Funny, Fantastical, yet at the end of the day tragic, it is too good.

wow!!! this was so much better than i expected!! tbh, i was never that interested in The War Doctor. and this set made me think it would be way too hard to follow, but this was so wonderful, and so human, and i’m starting to warm up to the War Doctor a little more.

he really is just a grumpy little old man, who just some wants peace and quiet.

Oh I just love this duo of Evelyn and Sixie, they're great together! Part one was fab at setting up the scenario with the Silurians, Darwin and our TARDIS team. That being said, around part 3 I started to feel that it was dragging on a bit, which is the case in most 4 parters for me personally. The themes explored regarding evolution and the origins of the human race are a great aspect to explore, Darwin and the Silurians make for a really interesting combo! That being said, I really wish this didn't fall into the age old trope of the Silurians vs humans which always, always happens. I really do hope there's a non-stereotypical Silurian story out there, somewhere.

Very strong book I was throughly invested through out and feel I can enjoy this one more as you know no yellow face in a book

Ngl have no idea what was said but the art work is really fun

The story is presented as almost a case file of the events of Remembrance. This, I thought, made for a more interesting read than a simple out of universe summary, as althought it did provide a comprehensive recap of events, the tone made it compelling. Though there isn't particularly anything new or groundbreaking in the summary, it is nice to see the ICMG get the recognition they deserve, and for Allison to be recognised as a physicist in her own right rather than just 'Rachel's assistant'.

A summary of events in the 'real world' leading up to of Remembrance of the Daleks. This story solidifies Quatermass as part of the Whoniverse and amusingly references the fact that Doctor Who itself exists in Remembrance. With ties to Delta and the Bannermen and The Abominable Snowmen create a surprisingly coherent narrative given all the disjointed bits of canon it's trying to knit together. Nothing particularly substantial, but an intriguing read nevertheless.

Not a fan of this story unfortunately, despite featuring a TARDIS team and Master incarnation I love. I didn't remember Bev from the previous story, but she was quite good here. Excited to hear her in the Benny range eventually. Not got a lot to say about this one, I just think even though it was shorter than some monthlies, it dragged on a bit and wasn't particularly interesting?

It’s sort of a weak way to end this range but it’s okay overall

I loved the title but didn’t vibe with this comic

Okay this story was a tad more fun not amazing just a tad more fun

So far this annual is consistent but there’s nothing grasping me

I think this is the final dalek annual I’m so close to being free from this

a fun and silly romp, and probably the only way i will ever enjoy anything even remotely related to eurovision

except abba i guess

We journey all the way back to 2014 for the second War Doctor story ever written, I say second cos only a month prior the War Doctor featured in a short story in The Shakespeare Notebooks, so that’s a bit of a dampener on what ideally should’ve been his first. Engines of War depicts the War Doctor’s final adventure leading into Day of the Doctor as after a failed assault on the Dalek fleet massing near the Eye of Tantalus, the TARDIS crashes on the planet Moldox where the Doctor rescues a local resistance fighter named Cinder. Curious as to what the Daleks are up to, the Doctor and Cinder infiltrate their base and what the Doctor will find will truly be a horrific discovery, but more horrifying still is that once he brings this news to the Time Lords, events will unfold that will change the way he sees his people forever.

As a story meant to bring the War Doctor to life, this one's a massive success, a lot of people forget but this is one of the first written works to truly dive into the Time War, we get our first proper look at how the Time War has ravaged the universe and affected those involved. With some nods to references made in Modern Who but also throwing in a lot of its own creativity. We get our first look at the Time Lords and the war has altered their views on other life forms and how far they're prepared to go to survive. Although this is where some of the issues start to creep up. For one thing the story doesn't do a good job lining up with the War Doctor's decision to wipe out the Time Lords, admittedly it wasn't mentioned in Day of the Doctor either but the whole reason the Doctor was forced to kill his own people was because they were threatening to destroy the universe with "the final sanction". The Doctor in this story decides to commit double genocide because of what the Time Lords planned to do to stop the Daleks at the Eye of Tantalus and the collateral damage. Which is fine in the context of reading this in 2014, but here we are years later with well over a hundred more stories set in the Time War that have shown the Time Lords to do things just as terrible if not worse which begs the question why now did the Doctor decide to take action against his people. And the story itself even shows some Time Lords to still have redeemable qualities, I just didn't feel the story did a good job justifying the Doctor deciding to destroy his own world. We also get a side villain named Karlax who the story indicates has some history with the Doctor but we never actually know what that history is, and his reveal of being a clear antagonist just felt a bit sporadic, considering how it wasn't even him who suggested using the Tear of Isha, instead it's given to a different character who's later shown to be more cowardly and then helps the Doctor to escape. Just felt like the writing for Karlax and the Castellan was a bit back to front and Karlax's motivations and hatred for the Doctor wasn't well developed.

Aside from that, it is still a great read, it does the job of giving the War Doctor his own spotlight and marking the beginning of further work to be done with the character.

A lovely life-affirming tale. Another stellar entry in the 9DA.

I think the other reviews are too rough on this one. It's lovely that our heroine(?) simply wants so cross-dress and that they're accepted and loved by Toby. It is not a failure of the story that they are not trans, but a celebration of individuality. We know that 9 — and all Doctors — are allies. If we didn't have Tania a few episodes ago, maybe this would feel like a cop out. But we did and it doesn't.

It’s a great start to the season. Belinda is an interesting companion. I didn’t get the “Ruby doesn’t challenge the Doctor” viewpoint but after seeing Belinda do it I see it. The Robots are good. I like that Belinda doesn’t want to be a companion and I’m interested to see how that plays out. Alan is a bit weird when we first meet him but once we learn more about him I disliked him more. The ending was great and unexpected.

It's pretty insubstantial overall.  I really like the artwork here, though.  The Daleks are really rendered in an interesting way visually here.  Richard Jennings does an impressive job with this comic's art.  He has a good opportunity to express his creativity, too, as the story depicts the Daleks attacking various installations across the solar system.

The story that unfolds around our main human characters beyond that is pretty boring and run-of-the-mill, though.  Nothing too substantial, other than clearly setting up some more of the comic stories going forward.

Weaker end to the annual but overall fairly impressed

Yeah pretty average story in the annuals so far very consistent

I think there's a solid story in here somewhere with an interesting concept for a villain, but you have to ignore the rubbish-looking monster tottering around the place like a giant baby. I'm actually curious to see if it works any better in the novelisation. Soldeed's legendary performance elevates this a full star but it's otherwise just ok.

Overall so far this annual is actually alright nothing hugely bad unlike the other ones I’ve read

Stay with these annuals long enough you learn to love them a little more then they should be loved

Okay there’s still hope for these to get better

Slowly maybe these annual stories will get better