This year we celebrate Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary. One of the ways we do this, is by getting eleven short stories written about eleven authors. Each story is based on one of the eleven doctors, of course. A range of different authors of children’s fiction get to play with a doctor each and each month, on the 23rd, a new short story will be released.
Here’s the schedule – with links to my reviews (and yeah, I’m behind…):
- January – First Doctor, William Hartnell (1963-1966)
- February – Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)
- March – Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
- April – Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker (1974-1981)
- May – Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison (1981-1984)
- June – Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker (1984-1986)
- July – Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996)
- August – Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann (1996)
- September – Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston (2005)
- October – Tenth Doctor, David Tennant (2005-2010)
- November – Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith (2010-present)
So when reading this, I found out that I’m full of prejudice. See, when I saw this book was written by Richelle Mead of The Vampire Academy fame, I was already a bit sceptic. And when I then saw it had a storyline with unrequited love, I was almost prepared to just stop then and there. But well, I rarely quit reading something so I kept on going – and I’m glad I did. Because this wasn’t just an unrequited love story, no, this was something more interesting.
The Sixth Doctor arrives together with Peri on Koturia, an civilization 200 years in our future but modeled on Las Vegas as we know it. They go there to attend a wedding of the son of one of the Doctor’s old friends, Lord Evris Makshi. But when they arrive, they arrive in the middle of a pterodactyl attack. Luckily the Doctor and Peri is able to scare the animals away without anyone being seriously hurt. They learn that these attacks have become more frequent lately – and that the pterodactyls are even carrying people away sometimes.
When they arrive at the home of the Doctor’s friend, they naturally want to meet the blushing bride but she is in the women’s part of the house where only Peri is allowed to go. So she goes – to check out the bride who is apparently alien. And when she does finally meet the bride, she is instantly recognized … and not exactly made to feel welcome.
I ended up quite enjoying this installment in the short story series but it also made me even more aware that I’m lacking so much Doctor Who knowledge. I’ve slowly started to get into the old episodes and the old doctors – but in this one, I really felt my lack of knowledge of what has been going on. And I’m questioning whether what I liked was the novel – or the villain who is from the tv series. This sort of puts into focus what my overall view is on Doctor Who fiction – it’s not nearly as good as the real thing but helps take the edge of when you’re pining for more Doctor Who related stuff.
The Doctor didn’t really stand out for me in this novel but maybe that’s because it was told from the point of view of Peri, his companion – and she already knew him and didn’t have to explain much about him.
Still, all in all, this turned out to be a story I really enjoyed but also a story that showed me how much I still have to experience with Doctor Who as seen on TV (or iPad or whatever).
First line: It was typical. The Doctor promised me champagne and cake, and instead I got flying lizards.
- Title: Something Borrowed
- Author: Richelle Mead
- Publisher: Puffin Books
- Year: 2013
- Pages: 40 pages
- Source: Own collection – Kindle
- Stars: 3 stars out of 5
I read this as part of the year-long celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.
Related posts:
- Doctor Who 50th Anniversary #5
- Doctor Who 50th Anniversary #4
- Justin Richards: The Angel’s Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery (Doctor Who) (review)
- Doctor Who 50th Anniversary #3
- Doctor Who 50th Anniversary #2
- Doctor Who 50th Anniversary #1
- Dickens, Drood & Doctor Who
- Review: Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles
The Literary Bunny 