DW: The Murder Game
Monday, 7 July 2008 13:43![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
This weekend I read the Two, Ben and Polly PDA The Murder Game, it took me a chapter or two to get into it but once I did I really enjoyed it. So here is an unexpectedly long and rambly review. The companions had lots to do, which was great - they both spent some time unconscious, but the rest of the time they were both very active, using their skills or just doing their best in whatever situation they found themselves in, no sitting around waiting for the Doctor to rescue them. There was one bit where Polly's main aim was to stay alive long enough for the Doctor to rescue her, but that was only because she couldn't see any way of escaping, and besides as soon as she got a chance to help herself she grabbed it with both hands. Ben had some lovely introspection-y bits; when he's contemplating staying with Terri he has this great bit where he's really clear-eyed about what that would mean - it would be very romantic, but everyone he ever knew would be long dead and he'd be alone in an unfamiliar version of his home. And he's thinking about travelling in the TARDIS, and how one day they'll wind up in 1966 again and that'll be his cue to leave, and that'll be ok, but he's in no hurry for it to happen. Oh, and almost at the end, he wakes up from dreaming about the TARDIS, thinking "that's funny, I usually dream about my ship and my home", then realising that that's exactly what he is dreaming about, eeee, I am such a sucker for TARDIS = home.
It was also madly shippy, hurray! Ben gets an almost-girlfriend and Polly is instinctively jealous, then tries to work out why, exactly. Meanwhile Ben almost kisses Terri and then thinks about Polly and gets all confused. The computer system says something ambiguously phrased about their descendants, and Ben has a mini freak out along the lines of "I have descendants? Polly and I both have descendants? Did it mean we have descendants together? ...I think I like that idea." And then right at the end, Polly goes to comfort Ben, and they have a Moment where they almost kiss and it makes me so happy! And Ben is wondering whether this is just because they've been thrown together in a crazy situation, or if it is love, despite them coming from such different backgrounds, and either way he's ok with it and wanting to see where it goes, and oh Ben, ILU.
The plot was pretty fun, the whole "we're doing a murder mystery but someone's really died!" is a bit old but it served its purpose (and gave the Doctor another opportunity to dress up as a woman) and then got ditched in favour of something more interesting before it got tedious. The minor characters weren't the most exciting bunch, though I did like Ms Hayes and Terri. I was a little disappointed that Daphne was exactly as nice-but-dim as she seemed, on the other hand it would have been clichéd if she'd turned out to be masterminding the whole thing. And she made a nice contrast with Polly in their scenes together as Daphne really is what Polly is accused of being, solely a damsel in distress, whereas Polly rose to every challenge and demonstrated that she's got more sense and courage in her little finger than Daphne had in her whole body. A little hard on Daphne, but there you go.
There were a few minor stylistic things that annoyed me, mostly repeating the same phrase twice close together (I can see my English teacher circling it in red pen) and things like that, but overall it was pretty gripping and I gasped out loud at one point when Ben was (apparently) killed, even though I knew it would all be ok. The idea of the weapon was great, especially the idea that it would be programmed not to harm any humans other than its target - all those scenes worked really well, very tense. The loophole that wiped out the Selachians at the end was also nicely ingenious, plus Ben got to fly the TARDIS. So all in all, A-, would read again.
It was also madly shippy, hurray! Ben gets an almost-girlfriend and Polly is instinctively jealous, then tries to work out why, exactly. Meanwhile Ben almost kisses Terri and then thinks about Polly and gets all confused. The computer system says something ambiguously phrased about their descendants, and Ben has a mini freak out along the lines of "I have descendants? Polly and I both have descendants? Did it mean we have descendants together? ...I think I like that idea." And then right at the end, Polly goes to comfort Ben, and they have a Moment where they almost kiss and it makes me so happy! And Ben is wondering whether this is just because they've been thrown together in a crazy situation, or if it is love, despite them coming from such different backgrounds, and either way he's ok with it and wanting to see where it goes, and oh Ben, ILU.
The plot was pretty fun, the whole "we're doing a murder mystery but someone's really died!" is a bit old but it served its purpose (and gave the Doctor another opportunity to dress up as a woman) and then got ditched in favour of something more interesting before it got tedious. The minor characters weren't the most exciting bunch, though I did like Ms Hayes and Terri. I was a little disappointed that Daphne was exactly as nice-but-dim as she seemed, on the other hand it would have been clichéd if she'd turned out to be masterminding the whole thing. And she made a nice contrast with Polly in their scenes together as Daphne really is what Polly is accused of being, solely a damsel in distress, whereas Polly rose to every challenge and demonstrated that she's got more sense and courage in her little finger than Daphne had in her whole body. A little hard on Daphne, but there you go.
There were a few minor stylistic things that annoyed me, mostly repeating the same phrase twice close together (I can see my English teacher circling it in red pen) and things like that, but overall it was pretty gripping and I gasped out loud at one point when Ben was (apparently) killed, even though I knew it would all be ok. The idea of the weapon was great, especially the idea that it would be programmed not to harm any humans other than its target - all those scenes worked really well, very tense. The loophole that wiped out the Selachians at the end was also nicely ingenious, plus Ben got to fly the TARDIS. So all in all, A-, would read again.