JohannesVIII's Doctor Who liveblogs archive: Hope

[Original blog post on Tumblr: July 7th, 2018]

Some highlights of the last EDA I’ve read (Hope).

I took these screens while reading, along with my reactions. As usual, this is full of spoilers.

This suffers basically from the same kind of problems that Parallel 59 or The Banquo Legacy had: it takes forever to advance its plot, most of the interesting things happen in the last third or fourth of the book, and most of the plot and the characters are a bit too generic. The “surprise” villain isn’t surprising at all. Eight, apart from the multiple references to his lost heart, is dangerously close to “generic Doctor” even if he has a few typically Eight moments, and Fitz is written pretty much like he was written before the whole Interference business. There’s even some continuity errors (at some point it’s said that Dave has been dead for a few months, even though an entire year has passed just in Henrietta Street, and at least several months in other books, like Year of the Intelligent Tigers).

Anji, on the contrary, is one of the highlights of the book ; she makes very debatable choices, which have actual consequences, even if some plot points are solved a bit too easily in the end. I also liked that place and its inhabitants, even though I wish the author let us spend more time with them and less time with the villain.

So, yeah, not very well written, mostly bland and generic, but not boring. 5/10

Hey, a Dave flashback!

...................still too soon.

What’s with these books’ obsession with Tarot, seriously?

“Bread-loading skills“

♫ All my friends are dead ♫ push me to the edge ♫

I’m having Dark Eyes flashbacks, now. Eight really likes to go to the end of the universe, doesn’t he?

Fitz no

Oh fuck

Run. Away.

Just another day in the life of Team TARDIS

Now THIS is unusual

You know, the usual kind of distraction

IT’S A CYBERPUNK CULT

Ooooh I like this place.

And this is interesting too, even if it’s a bit cliché in scifi.

Yeah, Eight, going to the end of the universe is a bad habit of yours

I love this place and I love you, you idiots

I wish the inhabitants were nicer to each other, though.

Friendly reminder, I love this team

Haha the most valuable item in his pocket is an old and disgusting apple core. This is cool.

This is SO cool.

Okay, I laughed.

“Smiled with affection“

Oh.

WAIT FOR IT.

sdfghjkjhgfdsdfghjkfghj FITZ

Too many distractions for Eight to handle

DON’T HURT MY TRASH SON

There’s too many distractions, so he's dealing with them one at a time, haha.

“Some slight bruising” Eight you liar

YOU DON’T SAY

That sounds like a bad deal.

Turns out there’s a lot of things at the end of the universe.

Interesting. A dream about destroying Gallifrey, clearly.

Fitz if you can’t find a good rhyme for a word, change the fucking word.

Also I’m pretty sure this idiot ghostwrote a good chunk of Space Police Defenders of the Crown by Edguy. Which, in turn, reminds me I should make a post about the highlights of that album’s booklet, because:

On one hand staying indoors sounds like a good plan. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure Silver is a villain in the making.

A baby tree! :D

Eight in a nutshell

Don’t join the Cyberpunk cult, this is a bad idea

I have sudden and unexpected Cybersix flashbacks

~~THE MASTER~~

He’s probably not but actually I’d prefer it if that was him cause Silver’s quite bland, all things considered.

Okay, Silver is a cyborg. Yay. 83 pages out of 200 and almost nothing happened.

Okay all right now please tell a story

True.

Okay! Interesting! But can something happen how? Please? Anything?

FINALLY WE’RE GETTING SOMEWHERE AFTER 90 PAGES

Like this book has done so far

Well he isn’t wrong.

ANJI THIS IS A BAD IDEA

I laughed.

I can’t fault his logic

OUCH. OUCH, OUCH.

Classic unexpectedly scary Eight.

NO NO NO NO BAD IDEA NO NO STAY TOGETHER

Well this is disappointing.

I laughed but I’m not entirely sure why.

GET UP DOCTOR GET UP DOCTOR GET UP

So he can’t metabolise drugs anymore. Interesting.

Friendly reminder that Eight is still a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant and has been like that since pretty much the beginning of the books

Ohhh, okay. So there’s humans under the sea in a bunker, and they think the humans from the surface are mutants. A scifi cliché, but still a good idea.

EVEN EIGHT THINKS IT’S A CLICHÉ SFGHJHGFDSDFGHJ

WELL IT’S NO AN EDA UNTIL SOMEONE GETS VIVISECTED

Okay okay I now this is a long screen, but TLDR, Fitz has been an adept of the cyberpunk cult for like 3 minutes and he has already created a schism in their religion and basically destroyed it

Thank you Anji for the summary

Well that’s what happens when assholes try to keep any “race” ““pure”“ isn’t it

Also that’s disappointing too.

SAVE HIM

This is good.

Silver getting his hands on all the scientific stuff in the bunker sounds bad.

He’s learned a thing or two from the Tigers :D

OKAY I LAUGHED LIKE AN IDIOT

Nice try, though.

Well, that’s convenient.

But still, phew.

Also this isn’t okay.

Please stop reminding me of better books.

Why am I getting slightly emotional about this

Well, that was quick.

It is, but I’m still quite happy for them.

THERE’S 60 PAGES LEFT, YOU LIAR.

F█CKING SAME

Anji no. I told you that was a bad idea.

You’re just being a baby, Silver.

Honestly if that book wasn’t from 2002 I’d say that’s a great parody of the Alt Right and its usual bullshit.

ANJI THIS IS STILL A VERY BAD IDEA AND YOU CAN STILL CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT THIS

This book’s world is like Fury Road but, like, on water instead of sand.

Where have I heard this before.

Oh, right, okay.

YEAH, YOU THINK

Have I mentioned that this was a bad, bad, BAD idea

F█cking knew it.

F█cking knew he was a villain too, it was way too obvious.

This is Clara’s betrayal at the end of series 8 all over again, isn’t it.

Anji has a point.

Probably not.

sdfghjhgtfrdesfghjksdfghjzert

To be fair, that would probably have happened with human guards too.

What wait no bad idea, Doctor come back here this instant

That’s wayyyyyyyy too easy.

Oh, well... Bye bye New Dave!

This way, way, WAY, WAY too convenient.

This IS Clara and Danny Pink all over again. That would have been more powerful earlier in the books, I think, closer to Dave’s death, but it’s still pretty good.