Reckless Engineering

Some highlights of the latest EDA I’ve read (Reckless Engineering).

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

 

 

Finally! A good book! Well, not a great book, but, you know. A pretty good one! After the previous two, that's a relief. Sure, the regulars are kind of the generic version of themselves (Eight especially is threading daaaaangerously close to "generic Doctor" territory), but at least they're not the caricatures or the complete OOC versions we had in recent memory. Sure, the resolution of the plot is way too simple considering how complex everything was before that point, but it only feels a bit cheap, not like a complete cheat.

Fortunately, the main qualities of this book are its core concept and its worldbuilding, and that goes a long way when dealing with mostly generic characters. What an amazingly disturbing idea for an apocalypse! What a cool way to create zombie-like humans for your story. What a great choice that was to set most of the plot 150 years after said apocalypse to see what kind of world would be born out of it.

It's compelling, it's disturbing, it's a great concept. If only the plot was a bit more clever and the regulars written a bit better! But still, 7/10

Considering how bad the previous two books were, I have HIGH expectations for this one. Like "please be better than the shitty 1/10 book".

 Nice inversion of the 'they should have sent a poet' trope there

I told people on a discord server that I was reading that book and one friend immediately pointed out that the cover was based on Isambard Brunel's photo on wikipedia. I had absolutely no idea. That guy is one of his special interests, apparently. How lucky am I

(Then that same friend wanted to read the book too and I had to introduce the main characters to him because he hadn't read a single Doctor Who book before. He finished it in a couple of days and thought Brunel was really cool in it. That's one hell of an introduction to the extended universe, I must say.)

(moving on.)

Relatable content

WHAT

WAIT WHAT

DID EVERYONE AGE IN AN INSTANT

WHAT

Gotta say Nick Walters is a better writer than I remembered from his previous books

I thought it was a normal town but we might be on an alternative Earth again

Well, getting shot as soon as you exit the TARDIS IS a classic

FITZ STILL HAS LONG HAIR: CONFIRMED

HELL YEAH

The ponytail might not be canon but I'm gonna pretend it is

Ok this is definitely an alternative Earth, then

I think this is the first time this situation feels urgent

It's okay Fitz I like Spanish Love Songs too

This is a really cool bit of worldbuilding

Thanks, Fitz, that's not heartbreaking at all

An average day in a Doctor Who episode

Priorities.

Ok no that's creepy

Shouldn't you worry about the money? You don't even know what kind of currency they use here

You weren't fine in the previous book

Hi, nightmare fuel Eight, we hadn't seen you in a while

Classic Fitz.

You should tell the truth! You don't know, they might even believe you for once!

Oh so the Cleansing is the part where everyone aged. Got it.

I mean this IS an EDA, so-

Even the regulars are becoming aware of how recurring that is

That woman comes back home after ten years and that dude immediately wants to make a kid. What's wrong with him

Convenient, but fair enough

Yes, you do

I've said this already but this is a really cool concept

Thank you for this terrifying thought!!

That's a really interesting way to have pseudo-zombies in your post-apocalyptic world, by the way

Holy shit I didn't even consider that most animals wouldn't survive this. I'm stupid

I guess some carps and other fish would survive. And whales. Elephants, surely, maybe some tortoises, some monkeys, maybe some parrots. Some shellfish can live pretty long too. But all the livestock and all the European birds would be gone at the very least.

Wait, insects are gone too, right??

Also, thank you for this terrifying dream, Fitz

WTF IS GOING ON

Some cool Faustian imagery plus one incredible metaphor right there

Oof

I love the worldbuilding so much. Turns out the insects ARE gone. What a nightmare.

Also what's up with that house that slows time down

Anji is more ok than Fitz about this whole timeline erasing business

Reminds me of the paradox machine from S3 of NuWho

Holy shit Gottlieb

ANJI GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS PLACE

I mean. Yeah. Of course

Even when he's running away from cannibals, Fitz can't help but comment on the Doctor's eyes

After all this time you STILL CAN'T SWIM??

TARDIS-accurate angels?

I love that she immediately believes him

You can't end a chapter like that!!

I mean I guess you can but-

Well that sounds horrible

Thank you for this fucked up detail!

