It’s been a few years since I’ve seen the tv story this book is adapting, but I remember enjoying it at the time. It would seem that I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons though. Without the silly 60s designs and over the top acting this story is rather dull.

I don’t mean that it’s bad, per-say, or that I was bored reading it, but it’s very Who by the numbers, isn’t? On paper it becomes very clear that this was supposed to be a Daleks (serial not monster) reboot.
The Quarks are discount Daleks (monster not serial); lacking in both personality and menace
The Dulcians are just even more boring Thals
The story is located in a barren land destroyed by nuclear war
The only thing new here is the Dominators, and they’re one dimensional, ineffective villains that would rather argue more amongst themselves then do, well anything really. They’re only a threat because the Dulcians are just that pathetic.

The only thing that makes this story interesting is the regulars. The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are such well defined characters that they make any scene shine… yet their true strength lies in the great actors playing them and this aspect is of course lost on the page. They’re still entertaining but not quite as much as they are on the screen.

And that’s pretty much my assessment of the novelization as a whole. It’s a passable adaptation, but the original story is better. Not because of any failure on the author’s behalf, but because the change in medium takes so much away from the story.