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samco's review against another edition
4.0
Doctor Who books can be hit or miss. These short stories were well done, and captured each version of the doctor. If you're in the DW world, these are worth reading.
velokyrie's review against another edition
5.0
Please find my review at: http://echoes-empty-mind.blogspot.com/2017/06/book-review-12-doctors-12-stories-12.html.
coffee_deer's review against another edition
4.0
First Doctor: A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer - 3,5/5
I love Eoin's writing, always have, and I did enjoy reading this book as well as the idea of Soul Pirates and the whole Peter Pan theme. However, the story in its details has left me with an impression that Eoin wasn't exactly too familiar with the canon of Doctor Who. Mainly, it's the First Doctor, being so energetic and striving to save lives, whereas I remember him, in the beginning of his adventures, as a grumpy observer with purely scientific curiosity and back pains that prevented him from running around too much.
Second Doctor: The Nameless City by Michael Scott - 3/5
A good story and a big thank you to the author for allowing Jamie to meet Delgado!Master - I love them both and I loved the interaction that couldn't possibly happen in the show.
Third Doctor: The Spear of Destiny by Marcus Sedgwick - 3/5
And the Master, again, but here I was more glad to see Jo, so carefully written, since I tend to miss her and the Third Doctor a lot.
Fourth Doctor: Roots of Evil by Philip Reeve - 5/5
Oh, pure delight! Firstly, the worldbuilding! This is simply the thing in which Philip Reeve excels. I'd LOVE to read an entire novel about the Heligan Structure; it's so interesting, so detailed and fascinating - can I have more? Secondly, the Doctor and Leela. Thank you so so much, Philip Reeve, for choosing Leela as the companion for a story! She is my favourite among the companions of the Fourth Doctor, and they are written just wonderfully. All the dialogues and little quirks and everything, really. And, of course, the big reveal about the Doctor in the end! Predictable, yes, but no less enjoyable. Just love it.
Fifth Doctor: Tip of the Tongue by Patrick Ness - 3,5/5
Okay, I think Patrick played it safe here. He chose to write through the POV of a teenager - the thing he often does and is good at. He also chose to leave the Doctor almost out of sight, giving him only one companion (a rare thing for the Fifth) because a company of two was easier to write, I guess (or was it a rule for the collection?). Not a bad move per se (the leaving out of sight part), but a little bit of a letdown for the Anniversary Series where everyone would love to meet their Doctors in full. Liked the story, though.
Sixth Doctor: Something Borrowed by Richelle Mead - 2,5/5
The Sixth Doctor and Peri were quite well-written, however, I found the story in itself a bit boring, struggling towards the end.
Seventh Doctor: The Ripple Effect by Malorie Blackman - 3/5
Liked the idea. Maybe not very original ("good" Daleks have been exploited numerously throughout the canon) but still impactful.
Eighth Doctor: Spore by Alex Scarrow - 3/5
Okay, what is it with the Eighth Doctor, really? A Seal of Death and Gore or something? I'm not complaining, not one bit, but it's still amusing - that it is the Eighth Doctor who gets a story with a deadly virus and liquefied bodies and bones scattered everywhere. Something just never changes!
Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon by Charlie Higson - 3/5
The choice of the companion is original, the portrayal of the Ninth Doctor is endearing, but the story is a little... confusing, I guess. Blurred. And I have a problem with the fact that, according to this book, the Ninth Doctor met Ali almost after he left Rose and then got back to Rose without traveling anywhere else. I mean... what about the photos? Of the Titanic and JFK assassination? When he is alone? I know, it's not strictly canon but it is commonly believed that the Doctor did travel a bit on his own before returning to Rose. So, yeah, not so sure about that move.
Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage by Derek Landy - 4/5
This story is bonkers and that's beautiful! It made me look Derek Landy up because I definitely want to read more from the person who pulled off something like that.
Eleventh Doctor: Nothing Hour by Neil Gaiman - 5/5
Can I give more? Please? Just when I believe that Gaiman can't be more brilliant than he already is, I'm proved wrong, again, because he obviously can. The Doctor and Amy, so alive and themselves as if they have jumped off the screen; their portrayal so spot-on and fun. I read the lines and saw them saying them, every time. And the story! The monster! Oh, just the best! Forgive me, I'm still emotional. Can we have more from Neil in the Whoniverse? We need him here.
