Doctor Who: Only Human by Gareth Roberts

Doctor Who: Only Human Reviews

• 
  Nemo ☠️ (pagesandprozac)

  sweet baby jesus! this is the 1000th book i've read! how have i read ONE THOUSAND books??
• 
  Erica

  This is by far the best Doctor Who novel I've read so far. It doesn't just capture Rose and The Doctor's characters - it elaborates on them (and the TARDIS and its language translation) and (I think) even adds to the mythology. And it's funny! And the plots totally out there - like all of my favorite Doctor Who eppies. It also kept me interested in a way that the last two books haven't - I'm actually reading The New Series Adventures in order so I'm hoping that this is a taste of what's to come.
  
  And OMG Rose loses her head. HA HA HA HA HA. And Gareth Roberts put her in a fur bikini - the perv. lol. Genius. And naked Jack - hubba hubba!! oooh and Rose wants to see the expression on the Doctors face after he's whisked her away from her husband on horseback!? And by God that should be cheesy, but it's not.
  
  There is even a serious message within the book for those who need to justify reading Doctor Who novels:)
  
  The only reason I didn't give it a 5 stars is because there could have been a little more gravitas - a lot of people die and that usually brings out the Doctor's righteous fury :) But there wasn't enough of that here for my taste. The Doctor should have a little touch of terrifying in him. He is the oncoming storm after all;)
  
  And did I mention funny?
• 
  Mitchell Easter

  OK, this is probably one of the best, if not THE best, Doctor-Who related novel I've ever read in any of the ranges - Target, Virgin NA, Virgin MA, BBC 8DA, BBC PDA, or BBC 9DA/10DA. I mean, I am a fan of the "Dark Doctor" books, and love the arcs of some of the previous series, but in terms of NAILING the characterizations and providing a fun, flowing read that you absolutely cannot put down, this is it. Plus, there are lots of underlying meanings (aren't there always?) beneath the surface - this time about our strange 'me-focused' consumer culture, and the nature of humanity at its core, as mirrored by Das the neanderthal... it's top-notch! Plus, The scenes/journals with Das and Captain Jack are awesome - and a good B-plot to counterpoint the main plot - about a non-digital culture that has learned to suppress and control every emotion with drugs... Hmmm, wonder if there's a message THERE somewhere??? :) Recommended!
• 
  Ken

  When a Neanderthal appears in present day London, this alerts The Doctor, Rose and Jack that someone is meddling with time.
  
  With Roberts stories, you know your in for a fun adventure.
  Jack and the new arrival given the name Das has to stay put in their current location as The Doctor and Rose travel back to 29,185 BC.
  
  The Jack and Das scenes are hilarious, very reminiscent of the movie California Man. Das try’s to get to grips with modern day London.
  
  This is one of the best Ninth Doctor books.
• 
  F.R.

  What Gareth Roberts brings to the ongoing narrative of ‘Doctor Who’ is a tremendous and irresistible sense of fun. In ‘Only Human’ we find a Neanderthal in a nightclub in Bromley (my sister used to life in Bromley, and if there’s any town a Neanderthal would fit right in, it’s Bromley); cavemen and cavewomen who speak with broad, ‘Eastenders’ cockney accents; monsters who politely enquire whether a creature is human or not before devouring them; humans so dosed out of their skulls on pleasant, relaxing drugs that they don’t really mind being devoured; and Rose Tyler getting married in a Raquel Welch prehistoric bikini. All of this is weaved together with fantastic jokes and an eye for a great comic situation. It may look like a romp, but in a book called ‘Only Human’, there are some actual thoughtful insights into what it means to be – well – human. Both the Neanderthal (a distant cousin of us humans, who would of course be wiped out be us) and the future humans (our descendants, who happily numb their emotions with pharmaceuticals) do, through falling in love and experiencing grief, give the novel some emotional heft. They learn the limitations of being only human, but – thanks to The Doctor – also the brilliance of humanity as well. (It’s the kind of lesson Mr Spock was taught week in, week out in the 1960s, but nowhere near as po-faced as ‘Star Trek’.) As such it’s more than just a romp, and really, you’d be hard pressed to find another ‘Doctor Who’ novel (or another sci-fi novel, for that matter) which was this smart and this much fun.
• 
  Brooklyn Tayla

