(Originally Written on TheTimeScales)

This is a story that I listen when Christmas rolls around.

It’s just such a breezy, feel good adventure. The Doctor and Mel are just perfection, it’s a shame we rarely saw something like this on screen. The comedy is on point. This is a consistently funny story. The plot is a generic fetch quest but that’s also kinda the point. It definitely helps that the trials of getting these treasures are so creative and funny. Banto and Sally-Anne are fun characters basically being bootleg, scamming versions of the Doctor and companion but they have enough substance to be actual characters rather than a parody.

Just… I love this one. It’s one of those stories that’s just so hard to hate. One of my favorite audios Big Finish ever released.

(Originally Written on TheTimeScales)

Basically Caves of Androzani but put into book form… that’s about it. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, we’re talking about one of the most highly regarded episodes of Doctor Who ever and for good reason, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that it was literally a word for word retelling of the episode. Read it if you want, you’ll still be pleasantly entertained, but the episode is definitely the better choice for enjoying this story. You also get the added bonus of some genuinely good cinematography and amazing performances.

(Originally written on TheTimeScales)

Alright let’s get this out of the way. This is not a 1st Doctor story.

Oh sure it’s a story that features the Doctor that is described as Hartnell’s incarnation that travels with his granddaughter Susan that takes place before An Unearthly Child but a story that takes place during Hartnell’s run this is not. No instead we get a Doctor that jumps through rooftops, fighting off Soul Pirates, can see visions of his future self (which I don’t think has ever happened in the show but whatever) and spouting off pop culture references. This characterization feels more in line with the new series Doctors. This is not to say that the story itself is bad, far from it. Its actually a pretty fun, energetic story about the Doctor trying to save Susan and some kidnapped children with a comical lobster hand due to his other hand being cut off by the Soul Pirates. These guys are a genuinely fascinating foe for the Doctor to go against. A species that harvests the limbs of humans to mend themselves, that’s the shit I want to see more of from this show. There’s also the kinda cute ending where the author for Peter Pan gets inspired by the events of the story to where he writes… well Peter Pan.

Take away that this is supposed to be a 1st Doctor era story and it’s honestly a good bit of fun. Younger readers (since that’s what these short stories are aimed for) would get a kick out of this.

(Originally written on TheTimeScales)

I remember hearing about this book and being like, “Oh shit, it’s Doctor Who and cartoons crossing over?!?! Literally childhood dreams coming true!” So I bought it and started reading and damn… this is one excellent yet kinda depressing story.

Yeah despite the colorful and chirpy cover this story delves into existentialism for the characters, the Doctor getting shot by a Porky Pig parody, that same parody almost committing suicide, Fitz trying to get with a literal cartoon woman with zero anatomy… Fuck I love the Wilderness Years man. And don’t worry, this book isn’t all 100% depressing, Evangelion type shit there’s plenty of humor and fun moments to break up the seriousness. The Eighth Doctor is perfection in this book, beautifully characterized. Anji and Fitz are companions that I’m not all too familiar with since this the only EDA book I’ve read but they’re great characters and I love the sub plots that they go on, especially Fitz’s

I highly recommend this novel. Top tier Doctor Who content and one of my favorite books imo.

Man oh man, what an enjoyable read.

When I saw the announcement of of new book in the New Series Adventures range, I was so excited. Especially considering the lack of novels for 13, which in my opinion are better than some of her episodes but that’s neither here nor there. Caged proves that the range can still provide really good books but is just a really good 15th Doctor story that’s perfectly fitting of the vibe of Season 1/Series 14.

Right off the bat, the characterizations of 15 and Ruby are pitch perfect. Una did an amazing job depicting the infectious rapport that Ncuti and Millie had on TV. She got the voices and the dialogue down pat.

