Doctor Who: Kursaal

Eighth Doctor Adventures #7

by Peter Anghelides

Kursaal is a pleasure world, a huge theme park for the Cronus system — or rather it will be if it isn't destroyed during construction.

Eco-terrorists want the project halted to preserve vital archaeological sites -- areas containing the last remains of the long-dead Jax, an ancient wolf-like race whose remains are being buried beneath the big-business tourist attractions.

Sam falls in with the environmentalists, and finds her loyalties divided. Meanwhile, the Eighth Doctor's own investigations lead him to believe the Jax are not extinct after all.

Cut off from the TARDIS, separated from his companion and pursued for murder, the Doctor discovers Kursaal hides a terrible secret — and that Sam is being affected by events more than anyone would guess...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Werewolves, Ebooks

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 5, 1998

About the author

Anghelides' first published work was the short story "Moving On" in the third volume of the Virgin Decalog collections, which led to further short stories in the fourth collection and then in two of the BBC Short Trips collections that followed. In January 1998, his first novel Kursaal was published as part of BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures series on books. Anghelides subsequently wrote two more novels for the range, Frontier Worlds in November 1999, which was named "Best Eighth Doctor Novel" in the annual Doctor Who Magazine poll of its readers, and the The Ancestor Cell in July 2000 (co-written with departing editor Stephen Cole). The Ancestor Cell was placed ninth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine's "Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel" category of that year.

Anghelides also wrote several short stories for a variety of Big Finish Productions' Short Trips and Bernice Summerfield collections. This led, in November 2002, to the production of his first audio adventure for Big Finish, the play Sarah Jane Smith: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.

In 2008, he wrote a comic which featured on the Doctor Who website

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor and Sam arrive on Kursaal, a pleasure world and discover the construction on a planned theme park has been halted.
With strange disappearance to the environmentalists who wish to halt the project, The Doctor is about to discover a dark secret.

There’s some nice idea in the novel, but I felt that the horror elements seemed a little weak. It doesn’t help that the surprise is revealed on the cover!
There’s some nice Doctor moments throughout the story and Sam has a little more to do this time.
Thankfully the story picks up in the final third.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The other day I was reading the 2003 Doctor Who Magazine 'Complete Eighth Doctor' special edition. I was very excited to get to the feature on the Eighth Doctor book series... that was until I read the scathing tirade of abuse that was directed at this series. I really am not being contrarian just for the sake of it, but I am just seven volumes in and this series has produced some real gems.

This article I read was criticising the series for not being as experimental and bold as the Virgin New Adventures, preferring to revisit earth-bound locations and familiar monsters. Forgive me but is this a bad thing? You've already had the Virgin books, why do you need a carbon copy of that series just with a different Doctor. Why can't this series kick off with a more retrospective feel to it? Two things can be different and both good you know. It is because of this series' leaning towards the familiar that we got to see an adult Jo Grant in 'Genocide' (not as compelling as the version seen in 'Death of the Doctor' but oh well, still fun to see), the return of Litefoot, more from the Gordon Tipple Master (I know nobody asked for this but honestly it's an incarnation I want more from) and of course the amazing portrayal of Davros in War of the Daleks.

I also love the character of Sam Jones. I know she wasn't introduced well, but so far in the six book since Vampire Science, she has been consistently well written and well developed in each and every instalment. She's a teenager, she's young and developing and her time in the TARDIS is changing her even more than it does for your typical TV companion. She loves the adventure yet secretly yearns so much to go home. She clearly fancies the hell out of the Doctor, I mean who wouldn't, gosh Paul McGann mmmmm... I am starting to sound like Sam here.

Okay, Kursaal. A great story with an excellent monster (kinda given away on the front cover though). The ferocity of the Jax was really gripping, and the novel constantly moved forward. There was an unexpected time jump halfway through the book which threw me a little but was a great was to continue the narrative. Slight criticism - The Doctor was being very obtuse to not realise that Sam was harbouring the Jax virus, it's the sort of thing he should have picked up on immediately. I'm not always a fan of stories set on 'theme-park planets' but this one really utilised the setting well so I am happy to be proved wrong. Great book, great twist towards the end, 4 stars.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025 Alphabet Challenge - The Letter K

This was quite an enjoyable Doctor Who novel, and is more focused on Sam than the Doctor. It was quite interesting, though it did feel like it jumped around quite a bit, and there were a lot of side characters introduced in quick succession that made it feel more jumbled than it really was.

