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

"Ruby Red: A Frozen Adventure of Aliens, History, and Heroics"

Ruby Red begins with a brisk, engaging pace that immediately feels like a quintessential Doctor Who cold open. The frosty Estonian setting, reminiscent of The Deviant Strain, transports us to a fresh locale in medieval times—a far cry from the usual futuristic or urban landscapes.

The historical backdrop of the Battle on the Ice between the Duchy of Estonia and the Republic of Novgorod is a fascinating choice. It’s always a treat when Doctor Who highlights lesser-known historical events, and this one is both visually evocative and thematically rich.

Characters that Shine

The Doctor and Ruby are well-realised in this story, though the Doctor feels slightly fuzzier around the edges compared to their TV counterpart. Ruby, however, is spot-on, capturing her TV personality with precision.

Ran, the alien mercenary on a rite of passage, is a standout. Her proactive nature and quick bond with the TARDIS team make her an engaging addition. The introduction of her Rentaran sisters brings some intrigue, though their presence feels more like a standard narrative detour than a fully fleshed-out subplot.

Pacing and Structure

The first half of the story mirrors the rapid pacing of a New Who episode, delivering a relentless barrage of action, danger, and alien mystery. These chapters are exhilarating but leave little room for deeper exploration of the historical setting.

The middle chapters slow down, offering backstory and character moments that feel serviceable but not groundbreaking. While these sections maintain interest, they lean into formulaic storytelling rather than pushing boundaries.

Action and Atmosphere

The latter half ramps up the action, blending elements of The Deviant Strain, Last Christmas, and Alien. The alien parasites and zombie hosts provide a creepy and chaotic foe, with the tension building to a nail-biting climax on the frozen lake.

Cook’s action writing is a highlight, capturing the peril and excitement with cinematic flair. The sequence on the lake is particularly thrilling, with icy dangers and high stakes that keep you on edge.

Missed Opportunities

While the historical setting is beautifully atmospheric, it feels underutilised in terms of plot. The Battle on the Ice and its cultural significance are overshadowed by the alien conflict, leaving the setting as more of a backdrop than an integral element of the story.

A Satisfying Conclusion

The climax is satisfying, with Ran’s heroic moment and the Doctor’s tense encounter with Genetrix inside the TARDIS providing strong payoffs. The narrative wisely takes time to wrap up its loose ends, giving the story a more rounded and complete feel.

The Verdict: A Chilling but Familiar Adventure

Ruby Red delivers a well-structured, action-packed adventure that captures the energy of a New Who episode. Its unique setting and intriguing characters shine, though the story occasionally feels constrained by its adherence to familiar Doctor Who tropes.

For fans of historical adventures and alien intrigue, this is a solid and enjoyable read, even if it doesn’t fully capitalise on its promising setup.

📝70/100

A compelling, pulse-pounding read. I really felt invested in all of the characters, even the ones that the narrative was unable to flesh out as much as the others (mainly Onfim). A good historical story makes you care about the fate of people that have been dead for centuries, and this certainly managed that. The aliens were compelling as well, with their complex family dynamic -- trying to show care for one another despite their vastly different perspectives on life and visions for Ran's future really struck a chord with me. The villain was legitimately chilling in its motives and actions (and its self-denial? Its refusal to acknowledge the fear that drove its monstrous conquest? Magnificent). And of course, the Doctor and Ruby were excellently realized. I love a good pair of besties in the TARDIS. My only complaint is that the conclusion was... somewhat underwhelming. It was a good ending, a nice 'hoist by their own petard' defeat that I love to see, but the execution was a little too quick and simple after everything it took to get there. On the whole, though, a thrilling read.

The Fifteenth Doctor #03

'Ruby Red' (2024) from BBC New Series Adventures.

A quick little adventure that gives you a bit more quality time spent with Fifteen and Ruby. Lots of fun uses of things such as perception filter clothing and The Doctor's "contact" ability, which works a lot better here than it did with Thirteen, although I suppose you could argue it's been around in some way since Ten (and maybe in Classic Who, I haven't seen it all). A nice set of characters are introduced to follow for its length, and the sister dynamic is plenty fun. I like the villain, the way there are both the parasites and the Genetrix is a cool way to build up to something greater, and the setting is fun in a way that reminded me of episodes like The Eaters of Light and The Girl Who Died. I feel like it wraps up a little too quickly, but aside from that it's just a generally good time, and while it's nothing mind-blowing, it's a nice story to add to the somewhat lacking selection from Season 1.

