Scratchman

Books
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Where do I even begin with this one? As my first Doctor Who Novel, I may have some bias to it, but my God, Scratchman is just so good. I can totally see why many of its Idea would have suited a Film very well (if I recall correctly, the Core Idea of this Novel was pitched as a Film first around the Mid 70s, but I could be wrong). Its use of Cybermen is creative and creepy. There are just so many Things I could point out that I love with this book!

Feel free to ramble, talk, discuss all Things around Scratchman! The Good, the Bad and the Baker!

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I loved this book, and the audiobook is very good too!

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I need to read this because a certain someone is in it

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Oh yes those Scenes with this certain someone are so good! Some of my favorites with that Character (and that says a lot because I like them already quite a bunch, lol)

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Hopefully I should read this book at some point this year

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Now this is a book thread i can get behind, this one is sat on my desk!

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It’s one of the best DW novels I’ve ever read, not the best however

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Yeah, no I can get behind that, one of the best for sure tho!

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I’ve heard the audiobook multiple times and I love it so so so much!!!

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I liked Part One. Part Two not so much. 2.5/5

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Might be the only one not a fan of it but, to keep with the positivity, I liked Harry and Scratch, mostly. Wasn’t there an SJA reference in the Puzzle Room? I liked the TARDIS stuff, I remember that. Definitely wondered about it during a later Doctor Who book starring a Classic companion[1].

  1. At Childhood’s End. ↩︎

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Interesting to see a much more mixed reception of the book over here. It had a really promising start as a great horror novel living up to its reputation, and I recognize the objective quality in so much of it (such as the characterization of the Tardis team). But as the book went on after abandoning horror I liked it less and less. And by the end it was a genuine struggle to push through. Possible the hardest a novel has been and I’ve gone through a lot of bad VNAs[1]

I gave it 4/5 as I really can see the quality of the final product, but in terms of my own personal enjoyment I think I really agree with @Rock_Angel’s 2.5 star review. Might even have gone down to a 2 myself, but the start really was good.

Full review here. tl;dr I didn’t like it but you probably will. Isn’t life funny like that

  1. This may be recency bias, however I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’ve gone “will I actually finish this?” since the book goes for like 20 pages after defeating Scratchman ↩︎

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I read the book and listened to the audiobook. I loved the energy Tom Baker had in the audiobook and I swear I could see him grinning in my mind for the majority of it.

The story itself it interesting because it’s definitely two parts. One is more like a typical episode and the second is much more mind bendy. When I hear mixed things on the book, it’s usually the second half that I hear about.

I also love how the story is set up because the entire tale has already happened and the book is the Fourth Doctor trying to explain the events to the Time Lords and express the importance of the experience and of Scratchman’s existence while acknowledging that many of the time lords who have never left the citadel could never truly grasp what is out in the universe. I really enjoyed this book.

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I’ve finished reading this book today and enjoyed it a lot. Our main characters are all written excellently, unsurprising given the origins of this story. The Doctor has a lot of excellent speeches in this due to the way the book is structured.

I agree with what others have said here, this really is a book of two halves. The first half is great horror, I found it very engaging and well paced. My favourite part of this was a scene in a TARDIS room when Sarah Jane realises the Jigsaw room is showing her her own past and future and the scarecrow chasing her sees sections of her own life, we get an inner monologue from the scarecrow that is heartbreaking. Also Sarah Jane sees Luke Smith in her future, lovely to see as a SJA fan.

The second half takes us in a different direction and seems to forget about the horror, particularly with a certain section with Harry. When Harry creates a giant game crossed between pinball, chess and skittles it seems so silly given the tone of the first half of the book and we stay there for way too long. The second half just wasn’t anywhere near as polished as the first half.

That being said, I did like when we got an appearance from a spoiler character I think the 13th Doctor is well characterised here and utilised well in the story.

Overall I still enjoyed the book, I’m just disappointed by the second half.

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