| Title | : | Doctor Who: I Am a Dalek |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0563486481 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780563486480 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 105 |
| Publication | : | First published May 18, 2006 |
Doctor Who: I Am a Dalek Reviews
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A quick awesome read with Daleks!!!
WHO
The Doctor:
The Tenth Doctor
Companion:
Rose Tyler
WHERE & WHEN
England, 2006
WHAT
The Tenth Doctor plans to take Rose to the Moon (Earth’s moon) and fooling around a bit, like planting a Women’s Institute flag in some non-explored area to give a shock for future astronauts. Rose is excited since she will become the first woman in the Moon. Both of them are already in full space suits with oxigen tanks, helmets, all the deal...
...However, the TARDIS has other plans...
...and they land in a cute little seaside town in England.
Didn’t catch your name.
Just the Doctor. The. Doctor.
The Doctor and Rose are awkwardly, standing in the middle of a pub, fully dressed with space suits, wondering what the heck happened. The Doctor goes back to the TARDIS to check out what happened and suddenly...
...the TARDIS dissapeared with the Doctor aboard...
...but leaving Rose behind, in the pub, in full space suit.
It’s all that’s left of the most terrifying thing in the universe.
The Doctor meets Frank Openshaw, an arqueologist who is working in a nearby digging site, where certain familiar salt shaker-like metallic thing appears to be buried there.
Due a Roman Empire’s mosaic, on the site, picturing the inert Dalek, it seems that it has been there since 70 AD.
There’s an old saying... dates from about 4000: Never turn your back on a dead Dalek.
Meanwhile, Rose, after pulling off the now-useless space suit. She meets Kate Yates, a young woman, under unusual circumstances and one thing is clear...
...they need The Doctor!
Those are just humans. Any passing evil being from space can have a go at them. That’s easy.
As a trivia fact, this is the first time that the regeneration of the Tenth Doctor has to deal with the Daleks, before than any TV episode or Prose novels, using this particular Doctor.
This is an exciting quick reading where The Tenth Doctor and Rose have to face a familiar deadly cunning threat with an unexpected complication, with the future of Earth at risk.
A charming reading showing the value of getting to know the relevant elements in the life of others and how priceless is when The Doctor considers you as a friend. -
Hello. I am a nerd.
I splurged and bought ebooks during quarantine (due to library lockdown) and this was one of the lucky winners.
It was so, so good.
From the moment the Doctor and Rose jumped out of the TARDIS, they were fully in character, utterly in love (even if they don’t know it), completely hilarious, and out to save the world. This book had just the feeling of one of my favorite episodes and was written so well that I could read lines in the characters’ voices. The author did an amazing job weaving strands of story together, and I gawked a few times at particularly beautiful phrases. ;) (The milk bottle. Seriously, the MILK BOTTLE.)
I mentioned in my “pre-review” that I bawled like a baby, and I’m not exaggerating. XD I actually had a bit of a headache afterward, but I also didn’t mind. Some of my favorite episodes (and apparently books) of this show are the ones that remind me that humanity is beautiful, completely unique, and full of potential. And that little epilogue was pretty sweet, and so like the Doctor. ;)
Just a note, there was some various language through including a blasphemy, usage of b***hy, h***, and smarta**e. There were also a couple mentions of a well-endowed side character and an off-color phone conversation in the back of a scene. Since the story centers around a Dalek, there are some descriptions of violence, but the main one that could be disturbing was a car accident.
Best quotes: The Doctor turned to face her. His features were alive with wonder and excitement. Not for the first time, Rose felt it was as if he was seeing through her eyes, and she wondered if that was one of the reasons he needed somebody to travel with.
‘Yeah, it’s all the TARDIS’s fault. It’s got all these emergency systems. I turned them all off years ago. They kept going off and I couldn’t hear myself think. Must have come back on.
Altogether, this was a ton of fun. I just might have to try more by this author. ;) -
During an excavation a Roman mosaic is found. Pictured on that mosaic: a Dalek. A little while later, Rose notices a woman rushing to work. The woman gets run over by a bus and dies right in front of Rose. Then the woman just stands back up and casually walks away.
I think it’s incredibly hard for the writers of these quick reads to create a solid Doctor Who adventure with such a short amount of words. But this novella actually does manage to do just that. And quite brilliantly to boot. This story takes a little bit of inspiration from the incredible episode Dalek. Keeping the story so simple and focused on a lone Dalek once again works like a charm here.