YOU DID THIS

Are you sure about this Gottlieb

Only in Doctor Who, I guess

ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS²

Bit of an easy answer? But all right

Thank you Anji

This is weird

This is clumsily written cause we already got this information, but okay

This shouldn't be this funny

Speedrun

Malahyde just realised he's been scammed by that nice prince in exile

Gottlieb you fucking idiot

Basically same

Ominous

SDFGHJ FITZ

LMAO

No fighting, guys, please

Fitz don't be an idiot, please

Fitz, this might be the stupidest thing you ever did, and that's saying something

Still, it's a decent way to keep us invested in what's going to happen to this alternate Earth. We care because we spent time with some of its inhabitants, but we also care because the main characters care.

So you're telling me the guy who just lost his girlfriend is a reflection of the guy who just lost the Doctor, uh?

Yeah yeah no I'm fine just carry on, nothing to see here

Ok, this is really cute

My brain supplied a comical "bonk" noise

Cool description of that strange place

As he should

Resourcefulness!

Oh NO

That would explain some things

Brunel kinda works as an improvised companion

Well try again, maybe?

Concern for Anji intensifies

Why is any of that cute. Wtf.

Uh oh!

Usually you're the guy breaking things, Eight

This is still horrifying, by the way.

How can you be so sure?

Not gonna lie, that sounds like the title of an Epica album

Oh I love everything about this

I must say Mister Brunel is getting used to all this time travel business in record time

LMAO

Did they just siphon 40 years off the earth just to get fuel or something?? Horrifying

Oh so that's where Anji went! She landed in the Eternium!

Holy shit Fitz's memory is being rewritten to fit the timeline he's stayed in

Meanwhile, Anji has fucked up dreams where her friends tell her she's gonna die

Not gonna lie, that hug feels amazing after everything that happened to her

So the TARDIS has a fridge uh?

Also I'd like to offer some eggs to Gottlieb just to know what someone who lived in a world without birds thinks about them

SDFGHJHGFGHJFGHJK THE DOCTOR'S YOUNGER, SCRUFFIER, SHIFTIER BROTHER

I know he can't stay but can we still keep him

LMAOOOOO BRUNEL THAT WAS SAVAGE 

And now he's a worse version of that scene from Listen, you know the one. I have a bad feeling about this. Might be my phobia of needles, but still.

Now they're trying on Gottlieb and oh fuck oh no

Holy SHIT my feeling was bad but not quite THAT bad

At least they've found Fitz, but at what price

...Roll credits...?

"Hope in his eyes"

My heart

BRUNEL "STOP MAKING ME LAUGH" CHALLENGE (IMPOSSIBLE)

This is a minor detail surely but I love that they decided to show there was something deeply, deeply wrong with Fitz by making him interested in Anji instead of Eight.

Add that one to the body count of Eight's TARDIS I guess

Are you gonna bury him in the Butterfly Room too? Does the Butterfly Room still exist? God I started to read these books so long ago

It's not extremely well written but at least this conflict feels less artificial than the one in the previous book

Aaaaaaaand now I'm getting emotional about this

SDFGHJ ANJI

Everyone calm down, sit down and have a good cry about it.

Yeah exactly, everyone calm down, ok?

By the way I just realised there was a shit ton of people hanging out in the TARDIS in this story

Yeah no shit Malahyde

I mean, you're talking to the guy who destroyed his own planet eight times even if he forgot about it afterwards, soooooo

How very Maupassant of you, Malahyde

Okay that's some scary shit

And young Malahyde found the TARDIS' stowaway. I still have no idea where this plot point is going ever since it appeared a few books ago but tbh I don't find it very interesting

Takes one to know one I guess

BRUNEL NOOOOOOOOO

Wait. Is he doing the same thing as in the damn tv movie? Did he press a fucking reset button again? I mean that makes sense considering this particular plot but still

Did they just de-age until they disappeared?? Holy shit

I understand why they're still arguing about this but, I mean, it's done now, so-

Here goes Malahyde, exiting the Trauma Express

OOF ON THE ROOFTER SCALE

Well I'm feeling emo again now

Kind of a mood, not gonna lie

Well that's a bittersweet ending if I ever saw one

sdfghjkl ok that was funny