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"THE GIRL WHO TORE THROUGH THE UNIVERSE – AMY, RORY, AND A RAGGEDY HOLE IN THE HEART"

Nikita Gill’s The Girl Who Tore Through the Universe is a tender, emotionally rich tale that captures the aching loneliness and fiery determination of a young Amy Pond. Long before the Doctor crashes back into her life, we find her grappling with the residue of her encounter with the Raggedy Man, clinging to the belief that he was real while adults around her insist otherwise. It’s the perfect snapshot of the girl who waited—curious, stubborn, and wounded.

THE GIRL WHO WON’T LET GO

Amy’s teenage years are presented with sincerity and melancholy. She haunts the school library, studying science books not out of academic ambition but to make sense of the impossible man who once dropped into her garden. The prose leans into her loneliness and need to believe—to prove that her memory isn't madness. It’s a beautifully observed depiction of a girl trying to reconcile trauma with hope.

Rory Williams, meanwhile, is exactly how he should be at sixteen: awkward, earnest, and smitten. He’s well characterised as a gangly, soft-hearted teen, happy to follow Amy down whatever rabbit hole she digs—even if he’s clearly baffled by it all. The dynamic between the two already hints at the roles they’ll later play: Rory as the loyal companion, Amy as the fearless seeker of wonder.

A HOLE TO ANOTHER WORLD

The plot spins out in true Doctor Who fashion when Amy hears of an old manor linked to Isaac Newton and his experiments with dimensional doors. The story revels in its quietly fantastical premise—this isn’t loud, universe-shattering sci-fi, but something intimate and mythic. The manor, the portal, and the brief foray into another reality feel both ancient and strange, like something out of a Moffat fairytale.

Then comes the twist: Amy meets her long-dead mother in that parallel world and, driven by longing, brings her back. The story takes an emotional turn here, using sci-fi not for spectacle but for catharsis. The danger that reality will unravel if her mother stays adds urgency, but it’s the emotional cost that makes it sing. Amy has to choose between impossible joy and devastating responsibility—and Gill makes you feel every beat of it.

RAGGEDY MEMORY, RAGGEDY MAN

The story’s biggest strength is how it adds to Amy's internal mythology. We see how the Doctor's brief appearance shaped her world, and how Rory’s quiet, unassuming goodness helped anchor her. Her realisation, after parting with her mother again, that Rory is always there—kind, patient, true—hits with quiet power. This is where the roots of their relationship are gently but meaningfully laid.

There’s also something appropriately tragic in the idea that the Doctor leaves a wake behind him—children chasing shadows, broken hearts, and minds full of stars. Amy isn’t just waiting; she’s searching, even tearing holes in the universe to find meaning in what happened to her.

📝THE BOTTOM LINE:

The Girl Who Tore Through the Universe is one of the standouts in the Origin Stories collection. Nikita Gill delivers a lyrical, heartfelt portrait of a young Amy Pond on the cusp of heartbreak and wonder. While the plot is simple, the emotional resonance is anything but. It’s a tale of grief, hope, and friendship—of what it means to lose everything and still believe the impossible is real.

8/10