  All I'm going to say about this one is that is is hilariously, utterly, fabulously insane !
• 
  Anna

  the chaotic trio are at it again, but this time they were too separate :-(
• 
  Kate Sherrod

  So, here I've been lo these many months, out of my mind with excitement that soon (but not soon enough), I'd be holding a Doctor Who novel written by my favorite living science fiction writer (that would be Alastair Reynolds*, duh, and may he live long and prosper**), and one that concerns one of my favorite Doctors (that would be the Third, portrayed by the inimitable Jon Pertwee), and I realized, hey, I've never actually read a Doctor Who novel.
  
  So I went hunting. Concurrently with a recent mania to watch the whole of the Ninth Doctor's single TV season and an accompanying wild hair to write a novel starring said Ninth Doctor, because Christopher Eccleston is another favorite.*** And Only Human had the best blurb. This might be Jasper Fforde's fault for making me sympathize so with Neanderthals. I'm just not sure on that.
  
  I am now dangerously close to writing a blog post that is longer than the actual novel, which is short and sweet but packed with goodies to satisfy the wibbly wobbly timey wimey longings of any Who fan, new or old, with offerings ranging from a Neanderthal lost in 21st century England (whom Captain Jack, of all people, must help to acclimatize) to a population of technologically advanced modern humans living in a Prisoneresque village in prehistoric England but strangely uninterested in the Neanderthal and Homo sapiens sapiens populations nearby unless their "popper packs" (basically a ripoff of the Penfield Mood Organs from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) compel them to, even though studying these populations and the charismatic megafauna that share their world is why said H.s.s. are there and then (for of course, they are time travelers, using a cheap and dirty version of time travel so cheap and dirty as to make Captain Jack's vortex manipulator look like something from the pages of Inhabitat).
  
  But so, the Doctor and cavemen of various species. Who doesn't love a combination like that? I'm certainly in for a go, even if Rose has to come along, too, which she does, but no tale is perfect, right?****
  
  Anyway.
  
  Like I said, there's a lot packed into this short little book. While Captain Jack is training the displaced Neanderthal, Das in 21st century living, the Doctor and Rose travel back to Das' time (to which he cannot return because of reasons. And cheap and dirty time travel tech. Wibbly wobbly) to find out how/why Das got when he is and put a stop to whatever's going on because it is Bad. And they find the aforementioned Penfield Mood Organ junkies. Who are all enslaved via their Poppers by a charismatic and devastatingly (and artificially) intelligent, ruthless scientist named Chantal. Everybody wants to please Chantal. And Chantal is up to no good. Basically a Master/Rani hybrid, is Chantal. Except a bit more effective; at one point even the Doctor is drug-boozled into wanting to please Chantal -- and were this not a Doctor Who story, one might well have come to believe the jeopardy in which this places him. As it was, it was not at all easy to see how he was going to get out of his predicament. While Rose was off cavorting with cave men.
  
  So, I wound up enjoying this little romp rather a lot. And I'll say this for my fellow Rose haters: book Rose, at least this book Rose, is rather more enjoyable than TV Rose -- not because Billie Piper did a bad job on TV or anything, just that the kind of stuff Gareth Roberts put her through would not be easy at all to pull off on TV, and is very likely way more satisfying for people who consider her dominance of the early seasons of NuWho to be their flaw rather than their glory.
  
  Heh.
  
  *I say this not only because it's true, but also because Reynolds occasionally reads my blog and my saying this makes him blush, and I'm just sadistic enough to enjoy making him blush. Especially when, for reasons that blast out my logic circuits, right now Britons can enjoy Harvest of Time, but I as an American not legally do so for another month. Harrumph.
  
  **Heh.
  
  ***For those who will surely ask, my current (because they fluctuate, because I'm only human (heh) order of favorite Doctors is: Ninth, Third, Eleventh, Sixth, Fourth, First, Seventh, Second, Tenth, Fifth. Usually Eleventh is higher, and he's like to regain a higher spot on my list after the bravura performance in the most recent Neil Gaiman-penned episode in which Matt Smith got to pull a Gollum/Locutus of Who thing. But I'm all about the Pert right now because of Alastair Reynolds. Duh.
  
