Past Doctor Adventures #53:

--- "Ten Little Aliens" by Stephen Cole

When I was about 8, my classroom at school had the Astrosaurs books in them. These books, about anthropomorphic space dinosaurs going on adventures, were penned by the writer of this book, Stephen Cole. I read the first few of these books, and remembered somewhat enjoying them but I also remember that in the second book, it ended with the villains getting boiled alive inside a planet that was in actuality a giant egg (fun little coincidence there). I remember being very confused about the sudden step up in brutality, seeing these character drowning in basically egg magma was slightly horrifying for an 8 year old. I've always wondered why the book suddenly became so weirdly dark and after reading Ten Little Aliens, I know why: Stephen Cole desperately needs therapy.

A platoon of ten battle hardened marines arrive on a desolate rock for a training exercise but discover they aren't alone. First, they find the Doctor, Ben and Polly, having arrived and become trapped on the asteroid and second, they find the corpses of the galaxy's most wanted terrorists frozen in time. Just what horrors went down here? And is whatever caused them still lurking around?

(CONTAINS SPOLERS)

This book is brutal. Constantly introducing new and horrifying elements of body horror and gore: having a tumour work its way out of somebody's pores, a man's face rejecting bits of shrapnel embedded in his skin, a woman slowly being transformed into a disgusting alien being. It's honestly wild to see such things in Doctor Who, especially with the First Doctor at the reigns, the main character of one of the most child-friendly eras of the show. The characters in this book waver between being forgettable and pretty great, Ben chiefly among them being fantastic in this book, putting his navy skills to use amidst the platoon of war-scarred soldiers. Meanwhile, as for the marines, only about half of them are memorable, the others are either killed pretty quickly or just aren't very interesting. Haunt and Shade are the couple characters to pick out, they're certainly the most interesting of the bunch. This book also has some fantastic moments in it, like when Shade blames his failure during a training exercise on his suit, so Haunt f**king shoots him in front of all his peers to show that there's nothing wrong with the armour, or when Ben investigates the source of a stream of blood running from the top of a pillar, surrounded by cherub statues we've repeatedly seen throughout the book, only to insert the line "the statue turned to look at him" once Ben reached the column's summit. Cole's writing is really chilling when done right. Probably the most famous thing about this book is the very unique and creative choose your own adventure section towards the end, where you can switch between peoples view points in whichever order you wish. Absolutely one of the best parts of the book and a really cool idea to boot that lead to some great moments of horror.

As for negatives, I think a good majority of this book is paced horribly. The entire first half is just the marines searching the very plain corridors of the asteroid, which is an incredibly dull and lifeless setting I never got invested in; it was mostly just empty and dark tunnels. Cole describes this book as being an Agatha Christie mystery crossed with a space marines story and whilst that latter part is certainly what this book is, I was never invested in the mystery. Based heavily of And Then There Were None, this book shows a number of the marines disappear along with the alien bodies, however I was neither invested in their deaths nor the answers to them and the reveal towards the end just didn't feel very satisfying. I also must bring up my issues with the characters, as besides Ben and a few of the marines, all the others blend in. Polly's just kind of there for most of the book, barely being a part of the plot until the end and the First Doctor really wasn't the right choice for this book, he never feels right in this setting, I would of probably chosen seven instead for this story as it feels more like something he'd be involved in.

Aimless wondering down corridors and forgettable characters mostly overshadowed by some fantastic moments of horror and tension, some great character work from the few members of the cast done right and shockingly great body horror are what you should expect to find in this book. Certainly not the best piece of prose I've ever read but well worth a shot.

7/10

Pros:
+ Amazingly written and genuinely disgusting body horror
+ Certain moments in the story that were absolutely fantastic
+ A chilling atmosphere, especially in the second half.
+ Really cool and inventive choose your own adventure section towards the end
+ Ben works great in this book and is easily my favourite character in it
+ Half of the side cast are really great characters
+ Though I have a problem with him for most of the book, the Doctor in the third act is brilliant

Cons:
- Slow pacing that causes the first have to move like molasses
- The other half of the marines are utterly forgettable
- Polly has next to no agency in the plot until the very, very end
- The First Doctor definitely was not the right choice of Doctor for this story
- The murder mystery element does not work well and barely interests me
- Boring and uninspired setting