Twelfth Doctor: Lights Out by Holly Black - 4/5
It's so good. From the coffee station as a crime scene to the Twelfth Doctor, so odd and loveable and scary (so, basically, himself), to the companion who is also the monster. Extra kudos for Benton - I actually cried out loud when the Doctor mentioned his name.
I love Eoin's writing, always have, and I did enjoy reading this book as well as the idea of Soul Pirates and the whole Peter Pan theme. However, the story in its details has left me with an impression that Eoin wasn't exactly too familiar with the canon of Doctor Who. Mainly, it's the First Doctor, being so energetic and striving to save lives, whereas I remember him, in the beginning of his adventures, as a grumpy observer with purely scientific curiosity and back pains that prevented him from running around too much.
Second Doctor: The Nameless City by Michael Scott - 3/5
A good story and a big thank you to the author for allowing Jamie to meet Delgado!Master - I love them both and I loved the interaction that couldn't possibly happen in the show.
Third Doctor: The Spear of Destiny by Marcus Sedgwick - 3/5
And the Master, again, but here I was more glad to see Jo, so carefully written, since I tend to miss her and the Third Doctor a lot.
Fourth Doctor: Roots of Evil by Philip Reeve - 5/5
Oh, pure delight! Firstly, the worldbuilding! This is simply the thing in which Philip Reeve excels. I'd LOVE to read an entire novel about the Heligan Structure; it's so interesting, so detailed and fascinating - can I have more? Secondly, the Doctor and Leela. Thank you so so much, Philip Reeve, for choosing Leela as the companion for a story! She is my favourite among the companions of the Fourth Doctor, and they are written just wonderfully. All the dialogues and little quirks and everything, really. And, of course, the big reveal about the Doctor in the end! Predictable, yes, but no less enjoyable. Just love it.
Fifth Doctor: Tip of the Tongue by Patrick Ness - 3,5/5
Okay, I think Patrick played it safe here. He chose to write through the POV of a teenager - the thing he often does and is good at. He also chose to leave the Doctor almost out of sight, giving him only one companion (a rare thing for the Fifth) because a company of two was easier to write, I guess (or was it a rule for the collection?). Not a bad move per se (the leaving out of sight part), but a little bit of a letdown for the Anniversary Series where everyone would love to meet their Doctors in full. Liked the story, though.
Sixth Doctor: Something Borrowed by Richelle Mead - 2,5/5
The Sixth Doctor and Peri were quite well-written, however, I found the story in itself a bit boring, struggling towards the end.
Seventh Doctor: The Ripple Effect by Malorie Blackman - 3/5
Liked the idea. Maybe not very original ("good" Daleks have been exploited numerously throughout the canon) but still impactful.
Eighth Doctor: Spore by Alex Scarrow - 3/5
Okay, what is it with the Eighth Doctor, really? A Seal of Death and Gore or something? I'm not complaining, not one bit, but it's still amusing - that it is the Eighth Doctor who gets a story with a deadly virus and liquefied bodies and bones scattered everywhere. Something just never changes!
Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon by Charlie Higson - 3/5
The choice of the companion is original, the portrayal of the Ninth Doctor is endearing, but the story is a little... confusing, I guess. Blurred. And I have a problem with the fact that, according to this book, the Ninth Doctor met Ali almost after he left Rose and then got back to Rose without traveling anywhere else. I mean... what about the photos? Of the Titanic and JFK assassination? When he is alone? I know, it's not strictly canon but it is commonly believed that the Doctor did travel a bit on his own before returning to Rose. So, yeah, not so sure about that move.
Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage by Derek Landy - 4/5
This story is bonkers and that's beautiful! It made me look Derek Landy up because I definitely want to read more from the person who pulled off something like that.
Eleventh Doctor: Nothing Hour by Neil Gaiman - 5/5
Can I give more? Please? Just when I believe that Gaiman can't be more brilliant than he already is, I'm proved wrong, again, because he obviously can. The Doctor and Amy, so alive and themselves as if they have jumped off the screen; their portrayal so spot-on and fun. I read the lines and saw them saying them, every time. And the story! The monster! Oh, just the best! Forgive me, I'm still emotional. Can we have more from Neil in the Whoniverse? We need him here.
Twelfth Doctor: Lights Out by Holly Black - 4/5
It's so good. From the coffee station as a crime scene to the Twelfth Doctor, so odd and loveable and scary (so, basically, himself), to the companion who is also the monster. Extra kudos for Benton - I actually cried out loud when the Doctor mentioned his name.
sunsoar25's review against another edition
5.0
Twelve fantastic authors come together to tell twelve original Doctor Who short stories - each one featuring an incarnation of the Doctor.
