Mann, George
About the Author:
George Mann lives near Grantham, UK, with his wife and children.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3.4 out of 5
(10 books)
TOP PICK:
Doctor Who: Engines Of War
Doctor Who: Engines Of War
An original story featuring the War Doctor (as played by John Hurt) and set late in the last Great Time War. Weary and embittered from fighting the Daleks across time, the Doctor finds himself on the planet Moldox where he reluctantly befriends a young human woman called Cinder. Together they discover that the Daleks are developing a terrible weapon but soon also find themselves at odds with the Time Lords as well.
In the space of one memorable episode, John Hurt jumped to the top of my list of favourite Doctors, perfectly balancing the old and irrascible characteristics with the sense of humour and childlike glee. I was therefore very pleased to see a novel starring this particular version of the Doctor, set amid the legendary conflict which makes up the (mostly) unseen backdrop to the stories of the Ecclestone, Tennant, Smith and Capaldi Doctors. Here we see the Doctor travelling alone and reluctant to use that name, with the weight of centuries of conflict weighing upon his soul. However, the introduction of the Dalek-hunter Cinder rekindles some of the Doctor's older personality traits and through her eyes we get tantalising glimpses of the true nature of the Doctor.
What I liked most about this book was just how steeped in the lore of Doctor Who it is. On top of telling its own story, it also goes to some length to serve as a sequel to the classic anniversary special 'The Five Doctors' (as novellised by Terrance Dicks), returning us to Gallifrey's Death Zone and revealing the fate of former President Borusa. As well as this, we also get some explanation about how and why the long-dead Time Lord Rassilon is back in charge of Gallifrey (as seen on the TV show where he was played by Timothy Dalton) and the way in which it is his influence which has led the Time Lords astray.
There's plenty of action here, but for me it was the scenes where the Doctor's sense of humour shines through his otherwise grumpy exterior that made for the most satisfying reading. Perhaps the best of this is where he is captured by the Daleks and marched in front of a group of abnormally intelligent Daleks called the Eternity Circle. His first response to his impending doom is to point out that they don't actually form a circle.
Sadly, the ending of the book is a little rushed and feels incomplete, although the latter is due to the fact that it leads directly into the events of 'Day of the Doctor'. However, I'd happily read more adventures featuring the War Doctor but, for now at least, there are No More.
4 out of 5
Doctor Who: Paradox Lost
An Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) adventure featuring his companions Amy and Rory. The TARDIS is pulled off course and lands in London in the year 2789. There the Doctor learns that a parasitic extra-dimensional race called the Squall have begun invading London in 1910. He sets off to confront the Squall whilst Amy and Rory try to put a stop to the dangerous time travel experiment which caused the invasion in the first place.
Whilst it could be said that this isn't a particularly innovative Who novel, I have to say that it is a very solid Who story. This is the sort of story which would've played out very well onscreen and makes for a perfectly enjoyable adventure for the TARDIS travellers in prose format. The three main characters are portrayed perfectly (and kudos to Mann for not just making Rory the third wheel, like some authors have) and we're introduced to some interesting new characters in Professor Angelchrist and Arven, both of whom you genuinely develop an affection for despite them being one-time appearances. Mann also does a solid job of building the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey paradoxical nature of time travel into his plots in a way that would earn Steven Moffat's approval.
Honestly, the only negative thing in this otherwise enjoyable book is the Squall themselves. Their description is entirely generic (they're basically like gargoyles), their motivation is fairly uninspired and the detail of their invasion is so similar to ideas that have appeared before that even the Doctor himself comments on it, noting the time he drove a double-decker bus through a rift in space to foil an invasion of locus-like proportions (see David Tennant's episode 'Planet of the Dead').
4 out of 5
Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Vol. 1 - A Matter Of Life And Death
(Art by Emma Vieceli)
Here the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) visits a house he owns in Wales, only to discover a young woman living there who seemingly can bring paintings to life. He and this Josie are then whisked off on a series of adventures which will ultimately reveal just how their paths came to cross in the first place.
