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| Doctor Who: The Stealers Of Dreams | 
| Author: Steve Lyons
Publisher: BBC Books
Category: Book
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $9.16
You Save: $2.83 (24%)
New (5) from $9.16
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 91746
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0563486384
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9780563486381
ASIN: 0563486384
Publication Date: January 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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Product Description
In the far future, the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where it's a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream. But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back, and the Doctor wants to help - until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares. With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all. Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth...
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 "I say that even the bad dreams are good for us." July 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
There is just something bemusing and yet clever about a work of escapist fiction whose underlying theme is, well, escapist fiction--its role and purpose, how drab and matter-of-fact our lives would be without it. As fictional universes go, that of "Doctor Who" may well be one of the best potential arenas in which to explore this theme, and Steve Lyons manages to milk that potential for all it's worth in this highly entertaining, nicely crafted, and slyly thoughtful science fiction adventure.
"The Stealers of Dreams" as a story takes place at some indeterminate point near the end of the revived program's first series, apparently somewhere between "The Doctor Dances" and "Bad Wolf" (Doctor Who - The Complete First Series) and so features the relatively short-lived Ninth Doctor and his ever-popular companions Rose and Captain Jack. Lyons' portrayal of these characters is incredibly accurate and true-to-form while still being dynamic and creative (rather than, say, trying vainly to establish their personalities by merely mimicking catchphrases from the show). Their relationships as they were then are depicted convincingly, and Lyons has a surefire sensitive grasp of their interactions. Thrilling adventure and quirky humor blend properly. The style, atmosphere, and pacing of his storytelling feels right at home with the 2005 series while doing something a little different and tackling ideas better handled in prose than on screen. These are all pluses not to be taken for granted.
The story at first seems like an edifying but predictable dystopian vision of a future where fiction, fantasy, and little white lies are outlawed by the powers that be so as to squelch creativity and any sort of thinking outside the box, keeping the populace passively content in their place. That alone would've been okay enough in and of itself. But Lyons takes this dependably good premise and, while exploring its consequences in compellingly creative and sometimes funny ways, gives it some deliciously unconventional twists and tweaks leading up to several skillfully foreshadowed yet intriguingly unexpected revelations. And that's when the Doctor saves the day, of course, but not in the way you were probably thinking at the start. I was thrown for a good loop a few times anyway, and loved every minute of it.
I've read and enjoyed a few of the other recent Doctor Who novels, but this is by far the best-written and strongest overall, at least in my opinion. And it's the only one so far that failed to induce a slightly self-embarrassed feeling of being a thirty-something indulging in a book pitched primarily at bright teens. Though in the final analysis that's indeed what it is, but it's fantastic for anyone of any age who's looking for a little escapist fiction with an intelligent touch.
 Excellent Adveture February 2, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this book very much. It really kept to the spirit of the show, and had a very interesting storyline. Wish this one had been made it into the show!
Doctor Who: The Stealers of Dreams January 11, 2007
Great book and in great shape. Very pleased!
Two thumbs up January 11, 2007
I have already read this book twice. That it has Captain Jack in it is a big plus. (How could you not like him?) Steve Lyons does a good job of depicting the Doctor and Rose. It's like watching the show, only better because you can take the book with you.
"Was I Clever?" June 26, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack find themselves on a planet where the human race has skidded backward. Technology is sluggish, development happens on the same space over and over again, and the media force-feeds the population a repetetive diet of trivia. But most puzzling, all forms of fiction--including storytelling, lying, and dreaming--are strictly forbidden. Anyone caught telling a tall tale winds up in a place of nightmares, the Big White House.
Steve Lyons has created a beautifully complex story that makes you want to keep reading to figure out what's going on and why. He also masterfully separates the principal characters in coinciding adventures, but does a beautiful job keeping all his cards in play. This novel takes on an adventure with an epic scope and complexity far beyond what a sixty-minute TV episode can encompass. And it is no small praise with such established characters to say that, in savvying the dialogue, the reader can actually hear the actors who play these characters speaking.
And may I add, please, that the hardback binding makes holding the book more of a sensory treasure? It underlines the solidity of the story and the mass of the thought underlying the book.
This book isn't without its problems. The author has a tendency to tell parts of the story in flashback--not parts out of the distant past, but bits of business and exposition, presumably as a trick to make sure every chapter begins and ends with action. And there is a certain unremitting urgency to the pace of the story. The author would have been well-advised to write in a moment where the characters stop to catch their breath and think over what happened, because if the characters don't have such a chance, neither does the reader.
But these are quibbles. Sure, the book is imperfect, but it is still very, very good. The characters are well played, the situation is gripping, the puzzle is thought-provoking, and the payoff is tasty. This book will be well-loved by casual fans and die-hard devotees alike, and it makes an excellent addition to the Doctor Who corpus.
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