JohannesVIII's Doctor Who liveblogs archive: August 2023

Some highlights of the latest EDA I’ve read (Time Zero).

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

And to think it had started so well. See, I was really into this book at first, I really was! But then my interest dwindled while the plot was getting more and more convoluted, and by the time it devolved into what's basically a verbal fight between two guys going "no, my theory is better than your theory", it was completely gone. If you're planning to read this, make sure you really enjoy long infodumps and very messy storytelling.

But again, the beginning is very strong, there's a couple of fun scenes, and it's not offensively bad - it's just not very good, and after such a good pitch, that's disappointing. 4,5/10

Ohhh the numbers are going backwards!

Don't worry, he will probably read it years later on a shitty pdf

Well that escalated quickly

Clearly Sabbath is on his way to complete his ever-growing collection of murderers

Eight you little shit

I'm always here for cool little details like this

NOOOOOOOOO ANJI PLEASE STAY

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY CHILDREN

Oh, so the Victorian Paleontology nerd is back? yes. good

Eight clearly disapproves

Are. Are you jealous Eight

Eight please say something

Oh fuck oh no

This book really hooked me from the get-go I must say

Oh. Well that sounds totally sane

Uh. Is that an echo of the expedition? Maybe that's George? Either way that's intriguing

Paleofail: the book

You know what, I'm pretty sure Fitz quietly enjoys being the more knowledgeable person around for once

EIGHT WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN ST PETERSBURG

ARE. ARE YOU STALKING YOUR BOYFRIEND

How long has it been for him wtf

My heart

Well that escalated quickly

Very ominous, thank you

Wait, but the note was written by Compassion, right? I'm pretty sure it was. I don't remember exactly cause it's been so long. Blame the depression I guess

At the Mountains of Madness 2- the Madnessing

That mental picture is funny

Ok so I'm partly screening this for future reference in case I need to draw anything from this book but also partly because this sounds like descriptions at the beginning of a murder mystery so I hope all of you have written some kind of testament before going on this doomed expedition

I've already mentioned this while livebloging The Turing Test but steganography gives me flashbacks from cryptography history classes, which were done by a teacher who didn't fuck around and who made us literally crack codes for points during the finals

'kay, you had my interest at first (with that heartbreaking situation with Fitz possibly dying in the past), but now you have my attention as well

Woah, Fitz is actually getting angry at someone

Sherlock Eight is back

Eight you little shit I love you

EIGHT YOU LITTLE SHIT SDFGHJKSDFGHJKLKJHGFD

Meanwhile there's been a MURDER I TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU DIDN'T I

THE PLOT THICKENS

EIGHT SDFGHJKLKJHGFGHJKLSDFGHJ

And zero fucks were given that day

Meanwhile Anji is ALSO going to Siberia

This is really cool

Nice job breaking it, hero

Oops!

OOPS²!

Sounds like a good time. Take me there.

Anji stole a parachute to make them think she jumped. Pretty smart. I like that

Wait, that was supposed to be dinosaurs?? wtf

Meanwhile Anji crashed the plane! New achievement unlocked

I was starting to suspect they were interested in her for that kind of reason yeah

Convenient.

This won't end well

Also at this point I'm kinda starting to lose interest in the plot, I must say

Anji this is a bad idea and you know it

This book in a nutshell

That phone call sounds fake as hell

SAME, EIGHT, SAME

Nicely explained theory for once

Idiot

IDIOT

As usual this is the only good answer to that thought experiment

Me at parties

He's kinda blasé about it lol

FITZ VS ANOMALOUS REPTILE - FIGHT

Well this is awfully convenient

Also this book is very long

Ok I laughed

I'm sorry but Eight suggesting that someone should be faking amnesia to try to stay out of trouble is absolutely hysterical to me

He's so happy about it

You two are very chill for two guys being chased by aggressive monsters from another dimension

How are you able to SLEEP

Also: two bros, chilling in a castle, five feet apart cause one of them is Victorian ♫

Ok this is a bit weird

This should be mildly amusing but I find it weirdly emotional

Thanks for the summary I hadn't read this book in a while

EIGHT

Ok that was funny

How many times am I going to say "convenient" while reading this book

Me with my sketchbooks

The plot thickens

My interest, however, "thinnens"

Guys. Leave it be. I've seen that movie. It doesn't end well

This story should be SO MUCH MORE interesting than it actually is

You can't be sure until you open the metaphorical box, Doctor

That quote is raw as hell

LMAO I had COMPLETELY forgotten about the murder mystery, that's how interested I am

Ok so it was George who did it, then

Ok that was funny

Wait

Wait wait wait

"A business associate of mine"

Is the Duchess actually Sabbath's new recruit in disguise

I almost forgot he was in that book

Well yeah. Nice job breaking it, hero

What

Did it change the climate just because the window is in Siberia

Oh look here's a brand new injury to add to my list of Eight injuries

George forgetting he's a temporal ghost, everybody

This shouldn't be this boring

I think it's because it's mostly explained instead of shown?

Ok now THAT'S very cool

Humanoid black holes should have been the focus of this entire story

LMAO

So Holiday is Sabbath then?

15 years old me making a playlist

It's less scary if he can still talk, come on

This is a really weird plan and a very convoluted plot

Folks is it gay if a time machine kisses a black hole

Yeah, ok, that makes sense

Idiots

ROLL CREDITS

This book is a mess, isn't it

Awww

SDFGHJKLHGF

Funny dialogue but let's be real, this is an isolated instance because fuck this, I'm not screening page after page of infodump. If you're only reading this liveblog, you don't understand HOW MUCH INFODUMP there's in this book.

Fitz no

Great, we're ending on a trolley problem. Everything I like.

The book itself knows it's a mess

Uggh

There's been a tendancy to give Fitz boyfriends instead of girlfriends in the past few books, and frankly, I approve

At least the imagery is cool

Wait this is a The Burning prequel??

Bunch of liars :')

I know Trix comes back, but I hope she's not going to replace Anji

I'm gonna miss Anji. She's an amazing companion. The only reason she's not my fave one in these books is because Fitz exists. This was my favorite TARDIS team of all time, television and audios included. Just a brilliant dynamic all around.