I was so excited when I saw this on the new shelf at my local library - I ran right over and snatched it up before anyone else got the same idea! Although there are so many great authors participating in this collection, I only wanted to read the stories to go along with the new era of the show (9th-12th). I am interested in the classic era, but I would like to have a greater sense of the character's voice and tone - like I do for Eccleston's, Tennant's, and Smith's (I haven't seen any of Capaldi's episodes yet, but I will soon). I'd like to have a greater familiarity with the previous actors in the part before I look into their stories.
I read "The Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon" by Charlie Higson, "The Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" by Derek Landy, "The Eleventh Doctor: Nothing O'Clock" by Neil Gaiman, and "The Twelfth Doctor: Lights Out" by Holly Black (even though I'm not yet familiar with Capaldi's performance I wanted to read this since I like Holly Black and I will hopefully be watching the series eight soon). Each story was very good on it's own, but my two favorites were "Nothing O'Clock" (with Amy) and "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" (with Martha). I would love to see tv adaptations of both of these! "Nothing O'Clock" is super creepy and it's written by one of my favorite authors (and sometime writer for Doctor Who) - the Kin would be great villains to see on screen. "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" has a brilliant concept - the Doctor and Martha find themselves in recreated worlds of different books.
In regards to "The Beast of Babylon", the 9th Doctor's story, it's also quite good and is set between the time when the Doctor first asks Rose to travel the universe with him and that the TARDIS can also travel in time. This is a side adventure with a non-human companion where he realizes he should ask Rose one more time. The 12th Doctor's story, "Lights Out", features the Doctor on a mission to get Clara a really good coffee at the International Coffee Roasting Station, but he gets mixed up in a murder mystery alongside one of the roasted coffee bean shippers. Both of these were good, but I did prefer the 11th and 10th (Tennant is my personal favorite) Doctor's stories.
Of the four stories I read from this collection, each author really gets the Doctor's tone and his known companions (Martha and Amy, in this case) down pat. I really enjoyed reading them and in the future I'm looking forward to checking out the previous Doctors' stories (when I'm more familiar with them, anyway). I also can't wait to watch the eighth series with Peter Capaldi!
I was so excited when I saw this on the new shelf at my local library - I ran right over and snatched it up before anyone else got the same idea! Although there are so many great authors participating in this collection, I only wanted to read the stories to go along with the new era of the show (9th-12th). I am interested in the classic era, but I would like to have a greater sense of the character's voice and tone - like I do for Eccleston's, Tennant's, and Smith's (I haven't seen any of Capaldi's episodes yet, but I will soon). I'd like to have a greater familiarity with the previous actors in the part before I look into their stories.
I read "The Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon" by Charlie Higson, "The Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" by Derek Landy, "The Eleventh Doctor: Nothing O'Clock" by Neil Gaiman, and "The Twelfth Doctor: Lights Out" by Holly Black (even though I'm not yet familiar with Capaldi's performance I wanted to read this since I like Holly Black and I will hopefully be watching the series eight soon). Each story was very good on it's own, but my two favorites were "Nothing O'Clock" (with Amy) and "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" (with Martha). I would love to see tv adaptations of both of these! "Nothing O'Clock" is super creepy and it's written by one of my favorite authors (and sometime writer for Doctor Who) - the Kin would be great villains to see on screen. "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" has a brilliant concept - the Doctor and Martha find themselves in recreated worlds of different books.
In regards to "The Beast of Babylon", the 9th Doctor's story, it's also quite good and is set between the time when the Doctor first asks Rose to travel the universe with him and that the TARDIS can also travel in time. This is a side adventure with a non-human companion where he realizes he should ask Rose one more time. The 12th Doctor's story, "Lights Out", features the Doctor on a mission to get Clara a really good coffee at the International Coffee Roasting Station, but he gets mixed up in a murder mystery alongside one of the roasted coffee bean shippers. Both of these were good, but I did prefer the 11th and 10th (Tennant is my personal favorite) Doctor's stories.