The writer clearly knows what he’s doing in terms of characters in Doctor Who. The tenth doctor is used well, facing off against the Dalek. The Dalek is weakened and the Doctor clearly establishes the threat the Daleks pose as a race by being both scared and merciless in trying to finish this lone Dalek off, before it can get its act together. Rose as a companion is the human factor in the duo. So pairing Rose up with an infected woman who’s basically struggling between her human side and her Dalek side is just a really smart move.
There’s quite a lot of action and suspense to be found in this short book. It’s fast-paced and well written, with a simple but solid plot. And the characterizations of the doctor and Rose are a bit superficial but very much on point. -
This is a quick read book that is based on the television series. This one has the Tenth Doctor and Rose as the main characters. In this one, the Doctor and Rose arrive on present day Earth to the news that a discovery has been found in an archaeological dig. This discovery is a defunct Dalak but this still worries the Doctor.
This was a very quick read and it was enjoyable. The main idea of the book was streamlined as the author quickly established the plot without much of an explanation to some details. One expects this in these quick read books. As for the portrayals of the main characters, I believe Rose was pulled off better than the Tenth Doctor. His portrayal was a little off but not enough to be disconcerting. The highlight of this book was the final act. It was a touching final act and it shows how humans differ from the war loving race of the Daleks.
I am enjoying these quick read books from this universe including this one. I don't expect high brow literature from these offerings. I want to be brought back down memory lane with the characters and have a nice adventure in this world. This book provides that. -
The first Doctor Who story in the ‘Quick Reads’ range.
It’s a great action packed adventure which is helped by the short page count.
A very enjoyable story. -
I love a good Dalek story, and this one starts out pretty interesting and exciting, but it spirals into a desperation move by the end. The Doctor is pretty good and the story gives Rose a lot to do but the ending becomes somewhat predictable. The book benefits from its length which keeps it from trying to pace or pad itself out to a conclusion. It a good afternoon read if you want a Doctor Who story and want to kill some time.
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Doctor Who reinvented itself in the early 2000's being centred in the City of Cardiff and using the locality for many of it's location shots. "I am a Dalek" is a young adult short story that sees the Doctor and his trusty assistant Rose once again fighting his nemesis the evil Dalek with that familiar cry "exterminate" The tardis has landed in a village in the south of England where an archaeologist dig has just uncovered, along with some ancient relics, a rusty old Dalek. There is the usual standoff with our flamboyant hero (in this instant played by the excellent David Tennat) rushing around before emerging victorious and exiting into netherspace presumably to fight his arch enemy at another time and in another dimension. This is classed as a short read and not only is it a great introduction to Doctor Who but a good teaching tool to improve and encourage reading amongst the young in a time and a world dominated by facebook and twitter....that's the real enemy Doctor not the Daleks!
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The Doctor and Rose are diverted from their visit to the moon and land in Twyford where a dig has just unearthed a dead Dalek. At the same time, a young woman named Kate is involved in a car accident on her way to the bus.
I really liked the idea of the Dalek factor and I imagine it to have similar reasoning to the Dalek puppets shown in the main series. I really liked how it gave the Daleks reasoning and motivation.
The plot is pretty solid and moves really quickly. The characters are easy to understand and it was a pretty good Quick Read. -
This is my first Doctor who novel, and I'm glad to report that it was a quick, satisfying and pleasurable read.
The Doctor and Rose get ready for a trip to the moon but the TARDIS has other plans. She diverts them to a sleepy, old village in the UK and sure enough, there is threat to humanity lurking there, dormant.
In other words, just a typical day at work for the Doctor and his companion.
And the threat to humanity I mentioned? It's a dalek. again. I swear they are like cockroaches: impossible to exterminate completely (see what I did there?)
The plot thickens when Rose witnesses Kate, a perfectly ordinary young woman, die and come back to life instantly but with abilities. What follows is a chain of events that leads to the dalek being awakened and wreaking havoc.
In the end, it is upto the Doctor to save the day. Except....he doesn't. Not directly, anyway.
With Rose's initiative, he and Rose give Kate the necessary nudge to help the human part of her mind take over, and in the end she sends the dalek packing all by herself.
This is why I love the Doctor - he makes heroes out of ordinary people, and never fails to remind us that the everyday, mundane, human things we do and take granted for are important. -
Do Wee Dooo OOOoooOOO.