Ruby Red is set in Russia of 1242, where Ranavere a young girl from a warrior race is sent to take part in a coming of age ritual of her people. Not wanting to be a warrior herself she places distress call beacons, one of which brings the Doctor and Ruby to the setting.

The setting of this story is both a war camp and a frozen lake on which just a couple of days later a battle was supposed to take place. This added a bit of time pressure to the story, which while not needed, still worked in favor of the tension for the story. 

The one thing where this story shines the most is the characters.

Ranavere - An inventor forced into the role of a soldier by her family’s expectations just searching for an out.

Helgadane - A fierce warrior and leader that might be a little to set in the ways of her family to try and understand her sisters. 

Cellisamere - Also a warrior, but one more used to following orders and more open to the opinions of others. 

Helgadane and Cellisamere placing themself into the situation because they want to help Ranavere if in a way that she herself doesn’t understand or like. 

Onfim - The first victim of the situation with any kind of previous connection to the reader and shown character. 

The Genetrix - The Big Bad of this story and honestly the least interesting character story wise. This one feels kind of flat compared to the other characters of the book especially as the reason for why isn’t really explained. (It is explained but the explanation kind of spans somewhere in between: ‘I was hunted and nearly killed so I want revenge.’ and ‘That is just how my species is. So I will keep doing it.’ Which in my opinion kind of washes this whole thing out and doesn't really explain what exactly the reasoning is. It feels more like Big Bad is Big Bad because Big Bad is needed.)

The main plotline of the story follows the why and how of the zombie-like people and creatures with ruby red eyes, that gave the book its title. The Genetrix puts people under its will by accessing them with small creatures that connect with the victims spine in a fashion similar to what the Daleks did in the episode Resolution while feeding on the TARDIS’ energy stores to power its attacks. Like I mentioned before the reasoning for the why the Genetrix would do that isn’t to satisfying to me, but if I’m honest this main plotline isn’t really the one that is the most interesting to me so this doesn’t really take to much away from the likeability of the story for me. I liked the solution of the Doctor putting the Genetrix back to sleep and bringing it to an uninhabited planet, although I think that could have further consequences someday, with the Genetrix coming back technically. It honestly was a bit funny to me that he just left the sisters at the lake keeping watch over something that isn’t even there anymore. But like I mentioned before this isn’t the part of the story that is the most interesting to me. 

The most interesting plotline to me is the side plot of the relationship between Ranavere, Cellisamere and Helgadane. While reading books and stories the characters and their relationships to each other most of the time are the most interesting and important thing to me. This is what makes or breaks a story to me. In this case it is a plot of misunderstanding between the three of them and the different values each of them has. All of them clearly care for each other, and want of course want to help each other or keep each other safe no matter how misguided the attempts may be. What I think is very interesting and shows how much the older two care for Ranavere is that both Cellisamere and Helgadene follow Ranavere when they find about her call for help (even if it is to stop her from leaving). They are in fact leaving through a timeportal against the rules, which just shows that they actually do care especially on the side of Helgadane who seems to be extremely bound to her culture's ways and the rules. The two of them are a bit misguided in their attempt to ‘help’ Ranavere, but they aren’t used to the idea that people they are close to might have different values or skills. And while the main plot is moving forward there is visible character growth for all three of the sisters. Ranavere learned to stick up to herself better and learned to see her own value. And Cellisamere and Helgadane learned to value the differences between people and the fact that Ranavere might not be suited to be a soldier but is indeed suited to be an inventor or something similar. 

Another side plot is what is going on with the TARDIS, although that can be counted as another part of the main plot in the end. The fact that the Genetrix was using the TARDIS as a powersource was hinted at/foreshadowed earlier in the book, but I honestly didn’t catch that until the end as it was revealed.

So now to some small negative points for this book, which didn’t annoy me too much but still came to mind at points:

• The Big Bad and it’s powers kind of reminds me a bit too much of the one from Timewyrm: Genesys. 
• At one point it is mentioned that Ruby picks up a sword and puts it through her belt loop and I honestly am not sure that would even work because a) swords are both sharp and heavy, wouldn’t that combination end with the belt loop breaking? and b) I’m pretty sure that swords have more width than a belt loop would fit. So the same question actually.