I do think that the twist in the book probably would have been more enjoyable and entertaining, had the secret not been revealed on the front cover.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story had some interesting and original ideas which unfortunately were not put across in an interesting or original way. A werewolf-type tale could have been made really great and the potential is there but the story is just too dull and rambling for too long, and nothing really stands out, not the characters, not the planet, not the action, what little there is. The concept of the Jax being mostly a virus is very interesting but is not explored or explained properly, and neither are it's origins. Otherwise, the story is a little thrilling and entertaining at times, but often dull and tedious also. Still worth a read for something a little different

[Jacob Webb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, well, well.
I got rather far with this one, I even had hopes of finishing it but as auntie Vanessa said ‘if you stop enjoying it, give it up’. And the fact is, whenever i started enjoying this one i stopped again pretty soon.
Don’t get me wrong, this is easily the best of the weak EDAs so far, and comes close to being one of the good ones, but it just lacks charm. The environmentalist angle, which would probably have felt pleasingly right-on in a TV story, just seems heavy handed and preachy coming from a novel. it’s not telling us anything about the evils of capitalism that’s particularly original or textured, and the (ridiculously named) Grey Corp. is a cardboard cut-out of a company. Not to suggest that mega corporations are anything but caricatures of themselves, but that doesn’t relieve the sense of lazy writing that hangs over the whole thing. The fact that millions of jobs are being created is banded about a little, but no ethical debate over the conflicts between working class interests and environmental issues showed much sign of materializing by the halfway mark, and it didn’t look to be on the cards. Equally, a sense that the environmentalists might be somewhat morally grey is present at first, but they ultimately resolve to be utterly cuddley, which is nice but detracts depth from the issues being discussed.
So, falling short of an interesting core debate, what else could redeem the story? Well, interesting ideas, strong characters, or engaging action wold be my top three suggestions, indeed at least two of those are needed in any story for my money. And can they be found here? Wellll… not really.
As far as ideas go there’s not much beyond the central premise. The werewolves are an ancient race, who I expect work in some parasitic fashion since they seem to be possessing people now, some of whom are dead. It’s not a bad idea, sufficient to drive the plot along, but the world building (no pun intended) beyond that is fairly standard. The future looks like a bland extension of the present, big companies with silly names, environmental groups with silly names, the police have cordons that use lasers (I’m pretty sure they could do that now if it were cost effective), the terra-forming is actually done by giant diggers. Very inspired.
Characters? That’s a mixed bag. Amy’s quite good, if a little under developed. Her passion for preservation and discovery feels genuine, her camaraderie with the rest of her team is endearingly real, I don’t have any complaints about her. But the archaeologist is a bit of a stock character, and she doesn’t have much outside of that, she’s basically an underdeveloped Bernice Summerfield/River Song. Kadijk is the only other character who’d gotten much growing space thus far, which is underwhelming given that i’d gotten halfway through the story. He’s a bit more tricky, there isn’t a clear sense of what he’s supposed to be. At times he’s written as a gruff, no-nonsense detective sort-of character, good instincts and a level head, I especially enjoyed his reminiscing on his first case. Other times however he’s written as a bit of a joke, clearly an idiot, fat, gluttonous, and inept. it’s not that these qualities are utterly exclusive, but the story’s attempts to get a few laughs out of him make his serious moments less credible. Aside from these two there’s not much, Maximilian Grey, Zaturday, and Cockaigne all have absurd names, and one note characters (rich and selfish, by-the-book, and nice extremist), I expect the latter will be expanded a little more, and others may rise to notability but I don’t hold out much hope for their development.
As for action, well I didn’t really hit action packed heart of the story, although I know it’s coming. The sequences so far have been dramatic enough, and the opening of the story was fairly tense, although it was actually my tuning out during the chaos of the seventh chapter that alerted me that I was never going to engage with the third act, and it might be worth cutting my losses.
