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Title: The Janus Conjunction (Doctor Who Series) by Trevor Baxendale ISBN: 0-563-40599-6 Publisher: General Distribution Services Pub. Date: December, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: A rehash.
Comment: THE JANUS CONJUNCTION is a book that doesn't know where it wants to go and never really gets there. The story borrows very heavily from certain Jon Pertwee adventures and does not end up escaping. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but there isn't a point in the story where I found something that I hadn't seen before. Everything felt as though I'd seen or read it a few times previously. The real shame of this is that it disguises some of the actual original pieces in it.
As for the plot, I'm afraid there are just one too many impossibilities for me. I don't mind a little bad science every now and again if it isn't distracting and it helps move the plot along. Minor errors that crop up are usually more annoying than anything else, but in this case they really got in the way of my enjoyment of the story. If there had been more to the plot, then it might have just gotten away with this, but as the story was so straightforward (and, frankly, dull in many places) the science mistakes became that much more apparent. I was actually not terribly bothered by these errors until almost the very end, when a huge deux ex machina pops up, destroying all manner of physical laws, just in time to save the day.
Another major problem that I had with this book was the use of Sam, though to be fair to Trevor Baxendale, this is not completely the author's fault. Sam is a very annoying character and there just isn't a terribly satisfactory way of putting her into a story without the reader wishing that she doesn't end up dying after her Torture of the Month. SEEING I got away with using Sam well by having her grow up and putting some of her more annoying characteristics into perspective. VANDERDEKEN'S CHILDREN starred a generic companion who just happened to be named Sam and shared very few of her positive and negative points. But JANUS just shows us Sam in all her annoying, holier-than-thou glory. The results are very painful in places. While some authors have gone to great lengths to keep her out of situations that will bring out the worst in her character, Baxendale does not do this. It's hardly his fault that he was stuck with a companion that has to be tiptoed around, but the story he has written really clashes with the Sam that he had to use.
The other characters (including the Doctor) are fairly bland. If you've ever seen a Pertwee episode then you've met these people before. We have the 70's era environmentally friendly colonists that are looking for a nice place to live away from the hustle and bustle of Earth. They're lead by the council of elders who are slow, bureaucratic and don't listen to the Doctor until it's too late no matter how much sense it would make to do so. The bad guys are a group of mercenaries who are evil, greedy and are only in it for the money and the glory. The exceptions are the soldiers who end up siding with the colonists by the end of the book, which, again, is a plot point that we've seen again and again.
In any case, JANUS is a run of the mill adventure that's let down heavily by it's reliance on very poor science and some rather cardboard characterizations. It's a very fast read, but there is not a whole lot there to recommend it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Review of The Janus Conjunction
Comment: Baxendale uses vivid description to describe the various characters in his novel. Zemler is portrayed as a grotesque, dying, lunatic while Lunder is portrayed as aggressive and benevolent at the same time. Baxendale also uses character evolution in the case of Moslei who started out as an antagonist but ends up being the savior of Menda. Baxendale's use of characterization is excellent especially in the case of the madman Zemler and his troopers. Baxendale's viewpoint is from the characters and not an omniscient narrator. The viewpoint bounces back and forth between the Doctor, Sam, Lunder, Julya, Zemler, and even Moslei. The structure of the novel was very organized and kept the attention of the reader. Baxendale did an excellent job of fleshing out the antagonists early in the novel yet not boring the reader with narration. There was much tension to keep the novel moving. Several things kept the novel going such as Sam's dying of radiation, Lunder's conflict with his former leader; Zemler, and the Doctor struggling to disarm the conjunction weapon and find a cure for Sam. Baxendale's use of Menda and Janus Prime as the setting was excellent and did not confuse the reader. His descriptons of peaceful and serene Menda and barren and radioactive Janus Prime enabled the reader to paint a perfect mental image of both. The concept of the Janus Conjunction was original as were its characters. It echoes the moral that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The novel's style was fast paced and was not heavily laden with narration. The dialogue was original and the descriptions of the settings and characters were crisp and imaginative. It is sentimental at times but not too melodramatic. It is action packed yet not to the extent where the plot is lost.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Author keeps writing good books
Comment: The Janus Conjunction is exeptionally descriptive, leaving you able to picture each of the settings. The action isn't too slow. The plot is good. This is an all around good book. I highly reccomend it.
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