Plague of the Cybermen

This book sees the Eleventh Doctor face his old enemies the Cybermen. It is not entirely clear exactly where it is set in the Doctor Who continuity but it sees the Eleventh Doctor companion-less so it is probably after The Snowmen.

The Doctor arrives in a 19th century village to discover the locals dying of a plague or being taken away by "Plague Warriors" and the dead apparently walking from their graves. It's obvious from the title what the real cause of all this is and it soon turns into a generic Cybermen story. It's certainly a good story but it doesn't really cover any new ground. A big chunk of it was based on "Tomb of the Cybermen" which is certainly no bad thing. In fact if you are a fan of that excellent Patrick Troughton story there are a few little treats for you in this book.

As someone who has been writing Doctor Who books since the series returned in 2005, Richards has no problems in characterising the Eleventh Doctor. In fact I would say this is the most accurate prose version of the Eleventh Doctor out of all the books starring him I have read. We have a one-off companion here named Olga who makes a decent companion, although she is pretty much a copy of Clara.

Overall a good quick read for Doctor Who fans but not the most innovative Doctor Who book you can find.

4 Stars

The Beast of Babylon

Charlie Higson has created my favourite e-short so far. In it the Ninth Doctor picks up a girl called Ali and they head to Babylon, under the rule of Hammurabi, to face a god-like power.

The Ninth Doctor is captured perfectly, in his speech and in his characteristics. Higson uses the Ninth Doctor's cheeky grin to brilliant effect and I couldn't help but feel transported back to 2005 when a 12 year old version of me sat watching the first episode of the revived series.

The story is also great in many ways. Higson gradually reveals more as the story goes along and everything you think you know at the start of the story is wrong. He also does a good job of putting a bit of history in, with an appearance by Hammurabi and the Doctor mentioning how he stood for law and order. Plus this e-short is perhaps the most tied-in with the series as it is set during Rose.

Fantastic!

Shada [Novelisation]

Shada was originally going to be a six-part Doctor Who serial to end series seventeen but thanks to strikes at the BBC only half of Douglas Adams' story was filmed and the story was never broadcast. There have been various attempts to complete the story but this is the best one by a long way.

The story sees The Doctor, Romana and K9 attempt to stop the villainous Skagra from taking over the universe using an ancient Time Lord book stolen from Cambridge Professor Chronotis, who happens to be a retired Time Lord. It is quite complicated for a Who story of the age and with the addition of students Chris Parsons and Clare Keightly, obviously in love but yet somehow not together, it almost feels like too much. This is probably because it was intended to be a six episode story, rather than the more common four-episodes, and often these six episoders have to complicate the plot to make it last for the extra episodes and Shada does this.

Many elements of the story are classic Douglas Adams, from the forgetful retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis to Skagra's desperate to please spaceship. It is also a particularly original story being a Time Lord story yet not being set on Gallifrey and the revelation about what Shada actually is, is wonderful.

Credit must be given to Gareth Roberts here though for turning it into such an effective book. He matches the Adams style well and manages to fix a few of the weaker plot points. There's a very late '70s feel to the setting and lots of fun mentions for die-hard Who fans from the Doctor and Romana's past adventures to a few subtle nods to the revived series.

Overall this is a really successful novelisation of the missing story and compare it to the likes of The Creature from the Pit, a story from the same series, and it is wonderful. But for a work by Douglas Adams it is a little disappointing- this story is nothing on the virtually perfect Doctor Who serial City of Death. It remains a must read for all fans of this era of Doctor Who though!