This was a gorgeous quick comfort read that I picked-up off my shelf finally. I had this book on my To-Be-Read shelf for probably close to ten years now and it finally got dusted off and I am glad to have read the story. Going on a quick adventure with The Doctor and Rose Tyler was just what I needed this week as I had some stressful and down moments and when I get sad, I want to watch or read Doctor Who. Since Crave took Doctor Who off their platform and I was not really in the mood for Classic Doctor Who on Pluto, and to lazy to pop in one of my box sets, this was the better option. I could have finished this novel in a day but I wanted to savour it and savour it I did. I am glad I did. It made me feel like a kid again and the characters were captured down pat. It was an interesting take on Daleks and how Daleks come to be which I found it quite engrossing. To keep me wanting to read more is just what I needed as I was starting to get into a reading funk since I have both Juniper And Thorne and Fairy Tale both on the go and Stephen King's Fairy Tale was bringing me down into a slump for reading.
I don't want to say to much about the story I Am A Dalek as it is a very small book and short story and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who may choose to read it. I will say this.....you won't be disappointed and it is very enjoyable. You also don't need to know Doctor Who either.
Cheers! -
Rose, el Doctor, la TARDIS y un Dalek!!!! No necesito más.
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On the one hand, this little novella is a pretty accurate try at "a DW episode, just in novella format". On the other hand, it's also an accurate representation of a BAD DW episode. I think Daleks are very hard to write well, because at this point they've been so overused that you have to come up with a pretty original plot, or the other elements of the story have to be really good. Neither is the case here. It's, all in all, just an extremely generic set-up that includes very generic plot tropes of a DW episode. The plot makes very little sense and it features two one-off characters who are forgettable. The only thing that stuck out for me were some instances of clunky (and slightly sexist) dialogue writing.
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An archaeological dig shows an image of a Dalek in Britain circa AD 70 and the Doctor must use all his skill and intelligence to stop his oldest enemy from taking over the Earth.
Gareth Roberts' short story "I am a Dalek" is witty as well as exciting. The writing is pacey and the characterisation is well in keeping with the source TV series. -
Nice enough read but I enjoyed other Doctor Who quick reads more
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I have such fond memories of this book, I must have read it probably twenty times since I got it when I was seven. I was, so proud at the time and I continue to applaud my good taste in fandom-related reading material. However, not so fond memories of when I tried to explain this book when I stood up in front of my third grade class and tried to explain the premise in a three minute book report.
Even after reading it so many times, I still like it. The way that the Doctor is captured is just perfect enough to make any fangirl build a shrine to it in her closet. Which, I have not done.
Or so I tell my shrink.
The plot, is thrilling, and if it were made into an episode with David Tennant, it would probably be one of the better ones. It is told from the point of view of the main character, your average MacGuffin, who is revealed to have hidden Dalek DNA stored within her genes. Inactive until now, she begins going through changes as the DNA enhances her brain function.
My advice? Read this book if you understand the basic premise of Doctor Who, otherwise, don’t even attempt to, you won’t understand who any of the well-known outside forces are. (I mean really, if you can’t say what T.A.R.D.I.S. actually stands for on the spot, were you ever really a Whovian?)
I can say that I will soon be looking into reading other books written by this author. Just, after, I finish this one last episode… -
Source: I own this book.
Title: I Am A Dalek
Series: Doctor Who Quick Reads #1
Author: Gareth Roberts
Overall rating: 4 stars.
This is a quick little adventure between the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler, as they prepare to go play golf on the moon, the TARDIS, as always, has other plans and lands in a small coastal village in England where a mysterious object has just been dug up at an archeological site. Not just any object though, a dalek. And when Rose meets Kate, a girl who got hit by a car and walks away untouched, is it possible that the two are connected in some way? And can Rose, Kate and the Doctor stop the dalek?
I got this book years ago during my Doctor Who phase and I haven't read it in over four years, I remember it being a quick, fun and very real to the story kind of book and that it is. This book has a special place in my heart and I don't really have a lot more to say about it other than it means a lot to me and it's very good for fans of the tenth doctor. -
Others have mentioned that this is one of the Quick Reads novels geared at reluctant readers. Those reluctant readers need a solid story to keep them hooked, and I Am A Dalek did not disappoint. The action moves quickly, the story is solid but not complex, and the character motivations are easy to understand.