So, if the thrills are thrilling, and the chills are chilling then surely this old ship can stay afloat, after all the writing’s not as poor as War Of The Daleks, or The Bodysnatchers, right?
Well no, it’s not, but… there’s something dreadfully flat about the use of language, it feels softened, de-fanged (again, no pun), in spite of the occasional mention of horribly mauled bodies it still lacked horror. There were a few moments where I noticed them pointedly not swearing, and, whilst I don’t advocate purposeless profanity, it undermined the characterization in places and made the overall tone more childish. There was no sense of the Gothic to the setting or description, and there was no poetry to the language, both of which I personally consider vital to a decent werewolf story. Also, it took me a while to notice this, but it keeps trying to be funny. At first I didn’t pick up on it, it was just too unfunny for me to really register that it was humor, I just thought the characterization was being heavy handed, but when it sank in I found it much harder to keep reading.
Last but not least, Sam & Doctor Watch (diddle-diddle-deeee): Sam was mostly ok here, her environmentalism was a bit repetitive, but I hear she becomes a werewolf for a bit in the last part of the story, which I guess takes her in a different direction. She did some more crushing on The Doctor, but it was less egregious than in Daleks so I guess I can’t just keep being bothered by it, it’s part of her character, even if it’s a little bit tedious. Also she thought about her dad way more than in any previous stories, which was even pointed out at one point. I don’t want to hear about her pseudo-oppressive middle class ex-hippy parents. and then there was the ‘Gordon Christ’ scene, that is to say, there is a sequence in which when shocked by a freshly dead body, when genuinely quite traumatized, she twice in a row quite sincerely gasps “Gordon Christ!”, Sam Jones, you are not cool. the weird part is how she says more profane things later in the novel. Anyway I actually thought that The Doctor was very well handled, he didn’t lack enigma, as I had worried he might. His behavior and dialogue were in character, and I thought his voice was right on tone when it mattered. The sequence on the medical aircraft near the start, when he’s anxious about hospitals was neat, even if it was an just thrown in for the sake of referencing the film, it was clever enough to make it work, and echoes Eight’s tendency to hold his present incarnation as a life quite separate from his previous one.
So, all in all it was not very enjoyable. Not really bad, but not good enough to be good. Those who’re less picky than me may well enjoy it. And it would have worked fine as a TV story.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to rate this higher than a 3, since I am such a fan of the 8th Doctor. However, paranormal elements have fallen out of favor with me as of late, and the whole Jax-virus-causing-the-dead-to-turn-into-werewolves thing fell a little flat for me. The Doctor was not at his best here. The police commander figured out that Sam was infected before The Doctor did, not to mention him bumbling around and making other silly mistakes, including getting knocked unconscious and not being able to put two and two together in certain instances. Sam was also more than a little snarky and disrespectful to The Doctor, moreso than in the other two novels in this series that I have read. Granted, she IS a teenager, but I really didn't care for her attitude in the first half of the novel. The plot felt a little bit jumbled, with a lot of back and forth and splitting up and then time jumps without warning. The bulk of the novel took place before Kursaal was even built, and I was really looking forward to the author fully exploring what a future pleasure world would look like.
Now, the good bits. The sonic screwdriver was featured heavily, which I always appreciate. The Doctor was able to translate the old Jax language and get the gist of the history of the planet (with the help of the TARDIS, maybe? it's unclear). The idea of a pleasure planet- of someplace like Kursaal was pretty neat, and I really liked what we saw of it. I also appreciated the Doctor's persistence in saving Sam. He really cares about her and he never considered leaving her behind, even for a moment.
I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a Doctor Who/paranormal/werewolf type crossover novel. It was fun, but not anything I can get really excited about. Final verdict, 3.5 stars.

