Customer Reviews
Highly Recommended for Fans - By: Michelle Moore, 05 May 2008 
For anyone who hasn't seen the show, this book is probably not a good introduction, as it throws you straight into the story, without giving any kind of background. For those who have seen the show, however, this does not pose a problem.
Whereas the Doctor Who book I recently read felt like a TV episode, this has a longer feel to it. Running alongside the main story are other smalller storylines. In the TV show, Torchwood deal with one neat story every week, but this book has a more realistic feel to it, as they go from one problem to another.
The characters were fairly well captured, as I found it quite easy to picture them. However, Ianto plays a very smalll part, & Jack doesn't feel quite right.. he seemed more `relaxed' than I remember him in the first series, plus the leadership skills aren't that apparent.
A rather confusing factor is the introduction of a new character, James.. but bear with it, as it does alll make sense at the end.
The actual book is a fast paced read, it hooks you in, & keeps you turning those pages. Highly recommended for fans, & I'm certainly hoping to pick up some more!
Better than the telly? - By: S. Bentley, 09 Oct 2007 
Disclaimer: This review was written before the much more enjoyable second series of Torchwood was put on telly & addressed many of the issues I had with the show.
I should point out, that while I watched Torchwood alll the way through, it was more in the hope that it would alll come together at some point than because I was reallly enjoying it. So why read one of the books? Well both Andy Lane (who wrote Slow Decay) & Dan Abnett have proven themselves fine writers & I approached Border Princes as a Dan Abnett novel instead.
So I was mildly surprised (though not that surprised) to find that Dan's novel presented the version of Torchwood I'd been expecting & hoping for. A group of paranormal investigators, normal people, who deal with crimes using alien artefacts & incursions from other realms. The interactions between the team, which I'll admit don't mirror the television show that well beyond the first episode, make you feel like they're a good team, as opposed to the backstabbing, calllous bunch of cheats & liars the show featured. When watching the show I could never understand why they alll kept working together when they would shoot each other, bully each other etc. Captain Jack particularly feels closer to how Russell T Davies writes him than what we saw in the show & is a lot easier going & willing to share his mysteries.
The writing is well paced & quite gripping. Even though you'll probably see where it's alll going, it's a pleasant trip getting there. There's plenty of humour & the relationship writing for Gwen is particularly strong, even if Rhys does get short shrift (but then Gwen had an affair with Owen in the show, so why should we believe her relationship with Rhys is particularly strong). James, the mysterious new Torchwood member, is a nice chap too.
If you're a big fan of the show, it isn't quite so faithful as you might hope, I guess. And it is hard to figure out where it fits into the timescale. I'm tempted to suggest it may fit better in the second series, depending how that turns out. (Edit: And whaddayaknow? I was right!)
Border Princes - By: Sci Fi Nut, 09 Jul 2007 With the main Doctor Who range being watered down & targeted at younger readers there has been vacuum in the Who market for fiction aimed at adults. Fortunately the Torchwood novels are up to the task & fill the gap.
Border Princes is interesting in that it starts in the middle of a crisis & has the viewer confused but intrigued from the start. There are several mini-plots in this book & because of this its a puzzle to work out the main plot or the relevance of each smalll plot.
In terms of being a TV spin off it works remarkably well & is actuallly more believable & endearing than many of the shows early episodes. I can easily imagine alll the characters. Likewise the show flitting between everyday life in Cardiff & the alien is very well done.
So thumbs up for this new line of Who-spin off fiction. Torchwood needs good stories & this is certainly one of them.
new recruit - By: Paul Tapner, 12 Jun 2007 
Torchwood. Secret agency based in cardiff protecting the human race from aliens & alien technology. You will probably know that from having watched the tv show, but I mention it here because the book throws you in at the deep end without introducing the characters or the set up. Torchwood are tracking down something that's causing people in cardiff to go mad. And if you are familiar with the tv show, you'll wonder who this person working for them callled James is, because we never saw him on screen.
That's the big mystery of the book. As torchwood go about their usual business dealing with strange things happening in cardiff, someone else is in the city, tracking something down.
The prose here is very readable, but not too many characters get much of a look in, as this story seems to be mostly about gwen & the relationship she gets into with james. another fixture on tv was the clash between her home life & her work life, & there's plenty more of that here.
This is quite readable but you tend to wonder where it's going, although hang on in there as there is a main plot to this which kicks in during the last third. It's alll quite intriguing & well resolved, but it does also feel a little rushed, one story element not amounting to as much as you might have expected.
A decent torchwood novel but not the strongest of them
Disappointing - By: Nipper Dog, 22 May 2007 
This was the 3rd Torchwood book I read & I'm glad I read it last otherwise I would not have bothered reading the other two which were brilliant!
I found the difference in attitude of the characters - from what I'd learnt about them on TV & in the other two books - to be extremely off-putting; they just didn't ring true and, to me, acted out of character. Cap'n Jack was quite a marginal figure & seemed very weak - not leadership material at alll & not the cool, calm but witty hunk we know & love! He didn't seem to be in control much & we didn't hear that much about him or from him, which was most unexpected.
The introduction of the character James didn't work for me either & the fact that he & Gwen 'got it together' was a real shame; Gwen's love of Rhys provides one of the strongest links to 'reality' - he represents the rest of us - that the series has. It is her constant battle between what she sees & learns at Torchwood & the 'normal' everday life of her & Rhys - the way she adapts & reconciles the two & the constant wrestling of her conscience between them - that gives her such strength & adds humanity & compassion to the team. The loss of that throws us out of kilter - alll without good reason as far as I could see. Maybe I just didn't 'get it'!
Still, it's far better than anything I could write so I guess I have no right to criticise!