  ****And there I've outraged all the Rose partisans out there. Bring it. I've been dealing with people who aren't down with my dislike of Perpugilliam Brown† for decades now, and Al Bruno III and I are still even friends.
  
  †I wasn't going to nerd out quite so much for this post, but dudes, trying to choke the life out of Peri on his very first day beneath Colin Baker's blonde curls is a huge part of why the Sixth Doctor is so high on my list. That and I'm just generally a bit partial to Bastard Doctors.
• 
  Bear Paw

  What can I say, I am a big fan of doctor who, so don't know if I would ever say something bad.. hahahahah
• 
  Ashley

  So, a few weeks ago at Barnes and Noble I decided to go out on a whim and buy the first Doctor Who based book I’ve ever read. I’m a huge fan of the TV show (and by that I mean Doctor Who basically runs most of my life – I’m actually watching it as I write this), but never delved into reading any of the fiction that’s associated with the show. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to; it’s just that I’ve been skeptical and a bit afraid to delve into such a massive array of side fiction. But, I had nothing to be afraid of with this book. I absolutely LOVED it. It was, as nine would say, Fantastic.
  
  This novel is part of a revamped book series that was created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. These stories were picked among the many stories written as companions to the series as the best. This series has one book feature per doctor and a few for side monsters. This particular story is based on the ninth doctor. In this story, Nine and Rose discover a Neanderthal man that has appeared in London’s club scene one night. This is just the start of the adventure that awaits them. Rose and Nine travel back in time to figure out how he got there while Captain Jack stays in the present and helps this strange new man adapt to modern-day life in London.
  
  My expectations were pretty low for this, but I always try to keep my expectations low (keeps me from worlds of disappointment). However, I didn’t need to have low expectations, but they definitely gave Roberts’ writing the ability to soar higher than I could have imagined. I loved, loved, loved his story. Roberts captures the characters supremely, and I honestly felt like I was watching an episode of Doctor Who. I am completely heartbroken that Captain Jack is not on the show any longer, so this was a great fix for that hankering, and Roberts got his character spot on.
  
  The writing is also very well done. I have no complaints about Roberts writing style or his plot devices and story progression or any complaints about this book in general. This book was an extremely easy read; I flew threw it pretty fast, but it is dense enough to provide a great story and more laughs from the characters that all Whovians already love. Roberts does a perfect job of balancing humor and seriousness just like the show does. Prepare yourself to laugh and cry, okay, it’s not that sad by any means, but you might just be sobbing, like me, over how much you miss these wonderful characters on the show, because they are captured so well.
  
  I’m just going to go ahead and end this review here, because I’m pretty much useless at this point and will just continue to tell you over and over again how much I adored this book (and Doctor Who in general). So, if you’re a fan, I definitely recommend this book. I will absolutely be reading more Who-related stories by this author and dabbling more into the literature associated with Doctor Who (or, you know, just let it consume me completely, which is the most likely scenario).
  
  Thanks for reading! Feel free to add me as a friend on here and also check out my tumblr page at
  www.dreamingthroughliterature.tumblr.com and my blog at
  www.dreamingthroughlitearture.wordpre...
• 
  Liviania

  For the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the BBC commissioned a reprint of eleven novels to represent each of the Doctors. I love that they chose to reprint beloved novels instead of publishing new ones, to show off the history of the character. Books and radio plays have been as much a part of the series as the television show.
  
  The book chosen to represent the Ninth Doctor is ONLY HUMAN by Gareth Roberts. Roberts has written books covering both Classic and New Who. He's also written a couple of episodes, including fan-favorite "The Lodger." I had high hopes for ONLY HUMAN, given Roberts' pedigree and my love of Nine, and those hopes were not dashed.
  
  The Doctor and his companions Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness are in modern-day London when they run across a Neanderthal, known as Das. Soon enough the Doctor and Rose are going back in time to discover how Das ended up so far from home and Jack is attempting to help him blend in. I particularly liked the parts about Das and Jack - they're both far from home (Jack is from the future), but have very different perspectives on the present. Jack's bisexuality is just as matter of fact as always.
  
  Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose have stumbled upon a research team from a dark period in human history/future, when emotions are controlled by chemicals. Leader Chantal seeks to "improve" the human race, starting from the very beginning. It's an idealistic motive twisted in monstrous ways. This would be an episode to watch from behind the couch.
  
  I'm not sure ONLY HUMAN would intrigue readers not familiar with the characters. It's a fun adventure full of great personalities, but the book isn't concerned with introducing the Who mythology. But it's a great choice for fans. I'll admit to not being that excited about cavemen, but I was proved quite wrong in my estimation of the setting's potential.
  
• 
  David Monroe

  Set during the 9th Doctor's era, with Rose and a pre-Bad Wolfed Captain Jack. During the 90s and the early oughts, like most Whovians, I survived its absence by reading imports of the Target Missing Adventures books. There were some great books in that series. I came to expect a certain level of quality from them. In plot, writing, characterization, etc. My expectations of the New Series books are a bit lower, to say the least. Some are quite good, most are okay and more than a few are just bad. Gareth Roberts, who wrote a few Doctor books in the 90s (Find
  The Well-Mannered War), surprised me. This was very good. Not just New Series good, but Target Missing Adventures good. It's a proper Doctor story. It has humor, darkness and pathos. Humanity at its best and its worst. It has creatures who aren't human demonstrating more "humanity" than most of the humans in the story. It has Captain Jack when he was a century and a half younger than in Torchwood or his adventures with 10. It shows how he grew from the reckless amoral time-traveler who almost accidentally destroyed the Earth in WWII to a person who cares about others more than himself. It's not great literature. It's not groundbreaking, but I enjoyed it. Thoroughly.
• 
  Lauren Stoolfire

  This Doctor Who novel really gets the tone of the Doctor, Rose, and Jack down well. You don't see too much of the Neanderthal time period in this series, so it was a refreshing to see. I also enjoyed seeing Das, one of the Neanderthal's react to the 21st century way of life alongside Jack. On the same note, this gives me a good idea of how the TARDIS works to translate speech and thought.
• 
  Helen

  I love me my sci-fi. I'm pretty skilled at suspension of disbelief. But this one was just a stretch too far for me in places.
  There were bits I liked, and characters I liked - Das especially. But overall, not one of my favourite Dr Who novelisations. And not enough Captain Jack.
• 
  Jo Gallifrey

  Fantastic! Good read, good plot, true to the characters.
• 
  Luke

  Somebody's interfering with time. The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack arrive on modern-day Earth to find the culprit and discover a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. Only a trip back to the primeval dawn of humanity can solve the mystery.
  
  What can I say other than, this is basically the best DW novel I have ever read/Experienced. It's up there sharing the top spot with SHADA! And how can it not share that spot, in this story you have Jack left babysitting a Neanderthal man called Das, and takes him out to nightclubs and he pulls a few ladies. While you have the doctor and rose 28 thousand years ago exploring why and how this man has ended up on modern-day Earth. The story is fast, funny, witty! Everything you want out of a DW story, i was laughing, and then i was hit with huge concepts on humanity that made me think. I have always said that a piece of literature based of an established IP needs to expand and go places the orginal wouldn't or couldn't, and sadly DW doesn't have the budget to go as huge as it wants and that is the charm of the show, doing huge sci-fi on a minimal budget and it still being Impact ful. And this book definitely feels like a missing episode, something that would of been fantastic on the show only if they could! So in that respect this book works perfectly with what it needs to be and just comes out to me at least as one of the best works of DW literature I have ever experienced. And would highly recommend it to any DW fan and or anyone who is a lover of science fiction.
  
  5/5 Stars GoodReads ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌟
  
  100/100 Dino dots 🦖🦕
• 
  Hannah Vestal

  The Ninth Doctor is my favorite Doctor. He was my first, and my introduction to Doctor Who, so maybe I’m biased, but I absolutely loved Only Human.
  
  It’s a fantastic Doctor/Rose/Jack story, that gives us some golden moments of dialogue, including Jack creating a, *ahem*, distraction.
  