[Harry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, after the ridiculous, crazy and mind boggling read that was Alien Bodies, this was a refreshing return to fairly simple story telling. Even though I found this do be a pretty enjoyable read, it’s not exactly the most interesting of books and nor does it grab the reader.

The plot itself is really easy to follow and because of that I felt like it was pretty paper thin. The Doctor here is about as generic as it’s possible to be and as for Sam, who has pretty much been useless in the previous entries in the series, actually gets more to do which is such a nice change.

The supporting characters are pretty one dimensional and boring which doesn’t help things. You just don’t care about them at all. And when one of the main supporting characters gets killed off I almost felt like, few! I’m glad you’re gone!.

A book that has decent ideas within it just fails to translate them onto the page which is a shame. What also doesn’t help is that the book is trying to do so much and I don’t think it knows what genre it wants to be. I’ve read far worse than this particular Who novel and unfortunately, as much as I really wanted to like it, it ultimately just fell flat on its face for me and ended up being an instantly forgettable read.

[James Barnard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quiet, unpretentious novel, this one. The hook for readers – werewolves – is, in the best traditions of horror stories, mainly kept to the background, so the focus is on the politicking between guest characters.

This is probably the most definite attempt to create a novel which could have fitted the TV series – limited sets, a relatively small cast of characters, a great deal left to the imagination, and the inevitable transformations seemingly of a similar style to that seen in the TV serial ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’. In other words, well within the bounds of a small budget. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The only real concern I have with the book is the use of time travel. It may have occurred to some readers to wonder why the Doctor doesn’t choose to travel to the future, immediately after the adventure seems to be over, to see how things are getting on. Well, here’s the answer – it’s dull, and doesn’t work.

What difference does it actually make to have the Doctor and Sam travel 15 years to the future and find things weren’t as they should have been? There is, actually, nothing that happens in this latter section of the book which couldn’t have been reworked to stay in the same time period. It’s unnecessary, and spoils things. Anghelides could have made such a virtue of telling a story without the quirks and innovations his fellow writers wanted to do, but then it falls short.

Still, never mind. Ironically, the 15-year gap reflects the time between my readings of the book, and the guest characters we meet do at least seem to have aged convincingly – their increased cynicism, for example, probably reflects my own. Although I would point out that my views on the book haven’t actually changed at all on re-reading it.

This is good, but it’s a shame that it couldn’t have been better. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

ドクターがお気に入りというテーマパークのあるコロナシステムにあるカサールを訪れたドクターとサム。ところがターディスが到着したのはテーマパークが完成する5年前だった。どしゃぶりに見舞われ、手近な洞窟に雨宿りに入ったドクターとサム。そこで獣に襲われたかのように無残に引き裂かれた遺体を次々と発見する。遺体の身元はテーマパークを建設中のグレイコーポレーションに雇われた遺跡調査チームでその7人のうち2人は重傷、2人は死亡、のこり３人はドクターとサムは遺体で発見していたにもかかわらず、その後の捜索で発見されることはなかった。一旦怪我人と共に病院に同行したドクターとサム。しかし、洞窟から運ばれた遺体は安置所からつぎつぎと消えていく。ドクターは検死データーに異常を感じ、さらに検査しようとするがドクターとサムは遺跡チームをおそったテロリストと勘違いされ警察に追われることに。


感想
テーマパーク開発中、惑星カサールで太古の昔ジャックスという知的生命体が存在し、高度な文明を持っていたということを示す遺跡がみつかる。過激自然保護団体HALFはその発見を世間に公表することでグレイコーポレーションにカサール開発断念させようと計画していた。
しかしジャックスは種族ではなくウィルスで感染すれば遺体さえジャックスに使われてしまう。ジャックスの形態は人狼で、ジャックス・ウイルスは各世界にみられる人狼伝説の要因。
つまるところ、そのウィルスにサムが感染してしまい、ドクターはサムを救おうと奔走するというお話。

混み入った設定で盛り上げた割に物語の終結の仕方はかなりあっけなく、まったく面白くなかったというわけでもないので、色々と企画倒れで終わってしまったという印象なのが残念。

[KP Mathislife · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldnt get into this cause not a lot happened? I basically was just here for Sam Jones cause I love her but I did slog through the book but not sure it was worth reading...

[Jamieson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kursaal is the seventh book in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures. I’ll confess, I got maybe a quarter of the way through this book and gave up. I got the copy through my library’s Inter-Library Loan program and had a limited time to finish. I also had other books I wanted to read more and this wasn’t holding my interest enough. It’s by no means a bad book, it’s just not outstanding.

The characters that I met work interesting, well-rounded characters. The Doctor was written really well and was fun to read. Sam (the companion) was written fine in the bits I read. I just didn’t feel like finishing. It had an intriguing plot, at least the bits that I got through. So why didn’t I finish? I don’t know. I think that between the time crunch of the due date, and having read a lot of Doctor Who just previous, I wanted to read something different for a little while. I went to pick it up the last time and just felt no interest what so ever.