From a Who point of view, I liked the idea of a Dalek Factor. It holds up under what we discover in "Asylum of the Daleks," about the Daleks being about to turn living flesh into Daleks.
The story continuity for Rose and the Doctor was there as well. Events in "Parting of the Ways" are referenced, which I did find interesting since she seemed to forget what happened when he took the time vortex out of her. Ah well, we'll say she's remembered--not a big deal.
Over all, if you're looking for a quick Doctor Who story that won't let you down as an adult fan, or that would get a younger fan reading, I recommend this book. -
Gareth Jones (who had previously written great bits for Doctor Who merchandise and other BBC television programs) has captured the 10th Doctor and Rose, as well as the relationship between them and the Dalek race (and of course the human race) perfectly!
The story starts off as it often does, by the TARDIS „mislanding“ someplace. Instead of the surface of the moon Rose and the Doctor find themselves on an English Island. As these things go, Rose is struggling to help a „almost-run-over-by-a-car“ girl while the Doctor digs his nose into the newest find of an archaeological excavation: a Roman Dalek…kind of…
Once again, the Doctor and Rose, with help of extraordinary human beings, have to find a way to save Earth, the universe, from the threat of Daleks! A praise for spirit, human-kind and (of course) the Doctor!
Therefore it gets 5 out of 5 sonic screwdrivers! -
Absolutely Brilliant
I loved it but I have one complaint........
1.) It is way to short. I love it, I wish there was more.
Young whovians will adore this.
The part about the hair colours were kind of confusing, but then again when has the docter ever not be confusing?
Enjoy the book! -
То чувство, когда читаешь книгу, слыша в уме голоса актеров :)))
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So I thought to myself before venturing away on holiday what books do I want to read whilst I’m sitting in the sun with a beer in my hand.
I. Agatha Christie & so I purchased the first in the Marple Series & the first in the Poirot series.
II. Doctor Who & since recently I have had a weird fascination with Classic Who I decided I would purchase a multi-doctor Classic Who adventure and so I purchased The Eight Doctors which may sound like an odd place to start my forage into the world of Classic Who literature but found it was the story that most appealed to me. Then came to deciding on another adventure and so I decided 1 classic adventure and 1 NuWho adventure would suffice & what better than the dream team that is The Tenth Doctor & Rose Tyler.
Now bearing in mind I was born in what Whovians recognise as the “wilderness years” for the first couple of years in my existence I had no clue what Doctor Who even was but when it was announced that Doctor Who would burst back onto TV screens after a considerable number of years absence my pops decided it was time to introduce me to the world of Doctor Who with the classic serials “An Unearthly Child” & “The Five Doctors.”
And so a passion was fuelled...
Enough about my selection in books for a holiday though and time to get down to the details and review this particular book.
When I started off this book I didn’t expect to complete it within the day but with many hours spent by the pool and a completed puzzle book and Doctor Who magazine, I had decided to bite the bullet and started to read “I Am Dalek” and at first I will admit I was sceptical when reading the synopsis of this book but nonetheless I started to read and before I knew it I had read almost half the book.
Personally I thought the first third of the book was a little slow for my pace of adventure and that the second third had remedied the faults of the first third and the climax of this short read was equally as fast paced as the second third and tied up all loose ends in quite a neat bow.
One other slight criticism of this piece of text is the character of Frank, although I know Doctor Who thrives on its secondary characters I feel like the potential of Frank’s character was not met for the most part, I believe he appears in about 3 chapters from the first to the second third of this book then he is forgotten about until the climax of the book where he is swiftly killed, a fact we assume the Doctor isn’t made of.
Although the ending of this book is firmly fixed on Frank I can’t help thinking of all the untapped potential of this character.
The book feels quite successful and with a little more character development I wouldn’t have seen a problem in giving the book at least a 4 if not a 5 star rating! -
This book marks the start of my reading many short books to try and keep up with my reading challenge whilst tackling the beast that is The Complete Fiction of H P Lovecraft. And it was a fairly mediocre start.
I Am A Dalek has some of those classic doctor who moments but, unfortunately, some heavily convoluted writing prevents it from reaching it's full potential.
