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"The Giggle" novelization [review]
Apr. 15th, 2024 08:15 amThe novelizations of the 60th specials are finally available in the U.S.! Well, okay, they've been on the Kindle for months now, but I wanted hard copies for myself, so I've waited this long. After Gallifrey One and meeting all of the authors (Gary Russell, Mark Morris, and James Goss) and attending their panels and kaffeeklatschen where they talked about how they were written, I've been excited to finally get to read them. Especially The Giggle, because of all of the stories Mr Goss told about writing it. (Sadly, "Wild Blue Yonder" is the least interesting, because Mr Morris said that he was forced to keep strictly to the script, so he couldn't innovate in any way.)
The Giggle arrived in the mail last week and, well, I stayed up real late reading the entire thing.
My review? It was fantastic. I'd say it's the best novelization I've ever read, but that doesn't mean much, as I haven't read many. I will say that I think it captured the tone of the episode perfectly, possibly even better than the episode itself did.
And I'm not even saying this as a James Goss fangirl. I think one of the things that made this work is that he's a master of working with the medium he has. In Dead Air, the story was crafted to work entirely on sound, building the tension on the fact that the listener couldn't see what was going on. This novelization capitalizes on the print medium, on both the prose and the not-prose. You'll just have to read it to see what I mean.
It was so good, I read it twice. That should tell you something, since I so rarely read anything at all. And now I'm going to go re-watch the episode.
The Giggle arrived in the mail last week and, well, I stayed up real late reading the entire thing.
My review? It was fantastic. I'd say it's the best novelization I've ever read, but that doesn't mean much, as I haven't read many. I will say that I think it captured the tone of the episode perfectly, possibly even better than the episode itself did.
And I'm not even saying this as a James Goss fangirl. I think one of the things that made this work is that he's a master of working with the medium he has. In Dead Air, the story was crafted to work entirely on sound, building the tension on the fact that the listener couldn't see what was going on. This novelization capitalizes on the print medium, on both the prose and the not-prose. You'll just have to read it to see what I mean.
It was so good, I read it twice. That should tell you something, since I so rarely read anything at all. And now I'm going to go re-watch the episode.
