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“The Clockwise Man: A Clunky Start for the New Adventures Era”

Justin Richards' debut New Series Adventure kicks off with potential but ticks a little too predictably.

The first New Series Adventures novel, The Clockwise Man, begins with promise, blending intrigue and character drama, but it quickly becomes bogged down by an overabundance of underdeveloped figures and a slow pace. Justin Richards crafts the narrative like a whodunit, introducing several characters in rapid succession, though none stand out enough to make a memorable impression in the early chapters.

The story is surprisingly methodical, taking its time to cultivate tension. While action scenes are peppered throughout and feel somewhat true to the revival era, the overall tone of the book feels more akin to Classic Who—unsurprising, given it was written before the new series aired. Unfortunately, the ultimate villain reveal lands with a dull thud, arriving after one too many red herrings and failing to surprise readers who’ve been paying attention. The grand scheme itself, while ambitious, leans heavily into James Bond-like theatrics, which might not be to everyone’s taste.

When it comes to characterisation, the Doctor and Rose don’t fully match their on-screen counterparts. The Ninth Doctor, in particular, feels generic and lacks the distinct edge of Christopher Eccleston's portrayal—likely due to Richards not having seen the series at the time of writing. Rose fares slightly better, with glimpses of her TV personality shining through. Their camaraderie, at least, retains a hint of authenticity, especially in their banter.

The villains—clockwork droids—evoke some familiarity with mechanical threats from both Classic and New Who (The Android Invasion and The Girl in the Fireplace, respectively), but they fail to leave a significant impression. Melissa Heart is an intriguing figure with her versatile masks, yet her potential is largely underexplored.

The 1920s London setting, while atmospheric, feels oddly restricted, offering little to truly immerse readers in the era. Similarly, the secondary characters struggle to leave a mark, often blending into the background.

📝Verdict: 4/10

The Clockwise Man shows flashes of potential, especially for fans nostalgic for Classic Who-style storytelling, but it stumbles in pacing and character depth. As the first entry in the New Series Adventures, it ticks along steadily but doesn’t quite strike the right chord.

3/5

Interesting set-up with historical characters and an alien/tech-based mystery, but just ends up a quite average adventure, solid, but nothing that stands out really. Maybe a few out of character moments later on, but not egregious/continuous.

There is more interesting books in the series, but its perfectly readable still.

I quite enjoyed this one. There's quite a few characters to keep track of like others have said, but as the story goes on it does focus in a lot more on who's important and who's not, with the extraneous cast getting little to nothing later.

The main thing I really like here though is Freddie. His presence really adds that sense of childlike wonder to the book, you can imagine kids reading this and seeing themselves in him. He's important, but not in a way that the actually really affects the story, in a way that makes him interesting, but still enough of a blank slate for kids to project themselves onto. And everything with him and Rose in this story is just lovely. I also genuinely couldn't tell if they were going to kill him off in the end. The book had me believe they might for just a moment.

This era of London is also just such a brilliant setting, and the clockwork motif does just add so much to getting you into the vibe of the setting. The description of the clockwork characters reminded me a lot of The Girl in the Fireplace, and it's really interesting to see where they're the same, and where they differ, I like the fact that here they're very much treated as robot characters rather than just robots. I also really like the descriptions of how London has changed so much in such little time, the moment of Rose running down Embankment and comparing it to Rose, so similar but so different, was really nice, though maybe that's my londoner bias coming through.

Overall though, while there's a lot to like, while I enjoyed the twists and turns and the ending set piece, I dont' think anything really 'wowed' me enough to rate it higher than a 7/10

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.

Sadly, this one doesn’t impress. It’s far from being ‘bad’, but if I have to describe it, it would be ‘competent, even if it’s a little flat’. It feels clear that this was written before the Revival really came out, and at times it does benefit it. I feel like the Supporting Cast is build up fairly strongly, and I can’t lie, a Book with Nine that feels like the classic Series has a touch to it. Sadly, Nine feels very generic here and doesn’t feel like his TV Self all that much, and the same can be said for Rose. It’s a decent read and really has an Oddity Status due to it being clearly more inspired of the previous Identity of the Show, sadly it doesn’t engage me all that much. The Story is fine, but a bit cliché. Not as egregious as the Start of the VNAs, but sadly much more boring to discuss than Timewyrm I.

My first Doctor Who book… let’s go!

I think I enjoyed the first half of this book more than the second. While I don’t dislike the book, I think a lot of it is rather forgettable or too convoluted. The atmosphere is very nice, although it felt more like a Victorian vibe than 1920s, and some of that setting seems to only be so that certain historical events can be referenced. Rose and the Doctor are great, I was surprised to find out that this was written before Series 1 aired, I felt a lot of the characterization was rather spot on. Rose sometimes became “generic companion” but when she and the Doctor were bantering I found the book utterly delightful. There were several dialogue moments which made me laugh out loud, such as the Doctor casually announcing that the TARDIS had been taken, or Rose and the Doctor steamrolling over Dickson as they’re taking him to the drawing room.

PETER DICKSON: But that’s the drawing room, sir.

DOCTOR: I don’t mind.

ROSE: And I don’t draw!

Rose’s interactions with Freddie are super endearing, and Freddie was a lovely addition to this book, as I really started to care for him throughout the book, and was rather distressed to see him in danger at the end.

That being said, there are way too many characters in this book. When I got to the dinner party scene and Freddie introduced like 5+ characters, I was like, oh boy. And then half of them don’t end up relevant, but 5 more characters get introduced! I had no idea who half the people were, which makes the whole mystery thing a bit difficult. I also felt there were one or two too many reversals. Characters are revealed to be the bad guy only to switch sides two seconds later. I think this works with Melissa in part, as her motivations for doing bad things become clear pretty fast, so the Doctor siding with her after she stops accusing him makes sense. The confusion over who is Shade Vassily is interesting in concept, but I found myself more frustrated than intrigued at points.

The pacing is definitely more like a Classic serial, which is interesting, but there were so many side elements, such as the Romanov connection and the Empire Exhibition, which felt tenuously connected and used to fill time respectively. If we had spent more time with characters like Melissa, Repple, and Wyse, I think the various reversals might have had more weight, as fun as it is to see Rose and the Doctor have a nice day out.

However, I liked the clockwork motifs throughout, and having the ending “battle” in Big Ben was an aesthetic choice that works nicely with the atmosphere. I wondered how they might connect with The Girl in the Fireplace, but it seems they don’t, though it’s a fun little Easter egg of sorts for why Ten might be familiar with the clockwork soldiers in that episode. 

Overall, I was very intrigued at the start, and found myself connecting to Rose, the Doctor, and Freddie; as well as the atmosphere, but the amount of stuff that is in this book almost burned me out as I was reading it. 3/5 stars.

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."

As a whole it's one of the weaker New series books I've read. It feels more like a Hartnell era pure historical at times and really misses the feel of Eccleston's TV era.

I do however really like the supporting characters, especially Freddie and Repple.

It starts out really slow and there's big parts of the story where nothing really happens, which has meant it's taken me ages to read because it hasn't motivated me to carry on with it. I've just powered through the last few chapters and I can say it does improve so much towards the end when everything is revealed.

I do find it strange that the Doctor gives away his coat to Repple midway through series 1 and then somehow gets an identical new coat?? How many coats must he have gone through in his lifetime as the Ninth Doctor? Also the name of the book is quite funny in hindsight.

dragged a little, and definitely didn’t need to be 19 chapters, but the characterisation of the doctor and rose was 👌🏻 on point. happy 20 years to The Doctor and Rose!