👍🏼(7.60) = GOOD!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

Jacqueline Rayner's second New Series Adventures novel, which follows Winner Takes All, begins with a sense of mystery surrounding a missing person, and it appears to lack any sci-fi elements. But a third of the way in, we learn about humans turned into statues and a time-displaced woman from the 24th century.

Rayner has a competent grasp on Rose, Jackie, and Mickey, who all act and sound like we expect them to. Her 10th Doctor touches upon some of Tennant’s mannerisms but isn’t quite there yet. He exudes a clownish and overly cheerful demeanour at all times, in my opinion. It's a better novel debut for Ten than The Clockwise Man's debut for Nine.

While Rose is out of action for a good chunk of the first half, the second half puts her front and centre as she has to save the Doctor and the day. This cleverly puts the book's strongest character front and centre.

Rayner also writes intriguing supporting characters, such as the premonitious slave girl Vanessa and the mysteriously eccentric sculptor Ursus. She initially paints Ursus as a potential human villain before we learn that he's simply a pawn, and the real baddie is a genetically engineered AI genie thing that grants anyone's wishes.

I love how GENIE has a quirky personality and isn't actually evil or mad, but rather simply fulfils its function of granting wishes—wishes that must be extremely specific to prevent complete failure. It’s essentially a form of A.I., joining the fray of insane computers that pop up all over the franchise. It also feels very relevant in this day and age, when AI is cleverer than ever before.

The Stone Rose features a compelling setting in the Roman Empire in 120 AD. The novel explores some of the customs of the time, which is interesting. The Colosseum sequence is a highlight.

The overwhelmingly lighthearted tone does strike me as a bit childish at times, especially when compared to Winner Takes All, and I don't find all of the dialogue suitable for the people of the era.

I like that we return to the present in the middle, where Ten and Mickey discuss their relationship with Rose.

The second half takes some surprising turns—it goes timey-wimey, introduces GENIE in the guise of a goddess, and gives the novel new and heightened stakes. Here we also get a classic role reversal, as Vanessa turns to stone and the Doctor disappears, leaving Rose to fend for herself.

The final stretch does get very GENIE-centric and gets entangled in the complicated web of timey-wimeyness and paradoxes, making it a bit heavy-handed. The optimistic ending is enjoyable, though.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• Is this the first time we learn about Rose’s middle name? I didn’t know she was Rose Marion Tyler!
• I love how the little mention of Moomins alludes to Finland! I find it rather amusing that they are rumoured to have attempted to invade the Earth at some point, or perhaps just Finland. That's a story I'd want to see!