Product Description

Rose and the Doctor return to present-day Earth to visit Rose's mum, and become intrigued by the latest craze -- the video game, Death to Mantodeans. Is it as harmless as it seems? And why are so many local people going on holiday and never returning? Meanwhile, on another world, an alien war is raging. The Quevvils need to find a new means of attacking the ruthless Mantodeans. Searching the galaxy for cunning, warlike but gullible allies, they find the ideal soldiers - on Earth. Will Rose be able to save her family and friends from the alien threat? And can the Doctor play the game to the end - and win?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59785 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

The End of the World
As long as I've been a "Doctor Who" fan -- coming up on 21 years -- I've actually been reading the original novels, under both the Virgin and BBC banners, for almost three-quarters of that time. I started reading the Target novelizations of the TV episodes when I was 11, and started reading the New Adventures at 18. Now, deep into my early thirties, I am being asked to start again, with what for the "Doctor Who" book world is an interesting hybrid experiment: Original novels based on the first season of Russell T. Davies' "Doctor Who" revival, written in the old Target novelization writing style.

If you loved the NAs, this book will seem like a major step back. If you thought the NAs were self-indulgent and corrosive, you will probably love "Winner Takes All".

Jac Rayner's first "Doctor Who" novel, "EarthWorld", and the only other book of her's that I've read, had its moments, most of them related to her characters and dialogue rather than her storytelling. "Winner Takes All" is the same way. Any dialogue written for the four TV characters (the Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Mickey) captures Russell T. Davies' truncated dialogue style, and the actors' respective voices, admirably. You won't find familiar characters behaving in weird ways, or getting lost in over-long internal monologues. If you read the books only for adherence to the TV show, and not for original insights, this book is definitely a success.

The original characters aren't quite as enjoyable, but Rayner manages to save each of them from being annoying. The alien Quevvils are pretty ridiculous, but then you can excuse the writer on that, because the TV aliens were pretty silly too (the Slitheen, the Gelth, et cetera). The book's human toadie, Darren Pye, isn't really on screen long enough to generate much contempt, but the way Rayner reflects loathing for him through Rose's thoughts works well. Finally, the kid who assists the Doctor in the book's second half is introduced with a lengthy Harry Potter-style dream sequence, and that's kind of cute.

"Winner Takes All" is a silly plot, and a harmless bit of fluff. You can tell it's not in the style of the New Adventures because it's missing "B" and "C" plots. This book is all about the Quevvils' video game and how it affects the residents of Rose's housing project. There are only three or four aliens in total, and even when the book takes us to another planet, all we see of that planet are a couple of rooms. However, it captures the style of Season 1 of the Russell T. Davies' "Doctor Who" pretty well, and since Christopher Eccleston only gave us the one season as the 9th Doctor, this book will stand well in padding out his tenure.

A book even gamers will appreciate
This was an excellent book in the series. I especially liked the portrayal of Mickey ('cause you can just see this guy being a gamer!) and the Ninth Doctor ('cause you can just see the Doctor pwning Mickey in whatever video game he picks up >=D ). Rose was lovely and helpful as always. I'd have to say that, of the Ninth Doctor books out there, this one is my favourite, right up there with Jacqueline Rayner's other Who novel, The Stone Rose, another brilliant must buy.

"Winner Takes All" a great book!!
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.