Of the four stories I read from this collection, each author really gets the Doctor's tone and his known companions (Martha and Amy, in this case) down pat. I really enjoyed reading them and in the future I'm looking forward to checking out the previous Doctors' stories (when I'm more familiar with them, anyway). I also can't wait to watch the eighth series with Peter Capaldi!
hollowspine's review against another edition
4.0
The audiobook version of this is well worth a listen, the narrators do a great job bringing each author's work to life. While some of the stories collected here are in other collections I didn't mind listening even to my least favorite renditions of the Doctor.
Favorite stories were The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage by Derek Landy, The Roots of Evil by Philip Reeve and A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer. Even for those unfamiliar with past Doctors, each story can be enjoyed without much background knowledge, or even none at all. Each has some elements of mystery, adventure and a dash of romance, just as in the television show. There is much cleverness from the Doctor, plenty of humor and in total it adds up to quite a fun listen.
I would definitely recommend this to families with kids in grades 5+ for road trip or just general car listening. You can always skip a story if it's not to your liking, but odds are the family will listen through the whole set.
Favorite stories were The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage by Derek Landy, The Roots of Evil by Philip Reeve and A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer. Even for those unfamiliar with past Doctors, each story can be enjoyed without much background knowledge, or even none at all. Each has some elements of mystery, adventure and a dash of romance, just as in the television show. There is much cleverness from the Doctor, plenty of humor and in total it adds up to quite a fun listen.
I would definitely recommend this to families with kids in grades 5+ for road trip or just general car listening. You can always skip a story if it's not to your liking, but odds are the family will listen through the whole set.
jackiijackii's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going to review each story as I read it, because I think it will take me some time and I don't want to forget:
First Doctor: A Big Hand for the Doctor
I'm not well-versed in the First Doctor's stories, but this brought him a little closer to my heart. He is proper, and smart, and full of love for his granddaughter, but he doesn't have any patience for nonsense, as though he's already seen it all (and he still has at least a dozen or so regenerations after this, that we know of). Despite being only 70 pages, the story feels complete, with all problems solved and no gaps, with rooftop fights and aliens and technology. The Doctor is a complete character, and I didn't feel like I had to know anything else about him to enjoy the story. I can totally imagine this as an actual episode for the First Doctor, though the references to 21st century things is awesome.
Second Doctor: The Nameless City
The Second Doctor is described in this story as "an unmade bed", with his mussed hair and crooked bow tie, and he's a little flaky, but very endearing. The story was good, but then again, when you basically retell HP Lovecraft, you're almost guaranteed a hit. The Nameless City, the Necronomicon, the tentacled/beaked ancient one...yep, all we needed was for Lovecraft to appear to witness it all (a la "A Big Hand for the Doctor"'s ending). The city itself reminded me of the Time Tombs/Shrike Temple, and the "glass apes" were like Shrikes themselves, from the Hyperion Cantos. While I appreciate getting to know the Second Doctor better, the story was too unoriginal to leave a lasting impression in my mind.
Third Doctor: The Spear of Destiny
Not a bad little story, tying in several famous spears as alien tech. Also get to briefly see the Third Doctor in hand-to-hand combat. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a novel-long story.
Fourth Doctor: The Roots of Evil
A short and tidy story; the Fourth Doctor wasn't as distinct in this one, which saddens me because Tom Baker is a fan favorite for a reason. I love Leeta, too, but the best part of this story is an "appearance" from Eleven, and when the main character is Four, that's not saying much.
Fifth Doctor: Tip of the Tongue
The story is great, but the Doctor only makes three short appearances and says maybe five sentences the entire time. I was excited to go on an adventure with the dashing Fifth Doctor but he wasn't really there. It kind of reminded me of Blink, where some random human is the main character, but unlike that episode, the Doctor didn't engage said random human to help solve a mystery. I forget his companion's name, I'm not sure he ever said it.
Sixth Doctor: Something Borrowed
The Sixth Doctor was always too mercurial for me, but I really liked him in this story. He was undoubtedly, 100% Colin Baker as Six--the author not only understood him but made him as animated on the page as he was in the show. His companion, Peri, narrates the story in first person, which is brilliant for several reasons: we get an intimate portrait of the Doctor; we can see for ourselves that this companion is intelligent, well-matched, refreshingly sarcastic, and still cares deeply about him; and because we, as readers, are by default his companions, Peri represents us well. There's also a depth of character in this Doctor that's difficult to achieve in 68 pages. So far, this and the First Doctor's story are the best at representing the Doctor.
