NA #30 First Frontier

First Frontier by David A. McIntee

In Brief: Plod plod 1950s New Mexico plod UFOs and little grey men plod plod plod Ace blows stuff up plod It's...The Master!

*sigh*

ZZZZZzzzzzzz.

Sorry, what was that about again? A conspiracy involving the US government and some aliens.

Or something.

One of the characters turns out to be The Master.

Stuff blows up.

All of David A. McIntee's problems from White Darkness are back, but this time 10x worse. Poor prose, boring characters, a lack of any sort of dramatic tension, etc. This book took me more than twice as long to get through than any other book in the series so far for a very good reason, I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for it. I know most people would have just stopped and moved on, but stupid masochistic me just can't do what's right.

What's aggravating was that there wasn't really anything completely awful in the book, and every so often there'd be a bit verging on almost good. It's just that this was possibly the most unenthusiastic and lifeless book in the range so far. McIntee doesn't so much write prose as much as describe events. It's like he *really* wanted to write a whiz-bang all-action Doctor Who movie and this is its novelisation. Even the regulars were dreary let alone any of the minor characters (and it takes special skill to make Benny boring). Not a one is in any way memorable.

And then there's The Master, a crap character at the best of times and here in total camp-villain mode. Here he turns up still changing into a Cheetah-person after the events of 1989's "Survival" (don't ask). Although after getting his hands on some alien nanites and he gets better.

Or something.

But then he's shot by Ace, stumbles into his Tardis and regenerates in a glowing blaze into a younger skinnier version.

Now why does that seem familiar?

Sorry, I'm losing the plot a bit here. First Frontier was a dreary chore. I'm very glad I'm finished it and can move on to something new...

Oh crap, the next book is written by Mark "Victory of the Daleks" Gatiss.

*sob*