Monday, 7 August 2017

Who Reviews Code of the Krillitanes by DJ Forrest


Written by Justin Richards

You know when I said, I’d be hard pressed to find a story of Justin’s that I didn’t like – well I might have just found it. Although, the story itself is brilliant, but the way the story is told is perhaps what grates on me. Yes, yes, I know, Doctor Who is a family show, directed towards children just big enough to see over the dinner table. Well actually, it’s not, it’s for the Mums and Dads, the brothers and sisters, the grannies and grandads, and all those in between. Everyone loves a bit of Doctor Who, and at no point during the series do you ever feel you’re being talked down to – unless you look at the writings of the 12th Doctor and some of the 11th, but definitely none of the 10th, or so I thought.

Code of the Krillitane is a short sharp shot of an adventure, and by short, it’s less than half the size of a standard novel, and the writing is large, so that in itself geared my feelings towards the ‘I’m reading a kid’s book and I’m not sure I’m happy about that.’

When you get passed that however, the story stands quite literally as a normal Doctor Who story, although I did miss Anthony Head and K-9 and perhaps Sarah Jane Smith. But the premise of the Krillitanes hadn’t really changed from how they were back in 2006 at Defry Vale high school.

In this story however, they’re taking control of the minds of everyone, not just school kids, but the entire internet. Everyone was gaining a brain, and could fathom out puzzles and problems as if they were filling in the easy peasy small crossword in The Telegraph. It’s still about the oil. It’s still about taking over a new body, but there’s much more happening at Brainy Crisps factory, and that’s where I’ve reached so far in the story.

I like the idea of the story, I just wish I wasn’t being treated as if I were a child. I mean, OK, I’m a big kid at heart – but I don’t want to feel as if I’m being talked down to.

So, if that weren’t the issue in the novel, I think I’d find a lot better things to say about Code of the Krillitanes by Justin Richards.



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