Doctor Who: New Series Adventures: Quick Reads - I Am A Dalek Review

Our first pit stop!

Quick Reads was a brand made by the BBC, and sponsored by our own British Government, to help kids across the country to read and encourage them to continue doing so.

That tells me two things about this book before I even read it:

Big font size and low page count...

Low and behold we have 104 pages worth of story with each letter being a font size that you could’ve sworn this was an alphabet book.

So what does that mean for my critique of this book?

Well this is written by Gareth Roberts who was the author of Only Human, a story I liked. It dealt with some mature themes in a fun way but the key word that is mature.

This isn’t a book meant for me or for fans of Only Human. This is a book aimed at middle grade students and bellow.

I’m a nearly 23 year old man reading this and giving it my personal critique.

In other words; I’ll judge this in line with my personal tastes but make acknowledgements as I go.

With that being said how is it?

It’s fine. It’s clear that hiring Gareth Roberts was a safe option due to how many people liked Only Human but there’s a clear glass half empty vibe here.

This feels like a subplot from another book turned into the main story and that kind of lessens my interest in what’s going on.

Sure there’s a Dalek and the Doctor and Rose run about some bit but that’s it.

The plot itself feels like the inspiration for the larger story Daleks In Manhattan and Evolution Of The Daleks but that should speak for how this story’s potential was treated. If it was seen as such a big and cool idea that it was later made into a two parter... well... that should tell you how under-baked this story actually is.

It’s to the point where the Dalek feels like it’s dealt with merely half and hour after entering the story.

What doesn’t help is how much of Roberts’ writing is in the style of Only Human meaning that certain sentences or themes feel a bit too mature for a kid to read. Does that just mean this is a short Young Adult novel then? Pretty much yeah.

There’s nothing really wrong about this story rather than just the concept of it being a Quick Reads book. I can imagine something really fun happening here if it was something bigger but that’s not the point.

So what’s my verdict then?

I mean, I didn’t feel like I wasted my time reading it but that doesn’t mean I’d recommend giving this a read either.

It’s a cool quarter of a larger story that never happened I guess.

7/10