It's All In the Books: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary and Beyond by Theresa Gauthier

 This is the third and final installment of posts about the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Books.

    I've covered the Classic Doctors and now I'm moving on to New Who. There's no shortage of books from the New Era of Doctor Who.  

    Only Human by Gareth Roberts features the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, Rose Tyler as played by Billie Piper, Jackie Tyler as played by Camille Coduri, and Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman It picks up on Earth when The Doctor, Rose, and Jack discover that there is a Neanderthal being taken to a hospital after a fight in a nightclub.

    What follows is a back and forth across time as they try to determine who’s responsible for the caveman’s presence. A dirty rip engine has caused some sort of issue and the caveman can’t return home as it’s damaged his cell structure.

    It should have been confusing but instead the story was fun and full of humorous lines and reminiscent of Eccleston’s time in the TARDIS. I’ve read it a couple of times, and loved it more the second time through.

Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell features the Tenth Doctor as played by David Tennant, Donna Noble as played by Catherine Tate, Wilfred Mott as played by Bernard Cribbins.

    Back on Earth, Donna is visiting her family and she and the Doctor learn that her grandfather, Wilf, has discovered a star and had it named for him. The Doctor isn’t as excited about this. He’s seeing something sinister in the changes in the Earth’s sky.

Bringing together elements of Doctor Who lore such as the Mandragora Helix (1976), Park Vale school, which fans will remember from The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the astrology of the Dark Times, also from The Sarah Jane Adventures, this book is a perfect choice to represent the Tenth Doctor for the 50^th Anniversary. I love a book that drops in a lot of references to the past adventures, and tying in Sarah Jane made me so happy.  I’ve read this book several times, and recommend it especially to fans of Donna Noble.

The Silent Stars Go By by Dan Annett features The Eleventh Doctor as played by Matt Smith, Amy Pond as played by Karen Gillian and Rory Williams as played by Arthur Darvill.

The Doctor has promised Amy and Rory a Christmas back in Leadworth, but, while the TARDIS lands on a planet that seems Earth-like, it really isn’t what they had in mind. Amy and the Doctor explore while Rory ducks back into the TARDIS for a warmer coat. Yes, that’s right. They get separated.

Nothing good ever followed the Doctor and his companions getting separated, and Rory ends up running from shadowy figures, almost captured when he runs into another group of aliens, and gets knocked unconscious by someone else!

Things do get sorted out in time, but not before we meet the Ice Warriors and a lot more running happens. This book was released in a special hardcover edition as well as this paperback collection.

Those were all the books released in this collection, but I have to squeeze in a few more or at least mention books by the remaining Doctors in honor of the 60^th Anniversary.

   The Blood Cell by James Goss features the Twelfth Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi and Clara Oswald as played by Jenna-Louise Coleman and in it we find the Doctor being held in a prison on an asteroid—sort of an interstellar Alcatraz. Clara remains outside trying to visit every day, but every day the guards turn her away. The reader gets the impression that the Doctor knew just what he was doing when he was sent to the prison. The Doctor and Clara don't spend a lot of time together, but this showcases the strengths of each character. 

   

The Good Doctor by Juno Dawson features the 13^th Doctor as played by Jodie Whitaker, Yasmin Khan as played by Mandip Gill, Ryan Sinclair as played by Tosin Cole, and Graham O’Brien as played by Bradley Walsh.

I enjoyed this book. It starts out with a standard Time Travel issue: Ryan has left his phone behind on the planet Lobos where the Doctor has just ended a war. They go right back to get it, but find they’ve slipped 100 years into the future. In this timeline, the natives are now slaves of the human colonists (from the war the Doctor just ended) and these human zealots now worship a god they call The Good Doctor. 

There are some unexpected twists, and the book is worthwhile and is a good representation of the 13^th Doctor and her fam.

Doctor Who: The Star Beast by Gary Russell; Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder by Mark Morris; Doctor Who: The Giggle by James Goss

These books are new or about to be released and are the novelizations of the recent 60^th Anniversary specials  featuring the Fourteenth Doctor as played by David Tennant and Donna Noble as played by Catherine Tate. If you’ve seen the specials, you know what’s coming in each of these, but there are tidbits that explain things  that were cut from the television show. For these things alone, the books are worth reading, but without them, these would still be fun stories and an exciting trio of tales that put a fabulous spin on David Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor.

The Church on Ruby Road by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson features the Fifteenth Doctor as played by Ncuti Gatwa and Ruby Sunday as played by Millie Gibson. 

Again, if you’re a Whovian and you watched the Christmas Special this past December, you know what’s going to happen in this book. Still it was such a fun story and the prose, the details, and the chance to linger over passages or reread your favorite lines makes this a good place to go. 

I haven’t heard if there will be other titles featuring either the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Doctors, but I can hope. 

Here’s to another 60 years!