Hunter's Moon
by Paul Finch


Publisher: BBC
ISBN: 1 849 90236 6

     

    BASIC PLOT
    On Leisure Platform 9 gamblers and villains mix with socialites and celebrities. It's a place where you won't want to win the wrong game. With Rory kidnapped by a brutal crime lord, the Doctor and Amy infiltrate a deadly contest where fugitives become the hunted. But how long before they realise the Doctor isn't a vicious mercenary and discover what Amy is up to? It's a game that can only end in death, and time for everyone is running out.

    DOCTOR
    Eleventh.

    COMPANIONS
    Amy and Rory.

    MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
    Pg 18/24 Leisure Platform 9, present day (offscreen).

    Pg 227 On a viewing deck on the moon Gorgoror, present day.

    Pg 254 Back on the viewing deck again.

    PREPARATORY READING
    None.

    CONTINUITY REFERENCES
    Pg 26 "Torodon was at war with the Terileptils." The Visitation.

    Pg 27 "But he'd seen Kobal Zalu many times since the war with the Terileptils" The Visitation.

    Pg 51 "'Speaking of which, I see you've changed bodies again?' 'Oh, several times since we last met.'" This is very similar to dialogue from The Deadly Assassin.

    "Sorry... preferred it when you had white hair" The Third Doctor.

    Pg 112 "Its access port has a titanium lock primed with a black-light micro-circuitor." The Mysterious Planet.

    Pg 121 "'Poor Aggedor,' the Doctor said under his breath." The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon, Legacy.

    Pg 151 The sonic screwdriver makes an appearance.

    Pg 173/176/179 An Air-Walker, a bipedal humanoid covered with excessive leathery skin trailing behind it. It has a smooth, featureless face and shiny, oily flesh, hung with a fin-like canopy.

    OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
    Pg 120 "That's a moon-buck from the planet Peladon." It's not the same creature as the one we knew in The Curse and Monster of Peladon, but this is one of Aggedor's species (also seen in Legacy).

    NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES

    CONTINUITY COCK-UPS
    None.

    PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]
    N/A

    FEATURED ALIEN RACES
    Pg 8 An octopoid.

    Pg 23 The Torodon, who are basically humanoid, but larger and stockier, with shaggy white hair and a silvery skin tone.

    A variety of reptilians and insectoids.

    Pg 35 A bipedal reptilian with fawn-coloured skin covered in brown blotches.

    Pg 70 Krauzzen is mostly synthetic.

    Pg 132/134 An oggle, a creature composed of viscous, translucent ooze, with a fish-like stench and a shimmering green light.

    Pg 149 A shologgi, a huge docile ape covered with shaggy red hair.

    FEATURED LOCATIONS
    Pg 15 London, present day.

    Pg 16 Leisure Platform 9 (only named as such on the back cover, although it's called LP9 on page 18).

    Pg 27 Aboard a police aircraft.

    Pg 59 The Raptor-Bird.

    Pg 71 The moon Gorgoror.

    Pg 74 The Ellipsis.

    IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
    This is a truly excellent book. The setup is quite good, with Rory goaded into losing the TARDIS in a bet. The intermediate drama with Rory as prey, Amy as servant girl and the Doctor pretending to be a hunter is great. But the ending is truly magnificent, with the Doctor's bluff a perfect synthesis of clues we'd forgotten. Oh, and the clever touch of the Doctor's rifle with only three shots (that secretly transmat their victims to safety) is done very well indeed, with all three highly unexpected. All in all, this is just a really great little read.