Item - The Spaceship Graveyard

This is a poor excuse for a gamebook, and a thoroughly unpromising start to the series.

The majority of choices in the book fall into the "what happens next?" rather than "what do you do?" category. I generally find this style of book unengaging, and the fact that none of the choices here offer interesting alternatives or have meaningful consequences compounds the problem. Do I really care whether the figure we encounter is a space marine or an alien if it leads us into exactly the same scenario either way (with one option offering a continuity error as a bonus)? Why do I care to choose whether it's Martha or the Doctor who has the next line of dialogue? Given that all of the book's six endings are happy, and all of the paths through the book are extremely similar, what is the point, and where are the stakes? If I just wanted to fill in a few blanks in a brief and formulaic story, I could have significantly more fun with Doctor Who Mad Libs.

With an ugly font and layout, no illustrations at all, and the occasional typographical error, it appears that even less effort went into the presentation than the writing, which is saying something!

Bottom line: this is a cynical attempt to cash in on a popular property, and it has nothing interesting to offer fans of Doctor Who or gamebooks. Avoid it!

More reviews by Demian