Review: Snowglobe 7

The Doctor and Martha's plans to visit a sunny beach in Saudi Arabia seem to have failed when the TARDIS arrives in an icy wilderness, in Mike Tucker's Snowglobe 7. But it soon emerges that they are, in fact, exactly where they planned to be - but in 2099, by which time the area is home to a pair of large SnowGlobes, several of which were constructed worldwide to preserve the arctic environment despite global warming. And that's not the only thing that's changed in ninety years: now used to visitors from outer-space, humans now share their planet with the Flisk, and strange spider-like creatures are emerging from beneath the sheets of ice...

The most successful element of Snowglobe 7 is the world-building skill displayed by Tucker. The Earth of 2099 is tangibly different from the present day, whilst remaining suitably similar to the present day. From an early stage, the situation on Earth in general and the SnowGlobes in particular is established well, providing an intriguing and topical backdrop to the tale.

Sadly, however, some of these references to contemporaneous events aren't elaborated upon. Tucker drops in attention-grabbing mentions of natural disasters affecting large chunks of the Western world, but these events (and the humans' feelings about them) are then neglected for the remainder of the novel, which disappoints a little.

The rest of the plot isn't hugely brilliant either. After the first seventy-odd pages, I felt no engagement with the story, cared little for the characters and found my attention beginning to drift. Starting the book again from scratch, it held my attention a little better, but I still struggled to involve myself properly. Only Rabley's adventure pulled me in substantially, and that was mainly relegated to a continuing sub-plot; the main events felt a bit too derivative.

Martha's role in the story is a large one, and she gets a chance to display her medical skills properly. Apart from a few misfires (the Rose reference early on, although it made me grin, didn't seem to fit late-season Martha), she's confident and sassy, and both she and the Doctor are written well.

This is a book which has a fantastic feel to it - environments and backstory working in an extremely successful way. The plot and characters, however, fall by the wayside, and it's a shame that the fantastic premise hasn't been used to its full potential. Ultimately, SnowGlobe 7 tries really hard, but it doesn't impress.