The Coming of the Terraphiles

The Coming of the Terraphiles or The Pirates of the Second Aether

Dust-jacket from the first edition, designed by Lee Binding
Author Michael Moorcock
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Science fiction
Publisher BBC Books
Publication date
 14 October 2010
Media type Hardback and Audiobook (unabridged text read by Clive Mantle)
Pages 343 pp
ISBN 978-1-84607-983-2 (Hardback First Edition)

The Coming of the Terraphiles is a Doctor Who novel written by Michael Moorcock, featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond. It was the first special release of a Doctor Who novel by BBC Books in a lengthier hardback format to that of the previous New Series Adventures.

Plot

In order to avert the impending collapse of the Multiverse from the mysterious "dark tides" that have begun to appear, the Doctor and Amy join the Terraphiles, a group of humans in the far future obsessed with recreating Earth's distant past and reenacting medieval Earth sports (or rather, unknowingly comic misinterpretations of the same). The Doctor and his new friends compete in a Grand Tournament in the Miggea star system, which lies on the border of parallel realities. The prize of the contest is an ancient artifact called the Arrow of Law, sought also by the Doctor's old foe Captain Cornelius and his crew of space pirates.

Writing

Moorcock stated that he wrote the book because he felt he would enjoy writing an original adventure; he likes the main character because he is unrationalised and ambiguous. However he was concerned about what the hardcore fans would make of his work.[1]

Reviews

Reviews were mostly positive, calling the book "a demented P.G. Wodehouse pastiche... It’s been years since the Who range put out anything as smart and engaging as this".[2] Several reviews comment that it is both a Moorcock and Doctor Who book,[3][4] capturing the Englishness of Doctor Who and the Moorcock theme of Order and Chaos[3] and the appearance of Moorcock's recurring character Jerry Cornelius.[5] Influences from Wodehouse,[3][4] Sexton Blake[4] and Douglas Adams[6] are noted. Although the characterisation of the Eleventh Doctor was praised as "pretty convincing,"[4] it was criticised by others as being generic and "Tom Baker in tone".[6] Amy Pond is described as being both "well-realised and distinctive"[7] as well as "pretty unrecognisable"[6] and "inauthentic".[4]

References

  1. ↑ Moorcock, Michael (21 November 2009). "I'm writing Doctor Who". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  2. ↑ William Salmon (15 October 2010). "BOOK REVIEW Doctor Who: The Coming Of The Terraphiles – Michael Moorcock". SFX. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Stuart Kelly (14 November 2010). "Book review: Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles". Scotland on Sunday.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Graham Sleight (23 March 2011). "Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles by Michael Moorcock". Strange Horizons.
  5. ↑ James Lovegrove (23 May 2011). "Modem Times 2.0 (Review)". Financial Times.
  6. 1 2 3 James Peaty (13 October 2010). "Doctor Who: The Coming Of The Terraphiles book review". Den of Geek. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  7. ↑ Jonathan Wilkins (5 October 2010). "Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles". Total Sci-Fi Online. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
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