Kat's Reviews > Doctor Who: Winner Takes All

*CAUTION! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!*

The Doctor and Rose are back in London, but there's something strange going on. People are winning consoles for a new video game and other are getting scratch-off tickets giving them a free holiday...only they aren't coming back. Instead, they are transported to another world to become living avatars in a game created by aliens to infiltrate an enemy stronghold. This people are controlled by unsuspecting humans playing the game through the consoles back on Earth.

The basic plot idea of a video game turning out to be real isn't new, but the execution is still really enjoyable. Rose is especially good in this book, being very resourceful in a pinch, but also reacting in a very natural way to adversity and challenges. The Doctor shows his more human side with a boy named Robert who was kidnapped, but also shows his more alien side when he doesn't react with sympathy or concern when Rose's mom is hospitalized. There's also an especially poignant moment when Rose is put into the game and the Doctor is forced to control her. When he starts making modifications to the controls to increase Rose's efficiency in the game, he gets really upset, realizing that this entire scenario of controlling other people is wrong, that what he is doing to Rose is wrong...and yet he has no choice because without a controller, the aliens will kill her and everyone else in the game.

3.5 stars because the part with Mickey recruiting other folks to help the Doctor free people from this game was rather shaky, more a matter of plot convenience rather than being convincing. Also, there isn't a moment at the end of story when Rose and the Doctor talk about or acknowledge in any way the moral implications of the Doctor taking control of Rose...even though it was part of the video game and done to save her life and the lives of others. I thought that should have been touched upon. But despite these problems, I still really enjoyed the book.