Evergreen

Evergreen is an interesting read and a nice way to close out the Christmas Treasury on a mark of thoughtfulness and a sombre tone. It's an Eighth Doctor story from his hanging out on Earth phase, living with a woman named Connie.

Connie's perspective is interesting as she is ostracized by the superstitious community she lives in. This all comes to a head when a mysterious naked girl shows up in town one day, who disturbs Connie while intriguing the Doctor. It's a fair enough read, well written, and interesting enough. The backwards nature of the town makes them a bit frustrating (in a realistic way), but I like how the Doctor still encourages Connie to engage with her community since they do all share the same values, she is largely just a victim of tragedy and being treated unfairly. This is a story about grief, belonging, loneliness, and forgiveness, and it is impressive how Stephen Cole does all that in a short page count.

And with some short prose by Paul Cornell in an Epilogue, the Christmas Treasury comes to an end.

This is it for me (by and large) for Christmas reviews this year, which is a bit of a relief. I had fun with some of the Big Finish stuff and catching up on some of the holiday episodes, but it is nice to be done with the Christmas Treasury. Unlike Quality of Leadership, my first Short Trips book, the Treasury I found to be a lot less consistent and bit more of a chore to get through. It wasn't bad, in fact I really appreciated the more thoughtful stories like Last Christmas, The Little Things, and Present Tense, but there were a lot of stories that were just so pointless in my eyes, such as Spookasm, It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow, and A Yuletide Tale. Quality of Leadership, though the shorts varied in quality, comparatively didn't have stories quite so... disappointing as some of the stuff in the Treasury.

Still, there are some valuable holiday things to take out of this. Things like The Feast of Seven... Eight (and Nine) or Perfect Present feel almost unique in the larger franchise, so I am glad the anthology is out there and the better reviewed shorts are absolutely worth reading.