  The story itself wasn’t my favorite story, but I love the Doctor, Rose, and Jack interacting so much that it makes up for the story being being less than. There’s also just so little Ninth Doctor that I soak up everything he’s in.
  
  I’d say, objectively, if you love the Ninth Doctor, you’ll really enjoy this story. Otherwise, you may find the plot tedious or not interesting.
  
  
• 
  V.L. Locey

  A rousing adventure with the 9th Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack. Well written and with so much attention to the characters I could hear them all in my head as I read. I would have like a bit more Jack but what woman or man hasn't said that? *wink* A great read for any fan of the TV series.
• 
  Joe

  Better than the other Doctor Who audiobooks I've read!
• 
  Chad James

  Another thrilling adventure with the Doctor and Rose!!!
  
• 
  Ciara Mackey

  Superior tardis team my beloved
• 
  Clare Oswin

  We love regressing to your middle school self. What can I say? I love doctor who and this book was surprisingly decent haha
• 
  Hidekisohma

  So this is the 3rd book of the 9th doctor i've read. Even though it's not chronological or publish order to have read this one next, i picked it up because people said it was "the best 9th doctor book." um. no. no it isn't. Even of the three i've read so far, "The Clockwise Man" is still better than this one, and i'd argue that "The Deviant Strain" has more going on.
  
  The biggest problem with this book is that the plot is very very dull. The characterization is spot on, but that doesn't mean anything when the plot is dry as sand. A caveman ends up in the present time and the doctor and rose go back in time to find out why he's there. We're then introduced to a bunch of weird time travelers who are living in caveman times that use drugs to control their emotions. If you think that sounds interesting, trust me. It's not.
  
  Probably one of the most egregious problems with this book is that Jack is basically thrown away. while the Doctor and Rose are off solving the problem, they literally leave Jack in the present to take care of the caveman and have him acclimate to the 21st century. Oh yeah. Please, don't have Jack be with the main group or do anything..you know...adventury. I was hoping i'd get to see a book where Jack plays tour guide/nurse maid. Thanks Roberts!
  
  The villain is super lame, the monsters are stock and nonsensical, and the story just dragged ONNNNN. It's one of those books where you keep looking at the page count going "Am I done yet?"
  
  I truly don't understand the love for this one. It's just.....it's not a good story. Out of the 3 i've read, i was considering putting it smack dab in the middle, but honestly, now that i'm thinking about it more, i'm gonna say that between Deviant, Clockwise, and this one, this is the worst one. Even though deviant strain was a bit dark and mean spirited, at least stuff WAS HAPPENING.
  
  However, there are 2 things i liked about this book. 1, like i said before, the characterizations were great. it really felt like Chris and Billie were there. and 2nd, it reads very well. I like Gareth's style of writing. Those are pretty much the only nice things i can say about this book. 2/5
• 
  Sean

  Oh, the 9th Doctor era. How short it was. So thank God there are books exploring this short-lived Doctor's adventures off-screen.
  
  And what a book this is.
  
  The characterizations of the Doctor and Rose are spot on. They sound so much like the characters on-screen, to the point where you hear the actors' voices in your head. It's the same with Captain Jack, who unfortunately doesn't seem to feature in this book a lot. The characterization of these characters makes this book the perfect choice for the 50th anniversary reissues collection. This is the book that captures the era it represents the best so far. It feels like a 9th Doctor adventure.
  
  Reading this after series 5 has aired, you can't help but notice similarities to Gareth Roberts' first Matt Smith episode The Lodger and I think the idea of someone trying to fit into a environment he isn't used to works better with Das than it does with the 11th Doctor.
  
  Why?
  
  Because he's less familiar with the environment and this allows for some funny and hugely entertaining diary entries from Das.
  
  The villain of the piece is ironically very memorable despite how she is described as having a emotion-less voice and using a 'popper pack' to dial in the emotion she wants to feel. The villain is very camp whilst at the same time, offering a unique twist on the villains you usually see in TV and film in general. Some may find her a bit OTT but personally, I think it just fits in with the overall tone of the book.
  
  However, what I thought was a bit too cheesy was something she does to Rose in the story's climax. I felt this was a bit too cartoony and would fit in better with series 2 of the new series as opposed to the series it was supposed to be representing.
  