Seventh Doctor: The Ripple Effect
There wasn't much to this story, but Seven and Ace were presented well, and there was something deeply disturbing yet kind of magical about seeing Daleks as a kind, benevolent, and intelligent species. If there was time (or, a novel-length instead of short story) to explore it, I think it'd be fun to see this play out like the Dreamweaver episode with Eleven/Rory/Amy, where Seven and Ace aren't sure if the nice-Dalek or the bad-Dalek reality is true.
Eighth Doctor: Spore
It's true I hold Eight to a higher standard, because I'm desperately in love with him, so maybe Spore wouldn't be so bad as another Doctor's story, but it's a huge disappointment for Eight. Eight is terse and romantic, charming as f*ck and a little bit silly. At least, he's supposed to be.
In Spore, a spore-thing drifts to earth and we discover it's kind of like if a Marvel Comics symbiote (like Venom) didn't need a host, but could build itself using DNA from a liquified body. There are three phases of this Spore: liquify all organic matter in a set range, gather all liquid to create a brain and defensive creatures, then ask the most intelligent inhabitants of the planet One Question: if they answer that Question correctly, the Spore self-destructs and leaves the planet alone. If they don't answer correctly, the planet isn't intelligent enough to live and it'll take over everything. This part was actually pretty cool: it's an interesting premise and it had a horror-story feel to it.
But then the Doctor shows up, alone. He walks calmly to the commotion, sits down with the man in charge, and calmly explains the situation. Then he walks calmly into the infected town, finds one military team survivor, and sits her down and calmly explains the situation to her. Then he walks calmly out into the night to find the growing Symbiote Brain, because it's ready to ask the Question and he has to try to answer it. He finds the Brain and has a lovely calm conversation with it, and saves the day. Then they walk calmly back to the man in charge. The lady he saved looks at the stars all googly-eyed and waxes poetic about how she'd love to explore the universe. The Doctor tells her, "Oh your species will get there in a few decades, you can probably explore it then. Cheerio!" And leaves without her.
I suspect she shows up later as a character, thought I can't remember exactly. But his refusal to take her is a complete turnaround from several regenerations later, where Eleven has to literally force Clara into the Tardis to travel with him. Also, the question is to "explain the ratio 1:812", which I first thought was clever because I misremembered it as the God Ratio, or Golden Ratio, but it isn't. It's nothing, it's made up. So basically, this Eight wasn't really Eight, and his part of the story was boring, and while the villain was terrifying it was a familiar villain.
Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon
Perfectly Nine. He's mad and cares too much, smiles crazily, and beats up bad guys. The last chapter made me cry. Right up there with the stories for One and Six.
Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage
This story was better than most of the DW novels I've read. It's also the most hilarious of this collection (yes, I'm saying that before reading Twelve's story), and Derek Landy's clever and funny bio should have been a huge give-away. If not for the apparent awesomeness of Ten and Martha, the best part would have been the nods to books Martha has read. I'm going to read this aloud to my husband; it's definitely worth sharing.
Eleventh Doctor: Nothing O'Clock
I'd read this one before, in Neil Gaiman's "Trigger Warnings". It's more creepy than it is fun, but the Doctor and Amy are true to character, and it really is a clever story. Reminds me of Coraline, but, that doesn't surprise me. Good Eleven, good story.
Twelfth Doctor: Lights Out
Clara has tainted all my opinions of Twelve and his episodes as bad. She's supposed to be the voice of the audience, but she has to be dragged on adventures. The initial mystery of her existence isn't compelling enough to compensate for her complete lack of personality, and once the Doctor figures out the "Impossible Girl" (gag me), all we have left is a pretty and reluctant magician's assistant. She treats the Doctor like a child and--this is possibly her most unforgivable trait--she's boring. She doesn't have Amy's ferocity, or Martha's logic, or Rose's heart. She's never the first to jump into something, and more often than not, she seems downright annoyed with the Doctor.
So when I realized Lights Out was a story without Clara, I saw it as an opportunity to actually get to know Twelve without the weight of his most useless companion. And you know what? He's fantastic. He's cocky and sympathetic, he's mature and endearingly clueless. And the story itself is complete; I love that he promoted someone to temporary-companion status, and I love that, while it seemed cute and kind, it was part of his plan, kept neatly hidden until the end reveal.
So! Overall, I really liked this collection. One, Six, Nine, Ten, and Twelve were the best stories, and now that I'm thinking about it, they're so great because they're true to their Doctor. I wouldn't have needed a physical description of any of them to know who they were. Highly recommended for fans of DW.
