The World of Doctor Who

I've been a Doctor Who fan since the early 80's when I was first introduced to the good Doctor. In the intervening decades I have watched as faithfully as one can in the United States and enjoyed many adventures with the Doctor and his cohorts. Unfortunately in that extended fandom I never picked up a Doctor Who book until just this year. You see there has been a sort of Doctor Who revival locally and I got caught up in the fever. I bought a bunch of books and now as I read them and explore the literary world of Doctor Who, you get to come along with me.

Reviews will be organized in as close to chronological order as I can get them and preferably by Doctor. This may not be very obvious at first since I must start small by necessity. I will rate the book on a scale of 1 to 5 TARDISes. Please enjoy.

Note: this is not part of the regular Sci-Fi Repository out of simple convenience. It would be very difficult to maintain any semblance of order with a series or world this large. For an expanded reference to the Doctor Who literary world, I have created a biblliography. Enjoy.

City at World's End Christopher Bulis [1999] cover

First Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara

Summary: The TARDIS lands on the top of a mysteriously empty building which shortly collapses during a meteor storm. Shortly the Doctor and Ian find themselves trying to not only understand the dying world they have landed on but also trying to find Susan and Barbara before the moon crash lands and the planet is destroyed.

Thoughts: Excellent. Very engaging and quite lively. The characters are captured perfectly and the puzzle is wonderfully complex.

Human Nature Paul Cornell [1995] cover

Seventh Doctor, Benny

Summary: The Doctor has decided to become a human in 1914 Britain. Unfortunately, the agent he used to accomplish this end had more in store than just changing him physically and mentally into John Smith. Benny is now stranded and hunted if she can't bring the Doctor back.

Thoughts: I found the writing style in this one to be pretty awkward and difficult to negotiate at times. The core story was actually very good, but it just wasn't well told.

Last Man RunningChris Boucher [1998] cover

Fourth Doctor, Leela

Summary: The Doctor and Leela pop up on a planet that shouldn't exist only to find themselves in the midst of a very strange environment that changes every time they figure part of it out.

Thoughts: Pretty straight forward writing with a decent plot. The only lacks were in characterization (which wasn't all bad) and in the background of the story. A different plot could probably have made the setting and background much more interesting.

Parasite Jim Mortimore [1994] cover

Seventh Doctor, Ace, Benny

Summary: The Doctor and his companions find themselves within a fascinating and complex object known as the Artifact. As their time in the Artifact increases, the environment becomes both stranger and more dangerous until all of their lives and indeed the lives in all the known universe are threatened.

Thoughts: A fascinating idea that develops somewhat interestingly. There are a lot of scenes that I found confusing in spite of the fact that the novel is quite satisfactorily wrapped at the end. Be prepared for more than a little garden variety weirdness here.