Reviews

A collection of short stories about various Doctor Who companions and adjacent characters, before they became companions, often as children. Not quite what it says on the tin; there's a very high ratio of memory wipes involved. Varying quality and the character voices aren't all there, but there's some gems; the Amy/Rory story (The Girl Who Tore Through The Universe) was my favorite.

writingwwolves's review

Go to review page

4.0

Average Rating of Stories: 3.8 Stars

thoroughlymodernreviewer's review

Go to review page

4.0

A very enjoyable collection of short stories. Most of them feature some of the show’s most iconic companions in adventures set before they met the Doctor. On the surface, that’s a super cool idea. And one that all of the authors have a lot of fun with. And lest you think it’s just a collection of regular stories, rest assured that each of these tales feels distinctly Doctor Who-ish, often featuring some kind of alien (or sci-fi) threat for the companions to overcome. And honestly, it’s a lot of fun seeing these characters react to these otherworldly events in the years before that kind of strangeness becomes commonplace for them.

Among my favorites are Dave Rudden’s “My Daddy Fights Monsters” (featuring Kate Lethbridge-Stewart), Temi Oh’s “The Last of the Dals” (featuring Davros), Dave Rudden’s “The Big Sleep” (featuring Vastra), and Nikita Gill’s “The Girl Who Tore Through the Universe” (featuring Amy and Rory). But on the whole, there’s not a weak story in the bunch.

Unfortunately, the collection kind of cheats with that premise a little bit. Several of the stories feature the companions either meeting a different incarnation of the Doctor or just meeting their incarnation far earlier than they’re supposed to and then having their memories erased. And that kind of feels like cheating. But still, the stories are almost all universally great. And the collection is well worth a read for any Doctor Who fan looking for their Doctor Who fix.