So, the plot. After the events of Alien Bodies, the Doctor decides to take Sam on a holiday. He chooses Kursaal, and big theme park that he describes as a cross between Disneyland and Babylon 5. However, they land three years early and become embroiled in an adventure revolving around big business, environmental terrorists and werewolves. Apparently the Doctor and Sam get separated and Sam gets possessed and does some horrible acts. That’s the plot as understand it from what I read of the book and what I’ve gleaned off the internet.

I found what I read to be well-written and enjoyable, it just didn’t grab me like it should have. Now, after the awesomeness that is Alien Bodies, it’s expected that whatever comes next will conceivably be a step down. And, werewolves and environmentalists aren’t my thing, so the only reason I’m even attempting this is because it’s Doctor Who. I’d rate this at 6/10 because it was a decent novel, it just couldn’t compete with other books on my “To Read” list.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 3 out of 5]

So at this point i've read a good 8 8th doctor novels and i can say without really any reservation that this book falls smack dab in the middle. it wasn't great, it wasn't bad.

The previous book "Alien bodies" left me confused as i really didn't have any idea what was going on for about half the time. This book, while i drifted here and there, it was at least pretty straight forward and understandable.

If you like werewolves, you'll probably like this one. if you couldn't guess from the cover, that's basically what's going on. werewolves on a planet where they're trying to build a space disneyworld.

The doctor was in a lot of this book, which was nice, but there was also a LOT of time spent with this other character who was meant to be an antagonist policeman. and pretty much every scene that featured him, i fell into my zoned out "i really don't care" mode.

This story was definitely on the violent side. if you don't want to read a violent doctor who book, i'd steer clear of this one as it gets kinda graphic in a few places.

Sam is kind of annoying in this one, which is almost par for the course, but it's a bit moreso as you have to deal with her hanging out with a greenpeace-like organization and she gets a little preachy at times. There's also a time jump towards the middle which i don't feel was very necessary.

All in all, the story was FINE. that's how i'd describe it. FINE. it's a smack dab in the middle 3 out of 5. If someone told me i had to read it again, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but i wouldn't be clamoring to give it another shot.

This is pretty much a self contained adventure as it doesn't really have any effect in an overarching story and is meant to be enjoyed by itself, so realistically if you wanted to read a random 8th doctor book without having to worry about story continuity, you could do worse than this one.

flat out 3 out of 5.

[Tom Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doctor Who EDA Books #7 - Kursaal

Let's be real, it's not really fair to go hard on Kursaal with it having the impossible task of following Alien Bodies. By reading Alien Bodies and Kursaal back to back, the level of story telling, pacing, plot, characters, and pretty much everything that makes a novel good is like night and day here. Kursaal is one dull and uninspiring read.

Just read the bio, it gives you almost the whole idea of the book. You can easily figure out what direction it will go. It's almost like a satire on revolutionists overthrowing capitalism; but done in a shit way. The HALF terrorists who believe in 'biodiversity' go against Kursaal's history and the environment being destroyed with turning the planet into a huge theme park; aka corporations taken over.

Kursaal kind of reminds me of The Mutants in many ways, but that might go a little into spoiler territory. Supporting characters I couldn't care less for, the first half is a real slog, and the exposition is poor. Dull is the word I'd label this novel. Have to say this is the worst book out of the EDA's so far. It's not terrible, just dull. So dull I forgot to even review it after I finished it.

It follows a small element/plot line from Alien Bodies; but don't worry, you can read this
stand alone without the context.

4/10 It was Peter's first novel, but we all have to start somewhere.

On to Option Lock, hopefully doesn't follow the Kursaal path.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entirely "meh" Eighth Doctor Adventure. It could have been an old Who TV adventure, but if so it would have been that adventure that everyone forgot about within a few weeks.

The biggest problem is a lack of dramatic tension, because it's clearly a novel about werewolves (see the COVER!!!), but the author tries to pretend it's not about werewolves for half the length of the novel. A big "twist" in the latter half of the novel is telegraphed just as horribly.

There's also very little characterization of just about anyone.

The book's only saving grace is that five-eighths of the way through the adventure there's a big time jump and then things get a fair amount more exciting.

But, this one is more like 2.5 stars than 3, and would have probably earned a "2" if it hadn't almost redeemed itself up to the level mediocrity in the last six chapters.

See a more comprehensive review over at RPGnet as part of a thread about the entire Eighth Doctor Adventures line.