The premise itself is very fun. A group of aliens called the Ixites have been observing and abducting another group of aliens (who don’t really go by any name in this story). It’s later revealed that the Ixites made the planet that the Unnamed aliens inhabited and plan to basically evict them and demolish their home to have the Ixites move in instead. The story follows Chirrachar who in the beginning gets abducted and sets out on a journey to find who abducted her and why. She’s a very cute and likable character who just wants to make friends with the aliens that abducted her.

The story is just really fun and whimsical with great themes of the question of other beings in the universe and what that means in the grand scheme of things. If you’re like me and want more than the 8 episodes we were given, check this book out.

Add this to the line of bonkers Doctor Who stories. And a story that has musical numbers. And they say Doctor Who can’t be a musical.

One of the thing that really works about this story is that despite the out there concept of “Doctor Who and the Puppets of Death,” it plays it just straight enough to still see these comical puppets as an actual threat. And the Scorchies are little menaces to the universe indeed.

Also is one of the few Companion Chronicles that can technically be full cast. While yes there’s still narration from the legend herself, Katy Manning, it’s told within the story rather than have an older Jo recount the events. We even get a little cameo of 3, imitated by Katy. Not exactly the most accurate impression but it’s still distinct enough to know that that’s supposed to be the Doctor.

And having it be technically full cast, Jo gets a lot of great moments throughout. Her trust in the Doctor and UNIT, her anger and sadness of the Doctor’s supposed death, the nervous awkwardness of her predicament.

And the songs. So goofy and yet so catchy. Might just be the best implementation of musical numbers in Who.

I highly recommend this story. This is how you do bonkers, out there Who stories.

(Originally written in 2022 from TheTimeScales)

How disappointing…

I was really looking forward to reading this book, though a lot of my excitement came mostly from the gorgeous cover. Seriously, this is one of the best book covers from the BBC books line. Unfortunately, this is one of the few stand-out things from this book.

I will also give credit for the solid characterization of the 4th Doctor and Leela (despite how rarely they’re utilized here) and the snowy setting. Aye and it takes place in the GOOD OLD COUNTRY THE US OF A. YESSIR YESSIR!

Other than that… wow this was a slog to get through. One of the big problems with this story is how there’s just too many characters to keep track of and how indistinct they are. There’s a lot soldier characters and they kind of mesh together making it really hard to distinguish who you’re supposed to be reading. The other characters, like the family and their daughter, are fine but they don’t really amount to much apart from moving the plot along. Like I said, the Doctor and Leela are seldom used throughout a good portion of this book which would be fine but given how boring these characters are… well, I was constantly wishing for them to appear.

The plot itself is… well nothing really. It’s a very slow read which I would be fine with but when the plot literally does nothing but have characters basically f**k around in one place or in the snow landscape doing nothing of interest for 150-160 pages and then kicks up into high gear at the end without any real build up… it reallllllly makes it a pain to read.

I’m gonna be real with you, I'm struggling to remember a lot of plot details or really anything much from the story because of how nothing and boring the book is. I can’t outright say the book was bad, it’s really not, but I can’t help feeling like that if the book was a bit more tightly written we would’ve had a really good character-focused, atmospheric story. How disappointing.

Damn… that was disappointing.

So after reading Eater of Wasps, I was really excited to read this book. Not only did it have another favorite Doctor of mine but apparently this was one of the best rated 12th Doctor books that was released. Unfortunately… I don’t share the same sentiment as other people.

I would not dare say this is a bad book, there are some great ideas and concepts here, like most of the weaker Who stories. I love the setting first and foremost, this would’ve went hard on TV. And I like that this story is kinda different in that it does a more slow paced, exploration type plot. It’s very in line with the era that there’s not a big monster of the week type story but rather a more personal tale.

