📝8/10

Time Lording through time and space, one victory at a time!

VICTORY XXXII

"Chronicles of Chaos: A Museum Too Far"

Dave Rudden wraps up the Time Lord Victorious event with a delightful short story featured in the Wintertime Paradox collection. While its connection to the larger event is brief, it’s a pivotal thread.

The story centers on Anke, a curator of a museum filled with impossible artifacts from alternate timelines. Despite the Doctor's repeated attempts to warn her—via phone calls she casually dismisses—Anke’s collection ultimately threatens the fabric of reality itself.

Anke is instantly relatable and endearing, though much of her backstory is saved for the conclusion. Rudden’s warm and conversational prose makes this tale both intimate and engaging. The addition of the Curator in a crucial role is a delightful nod for fans of the extended universe.

However, the ending leaves a bit to be puzzled over, offering more questions than resolution.

Wow, this was great. I haven't checked out much of the Time Lord Victorious content but really enjoyed this. There is a real character piece for this Anke woman, even if the story is quite short, it left me intrigued for the other Victorious range of works out there, and I really liked all the little references to past Doctor Who stories out there. The idea of the Canaries themselves is interesting and great foreshadowing, too. Definitely worth checking out, especially since it is available free online.

What if TLV is all just a ploy for the reintroduction of Faction Paradox into the Doctor Who universe. If that's the case I'm all for it. This is a fantastically written short story and makes me want to go out and purchase The Wintertime Paradox (also written by the same author). On numerous occasions reading this short story I screamed out loud with joy (much to the annoyance of my peers sat around me) in particular at these two lines: "Worn by a long-forgotten cult who worshipped impossibility and contradiction." and "‘Do you know what a paradox is?’"

These lines filled me with immense joy as I immediately knew they were talking about Faction Paradox. I shan't get into the nitty gritty of Faction Paradox but for those of you who don't know who they are essentially they are a time-travelling cult who worship paradoxes and try to create them as frequently as possible.

Dave Rudden does an extremely good job at weaving suspense and tension into this little package, from the constant calls by a scared Doctor warning our main character about the threats that the objects pose to the moment of the big reveal you are left on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next

Overall, one of the best Doctor Who related short stories I have read for a long, it's a credit to everyone who worked on it and to everyone who worked on TLV