[Maj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stream of consciousness review:

Well, reading this book was a bit of a battle.
Some passages were tedious and never-ending, some were a quick read.
The author over-used the word "undulate" & its variations around the middle of the book.

I'm not sure if I'm down with this series describing the Eight as tall. Why. Not all Doctors are tall, certainly not the first 2 ones, definitely not Seven. Eight is on par with First, a bit sub-average. No shame in that. But why would you call him tall - now, this is something that started probably already in the first book, but I liked that one a lot, so this niggle only comes up now.

Why did I find Sam more annoying in this book than previously? Her characterisation hasn't changed much, I don't think, but towards the end I found myself hoping she wouldn't make it out of this alive.

This novel was trying to perhaps be too many things at once: a neo-noir thriller, a sci-fi, a Who book - and a werewolf book. And for me it didn't gel very well.

Hoping for the quality to pick up further down the line of this series. I love Eight, so I'll keep on going.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The way a book series like the Eighth Doctor Adventures is set up, there's really no way for Alien Bodies to immediately have an impact on the style of the very next book, Peter Anghelides' Kursaal. So with respect to its predecessor, it's a very traditional Doctor Who story, with a monster that infects people to reproduce (on a leisure planet, no less), and evidently means to be a werewolf tale to thematically accompany Vampire Science. Well, Anghelides writes with some wit, and for the first time, I feel like Sam Jones is fully integrated into a book. That is to say, she has her own voice, isn't undermined by would-be companions preferred by the writer, and even carries a lot of the action. In many ways, she does better than the Doctor who makes some huge blunders in this one. Kursaal is certainly action-filled, and like a big action flick, could be accused of just being a string of set pieces, several of which could he excised without changing much of anything. While it can't help be pale compared to Alien Bodies, it's still a solid trad story.

[B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really have much to say about this book. It had a ton of potential I don't think it followed through on. The time skip was interesting but made the last fifth or so of the story feel really disjointed thanks to the introduction of a new cast of characters and set of problems.

I really like the twist with Sam turning into a werewolf, but it turned out to function as just more wasted potential. Overall, I think the author was just relaying events, not digging into the emotions, motivations, or reactions of the characters, which really really diminished the effect of almost every part of the plot, especially the twist.

Not the worst EDA I've read yet, that dishonour belongs to War of the Daleks easily, but it was definitely a plot better suited to a TV episode and mishandled as a book. Especially following Alien Bodies, this one really didn't do much for me.

[Macey · Rating 3 out of 5]

girl i really dont know how they could have made it any clearer that it was werewolves like the foreshadowing was really quite blatant but oh well it was still enjoyable. i think the bernard cockaigne character was based off like 1960s anti-nuclear activists that was the vibes i was getting which was cool

also WEREWOLF SAM AND THE WAY SHE INTERACTED WITH THE DOCTOR WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO like ohhhh yeah ok you have some Feelings towards that guy cant wait to see that go unaddressed for a really log time & also get increasingly codependent <3 sam jones you are everything to me <3 the way she thinks & the way she's so self conscious about not wanting to look weak or scared or like she'd out of her depth, even the way her clothes are described her pov is so good & also she's 17 & like hey i'm 17 shes so just like me fr <3 i love you sam jones <3

[Peer Lenné · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kursaal enttäuscht leider auf ganzer Linie - und das nicht nur, weil es direkt auf Alien Bodies folgte.
In den ersten zwei Dritteln passiert eigentlich, außer der Vorstellung ziemlich klischeehafter Figuren und schlecht geschriebener Actionsequenzen, nichts. Der darauf folgende 15-Jahre-später-Twist macht das Buch kurzzeitig etwas interessanter aber auch das verliert sich schon wieder nach wenigen Seiten.
Ganz schlimm ist dann auch noch die völlig übereilte Auflösung und das an Klischees nicht mehr zu überbietende Nachwort.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm afraid I find Peter Anghelides' first Doctor Who novel pretty weak compared to his next attempt, never mind the superior work in his "Torchwood" novels. The Doctor is incredibly generic, the supporting characters feel two dimensional, and the dialogue struggles between cliched and crude. Worst of all is Sam, who reads far more as Ace-lite, and incredibly stroppy compared to the other early 8th Doctor novels. I chalk this up to early-in-the-line rustiness. If you want top of the line work from Peter Anghelides, reads his excellent "Torchwood" books.

