Story: The lost island of Salatua. Cloaked in a veil of alien technology. The hiding place of an alien thief. A giant made of stone.
For 50 years he has remained hidden, but his self-induced exile ends in 1936, when an expedition to this mysterious place makes landfall. Most of the people on board believe that they are scouting for movie locations, yet others have ulterior motives. Greed. Retribution. And justice.
40 years later. A piece of strange ceramic is found in a shark’s stomach. It is brought to UNIT HQ and given to the eccentric Scientific Advisor to examine. Using bits of equipment from his TARDIS (like the dementedly huge Time Space Visualizer last seen in The Chase) he manages to rig up a sort of time bridge to the point of origin of this ceramic shard. Uncontrollable curiosity, and the need to make the book longer than 30 pages, sees the Doctor and Liz shaw step through the time portal, and onto the lost island of Salatua, 40 years in the past!
Review: The island itself holds many more secrets than just an alien thief. Giant crabs. Giant ants. Giant holes in the plot. And yet the “giant” in question is probably only 30 feet high…so, I guess he’s a dwarf giant? So, what exactly is this creature hiding? And why are certain people wanting to ressurect him by dumping him in lava?
Anyway, if you decide to suspend your disbelief long enough to get through this book, you won’t find it too bad. I was just waiting for the Alien protagonist to take over the world using the internet, or to find Vincent Price hiding in a cave. But thank God that didn’t happen! That’s why it gets an 8 out of 10.
Year: 1996
Author: Christopher Bulis
Publisher: Virgin
