It's no secret that I'm a big Thirteenth Doctor fan.

The Chibnall era is my happy place, somewhere I can go to get comfort when everything feels rough.

I love spending time with this Doctor and her friends. The Thirteenth Doctor episodes have helped me get through some difficult situations, and I have nothing but respect for those involved in bringing this era to life.

The Thirteenth Doctor means so much to me, so I get excited every time she appears in a new EU story.

But Vampire Weekend had me even more excited than usual.

After leaving Doctor Who in 2022, Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill were back to reprise their roles as the Doctor and Yasmin Khan in a series of audio dramas from Big Finish Productions!

I couldn't wait - and I was not disappointed.

There's so much in this audio I want to talk about.

Jodie and Mandip are as enthusiastic as always, delivering a great performance. The chemistry between the two on screen is just perfect and I'm glad that translated so well into the audio medium.

I loved the character exploration in Vampire Weekend - Tim Foley definitely understands the Doctor, Yaz, and their relationship with each other.

The plot itself was also super fun, with some actual laugh-out-loud moments, some ingenious twists, and a well-realised side cast - I thought the character of Daryl was wonderful, and the conversation between them and Yaz was one of my favourite scenes.

I'm absolutely overflowing with love for this phenomenal audio!

Thank you Big Finish. You've made me very happy.

                                                                                                                                              Introduction

I'm unsure how controversial this review will be, but looking at the other reviews for this book, which range from 4-5 stars, this is likely to stand out as a less-than-positive take on the novel.

Fear of the Dark is by Trevor Baxendale. An author I really don't like as a person. And it doesn't help that I haven't really enjoyed any of his contributions to Doctor Who that I have previously read.

But I did have fairly high hopes for this book as it was the Fifth Doctor book chosen to be reprinted for BBC Books' 50th Anniversary Collection. I should have known I was going to be disappointed, as this was the same run of reprints that selected Only Human as one of the 'best' Ninth Doctor novels. (Another well-regarded book that I really didn't enjoy, also written by a disgusting person)

Tone and Monsters

I think the reason many people like this book is because it's 'dark', 'brutal', 'edgy', and 'terrifying'.

Now, I'm not averse to dark stories (Extremis is one of my absolute favourite episodes, and that's horrifyingly bleak), and this story is literally all about the Dark.

The Dark itself, a strange creature seemingly made of shadows, is a good enough concept, but I just felt like it was underused, and wasn't even very interesting.

The odd Bloodhunter creature provides a lot of the story's gore. And I really didn't like the gore.

I'm not against gruesome moments in Who but this novel just goes too far. As in, it just keeps trying to shock the reader, but each death is so similar that it just gets boring. It just felt a bit unnecessary.

Characters

Oh god.

The side characters in Fear of the Dark are awful. I couldn't stand them! But more on them later.

The TARDIS team of Five, Tegan, and Nyssa isn't one I'm overly familiar with, but I have had a good bit of experience with them, and I've liked what I've seen of them.

But in this book, I only liked one character. The Doctor was irritating, and Tegan was just there yelling. Nyssa was the sole reason I was reading this book, as she was the singular likeable character in a 288 page novel.

Of course, Baxendale doesn't want me to have nice things, so he decides to just relegate Nyssa to more of a plot device than an actual character.

And now we come to the side cast. They are probably the worst thing about this book for me.

We have Jyl Stoker, a character that I wanted to punch; Vega Jaal, who was actually kind of interesting, but killed off far too early; Bunny Cheung, someone who only exists to elicit some sadness in the reader; Lawrence and Cadwell, who are two different characters, but I kept getting confused as to who was who, so similar and unlikeable are these characters; and Ravus Oldeman, who is indeed an old man.

All of these side characters die. And not once did I care for them.

Prose and Dialogue

There was some nice prose in the book but it was overshadowed by some terrible dialogue, spoken by terrible characters.

Conclusion

As you have probably gathered, I hate this book.

I try my best to be positive about all things Doctor Who, but I'd be lying if I said I at least had an enjoyable time reading this novel.