I love Paul McGann's incarnation of the Doctor and he absolutely delivered a compelling version of the character with surprisingly little screen time. It's therefore pretty disappointing that this graphic novel adventure fails to do that incarnation justice. McGann's easy charm just totally fails to manifest in this book and I couldn't honestly say that the Eighth Doctor here felt particularly distinct.
On top of that, instead of having a single coherent narrative, we get five separate mini-adventures, none of which really has enough time to develop any depth before we're on to the next one. There is a connecting theme of recognising sentience in beings who are very different, but it's not very convincingly strung together and doesn't cover any ground that hasn't been done a million times before in various science fiction stories (including some Who ones).
Overall this was a very disappointing book for me, even if it was slightly elevated by a surprising role for the Twelfth Doctor (my favourite).
2 out of 5
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor - Ghost Stories
(Art by Ivan Rodriguez, Pasquale Qualano and Dennis Calero)
This graphic novel sees the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) being reunited with old friends in the form of Grant AKA superhero The Ghost, sharp-minded New York reporter Lucy and their daughter Jennifer. To save the universe the Doctor enlists Grant's help to track down the sibling gemstone of the one which gives him his superpowers, travelling across time and space to do so.
I know a lot of Who fans didn't like the Christmas Special 'The Return of Doctor Mysterio', but personally I've always rather enjoyed it. It's clearly Steven Moffat's homage to the superhero movies and TV shows which were at their height at the time, whilst throwing in a bit of meta humour thanks to dropping Capaldi's often-caustic Doctor into the mix (plus Nardole's great, but that goes without saying). So, I was pleased to revisit the premise of mixing Doctor Who with a superhero story, as well as revisiting these characters in particular.
The result absolutely feels like a superhero comic, complete with supervillains whose powers can match Grant's, and the Doctor's relationships with Grant and Lucy remain compelling.
Unfortunately, because of the episodic nature of the story being told and the very short nature of those episodes, the book as a whole doesn't hang together too convincingly, feeling a bit patchwork. For example, the return of the Sycorax could've been a uniting theme across the book but instead they simply turn up in the last quarter and a written out almost as quickly. It's not that this is bad book by any measure, it's simply that I felt that, with these ingredients, it should've been better.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories - Qui-Gon
(Art by Andrea Mutti and Gigi Baldassini)
Sometime before 'The Phantom Menace', Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan answer a distress signal from a group of archaeologists aboard an ancient derelict spaceship. The two Jedi discover clues of a link to the Brotherhood of the Ninth Door, a dark side sect, which causes Qui-Gon to recall the times he encountered the Brotherhood before, both as the Padawan of Jedi Master Dooku and then, later, as a fully-fledged Jedi Knight.
In all honesty, I wasn't expecting much from this book on the basis that the recent Star Wars all-ages comics (both from Dark Horse and from IDW) have all been fairly fluffy and pointless. However, Mann's love of spooky lore comes to the fore and instead we get an enjoyable haunted-house vibe to the story, as well exploring a bit about some dark siders first introduced in the High Republic comics.
As well as doing a convincing job of showing us the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, we also get a nice bit of exploration of the subtly different relationship that Qui-Gon had with Dooku, whose urgent need to find a dark side artifact shows a dangerous fascination that acts as some, thankfully, subtle foreshadowing. Weirdly, in recent years (evil) Disney have tried to alter Qui-Gon's personality to one of a sedentary character who doesn't want to get involved and instead would rather study the prophecy of the Chosen One (see Claudia Gray's 'Master and Apprentice' or Kiersten White's 'Padawan'), but this iteration feels much more like the familiar Qui-Gon, whose connection to the Living Force very much makes him a 'get involved and help' sort of Jedi.
The one significant criticism I would make of this book is that the art is not very good at all. There's some good stuff done with colours (by Vladimir Popov) to add atmosphere but the line work is very lacklustre and speaks of Dark Horse only being willing to put their B-team artists on these all-ages books.
