There's a lot I like about this book. The characterisation of the main team is spot-on, the jokes mostly land, the plot is fast-paced and generally interesting.

There's also a lot I feel falls flat, and some things I actively dislike. I don't think those things overshadow the good parts, but they definitely make this novel less good than it could have been.

Starting with the elephant in the room: James. The way he's introduced made me think he might have actually been introduced in the previous book, which I had skipped, but that isn't something that is usually done with tie-in novels, so I knew it had to be an Adam situation. Unfortunately, that means I was comparing it to an infinitely superior story, which didn't do this book any favours. I don't hate James. I think he's a generally fun and enjoyable character. I don't think he really fits with Torchwood, however. He's a bit too...normal, for lack of a better word. Plain, maybe. The average protagonist, which works for getting the reader to like him, but doesn't really work to entrench him in the story, at least for me.

I'm not big on Gwen in this. While the other characters mostly get good moments that fit with the way they are in the main show, Gwen just gets a rehash of her cheating arc. It is done better here than in the show, but I really wish they didn't make her a serial cheater; I just don't think it works with her character, and it reeks of misogyny. They could have done literally anything else with her.

Then there's the plot. I really like the concept of the salesman; that kind of low-stakes story is one Torchwood does really well. I also liked the giant robot and Taff Jones; it had a lot of heart, made me feel things (I'm so glad the cat was okay), and the action scenes were expertly done. But both of those in the same book, neither of which contributed to the main plot? And what was with the house, and the Amok, and the weird bit of time travel? It was all enjoyable enough while I was reading, but once I reached the end of the book and all those threads were left dangling, I was just left disappointed. A single book doesn't have the right format to mimic multiple episodes of a show, which I feel is what was attempted here.

The ending, in general, was a bit lackluster. It was all over very quickly, with what I felt was a pretty poor explanation, and basically no time to marinate in it. Maybe one of those random side-quests could have been cut to give the main story a bit more time to breathe.

An interesting insight into the comings and goings of the hub.

Throughout the story the Torchwood team have to deal with five or six different completely disconnected threats, almost making this story feel a little like an anthology looking back on it rather than a single novel.

There is, of course, something linking everything together, a strange character named 'James', a member of Torchwood who's apparently been here since the beginning, but obviously seeing the TV show, has never appeared otherwise. The parallels with the TV Episode 'Adam' are obvious, and unfortunately it's a comparison that doesn't exactly help Border Princes.

That's definitely not to say this is a bad story, the threats they have to face are all interesting in their own unique ways, all things I could see full episodes about, fleshing them all out a little more, they range from the planet-ending to the mostly harmless, and the way they're all shown here along side each other does a great job of being a 'Torchwood Variety Pack' of sorts. All sides of what Torchwood faces here are showcased, with everything just being 'another day in the office', nothing given much more focus than the others (apart from James of course), unlike the TV show where End of the World scenarios are saved for big finales..

Another thing I want to talk about here is the characterisation. Tosh and Ianto don't get much to do (though I do like the sense of comraderie that we get of the whole team's interactions), and while Owen doesn't get too much, he's done really solidly, especially his interactions with James. Jack has some great moments with Gwen, his frustration towards the team not doing as well as they could is an interesting character beat, and his apology to Gwen about it later in the story makes it just work for me. James is an interesting case, there's a lot of time dedicated to him, and I'm not sure quite how I feel about it. It's interesting to see from his eyes, but I feel that time could have been used for the rest of the team rather than this character that's exclusive to a single story, and then there's Gwen... This is very much Torchwood Season One Gwen, cheating on Rhys with James right from the start and it's not a great look for that to be the aspect of her character that's given the most attention. That said, I think it's done here a lot better than the show, she uses it to reflect on her relationship with Rhys, and very nearly breaks up with him for Rhys, something I don't think Season One Gwen would have done at all. As already mentioned too, her interactions with the rest of the team, especially her conflicts with Jack, are done really well, it's just a shame that's not the main way she's shown here.

It’s been a long time since I read a Torchwood novel and, in fact, I’ve only read one – Another Life. Border Princes was part of the same original release of three novels including Another Life and a third one, Slow Decay.

Set in the early days of Torchwood, the full team are present but confusingly, this team includes an agent called James.

Everyone seems extremely settled with James as a team member – Gwen is even having an affair with him. James is not written as a new member but as someone with history within the group. He has clearly defined character traits, such as referring to everything by catchphrases and idioms – Captain Analogy as they call him. As the story progresses, the rest of the team start to notice anomalies involving James such as superheroic strength and, as a reader who knows the Torchwood team, I was constantly looking for clues that everything wasn’t quite right. What’s strange is that, I was expecting those hints to appear long before they eventually do in the story. For a good half of the book, James is written as a long-standing member of the team with the hints of strangeness being about his abilities which, for the team who think they ‘know’ him also come across as strange. It is written in the same way Owen or Tosh suddenly exhibiting ‘powers’ would be written. It’s all rather discombobulating – but engaging at the same time.

Unfortunately, it is also highly reminiscent of the TV episode Adam, which was broadcast the year after this book was published. That, likewise, had a team member suddenly appear in the base and have everyone behave as if they had always been there. The parallels are strong – and it seems odd the book was commissioned so close to the TV episode so a lack of communication seems to have occurred between the book and TV production teams.

One thing I found a little strange about this book is that there are a number of different situations that Torchwood seem to be dealing with. The novel opens with them tackling the Amok. A strange man called Mr Dine is in Cardiff eating Indian food and protecting someone or something. A double glazing salesman is using alien technology to manipulate people into buying windows they don’t need and an old man has a killer robot in his shed. Only Mr Dine eventually ties into the main plot revolving around James – and even that, as a plot, is hidden in the background behind the double glazing salesman, Amok and robot storylines which dominate the first half of the book. It’s a little odd as both those plots just sort of stop partway through when the focus shifts on to James. I suppose it is how James behaves in those situations – it is where he shows his superpowers that begin to make the team suspicious – that is the reason for their presence but they just seemed to be resolved so suddenly (particularly the double glazing salesman) that I wondered why had invested any time in them. There’s also a really odd bit where the team gets separated across time which, again, doesn’t really go anywhere in terms of the main plot and gets resolved rather cursorily.

Consequently, there are too many disparate parts to this story for it to feel ‘whole’. The revelation that James is, basically, royalty from another world that’s fallen through the Rift isn’t massively original and, for me ended what had been a quite enjoyable book on a bit of a damp squib.

That said, the multitude of threats does keep the book pacey and engaging – it’s just a shame they don’t really tie into each other in the way I would have expected them too.

The author is Dan Abnett, more familiar to me as the writer behind some classic DWM comic strips such as The Mark of Mandragora and the Sontaran origin story, Pureblood. His handling of the regular Torchwood team is excellent, especially Gwen. James is immediately likeable and integral to the team which is a clever piece of writing on his part. I almost began to feel like I, myself, had forgotten that James had been in the TV series as he seems to fit so well into the dynamics already present, particularly in the early days of the show when Ianto was very much the ‘tea boy’ stuck back and base, Owen had the murky ethics and Gwen was trying to figure out how to deal with this strange new world she had been thrown into. With Jack deep into his enigmatic schtick its possible only Tosh who doesn’t really come to the fore and feels a little bit surplus to requirements.

There is some effective imagery throughout the book which is wriiten evocatively so, whilst I may have ended up a little unsatisfied with how the plot developed, I was always entertained. There is a particularly effective ‘battle with an alien robot’ sequence which can be tricky to write in prose.

A fun, pacey read.