It essentially tells the story of a lone dalek and it attempts to do what lone daleks tend to do; escape, exterminate and rebuild the dalek race. However, whilst this side of the plot is fairly well done and fairly standard (it wouldn't at all seem out of place on screen) the other side of the plot, which features a human embued with dalek energy, leaves a little to be desired. It feels convoluted and convenient and doesn't entirely play by the rules of science fiction in my book. Ultimately, it's too easy.
The characterisation for the Doctor and Rose is fantastic for the most part. There are only a few Doctor moments that stand out as seeming out of character which I'm sure will stand out to any fans of the show.
I Am A Dalek is a short, fun story that, for the most part, stands up amongst the myriad of other Doctor Who books out there. However, convoluted and predictable writing does bring down the plot somewhat in the book's finale. Ultimately, a fun daleks story that is worth a look for anyone in the mood. -
Better than the last few books on Doctor Who I read but still lacks the basic component: to indulge the reader in the story.
The plot seems fresh and good but the executing it into a story is not. Doctor Who along with his assistant Rose Tyler have plans for the Moon but TARDIS have other plans for them, landing them instead in a village on the south coast of England.
At the village: an archaeological dig has turned up a Roman mosaic, circa AD 70, depicting mythical scenes, grapes and a Dalek. A few days later a young woman, rushing for work, is knocked over and killed by a bus, then comes back to life.
It's not long before all hell breaks loose, and the Doctor and Rose must use all their courage and cunning against an alien enemy and a not-quite-alien accomplice who are intent on destroying humanity.
It's definitely a quick read. I managed to finish it in a little over half an hour and a perfect companion while travelling some short distance on weekends.
I wasn't much thrilled about it when I laid my hands on its cover but I still wanted to give it a try.
Moreover, I partially enjoyed it. Even with the right components-- it's short, it's funny and it has Daleks too, I won't recommend it. Exterminating the post!
2.5 out of 5 -
I am a Dalek pertenece a la increíble iniciativa de Quick Reads: historias cortas para incentivar la lectura. Tenía miedo de que no se pudiese profundizar realmente en la historia en tan pocas páginas, ¡pero nada que ver! Es como ver un capítulo de la serie reducido a 25 minutos. Gareth Roberts consigue en tan solo 66 hojas crear una historia divertida con todos los aspectos claves e imprescindibles: Tennant + Daleks + Edgy Décimo Doctor + planes improvisado que increíblemente salen bien… incluso añade la perspectiva de un personaje secundario después de que su vida cambiase completamente tras conocer al Doctor, algo que normalmente no vemos en la pantalla de la televisión.
El libro está oficialmente solo escrito en inglés. Si quieres practicar el idioma anglosajón esta corta historia vale la pena ya que no se usan complicadas palabras. Si lo prefieres en español, los increíbles chicos de Audiowho la tienen traducida junto a otros libros cortos. Y, finalmente, si lo prefieres en formato visual, en mi canal de YouTube (
www.YouTube.com/valeryval) estoy preparando un vídeo sobre este y otros libros de Doctor Who. -
This is not a book I would normally read. However having read some Quick Reads previously I wanted to read this for research. Quick Reads are short books which can introduce the reader to a new author or help people who need it to develop their reading skills. I have found they are handy if I am between books and want something to read in my dinner hour. I have found that these were popular with young readers who had a high standard of reading ability but were also fans of the TV series.
I have to say this one written by Gareth Roberts is excellent and I can see it all playing out in my head. Having read this Quick Read I am going to try a longer Doctor Who novel some time. -
I borrowed this book from my local library. The Doctor and Rose plan to go to the moon, but the TARDIS has other plans and takes them to England, where they come face to face with an old foe.
I enjoyed this Quick Read. I could read the words as though they were spoken by David and Billie themselves. I could also definitely see this being a two part series finale back in 2006. I cannot wait to read more Doctor Who Quick Reads. -
The story doesn't really make sense. Unsure why this repressive gene has the ability to change Kate's hair color or create a new Dalek.
I Am A Dalek appears to be geared more towards younger readers, but the content is not child appropriate. There is stronger language and brief sexual content that doesn't appear in most Doctor Who books.
The best part was Frank and Sandra's storyline, but it's short-lived. -
Obviously no Shakespeare or Dickens but amazingly capturing Rose and the tenth Doctor (my favourite one) this book lets you travel back in time and revisit this dynamic duo. The five stars thus are mainly for the good description of my beloved Doctor though the story is nice and a good little thingy for relaxation. Loved every bit of it.