But then I go to the things that bug me with this book. It’s just not that entertaining. Maybe that’s just me, because I read this after reading a fun, fast-paced, rollicking tale of killer wasps and time agents… god that book was awesome. Like yeah it has the staples of Baxendale where we get introduced to a bunch of characters in which some (if not all) die in horrifying ways but unlike his other works… I just don’t really care much about the characters apart from the Doctor and Clara. And even then… unfortunately I don’t think the characterization of 12 and Clara are all that special. Which is really disappointing given that he seems to usually have a great grasp of whatever Doctor and TARDIS team he writes for. I love the 12th Doctor and Peter Capaldi. He’s what makes that era, so writers REALLY have to channel that performance in my opinion.

Ahhhh and then there’s the Glamour. I’m gonna keep it a brick, this is the only book I own that’s in this mini-series, so I don’t truly know how much the Glamour is important in the overall arc (though from seeing reviews it sounds like not that much and it’s not that interesting to begin with) however just reading this, while it is a really cool concept, it feels like an afterthought. Like it just HAD to be there. Idk, it just felt like artificial tension for the climax of the story.

Yeah man, I can’t really say more other than it was a disappointing read. I was really expecting more from the author of the three stories I listed down below, considered some of the finest Who novels you can read (at least in my opinion). I don’t regret reading it and I’m glad that other people enjoy the book more than me but I just feel like I was expecting more. Maybe should’ve finally finished The Blood Cell, now that was a really good 12th Doctor story even though I only read half of it years ago.

(Note: I wrote this originally on TheTimeScales.)

Man… I’ve only read 3 of Baxendale’s books (Fear of the Dark, Prisoner of the Daleks, and this.), and the one constant thing I can say to him is that the man can consistently write some top-notch Who.

This is a pretty traditional (sometimes predictable) story with some cliched characters, a standard 1930s English village, and a typical monster of the week story but it does it so effectively while not being boring. The threat of the wasps is just soooo Doctor Who, it’s glorious. And the elements of body horror in this sooooo goood. Disturbing but soooo gooood.

This story almost reminds of something from the Hinchecliffe Era, more specifically The Seeds of Doom. The Doctor really invokes this being both seemingly flippant to the chaos and deaths around (even going to ship for mint humbugs and offer it to people like Baker) while being very serious and determined to stop the wasps and the impeding doom of nuclear destruction. Oh yeah… another element of this story that invokes Seeds vibes is the growing tension that builds through the story. We get introduced to a group of time agents hunting down a weapon of mass destruction and have the duty of retrieving before it sets off or nuke the whole village of Marpling. This story does an excellent job of building the sense of things going from bad to worse to literally how do we even fix this.

The one thing I can even slightly criticize is the usage of Fitz and Anji. While I’ve only read them one time, that being The Crooked World (another phenomenal book), they’re really interesting and fun characters that I wish for more things to do in this story but even then they have their moments.

All in all, this is just a solid piece of Who. I almost wish this was a televised story because I think this would be a highlight in the show. Highly highly recommend checking this out and reading it. Excited to get to read another Baxendale book, Deep Time with 12th Doctor and Clara.

This is up there with the best 5th Doctor stories ever made. Which is funny because it’s another story that puts the Doctor and company into probably the most traumatic adventures they could have. Which is hilarious considering the placement of this story is straight after Tegan wanting to come back. How Tegan didn’t flat out quit here is just insane.

Tangent aside, this is another very depressing and dark story. Lots of bloody and gruesome deaths. The main draw to this story is the excellent characterization of the 5th Doctor. This is a Doctor at his most frantic and stressed. The Doctor at one point actually tries to kill himself just so he doesn’t have to face the Dark in death. It’s all so messed up but it’s really engaging. Speaking of the Dark… it was a really good threat as this force of nature throughout the story while these bloodsucker creatures are running about. I say WAS because at the end of the story has the Dark take form and gets relegated as a generic, mustache-twirling villain who wants to destroy the universe. Yeah the ending kinda loses steam a little but that doesn’t change the really messed up yet gripping journey.

Despite the weak ending, I do recommend getting this book. It’s an adventure that pushes what can be done with this Doctor and his era.