Reading Fear of the Dark actually made me feel like I was in the novel; I was experiencing a disaster.

Obviously this is going to be a controversial episode, but I really, really enjoyed Wish World.

It's got so much going on, so many different concepts and characters, but this is the perfect mixture to create an extremely fun viewing experience.

Now, there are a few things I have issues with, mainly the opening scene in the woods, but this did not affect my enjoyment of this story!

Things I loved:

• The Doctor and Belinda living an 'ordinary' life
• The Ranis being amazing
• The Wish World's disturbing dystopian society
• The stunning visuals
• All the actors are at their best here

Of course, now Russell T Davies has so much to resolve in the next episode, The Reality War.

Fingers crossed it can maintain this season's spectacularly high quality and deliver a finale to be remembered...

There's not much to say about this.

It's just a short, one-page comic released to tie-in with Lux.

It's basically like one of the Mr RIng-a-Ding cartoons we saw in the episode.

Fans of the character will definitely enjoy this story!

The TARDIS Cams were extremely short minisodes often including as special features on Doctor Who DVD releases.

They showcased the work of Mike Tucker's visual effects crew by showing the TARDIS in a variety of different locations.

The first of the TARDIS Cams, called The Moonscape, is visually stunning, with some highly impressive modelwork.

The CyberHead is also really cool.

This is really cool!

This is a short story prelude to The Story and the Engine and it's a lot of fun.

It definitely made me excited for the episode, because Inua Ellams wrote a very engaging story here with some marvellous prose.

I have rather mixed opinions on The Liar, the Glitch and the War Zone.

As with most of the stories in The Missy Chronicles, Missy's characterisation is on point.

But this short story's main problem is that it is a short story.

It feels like Peter Anghelides has a lot of stuff he wants to cram in here, but there simply isn't enough room to allow the story to breathe.

There are a lot of elements that could make for a good novel, but it all gets a bit muddled here.

However, I'm not saying this story is poorly written. Just because something is messy doesn't mean it's not enjoyable, and that is certainly the case with The Liar, the Glitch and the War Zone.

It is not a perfect story, but it's good fun.

Unfortunately, if you're like me, and the only reason you bought The Missy Chronicles is because of the Thirteenth Doctor's appearance in this short story, prepare to be disappointed. She only makes a tiny cameo here.

But The Missy Chronicles is still a really high quality anthology, and while Liar isn't the greatest story here, it's still good.

TARDISODES: STORY 3

This Tardisode, made to tease School Reunion, is good enough, but it has problems.

It's nice to see Mickey, and the reference to Torchwood is fun, but the random shot of a Krillitane at the end is very unnecessary.

TARDISODES: STORY 2

This second Tardisode, a prequel to Tooth and Claw, is a bit rubbish.

It has a good concept, but it just fumbles the execution, resulting in a very 'meh' minisode.

TARDISODES: STORY 1

This is the first of the Tardisodes, a series of very short minisodes made to promote each episode of the 2006 series of Doctor Who.

Tardisode 1 accompanies New Earth. It is presented as an advertisement made for the New Earth hospital.

It's really nothing special, it's just some promo material.

It is always nice to have some more Catkind content though!

It's very hard to review The Last Dalek, but I'll give it a go.

In this game, you play as 'The Last Dalek' from the TV episode Dalek.

You essentially re-enact the episode, but things do take a bit of a dark turn when you exterminate the Doctor and steal the TARDIS at the end of the game!

THE DALEK BOOK: STORY 2

Invasion of the Daleks is a comic strip that, while relatively basic, sets things up for the following stories in this book.

The three main characters aren't the most interesting, and the story isn't extremely exciting, but it serves it's purpose.

THE DALEK BOOK: STORY 1

Dalek Planetarium isn't anything special.

It's just some nice artwork of some Daleks looking at planets.

BATTLES IN TIME: STORY 1

I hardly remember this comic, so that's not a good sign.

This is the start of a six-part story which is essentially a sequel to The End of the World.

The comic has an odd premise, which unfortunately doesn't work to the story's favour.

Underwhelming.

