"Doctor Who - Shining Darkness" by Mark Michalowski
This is one of the Doctor Who novels featuring the 10th Doctor (played by David Tennant) and his companion Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate). I will say this: Although entertaining, this is not one of the best Doctor Who books I have read, from either this generation of books or the previous batch put out by both BBC Books and Virgin Publishing. That being said, this author got the personality of Donna Noble down pat from the show. (It's been a few months since I read this one, but this is the only one I have with Donna as the companion.) The main plot: Donna gets accidentally kidnapped along with some items from an art gallery (that NEVER happens to any companion of the Doctor) and now it's up to the Doctor to find her.

I think the main reason that this novel does not stick out as much for me is that there are many a mechanical friend or foe already in Doctor Who - K-9, Kamelion, the Daleks, the Cybermen - and since Russel T. Davies has made virtually every Christmas special revolve around a robotic-involved menace that the Doctor has to solve every Christmas, it just gets a tad old. And now the cover of this one has what looks like a cross between a Cyberman and one of the "What Not To Wear" robots from the Christopher Eccleston season of the series? Nothing too exciting.

So even though the story didn't grab me, the characterisations of the TV characters were very well done. I would give it 3 out of 5.

 "Doctor Who - Prisoner of the Daleks" by Trevor Baxendale
This novel is one that was geared towards books and is most definitely not a TV episode story. This story takes place after Donna Noble has been dropped off back on Earth (at the end of the new Series 4) and has the Doctor travelling alone. Somehow, the Daleks have survived. ("They always survive," as the Doctor has said in a few episodes of the show.)

The character of the Doctor was perfect here - he gets trapped, he sits around waiting, and lo and behold someone shows up and frees him. Once freed, he discovers that this group are a motley crue of Dalek Hunters, who are out for revenge against the manical robots for their crimes against humanity and every other living and breathing species in the universe. Of course, nothing goes as planned and they are all captured by the Daleks. Once they realize who they have in their clutches (they never know it's the Doctor until it's too late, of course), they - again - try to capture the TARDIS. The Doctor escapes by the skin of his teeth and even manages to save a few of his new "crew", but not everyone.

This book captures the fun and excitement of a Dalek adventure without once ever hearing the metal shrilling voice out loud. Partly due to the font used to capture when the Daleks were speaking, which replaces the shrill, but also because of the nature of the story. The only constant with Doctor Who novelisations is that you are guaranteed that the Doctor (and any companions still under contract in the TV series) will not die. But that's really all you can count on. This book gets 4.5 out of 5.

 "Doctor Who - Judgement of the Judoon" by Colin Brake
Since the Judoon first showed up at the start or Series 3, they've been a species cloaked in mystery. We have learned that they work for the Shadow Proclamation (first mentioned in the episode "Rose" of Series 1) and then had their role as intergalatic police elaborated upon in the final episodes of Series 4 when the Doctor and Donna visited the Shadow Proclamation. Although fearsome looking creatures (Sontaran-like armour but the creatures are more rhinocerous looking than anything), their goal is ultimately that of justice. And this book gives the characters a whole new dynamic.

The Judoon are militant in nature, where the ends justify the means (even if it means killing innocents for the sake of capturing the guilty). You see those type of Judoon in this book. But then you also see Judoon with a sense of humour.... kind of. These Judoon are learning the nature of subtlety, of cooperation, and of working in a team, but they also get the chance to use their rhino-like horns when needed (sheer initmidation always works).

Ranking: 4 out of 5