An astounding story of excellent characters, shockingly mature themes, and impeccable 90s-vamp vibes.

Almost didn't read this, but Dave Rudden's Wintertime Paradox piqued my interest in Faction Paradox, which sent me to Alien Bodies, which piqued my interest in the Eighth Doctor Adventures — and now here I am, about to read way too many entires in this 73-book series picking up the plot of a failed TV movie from 30 years ago.

It's difficult to overstate just how hard Vampire Science goes. The writing and the characterization of the Doctor pick up on the zaniness of the Classic series, but also do something new with the old formula, somehow giving us a preview of NuWho — and its more attractive, romantic, brooding hero — years before NuWho was a thing. Little details sell us on this new incarnation — like how the Doctor casually grabs coins from behind people's ears, not because he's showing off or doing a bit but simply because, as his attitude suggests, that's just where coins are. Maybe that's impossible to explain here. It really works in the prose though.

The other characters are excellent as well. Carolyn. Shackle. Joanna. Sam. Kramer. We take a spin in each of their heads and while we're there, we can feel how right they are. Shackle is growing disillusioned, and when we're in his head, we see he's right to be. But when we see him from the Doctor's eyes, we also understand that he's wrong. We go back to Shackle and he's in the right again. That's powerful character work. And because we have powerful character work, we have a fascinating clash of ideas.

I won't spoil it here by butchering what I think the book's message is (you really should read this thing), but it ruminates on death and nihilism in a way that genuinely shocked me. I did not understand Doctor Who was capable of these depths outside of really rare entries like Heaven Sent. The depiction of Sam's trauma is handled similarly well.

On top of all of this, the book digs into a really fun corner of lore that I'm eager to learn more about: the Founding Conflict, the Dark Times, the ancient history where we'll later place the Timeless Child, etc. I know the inclusion of straight-up vampires into this universe was controversial but it somehow really really works.

Read Vampire Science. If you like Doctor Who and don't like this book, I honestly don't know what you like about Doctor Who.

I am so glad I finally read this! This was easily a Highlight of the Ranges for me (right behind *The Crooked World* and *Alien Bodies*).

I adore how the Prose are written here, both of our Writers just get our Characters so well. Be it the eighth Doctor or Sam, who is quite lovely here and has a lot more to do in this book than in a few others, or even our Original Characters. I especially really liked Carolyn and was very intrigued where her Story would lead.

There are just so many small Moments I could point to and say "This was my favorite Bit in the Book" and I think that speaks volumes for how much this Story really worked for me. Highly recommend it, it's even a good Starting Point, if you are unsure of giving The Eight Doctors a go.

Vampire Science - 10/10

Sam had to work at being weird, thought Carolyn, but for the Doctor it just came naturally.

When it comes to a story, characters are the single most important aspect for me. Naturally I absolutely ADORED Vampire Science. This has got amazing character drama, moral dilemmas and the perfect mix of the doctor being whimsical and deadly serious.

Positives

The Doctor & Sam: The Doctor is actually magical here (Or is he??). You will absolutely fall in love with him and then the story delves deep into WHY you and other characters do and why that can be dangerous.

Sam is sooo much more of an actual person here than in the Eight Doctors. Constantly disagreeing with the doctor, to the point she is on the verge of leaving is great character drama and mirrors Carolyn's story very well. Plus her glorious comeuppance against weird Harold will have you cheering for her!

Supporting Characters: Carolyn's journey here is lovely, I think this is what Moffat was going for in Series 5 with Amy and Rory. While I do love Amy and Rory (more so Rory), this story pulls off that plotline so much better in less time. Kramer is also just incredibly enjoyable, no idea if she shows up again but I would love her to be a re-occuring book character (Do not spoil anything I'm doing these in order)

Morals: The talk around vampirism really makes you think. While the vampire section in the Eight Doctors is a lot of fun, I'm really glad they made the doctor think about the morals of killing a lot more here.

Negatives

Skipping the introductions:  Not directly this books fault but they really skip over Sam's introduction as a companion. Probably a purposeful choice but I love first reactions to all the crazy Sci-Fi stuff.

Tad too easy an ending for Joanna: The Anti-Vamp killing her "vamp" but not her human side is a little bit tooooo much of an easy win for me, not enough to take away from my enjoyment but did cause a slight eye-roll for me.

[cross posting from my goodreads]

This was a lot of fun! The kind of story that we could probably never get in the show given how blood is involved.

The Doctor was fantastic, the vampires were fantastic, and while I didn’t looove them, the side characters felt realistic and i was invested in them. Nice to finally get to know Sam (her introduction in the first book was not really an introduction)! This book states she has been travelling with the Doctor for a while already. Gotta say, I would have preferred to have actually seen her first adventures to get a better feeling for her character before seeing her in this nasty and very traumatising experience. As it is, I kinda feel like I got to see her development, but without really having a firm grasp on where she was developing *from*, if that makes sense.

I’m coming from having already listened to many Big Finish dramas with Eight, so I have him very well defined in my head already. I was afraid his book characterisation would be too different, but I was delighted to see that it works perfectly. I could clearly hear every line of his in Paul McGann’s voice (it makes sense, of course, considering the audios come way after the novels were published, but I was afraid there would be a big disconnect). No idea if this holds going forward, though.

I expected to like this more. I did not expect more than I got, though.

Vampire Science is a very neat, polished Doctor Who story. An interesting moral dillema, memorable characters and settings, as well as establishing and solidifying Sam and the Doctor's dynamic. I think it falls flat at the end, though.

I had expected more work be put into the ideas surrounding alternative food sources, and vampire biology. I got sort of confused around the point where Joanna and the Doctor turn on eachother, only to work together a few pages later. I was dissapointed that this novel ended in a big fight scene as opposed to scientific breakthrough.

I don't think Slake would become buddy-buddy out of nowhere just because he can get his food from somewhere else. I do think the ticking time bomb setup for a group of researchers is quite interesting. I just dislike the end.

(I also expected more extreme and interesting torture from Kate Orman.)

Overall, I just couldn't connect the way I wanted to connect. I wouldn't say it was a dissapointment, but I would say it wasn't what I had wanted. 3/5.