Your Gateway to the Universe of Doctor Who

This is one of the best episodes of the season, definitely the best we’ve seen so far in the club. I really like the mystic vibe the whole episode has. But even with that, I didn’t find it that amazing. The villains feel kind of generic, and I wish they had been more fleshed out. I’m all for a “humans are the real monsters” storyline, but I still want some actual motivation behind the madness.

Then we have the main issue with the show: the characters. I still feel nothing for Ianto and Tosh. Jack and Gwen are okay. Owen is awful.

I think @dema1020 summed it up perfectly in his review of this episode on the site, so I’m just going to quote him:

It feels a little overplayed and I just don’t get much of anything out of Gwen and Owen. Owen’s character is just presented as so ugly from the start it really is hard to feel much other than disdain for him, so it is rough to see him paired with the audience stand-in. Once again, it feels more like Torchwood’s trademark version of haphazardly “adulting” Doctor Who, and the effects are laid pretty bare.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The story is still good enough that it earns 4/5 but it had the potential to be higher and that is always frustrating...

At heart, this episode tells a straightforward story—about mourning, and an alien using that for its own gain—but it takes full advantage of that simplicity, allowing the narrative to unfold with many character-focused aspects without ever feeling cluttered.
I very much liked the slow build-up throughout.

A clear standout is the story thread surrounding Vivian Oparah’s character, Tanya. Very well written and brilliantly played, Vivian is clearly this episode’s lead and proves herself more than capable of carrying a story.

The rest of the main cast also deliver strong performances—with one exception.
I very much enjoyed Miss Quill’s part of the story, which gives us a little more about her background, as well as a stellar performance by Katherine Kelly.
Charlie and Matteusz’s mini-arc is just nice and moving to watch, and is competently performed by Greg Austin and Jordan Renzo.
Ram, played by Fady Elsayed, is more in the background this time, serving mainly as a connector between story threads.

That leaves Sophie Hopkins as April MacLean—I still feel no connection to her character, and the episode did her no favors either, giving her a story arc that felt a bit staged and didn’t quite fit.

Still, I enjoyed the episode as a whole. 4 / 5

Where do I begin to start with this one?

I love Evelyn, and Six, and their dynamic SO much. Rarely with BF do I get disappointed by their popular eras, and I'm very glad I love this one as much as most people do. Throwing Mel into the mix and giving a rather unconventional exit story in format, is just a recipe for greatness. I love when companions meet, and here its written wonderfully.

Gabriel Woolf is just absolutely phenomenal as Rossiter, and the rest of the cast are mostly extremely irritating which is a testament to them and the writing. The villains here are really great, and the moments with the Killorans are just shocking. While the main villain doesn't get his comeuppance, it is sadly a very true to life situation as many horrific people don't get imprisoned.

Sadly, I did get the Seventh Doctor & Hex reveal twists spoiled due to two separate visits to the DW Wiki. I never frequent it, and I certainly never want to ever again due to this.

Overall, this story had me gripped from start to finish, and just solidifies for me how much I love this TARDIS team.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“THE COLDEST WAR – ELEVENTH DOCTOR MEETS CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-BOREDOM”

A snowy showdown with the Sycorax that forgets to let you do much choosing

The Coldest War by Colin Brake is the first Decide Your Destiny gamebook to feature the Eleventh Doctor, but any excitement that might generate is quickly frozen by the story’s sluggish start, minimal interactivity, and misjudged use of the format. Like every book in the series, the reader is thrust into the TARDIS with little preamble, but rather than diving into the action, Brake strands you in endless corridors of exposition and non-decisions.

Far too much of the early book takes place within the TARDIS, padding out sections with repetitive and meandering scenes. You'd think a gamebook would at least aim to be engaging from the get-go—but instead, Coldest War spends dozens of pages with the player essentially spinning their wheels.

CHOOSING FOR EVERYONE BUT YOURSELF

The central problem here is one common to weaker entries in the Choose Your Own Adventure format: instead of choosing what you do, the book repeatedly asks you to decide what other characters—namely the Doctor, Amy, or even the Sycorax—should do. Should Amy turn left or right? Should the Sycorax attack or retreat? These decisions don’t immerse the reader; they make you feel like a passive director rather than an active participant.

And when you are finally allowed to make a genuine choice for yourself, it’s the most uninspired kind imaginable. “Pick a corridor, any corridor.” There’s no strategic thinking or interesting dilemma, just hollow interactivity for the sake of ticking the format’s boxes.

THE SYCORAX ARRIVE… BRIEFLY

Eventually, the story does leave the TARDIS and lurches into an icy landscape where the Sycorax make an appearance. The choice-driven nature means their involvement varies depending on your path, but none of it carries much impact. There’s no real tension, no significant puzzle to solve, and no meaningful threat. The Doctor and Amy have little agency, and the player character is relegated to little more than a bystander.

When the plot finally picks up—if you’ve stuck with it that long—it rushes towards a conclusion with barely any narrative weight. The Sycorax’s plan is foiled in a perfunctory manner, the characters barely develop, and your choices seem to matter even less than usual.

BROKEN PUZZLES AND LOST POTENTIAL

Brake also incorporated an extra layer of interactivity through online puzzles that once accompanied the book. The idea was promising: solve puzzles on the web and unlock additional content. Unfortunately, the website has since gone offline, meaning these sections are now dead ends. While the book allows you to skip over them without impacting the story, it removes a significant chunk of intended interactivity—arguably the only fresh idea the book had going for it.

Without the puzzles, what’s left is a formulaic and frustratingly hollow experience that even die-hard fans of the Eleventh Doctor may struggle to enjoy.

📝VERDICT: 29/100

The Coldest War freezes out everything that could make a Decide Your Destiny book fun. The sluggish pacing, lack of agency, and shallow story make it a tedious trudge through half-baked choices and uninspired writing. The Sycorax are underused, the Doctor and Amy are barely involved, and the defunct web puzzles only highlight the missed potential. As an introduction to the Eleventh Doctor in this format, it’s a limp, forgettable outing—and arguably one of the coldest duds in the series.

I really like how this “season” seems to be more focused on telling a trans story with the background of Doctor Who. Thank you, Juno Dawson. Also, hello Rani Chandra.