4 out of 5
Star Wars Insider: The High Republic - Tales Of Enlightenment
382 - 377 BBY. A collection of five short stories culled from the pages of Star Wars Insider magazine, as well as a bonus epilogue story. Set amid Phase II of the High Republic publishing programme, these stories centre on Enlightenment, a bar in the Holy City of Jedha, and the patrons therein. Encompassing the tensions with the Path of the Open Hand, the Battle of Jedha and its aftermath, we follow a core group bound together by friendship.
The second Phase of the High Republic (which is a prequel, because some idiot thought it would be clever to tell the story out of order like the so-called Skywalker Saga movies) is far more interesting than the setting of Phase I and that's one of the reasons that this book is superior to it's predecessor 'Starlight Stories' (reviewed here). The other main reason is that these stories simply have more heart than those set amid Phase I. The bar Enlightenment has that same feel of camaraderie and found family as Cheers, proving that even in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.
I also liked that the stories here didn't necessarily take a side in the core conflicts of the Phase II overarching story. We get a tale from the point of view of the Path of the Open Hand, get an uneasy truce between two soldiers of Eiram and E'ronoh, and get to see other Force traditions represented than just the Jedi. It gives a broader feel to the narrative than perhaps would otherwise have been the case.
Unfortunately, I have to mark the book down a bit for the simple fact that paying £15 (UK cover price) for six short stories is exorbitant. There's a bunch of bonus interviews and articles about the High Republic, but they held no interest for me. I came here for fiction and was disappointed by the balance between cost and content.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures (Phase III) - Echoes Of Fear
(Art by Vincenzo Federici, Vincenzo Riccardi, Juan Samu and Giorgia Sposito)
228 BBY. Jedi Knight Reath Silas and Padawan Amadeo Azzazzo scour the Jedi Archives for information about the artifacts that could help the Jedi defeat the Nameless; the Rod of Ages and the Echo Stones. After uncovering vital information, they and Master Cohmac Vitus set off to recover the Rod.
George Mann has written several in-universe books about the myths and legends of the Star Wars galaxy and he uses that experience to good effect here, with Reath and Amadeo uncovering various legends about the Echo Stones. The highpoint of this for me is where we learn the legend of Sith Lord Darth Ravi, since the High Republic has tried all too hard to never mention the Sith and I feel like that's been to its detriment. On top of that, we also get a couple of flashback tales set amid the timeframe of the High Republic's Phase II, as well, and I was particularly glad to see the return of the Pathfinders.
Unfortunately, this book somewhat fails to stick the landing. Reath, Amadeo and Cohmac's mission to Varovia plays out very predictably and, honestly, felt like something of a let down after the intrigue and moral ambiguity of the flashback stories featured here.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic - Quest For The Hidden City
382 BBY. Part of Wave One of Phase Two of The High Republic, set one hundred and fifty years before the events of Phase One. The Republic is just beginning to expand its influence in the Outer Rim, using Jedi-led teams of Pathfinders to explore and offer aid where necessary. When a team of Pathfinders mysteriously goes missing, a second team, led by Jedi Master Silandra Sho and Padawan Rooper Nitani are sent to investigate.
The real-world structure of the High Republic publishing programme is baffling, with Phase One being a jumbled mess and Phase Two bizarrely being set a century and a half earlier. There was very little continuity and coherence to Phase One and the backwards time jump means that the same is true of its relationship to Phase Two. However, in this book's specific case, those things are an advantage here.
Because this book isn't beholden to pre-established characters or being forced to link to a set event like the Great Disaster or the Republic Fair, what we get instead is a stand-alone story of a Jedi-led team travelling to a mysterious planet and conducting an investigation. It feels like a very long time since we've had a Star Wars book with a cast of characters small enough to get used to, tackling a problem localised enough that it can be properly explored in just one book. In short, this book represents what I'd hoped The High Republic would be but which it had, so far, failed to be.
Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say this was a brilliant book, but it is a solid and enjoyable one, which stands on its own merits and features protagonists and antagonists who you can actually get invested in. It's also worth pointing out that the quality of writing here is also far higher than any of the previous High Republic 'younger reader' books, so don't be quick to dismiss it over its intended age audience.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic - The Eye Of Darkness
The first adult novel of the High Republic Phase 3, set 229 BBY. In the year following the fall of Starlight Beacon, the Nihil have carved out an empire for themselves, establishing the Stormwall, which prevents ships travelling through hyperspace and had totally cut off the so-called Occlusion Zone. As a handful of Jedi attempt to evade the Nihil's Jedi-hunters within the Occulsion Zone, the Republic and the Jedi Order seek a way to breach the Stormwall and liberate the billions of people trapped within it.
This is probably the best-written adult novel of the entire High Republic publishing initiative in that it feels like it tells a self-contained story from start to finish. That's not to say that the High Republic story is in any way finished, but the ideas and concepts introduced in this book all feel like they get developed across its length and then have some sort of pay-off at the end of the book. It's something that has been sadly lacking in the HR books up to this point. They've all tried so hard to be part of the interconnected publishing project that it often felt like the authors forgot that they also have to tell a satisfying story in each instalment.
My problem with this book, however, is that I still just don't buy the Nihil as antagonists. The idea that this moronic group of chaotic pirates have defeated the Jedi and the Republic just doesn't feel earned. Marchion Ro is probably the worst example of this in that, for me at least, he lacks an air of either menace or cunning, making him something of a damp squib as an arch villain. We keep getting told that he's scary and clever, but I don't think there's actually been anything to justify that viewpoint. Here Mann does mitigate the problem with the Nihil somewhat by showing that, despite the fact that they've won so far, they are actually incapable of sustaining control due to their chaotic nature.
So, overall I thought this was a good book but I didn't enjoy reading it as much as I'd hoped to due to the lack of compelling 'baddies'. A move in the right direction though after the fairly bland books of Phase 1.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic - The Nameless Terror
(Art by Eduardo Mello and Ornella Savarese)
Whilst en route to another monster hunt, former Jedi Ty Yorrick relates the tale of how, more than a century earlier, a group of Jedi and Pathfinders crashed on a remote world and were confronted by the Nameless, terrible creatures which feed on the Living Force itself.
The framing story of this book takes place amid the events of Phase 1, but the meat of the story takes place in Phase 2, which is confusingly set 150 years earlier (the High Republic publishing programme is a mess). Unfortunately, that framing story proves this book's biggest drawback, having no actual plot of its own and leaning a bit too far into the 'all ages' target audience with it's distinctly unfunny banter between Ty and her droid.
The main story, with the Jedi, their Pathfinder allies and members of the Path of the Open Hand (well, 'Closed Fist' by this point) is much better. We get to see the Jedi standing up for their principles despite the bone-deep horror that the Nameless instil in them, we get to see the Pathfinders expressing why they're so loyal to their Jedi colleagues and we also get to see the deep-seating hatred that members of the Path have for the Jedi Order, even when the Jedi are trying to save them.
The problem is that because this is an 'all ages' graphic novel, the horror that the Nameless represent is somewhat muted and I feel like this was the wrong storytelling medium/target audience for this particular tale. On top of that is the fact that it feel like a bit of a plot hole to have several Jedi directly confront the Nameless and yet for the creatures to still be a total surprise to the Jedi Order when the Nihil start using them back/forward in Phase 1.
3 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Doctor Who: Supremacy Of The Cybermen (here)
Doctor Who: Tales Of Trenzalore (here)
Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension - Book One (here)
Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension - Book Two (here)
Doctor Who: The Target Storybook (here)
Star Wars Adventures: Defend The Republic! (here)
Star Wars: The High Republic - Tales Of Light And Life (here)