Dark Planet

"There doesn't seem to be any moon in the sky outside."

Writer: Davey Moore

Format: Novel

Released: October 2007

Series: Decide Your Destiny 07

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha

Synopsis

Earth is divided. The Upsiders live in luxury while the Downsiders scavenge in the dark world below. Can you help the Doctor and Martha bring the two conflicting sides back together?

Verdict

Dark Planet was a great little read to continue my roundabout way through the Decide Your Destiny set of books from the Tenth Doctor era! I think this was definitely one of the better ones in the collection that I have blogged thus far and whilst I'm usually a little trepidatious prior to reading this kind of book because of the format and my awareness at not exactly being the prime target audience, this one took me by surprise in a very pleasant way! Despite my annoyance at these books utilising the reader as a character, I didn't think it hindered things this time around. The story also felt more fleshed out than others in the series and I think that could literally be felt in how many pages the book was. It didn't seem to take too much longer to get through than the others in the series, but the content on each page definitely seemed considerably more and that allowed for a more detailed story. The plot itself was fascinating and I really enjoyed the idea of a divided Earth. I am unsure if it was my chosen route or if it was just the nature of the story in being a little shorter, but I think a little more fleshing out on the Upsiders and Downsiders would have been good. What we did get was still decent and really good but I do think the concept could have been even better in a story that was able to develop more like a full novel. I definitely think the plot was there and it was cool to get to play a part. I think the writing for this one was quite clever in that the reader was never all that involved. Sure, we had to choose a random colour in the TARDIS at the start but then it felt more like we were influencing the story rather than being part of what was influenced. I have been quite critical of the role of the reader in these kinds of books, but I didn't feel like I was in the way almost here. That was a big positive. I thought it was definitely beneficial to also have Martha featured as having the companion meant that the Doctor was not always addressing the reader. He had someone else to bounce off of and that definitely helped the story in my view. Considering the title of the book, a little more playing on the fact the planet had gone dark would have been good considering it was only the Downsiders living in such a way, but the mixture of peoples meant that Earth had gone quite a way awry! I don't remember it being specified just when in Earth's future history this story took place, but I would love to explore further just how the planet came to be divided as such. The prospect of a singular child playing such an important role in events was intriguing but it worked well actually to find that there was just one who contained both an Upsider and a Downsider. An official and a rebel had a child and that youngster would play a crucial role in events as the blueprint for all of humanity. Staying separated as two separate peoples would spell disaster for both, but from this one child the race could rebuild again. The Doctor seemed to leave things to take their natural course here which was fine, although we didn't really deal with the threat from the start of the story in having the reader whisked away in the TARDIS because of what was happening back home. I do like the intention for younger readers to finish and think they're now a companion for who knows how long, but I can't help but feel like I was left hanging. And yet, that left me with a feeling of wanting more which isn't always the case with the Decide Your Destiny books! Overall, a really enjoyable and positive read! 

Rating: 8/10