There's a marked difference in the style and voice of Gareth Roberts' Shada and Stephen Baxter's The Wheel of Ice. Both are Doctor Who novels, one being a novelization of a serial that never aired, and the other an original second Doctor story. This difference alone could be enough to explain the difference in styles, but I don't think it goes quite far enough.
Baxter's style is much colder, for starters. Not only does this suit the subject of The Wheel of Ice, it's also closer to the tone of many second Doctor stories. The second Doctor himself (as played by Patrick Troughton), is anything but cold, but more often than not the stories he finds himself embroiled in political intrigue, plots that have huge repercussions and futuristic societies that have a tinge of dystopia about them. The Wheel of Ice is already looking like this sort of story, though I've only read four of the book's 47 chapters. Shada on the other hand, is a story simply immersed in all of the zany science fiction (with a helping of comedy) that is Tom Baker's era as the Doctor.
The difference is very refreshing, particularly because Stephen Baxter's writing style is closer to my own. Also, the book's opening promises many more interesting characters than those found in Shada, which ought to make for a more rapturous read.
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