks showing their more cunning, manipulative side. There is an echo of `Power of the Daleks' in this story. Although it is always a bit difficult to believe that any human can so easily convince themselves that the Daleks are a force for good or that they can be controlled, this story still manages to be convincing. It also gives the reader the sense that they are sharing something with the Doctor because it is only the Doctor and the reader that know that the Daleks are not really benevolent philanthropists.It isn't the most original plot, with the Dalaks trying to track down and utilise an archaic device that will bestow great powers, but there are enough `timey-wimey' elements to keep the storyline interesting, if at times a little predictable.Without any of the usual on-screen companions to assist him, the Doctor is teamed up with three young children. Despite their ages all three have clearly defined personalities and are the better characters in the book. The Doctor himself is portrayed quite well but he doesn't always seem to be the Eleventh Doctor as played by Matt Smith. And there are certainly some slight elements of other Doctors occasionally.Despite this being a Dalek story, the Daleks are actually quite low key. For most of the time they have to maintain the appearance of generous benefactors. Thus their natural nature is rarely given the chance to be let loose. These are Daleks relying upon strategy rather than force. This is poignantly reflected in the exchange between the Paradigm Dalek Supreme and the Dalek Time Controller (this also irritatingly makes the Dalek hierarchy even more unfathomable). As the novel's main antagonist, the Time Controller is the only Dalek that really has any substantial role to play. His portrayal has, perhaps, more in common with Davros than the various Dalek Supremes or other leading Daleks. There is something quite unnervingly evil about him and he is definitely a character that is unique enough to crossover into the television series.This novel is a reserved performance from the Daleks, but they are no less menacing for it.

I really enjoyed this and appreciated some of the darker plot elements. This would make a great TV parter, though I doubt some of the trauma the children go through would be allowed on screen.Thwres a lot going on here. Unlike other doctor who novels, this one focusses a lit of the action on the character drama that unfolds between the doctor and the people he encounters. You won't find a lot of dalek action here. But this is much closer to the TV series. Some readers might find this novel has too much focus on the characters emotional roller coaster journey.Great story, good use of daleks, some wonderfully dark moments for the children, oh and I love the jelly blobs.Loses a star for being a bit long and overly descriptive at times.

This book Is unusual for a dalek story it's a sweeping romp that never dips in its intensity I loved the bittersweet ending although I'm sure some whovians will hate it. Dr 11 grabs you from the start in this post pond era incarnation

Great book. Especially how the Doctor manages to bring the children round to accept him. Not completed reading but a brilliant read so far.

brilliant