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| Doctor Who: Winner Takes All | 
| Author: Jacqueline Rayner
Publisher: BBC Books
Category: Book
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $8.92
You Save: $3.07 (26%)
New (7) from $8.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 120434
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0563486279
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780563486275
ASIN: 0563486279
Publication Date: August 24, 2005
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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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 11 | | NEXT » |
 exciting February 29, 2008
If you like the Ninth Doctor, you will enjoy this book. I especially recommend it if you like science fiction and video games which makes it a very interesting combination. It is exciting and funny. It is never boring and makes you want to keep on reading.
 Needs more February 4, 2008
Doctor Who: Winner Takes All
(Series One Novel)
Have you ever played a video game and thought to yourself `I wonder what this would be like if this was real?' Many of us just content ourselves with pushing this thought to the side and continue to slay aliens, or race towards the checkered flag. It's all a part of the suspension of disbelief, where you know that when playing a game or watching a video, things might not always what they seem. A cartoon mouse does have a clever brain and will use it to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting cat by creating master diabolical plans! This is all a part of how we as humans separate fiction from fantasy. Yet, in the book Doctor Who: Winner Takes All, Jacqueline Rayner puts that simple question to the test. What happen if that video game you where playing was real?
The story begins with Rose and the Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) travels back to London to visit with Rose's mother Jackie. Upon their arrival the duo is faced with a rather strange situation, a marketing group (or so they say) have been testing a contest where you buy something from a local shop and you are awarded with a scratch card. If you win, you get one of two prizes, first a new video game console (apparently with the game Death to the Mantodeans) or an all expense paid holiday to an exotic resort.
As the novel continues an alien conspiracy is uncovered and we soon discover that the marketing Mascot is in actuality an alien and they are using the video games to control the vacationers into doing their dirty work. What is their dirty work you might ask? Waging a war on their home planet against the praying mantis people known as the (you guessed it) the Mantodeans! The human's role is of the foot soldiers (or more of cannon fodder if you prefer).
The book itself was a pretty good read, clear descriptions, great new characters such as the introduction as Darren Pye as the bully. It was quite refreshing to have a person who showed that there are jerks in the world who are just jerks, wanting to make people's lives horrible just because they can. This character was great, mainly because it was the type of guy that every time he came into play, I hated it, thinking to myself, "just kill him off, he's a total jerk!" Kind of like Synjaya from American Idol, which made the character great. You are supposed to hate characters like that.
When it came down to the story itself I noticed quite a few things that I believed needed some improving, or more clarification. Being a manager of a video game retailer there is nothing that gamers really don't know about the industry. It is huge and when a new game come's out it is well known before time. One of the points that I felt a little distracting was the fact that this new machine was being given away, and could only play one game. Was it a "plug and play", or a full console? Clairification is needed at this point.
The aliens who are performing this big master plot are described as a large Porcupine. I can understand some of the plot points that came into play with the use of this type of character, i.e. quill weapons, being appealing to the public, and their addiction to salt (great scene in the book). Yet, when I was imagining them, I couldn't push away that they were all just living breathing Sonic the Hedgehogs! I believe that the addition of a different type of animal needed to be used here.
Finally I really didn't know why the Quevvils (the giant porcupines) where waging this war against the Mantodeans? It did add some sense of drama not knowing for awhile, making it feel as if these creatures where just waging war just for the sake of it. Yet war goes deeper than that, and each war has a catalyst, what was it, or if it was waging for so long have a discussion about where it might of began.
Overall I enjoyed this book and being my first read in the Doctor Who book series I was pleasantly surprised. Knowing both the Doctor and Rose from the Television Series I felt that the author was brilliant at capturing the essence of all of the characters I was familiar with. Also the pace of the story and the action kept me turning the pages. Yet I feel that the areas that were not covered (the reason for the war) or did not have a clear direction did get in the way. To me Doctor Who is a mythology that has its roots in our world and when things don't make sense when comparing them in our world then the suspension of disbelief can be strained.
I give this book 2 out of 5.
The Best Doctor Who Book! November 30, 2007
I haven't read all of the new Doctor Who novels, yet, but so far "Winner Takes All" stands out as the best! The characterizations are perfect, it has fantastic banter between the Doctor and Rose and Mickey. The story is interesting--a bit insane, but believable. It's so well written that it's like reading an episode.
Best of all, it makes full use of the fact that it's a novel and not a TV episode, so you really get the characters' point of view--you get to see their thoughts, how they reason things out, their motivations, and what they feel. The author even sneaks in a couple of subtle references to the romance between Rose and the Doctor: just a hint here and there that there is a bit more depth to their relationship, same as they do on the show.
It also seemed a bit more "grown up" than some of the other books. A few of them seem obviously written with kids in mind, using overly simple plots and nothing too scary. But "Winner Takes All" has enough intrigue going on that adults should really enjoy it. It's got a unique mystery to be solved, some new aliens that look funny but are quite threatening, great interaction between Rose and Mickey and the Doctor, and even some hints at Time Lord abilities. Rose gets to be on her own for a while, and she doesn't sit around not knowing what to do . . . she gets clever, rescues the Doctor and Mickey, and holds her own against the aliens.
Overall, it's a great story and fits right into the first series/season. I'll definitely read it again, and I hope that the author writes many more Doctor Who books.
A lot of fun! August 9, 2007
THIS was more like it! After the bad characterization in Clockwise Man, I wasn't sure about the Doctor Who books anymore. This one was a lot of fun though! The Doctor and Rose were much more "in character", and I really enjoyed all the pop culture references, the joking around, and the bad puns! Plus, it was good to "see" Mickey again.
While there were a few "huh?" things about the plot (porcupine aliens kidnap humans in order to mind-control them through an enemy aliens' stronghold) I still really enjoyed the character interactions, including those of the younger boy who was caught up in the mess and kidnapped by the aliens. In his mind, he kept building himself a story where he was the hero, but in the end he DID get to help the Doctor save everyone.
It was a lot of fun, and really truly only "fluff" reading, but I enjoyed it a lot because I still really miss the Ninth Doctor and Rose.
"Winner Takes All" a great book!! August 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
So far I've been pleased with most of the new Doctor Who books but not particularly amazed or anything, except by this book and "Stealer of Dreams."
This book was awesome, what every fan should be looking for. It has real emotions, cool fight scenes, wicked technology and the fighting against wrong. I especially liked the part with the Doctor being mad at having to use Rose, something we don't get to see in the series very often but something we can all relate too. This is a very good book, I do not understand the mixed or even bad reviews at all. If you Like The Doctor and Rose this is a absolute must read.
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