First Doctor: A Big Hand for the Doctor
I'm not well-versed in the First Doctor's stories, but this brought him a little closer to my heart. He is proper, and smart, and full of love for his granddaughter, but he doesn't have any patience for nonsense, as though he's already seen it all (and he still has at least a dozen or so regenerations after this, that we know of). Despite being only 70 pages, the story feels complete, with all problems solved and no gaps, with rooftop fights and aliens and technology. The Doctor is a complete character, and I didn't feel like I had to know anything else about him to enjoy the story. I can totally imagine this as an actual episode for the First Doctor, though the references to 21st century things is awesome.
Second Doctor: The Nameless City
The Second Doctor is described in this story as "an unmade bed", with his mussed hair and crooked bow tie, and he's a little flaky, but very endearing. The story was good, but then again, when you basically retell HP Lovecraft, you're almost guaranteed a hit. The Nameless City, the Necronomicon, the tentacled/beaked ancient one...yep, all we needed was for Lovecraft to appear to witness it all (a la "A Big Hand for the Doctor"'s ending). The city itself reminded me of the Time Tombs/Shrike Temple, and the "glass apes" were like Shrikes themselves, from the Hyperion Cantos. While I appreciate getting to know the Second Doctor better, the story was too unoriginal to leave a lasting impression in my mind.
Third Doctor: The Spear of Destiny
Not a bad little story, tying in several famous spears as alien tech. Also get to briefly see the Third Doctor in hand-to-hand combat. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a novel-long story.
Fourth Doctor: The Roots of Evil
A short and tidy story; the Fourth Doctor wasn't as distinct in this one, which saddens me because Tom Baker is a fan favorite for a reason. I love Leeta, too, but the best part of this story is an "appearance" from Eleven, and when the main character is Four, that's not saying much.
Fifth Doctor: Tip of the Tongue
The story is great, but the Doctor only makes three short appearances and says maybe five sentences the entire time. I was excited to go on an adventure with the dashing Fifth Doctor but he wasn't really there. It kind of reminded me of Blink, where some random human is the main character, but unlike that episode, the Doctor didn't engage said random human to help solve a mystery. I forget his companion's name, I'm not sure he ever said it.
Sixth Doctor: Something Borrowed
The Sixth Doctor was always too mercurial for me, but I really liked him in this story. He was undoubtedly, 100% Colin Baker as Six--the author not only understood him but made him as animated on the page as he was in the show. His companion, Peri, narrates the story in first person, which is brilliant for several reasons: we get an intimate portrait of the Doctor; we can see for ourselves that this companion is intelligent, well-matched, refreshingly sarcastic, and still cares deeply about him; and because we, as readers, are by default his companions, Peri represents us well. There's also a depth of character in this Doctor that's difficult to achieve in 68 pages. So far, this and the First Doctor's story are the best at representing the Doctor.
Seventh Doctor: The Ripple Effect
There wasn't much to this story, but Seven and Ace were presented well, and there was something deeply disturbing yet kind of magical about seeing Daleks as a kind, benevolent, and intelligent species. If there was time (or, a novel-length instead of short story) to explore it, I think it'd be fun to see this play out like the Dreamweaver episode with Eleven/Rory/Amy, where Seven and Ace aren't sure if the nice-Dalek or the bad-Dalek reality is true.
Eighth Doctor: Spore
It's true I hold Eight to a higher standard, because I'm desperately in love with him, so maybe Spore wouldn't be so bad as another Doctor's story, but it's a huge disappointment for Eight. Eight is terse and romantic, charming as f*ck and a little bit silly. At least, he's supposed to be.
In Spore, a spore-thing drifts to earth and we discover it's kind of like if a Marvel Comics symbiote (like Venom) didn't need a host, but could build itself using DNA from a liquified body. There are three phases of this Spore: liquify all organic matter in a set range, gather all liquid to create a brain and defensive creatures, then ask the most intelligent inhabitants of the planet One Question: if they answer that Question correctly, the Spore self-destructs and leaves the planet alone. If they don't answer correctly, the planet isn't intelligent enough to live and it'll take over everything. This part was actually pretty cool: it's an interesting premise and it had a horror-story feel to it.