[Gareth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Werewolves! Which is technically a bit of a spoiler but hey, they’re on the front cover. Kursaal is a bit more interested in disagreements between police and environmentalists on an alien world but it does eventually focus on the monsters, albeit in such a way that it skips most of what is interesting about werewolves.

This is somewhat diverting action adventure stuff, but it never says anything definitive about its characters or even the monsters particularly. By the end I was ready to not go back to it.

2.5

[Danny Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I was at first nervous of reading this story in fears of a dull werewolf story. But I found this to be an incredibly fun and engaging read with plenty of horror, nice bits of humour and characters I grew to like.

This story’s definitely not for everyone and being after Alien Bodies, a story like this was never going to live up to such a great story, but this story for me is an underrated read that I thoroughly enjoyed! 8/10

[Remy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5. This novel had some very cool ideas it mostly failed to deliver on. The plot twist "reveal" of what the Jax really were cheapened the world building they'd already established; the idea of the Jax species perpetuating themselves through werewolfism to chosen people as a religious rite is way cooler than the Jax just being parasites. Very predictable plot, and unfortunately not in a fun way where I was just enjoying the ride.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good book. the doctor and sam visit a pleasure planet where environmental groups are trying to prevent the construction of a theme park. there are ancient structures to be preserved belonging to an ancient race. maybe not extinct after all. the action takes place in two different times with a revisit to the planet fifteen years later. i enjoyed Sam in this novelwho has really developed as a character.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest it was an okay book. I think they could have ended it at chapter 11 an dI would have felt the same. To me it feels like they kinda just dragged on the plot and It was unnecessary. I liked the plot but found myself kinda scanning over it because I wish it didn't have so many deadends in the main plot. I would probably not read this again because it was just not enjoyable to me

[Mole Mann · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know how people say that the New Adventures are just standard Doctor Who episodes but just edgier? Kursaal is this. It isn't bad but it has definite flaws (a lot of the characters are flat out unlikeable [largely on purpose] and its a bit predictable) but when put next to Alien Bodies it looks extremely lackluster. Overall not bad but bog standard.

[Tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel so bad this had to follow up alien bodies lmao.
Kind of like if Potential Man was a book, completely serviceable components with one or two standouts that never really come together to make the most of any of them. it’s capital C Content baby

[Pietro Rossi]

Good strong ideas blandly drawn together. I couldn't finish this book, persevering to about 80pc before giving up. As such no stars or ratings

[hp · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book, but I'm struck by contemporary reviews revealing how a certain segment of fans absolutely loathed the character of Sam. And I'm struck by this because, well, I think she's pretty great. Or at least consistently written.

Okay, I guess, circa 1997, fans had a bunch of hang-ups. First of all, the New Adventures series had revelled in psychological drama and increasingly emotionally wrought companions; meanwhile, teenage girls seemed very 1970s for the program. She was seen as, in a contradictory sense, both lightweight and too much. Fans presumably wanted a companion who could hold their own alongside the Doctor (which had been more the mould of the program since about 1981) yet not someone who would presume to oppose, dismiss, or doubt him. The fact that Sam often feels like the protagonist of these books was especially galling to fans who worshipped the Doctor as a character, and saw the companion as a vital part of the plot rather than the plot per se. And the fact that it isn't always an easy alliance annoyed some fans. Although, to be fair, Ace and Benny were like this with the Seventh Doctor, they were beloved characters, whereas Sam was a teenage girl with outspoken progressive views, so she hadn't endeared herself to those fans before she was "foisted" upon them by those ungrateful authors giving us new content every damn month.

And those progressive views apparently mattered too. I don't care what a person's politics are, personally, but it's interesting to watch the way that Sarah Jane Smith's feminism is perceived to be toned down over her run, but how it's also deemed hugely worthy of comment by anyone reviewing her earlier stories. Some people just didn't want Doctor Who to be "message fiction", as they wanted it to be sci-fi more in the (perceived) X-Files or Babylon 5 approach, where story trumped politics. Others - of a certain gender and ethnicity, dare I suspect - felt like it devalued the books or made them less "hard" if they focused on her attitudes. And, for some, they saw those attitudes as being, dare I say it, a female thing.