The Aztecs - John Lucarotti

The Aztecs is a damn hard book to review, mainly because it's basic, but no less brilliant for that.

Lucarotti adds nothing and takes nothing away. He presents us with The Aztecs serial in written form. It is an excellent script, and Lucarotti, having written it, knows exactly what it is trying to do and how and conveys this simply. The Aztecs pootles along in third gear doing everything well but not attempting or caring to reach greater heights as the Serial so effortlessly achieved through the efforts of the actors. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the book, it made me worried for our heroes when I was meant to be worried, it had me laughing at the Doctor's engagement and I enjoyed reading it immensely and the characters felt alive, however, there is just a slight sense that Lucarotti is on autopilot as he certainly was for Marco Polo, that he hasn't stretched himself in writing and that the novelisation of The Aztecs is better than Marco Polo is down to the shorter, more structured story and an amazing script rather than great writing. As a result, The Aztecs is a good book, but falls short of being a great book because Lucarotti made no attempt to get out of third gear. Lucarotti's third gear is bloody good, but it leaves me wondering what he could achieved with this book if he'd pushed himself.

7/10