[fantasyfan]

I felt that I should read Morgan Robertson's strange literary premonition of the sinking of the Titanic which occurred 12 years after the book was written. Certainly the first part of the work which describes the Titan and it's collision with an iceberg is eerie. However, after that event the book settles into a rather boring description of the adventures of John Rowland and the little girl whom he rescued. Characterisation is flat and sometimes leans heavily on stereotyping.

But reading this book led me to listen to the audio drama, Dr Who: The Wreck of the Titan. This is a very interesting adaptation of Robertson and the result is far superior to his book.

The Titan features in the story (as does the Titanic briefly and the Nautilus) and some of the events are similar. For instance, events occur on the iceberg after the collision. John and Myra appear but they are far more interesting than their counterparts in the novel. And of course The Doctor and Jamie (played by Colin Baker and Frazer Hines) are excellent to their roles. The story expands in interesting and unexpected ways and I would recommend this very enjoyable if loose adaptation.

My rating for the book would be two stars while I would give the audio drama five stars out of five!