Class: Joyride (Class, 2)

I like this, but its messed-up in places.Imagine someone hijacking your body, going for a 'joyride' and wreaking all manner of havoc in it? Enough said.highly recommended.

The main strength of ‘Joyride’ is the interesting premise the plot is based around. It taps into the frustrations of the modern world and the search for escapism. Having a story where humans are misusing lost alien technology for personal gain also avoids the most obvious storyline with the setup of ‘Class’, that of having to avert the threat of aliens that have just arrived through the rift.Although a thought-provoking concept the novel doesn’t explore it and its connotations as much as it might, particularly at a psychological or philosophical level. There is some content about the nature of greed but little is actually revealed in any depth about the motivations or desires of Fletcher’s ‘customers’. There isn’t much of an exploration into why a person would chose to do this, what it might do to them or how they might feel afterwards. But then Fletcher’s customers are generally classified as the book’s villains and we only really see one of them partially regret what he has done and suffer for it.Part of this is due to the overall pacing of the book. It is written in such a way as to feel like it is relentlessly pumping forward. This works well in that it creates a sense of continuous action which reflects the nature of the title. However, the writing is a bit too abrupt in style throughout. There is the continual use of very short sentences which at their best are quite punchy and help create an atmosphere of panicked tension. Sometimes though it all feels a bit too rushed and at the expense of attention to detail.The characters all lack any great development. Those from the programme are generally little more than superficial constructs of their onscreen counterparts. Only the portrayal of Ram, who has a much larger role than the others, is given any depth or offers anything, perhaps, not seen onscreen. However, the characterisation of Quill is quite good.Fletcher and his associate Steve have some depth to them but most of the other characters that appear are a little two dimensional. Meanwhile the aliens are only really there to serve as the plot function of setting up the situation in a plausible way.Overall, even though it lacks a bit of depth, it is a fairly exciting read that fits in relatively well with the nature of the programme.

Set after the second episode of the first season, this first book in the set of three begins expanding on the character's while taking care not to take them too far that they will still fit into the rest of the TV series for anyone who is not going to be picking up this trilogy of accompanying novels. A tricky balancing act which I'm sure all three writers found constraining on some level as they set out to produce a rounded story, while not overstepping the mark by spoiling too much for the show itself.I will say from the off that I am nowhere near the demographic the show is aimed at, or indeed these books,even though I am a life long Who fan, I am 20+ years past the age range the material is meant to be grabbing. However, I enjoyed the series a great deal, and this first novel has been more or less a hit with me too, although I think my teenaged self would have been more gripped by it than I was. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the majority of it; the mystery is multilayered, with a variety of characters whom are well fleshed out, it is in turn gruesome, disturbing, heroic and funny - much like it's onscreen counterpart - albeit with some slightly jarring pacing in the first third, or so, of its pages. The whole scenario is wrapped up with much humour, which although is a tad cliche in some respects still manages to pull it off in a completely satisfying manner.

Having watched the series on television I had high hopes for the tie in novels. Joyride was the first of the three I read and I was very disappointed. Although reading the book was very easy, the story itself left a great deal to be desired. So much so that I don't even recall what the story was about! So much more could have been written about the main characters, building on their association with aliens and there was no reference made to the past of Coal Hill School which Doctor Who fans will know this was where Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright taught Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter way back in 1963. Hopefully the other two books will be an improvement.

I picked the tie-in novels up for Class before the series had even aired, because I'm a sucker for a decent teen drama. This novel reads like a decent episode of the series - it pretty much gets the characters spot on, giving them all moments to shine, and has moments that make it definitively "edgy young adult" rather than child-friendly. Chronologically, it explicitly takes place almost immediately after Episode 2 of the series (references to the events of the episode, but Ram is not yet a member of 'the group').

cracking story, brilliantly told.This is my first Guy Adams book, but will keep an eye out for his stuff - I really like the way he writes!