SHADA: THE LOST ADVENTURE BY DOUGLAS ADAMS (by Gareth Roberts)
In the 1970s, Douglas Adams wrote a Doctor Who adventure called “Shada” which was partially filmed (with the iconic Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker) but never finished. Doctor Who screen writer Gareth Roberts has turned Douglas Adams’ incomplete story into a fast-paced and humorous Sci-Fi novel.
The Doctor and his current traveling companion (and fellow Time Lord) Romana arrive in Cambridge to respond to a call for help from a retired Time Lord who has been posing as a Cambridge professor. They discover that the professor has been keeping a stolen—and very powerful–Gallifreyan book in his study and has recently misplaced it, much to the Doctor’s distress. The professor remembers that a student named Chris Parsons came and borrowed a book that afternoon, so the Doctor sets out to find him and the potentially dangerous “Artefact.” Meanwhile, Skagra, an evil genius with mind-stealing technology, has also arrived in Cambridge with his sights set on the very same book.
Gareth Roberts does an excellent job of writing in the style of Douglas Adams. Using much of Adams’ original dialogue and ideas, Roberts expands and completes the story of Shada in a novel that is as humorous and exciting as a Doctor Who adventure should be. I highly recommend this novel to Douglas Adams fans, Doctor Who fans, or general Sci-Fi lovers (although if you actively dislike Doctor Who and/or Douglas Adams, this is not the book for you).
Susan the Librarian 