Recommended Prerequisites

TV: Rose

AUDIO: The Queen of Clocks

TV: Deep Breath

The Clockwise Man

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would going in, especially in some of the ways the Doctor was written about.

I like, get, the parallel they were doing with Russia and Katuria, what with the theme of reclaiming / returning, but it more or less fizzled into nothing pretty quick. There was even a relatively large group of characters introduced at the start of the book that I felt would be important that just kind of disappeared for most the book.

But for everything else in the book, it was pretty solid. The story was fun, I enjoyed the twists although some were not too surprising. Even the characters started to grow on me by the end.

This may be a hot take but I really wish Freddie tackled Vassily off of the clock tower at the end. I thought they were really going to lean into it, with the idea of Freddy repeatedly wanting to feel like a "hero". I think it would have worked SO much better for the Freddie-Vassily parallel if they fell to their deaths together, plus it could help give the Ninth Doctor more opportunity to develop in later stories with another death being his fault. Another person sacrificing themselves for his cause.

Quote

"Anyone looking up from the street below would see the Doctor's head and shoulders emerging from his window. His chin was resting in his hands, elbows on the wide sill. The eyes were ever alert, flicking to and fro, taking in every last detail. One might imagine, looking up and discovering him there, that the Doctor had been like this all night. Frozen like an icicle, staring out and thinking. And perhaps he had."

It’s starts quite intriguingly, with moody descriptions of a 1920s London and several mysterious threads. As sometimes happens with Doctor Who though, it devolves into a breathless runaround which goes on and on.

In its fairness it’s aimed at a younger audience which may have impacted my patience, but I enjoyed reading descriptions of clockwork aliens which pre-date The Girl in the Fireplace by a year.