But then the Doctor shows up, alone. He walks calmly to the commotion, sits down with the man in charge, and calmly explains the situation. Then he walks calmly into the infected town, finds one military team survivor, and sits her down and calmly explains the situation to her. Then he walks calmly out into the night to find the growing Symbiote Brain, because it's ready to ask the Question and he has to try to answer it. He finds the Brain and has a lovely calm conversation with it, and saves the day. Then they walk calmly back to the man in charge. The lady he saved looks at the stars all googly-eyed and waxes poetic about how she'd love to explore the universe. The Doctor tells her, "Oh your species will get there in a few decades, you can probably explore it then. Cheerio!" And leaves without her.
I suspect she shows up later as a character, thought I can't remember exactly. But his refusal to take her is a complete turnaround from several regenerations later, where Eleven has to literally force Clara into the Tardis to travel with him. Also, the question is to "explain the ratio 1:812", which I first thought was clever because I misremembered it as the God Ratio, or Golden Ratio, but it isn't. It's nothing, it's made up. So basically, this Eight wasn't really Eight, and his part of the story was boring, and while the villain was terrifying it was a familiar villain.
Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon
Perfectly Nine. He's mad and cares too much, smiles crazily, and beats up bad guys. The last chapter made me cry. Right up there with the stories for One and Six.
Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage
This story was better than most of the DW novels I've read. It's also the most hilarious of this collection (yes, I'm saying that before reading Twelve's story), and Derek Landy's clever and funny bio should have been a huge give-away. If not for the apparent awesomeness of Ten and Martha, the best part would have been the nods to books Martha has read. I'm going to read this aloud to my husband; it's definitely worth sharing.
Eleventh Doctor: Nothing O'Clock
I'd read this one before, in Neil Gaiman's "Trigger Warnings". It's more creepy than it is fun, but the Doctor and Amy are true to character, and it really is a clever story. Reminds me of Coraline, but, that doesn't surprise me. Good Eleven, good story.
Twelfth Doctor: Lights Out
Clara has tainted all my opinions of Twelve and his episodes as bad. She's supposed to be the voice of the audience, but she has to be dragged on adventures. The initial mystery of her existence isn't compelling enough to compensate for her complete lack of personality, and once the Doctor figures out the "Impossible Girl" (gag me), all we have left is a pretty and reluctant magician's assistant. She treats the Doctor like a child and--this is possibly her most unforgivable trait--she's boring. She doesn't have Amy's ferocity, or Martha's logic, or Rose's heart. She's never the first to jump into something, and more often than not, she seems downright annoyed with the Doctor.
So when I realized Lights Out was a story without Clara, I saw it as an opportunity to actually get to know Twelve without the weight of his most useless companion. And you know what? He's fantastic. He's cocky and sympathetic, he's mature and endearingly clueless. And the story itself is complete; I love that he promoted someone to temporary-companion status, and I love that, while it seemed cute and kind, it was part of his plan, kept neatly hidden until the end reveal.
So! Overall, I really liked this collection. One, Six, Nine, Ten, and Twelve were the best stories, and now that I'm thinking about it, they're so great because they're true to their Doctor. I wouldn't have needed a physical description of any of them to know who they were. Highly recommended for fans of DW.
artemishi's review against another edition
4.0
Being a Doctor Who nut, I had my eye on this anthology for quite a while. I mean, look at some of those authors- Neil Gaiman! Holly Black! PATRICK NESS. Of course I had to have it. And you know what? For a collection of short stories, it's fun. Each reads like an episode of the show, with a specific Doctor. Not being as familiar with Doctors 1-8, I didn't click with those stories as much. But there were still standouts in the entire collection, where the author clearly knew that era of the show.
I think probably my favorite was Holly Black's, which had more layers than the others. But none of them really fell flat, and a few had me curious about previous companions and Doctors- enough to try to find the original show on DVD (again). Overall, it's a nice addition to the canon of the show, and felt a lot like watching an entire season (in book form). It definitely did the job in holding me over until the Christmas Special. It's a solid anthology, recommended for fans of Doctor Who (and anthologies).
I think probably my favorite was Holly Black's, which had more layers than the others. But none of them really fell flat, and a few had me curious about previous companions and Doctors- enough to try to find the original show on DVD (again). Overall, it's a nice addition to the canon of the show, and felt a lot like watching an entire season (in book form). It definitely did the job in holding me over until the Christmas Special. It's a solid anthology, recommended for fans of Doctor Who (and anthologies).
may63536's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked some of the stories while others were not really necessary, in my opinion. However, all of them were interesting when it comes to different writing styles and also to know a little more about the Doctor and his different regenerations.
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