Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles

By: Michael Moorcock

Narrated by: Clive Mantle

Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Award winning sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock writes a thrilling all-new adventure featuring the 11th Doctor and Amy.

There are dark tides running through the universe - so strong they swallow light and threaten Captain Cornelius's familiar existence; if unchecked they will absorb the whole of Creation. But for now he tracks into the solar winds, searching for the only being he acknowledges as his peer: who is known simply as 'the Doctor'.

©2010 Michael Moorcock (P)2010 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Maddeningly Verbose

I was excited by the other reviews and a keen fan of the tv series but I am struggling to wade through this adjective-laden prose. It took 20 minutes this morning just to describe the ship pulling into dock! The author's compulsion to add alien detail has crowded out action and engagement with characters like an infestation of Silburian Slug Worms from the Obellian Galaxy.

A Steaming Pile

I love Dr. Who, but this was simply awful. Moorcock demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the character he is writing. The Doctor should jump out of every scene he is in and dominate the action. In this book you hardly realize he is there, squeezed among the ridiculous characters with confusing motivations. The story seems to have been written for an entirely different hero, with the Dr. Who elements thrown hastily in at the last moment.
The narration was also shocking. Mantle tries to create different voices and accents for his characters, but ends up giving us aural caricatures. The falsetto Scots used to indicate Amy's occasional presence made me want to throw my headphones in the nearest fireplace.

Dr. Who fans be warned. This is not what you want. Stay away!

It took a while to draw me in

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I've been a Doctor Who fan for nearly 30 years.

It took me two tries to get through this book. After listening to around 30 minutes, I gave up and then thought - boring, but then when I went back and listened again to find that the story drew me in.

This was not the doctor that I was used to and it took me a little while to warm to him in written form.

As far as I'm concerned this book is well worth the read

Sucked so hard I couldn't listen to it all.

If you put a book of eccentric British terms together in a blender and mixed them with some bad story telling and then had the result read out by one of the worse voice talents to read an Audiobook that I have heard, this is what you would end up with. It was crap and try as I might, I could not get through it. Bad character voices, mixed with a shocking story make this the worse purchase I have made from Audible to date. I hated it. I did not feel the presence of the Doctor in it for even one second. It could have been anyone.

Somewhat of a disappointment

I'm afraid I struggled to get through this and only finished through a sense of duty. I bought it because I am a fan of both Dr Who and of Moorcock. I enjoyed the Elric and Eternal Champion novels but sadly this audiobook was a disappointment. I think it was a combination of problems. The story didn't really seem to have much to do with Dr Who. Both the Doctor and Amy characters seemed shoehorned into some totally separate story, not the main subjects of it. There were too many other characters none of whom were particularly interesting and quite a few of them were just plain annoying. It was too whimsical - as others have stated, perhaps akin to Douglas Adams crossed with PG Wodehouse, but totally unsuited to Doctor Who. The other problem is I think with the narration. There were too many OTT characterisations, some of the voices were almost unitelligible. They all had regional accents which didn't seem to make sense. Why would an alien taxi driver have a Scouse or Yorkshire accent? The worst was Amy - it is very difficult when the listener has a clear internal picture of what she should sound like from the TV series and then in the audiobook she is nothing like her screen counterpart. This is inevitible in a DW story but it was a constant irritation for me.

A shame, Moorcock & Dr Who seemed like a match made in heaven, but it was not to be.

hmm

With the exception of Captain Cornelius' Dutch accent Clive Mantle is woefully poor at accents. God alone knows why he chooses to do an impression of one of the Crankies for Amy's accent! And he is really a rather poor choice as narrator, Peter Kenny would have done it far better justice.
I have been a fan of Moorcock for years, other fans will recognise the recurrent themes (The Rose, Colour, the Balance etc...), and there are some nice subtle little touches in this, but to be frank they are likely to be lost on many listeners.
If you are only here for Dr. Who then this probably isn't for you, but if you like Moorcock then a listen won't hurt - but be warned; Pyat or Elric it ain't!

Overacted in the extreme

This book is Michael Moorcock let loose with the keys to the TARDIS and we are left with an uneven and intreging adventure which seems to take place in a P.G Woodhouse parody world reminiscent of the Douglas Adams years of the original series.

If you like Moorcock and you like the more absurdist Doctor Who stories you will probably enjoy this.

What you will not enjoy is Clive Mantle's woefull over acting. I can only assume he thought he was in some over the top 1930's farce and needed to ham up every single line. His Amy is unrecognisable and Doctor lifeless the less said about his supporting characters the better. I was so distracted by them it completely disrupted the story for me.

As someone who loves audiobooks and think they bring a wonderful life to a story for this one I suggest you go buy the paper book and hear the Doctor in your own mind.

Poor, poor Clive Mantle.😣

Pretty awful. I felt sorry for Clive Mantle. Doctor Who just isn't a good fit for Moorcocks multiverse.

Accents???

A good story plot, with a theme of comedy-irony 'old Earth' historical errors and a twist at the end of the tale. Enthusiatically read, but spoilt by a poor attempt at a Scots accent for Amy and an OTT 'Yorkshire' accent of another character, although it has occurred to me that the later 'might' be deliberate, to be in keeping with the the historical farce that runs on & off through-out.