  So overall, this book manages to successfully capture the tone and characterisation of series 1, with just one particular scene that doesn't really fit in with the book and TV series' overall feel.
• 
  Kimmy

  One of the best books from Doctor Who I've read so far. It's a beautiful story about human nature, racisme and just trying to live in society. Also it give's inside in the cruel and lazy nature human beings sometimes posses.
• 
  Tria

  50th anniversary edition.
  
  This is one of the best Ninth Doctor stories - as with the one before it, but in a different way. Here he's with both Rose and Jack, and the three of them are well-drawn. The author avoids the need to develop many of the minor characters by using a SFnal concept whereby emotions or "wrong-feelings" are quickly eradicated, but the Neanderthals here are quite well done, and Jack and Das' interacting with each other and writing about it can get very entertaining. The Ninth Doctor is clearly, in small moments, still traumatised by the Time War and all that happened there, but you get to see his slow improvement through his companions.
  
  I also especially liked the reference to historical sources and research in Quilley's collection - his belief that the 20th century washing machine he's collected is basically the equivalent of an altar is a little touching and a little funny.
  
  What I didn't like, however, and what mostly made me remove the fifth star, is the apparent lack of any real motivation for Chantal's actions. Experimentation without a conscience, okay, but the rest of what she's done seems to have little reasoning behind it even in her own mind. I would have liked to see more about how she came up with her ideas and justified them to herself. Still, a great story and very entertaining.
• 
  Omega J. Follis

  Well this was my first Doctor Who book um and I liked it. After I read some others the star rating may adjust accordingly um but I think a solid 4 is good at this point. Also acknowledge the fact that I am definitely feeling the buzz in the hype of a 50th anniversary um and also that being the motivation of going to this book.
  
  On to the book: It was a little tough adjusting to the description of mannerisms typically subtle in the show. The glances, grimaces and other emoticons that got to me. I don't know if it was the plan delivery or just that knowing the characters, I felt I already could see it. Some to think of it, it read more Luke it was adapted from a screen play hopeful of being an episode. I want to add that I have never gotten that feeling from A Song of Ice and Fire, having watched all current episodes and read all available books.
  
  The story is lovely, common DW theme. And features Captain Jack Harkness ... total surprise for me.
  
  Narrator = win. Anthony Head aka Ruppert "Ripper" Giles. Smashing job. His reading was steady, varied and I loved his American accent and voice for Jack. cracked my ass up.
  
  Spoiler: The Doctor remarks on Jack's size.
• 
  Mel

  Gareth Roberts is without a doubt my favorite Doctor Who novelist. This was the first of his nu who novels I read. It had the ninth Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack. To give you an idea of this book one of my favorite moments was when the Doctor told Jack to take the Neanderthal to the Gap in Croydon. The book had two main plots, the Doctor and Rose in pre-historic times with time travelers from the future. Stopping the time travelers from killing everyone. It was kinda great because the neanderthals were clearly much better than the humans (destroying the nu who myth that humans are the Most Amazing People in the Entire Universe) and when Rose had to marry one of the cave men she actually thought he was quite fit (terribly fitting for a chav). But my favorite parts were in the present day where Jack and the Neanderthal were hanging out and Jack was trying to get the Neanderthal to adjust to modern life. They were written in diary entries by them both and just hilarious! I must find and read all of Gareth Roberts' books!
• 
  Andrew Lawston

  I've always liked Gareth's stuff, and it was brilliant when he started writing episodes for Doctor Who. The first batch of hardcover books to tie in with the relaunched series were a bit of a mixed bag. Gareth Roberts conveyed the feel of the TV series much better than most, and served the characters of Rose and Captain Jack much better. For once the Captain is quietly doing a responsible job, and not trying to snog everyone in sight. Rose reflects her TV counterpart's practical streak, tracking down local information by asking a woman in a nail bar.
  
  The story itself, concerning an illegal time machine in prehistoric Bromley, also fits the tone of the 2005 series, but with a larger budget. It manages to be both horrific and funny, often at the same time. Easily the most accomplished of the Eccleston novels.