DOOM'S DAY: HOUR 5 (Four Hours of Doom's Day: Comic 4)

DWM's contribution to Doom's Day comes to a close with their best offering yet (although that's not saying much).

It's a comic that is actually enjoyable, with a fun enough plot, and a lovely guest appearance from Jo Grant.

Overall, these Four Hours of Doom's Day haven't been very good, but I look forward to Doom's next adventure, a comic from TITAN.

DOOM'S DAY: HOUR 4 (Four Hours of Doom's Day: Comic 3)

I really did not like this one.

These comics are not being given the time they need to tell their story, which results in a rushed, dissatisfying story.

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 14

Forget what I said about Tales of the Dark Times. This is the weirdest TLV story.

Published on a T-shirt, this is effectively an in-universe advertisement for the Order of Oberon, a group of assassins.

It's nothing special, but it's fun enough.

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 13 (Comic Creator: Comic 2)

This is probably the strangest TLV story I've experienced so far.

Tales of the Dark Times was a comic accessible on the Doctor Who Comic Creator app.

It's split into a few parts, although each part focuses on something different.

This all results in a very confusing jumble of characters and locations that just about holds itself together.

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 8

This animation was made to tease Time Lord Victorious.

It's extremely simple.

It is just a Dalek floating in space who says a few words.

It does what it needs to, but it's really not much.

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 7 (UNIT Field Logs: Episode 4)

The Field Logs come to an end with this installment of the Time Fracture publicity minisodes.

It's nothing overly special, but it's always great to see Kate Stewart!

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 6 (UNIT Field Logs: Episode 3)

This is when things start getting interesting.

Someone has entered the Fracture!

It would definitely have been more exciting at the time, but it is a good promotional short.

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 5 (UNIT Field Logs: Episode 2)

While this short does a good job of building up the mystery of the Fracture, the point I made in my review of the previous field log still stands.

TIME LORD VICTORIOUS: STORY 4 (UNIT Field Logs: Episode 1)

This is an intriguing short created to hype up the Time Fracture live event.

While a fun watch, it would probably be more exciting watching this video when it was released, as what it is advertising is no longer available.

FUGITIVE DOCTOR COMIC: STORY 1

I’d like to start this review by saying that I really like the idea of the Fugitive Doctor, and think it was well executed on screen.

Therefore, I was excited, and mildly nervous, about a Fugitive Doctor comic, set during her time working for Division!

Thankfully, Origins lives up to my expectations, with a fun, engaging adventure.

We get to learn a bit more about Division, the mysterious Time Lord organisation that sends the Doctor on her missions.

The Doctor also gets a companion here, Taslo, who starts off a little bit unlikeable, but as the story goes on, I ended up really enjoying the Doctor and Taslo’s dynamic, which made Taslo’s betrayal even more shocking.

The ending is perhaps the most intriguing section of Origins, with Gat (from Fugitive of the Judoon) having a conversation with Tecteun, as the Doctor goes on the run, and becomes a Fugitive...

Overall, this is a cracking good read, with beautiful artwork, excellent characterisation, and a great adventure.

NEW SERIES ADVENTURES: BOOK 50 (Eleventh Doctor: Book 14)

The Silent Stars Go By, an Eleventh Doctor novel by Dan Abnett, starts with Amy and Rory asking to go home to Leadworth for Christmas.

Unfortunately, the TARDIS being the TARDIS, they don’t end up where they want to be.

On the planet Hereafter, the Doctor and his friends aren’t the only visitors from the stars...

The Ice Warriors are here, but they’re not the most dangerous threat...

Going off that premise, the novel seems like a fun read. But sadly, it’s a bit of a dull slog.

The main problem I have with the book is the unengaging characters, boring locations, and a wasted plot.

This book isn’t really my cup of tea, and while I appreciate the effort, I just can’t engage with the story at all.

To be honest, I probably don’t like this novel just because I don’t enjoy these kinds of stories.

This review has been quite difficult to write, as it’s very hard to get my feelings towards this novel across, but I think I can summarise.

A good book, but definitely not for me.