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geekwayne's review
4.0
'Doctor Who: Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand' is almost a longer title than the book! It fills in the gap in the 800th (!) episode of Doctor Who, The Time Of The Doctor. In the episode, the current Doctor spends hundreds of years in a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore fending off whatever alien bad guys show up. We don't see most of them, but we do see that a tremendous amount of time passes as the Doctor is quite aged by the end of the episode.
This book features four novellas which occur during that unknown time. The planet has defenses, including a truth field, so the bad guys have to be quite clever, and they are. From ice meteors to seed pods to monsters that look like the Doctor and monsters who co-op the townspeople. They are all after the Doctor and the Doctor stands up against all of them.
My favorite was George Mann's 'An Apple a Day' with the aforementioned seedpods. The others are good, with the story featuring the Autons being perhaps the weakest. In all of them, I think they really got the eleventh Doctor's mannerisms, even in old age. It was a good collection, and there could be more volumes since the Doctor was on this planet for hundreds of years and faced hundreds of enemies.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by BBC Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
This book features four novellas which occur during that unknown time. The planet has defenses, including a truth field, so the bad guys have to be quite clever, and they are. From ice meteors to seed pods to monsters that look like the Doctor and monsters who co-op the townspeople. They are all after the Doctor and the Doctor stands up against all of them.
My favorite was George Mann's 'An Apple a Day' with the aforementioned seedpods. The others are good, with the story featuring the Autons being perhaps the weakest. In all of them, I think they really got the eleventh Doctor's mannerisms, even in old age. It was a good collection, and there could be more volumes since the Doctor was on this planet for hundreds of years and faced hundreds of enemies.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by BBC Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
bohodoc's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. I use 1 and 2 star ratings for books I genuinely hate or dislike respectively, which is why I rounded it up to 3.
As a whovian and as a huge fan of this particular incarnation of the Doctor, I was ready to love this. The thing is, after you've seen so many adventures that are a lot more developed than these 4, it is inevitable that stories as short as these ones fall, well, short.
Don't get me wrong, they are perfectly fine. And imagining the adorable Matt Smith saying these lines and doing these things makes them even better and funnier. But they are just so short! It's like poof, they're gone. And a part of me stretched out this read because I wanted to spend as much time with the doctor as possible and these are just not long enough.
That said, if you're a whovian who loves the 11th doctor (like me) , by all means, read this. Just don't expect it to be as good as the show.
As a whovian and as a huge fan of this particular incarnation of the Doctor, I was ready to love this. The thing is, after you've seen so many adventures that are a lot more developed than these 4, it is inevitable that stories as short as these ones fall, well, short.
Don't get me wrong, they are perfectly fine. And imagining the adorable Matt Smith saying these lines and doing these things makes them even better and funnier. But they are just so short! It's like poof, they're gone. And a part of me stretched out this read because I wanted to spend as much time with the doctor as possible and these are just not long enough.
That said, if you're a whovian who loves the 11th doctor (like me) , by all means, read this. Just don't expect it to be as good as the show.
carbolicious's review
4.0
It was nice to know a little more about Christmas and the people who lived there. I think Eleven was portrayed perfectly in these stories. I could hear his voice and see the twinkle in his eyes. Nicely done.
dantastic's review
3.0
The Time of the Doctor only scratched the surface of what happened during the Doctor's centuries on Trenzalore.
Let it Snow by Justin Richards: Mysterious ice meteors rain down on Trenzalore and the Ice Warriors are responsible. But what do they have in mind for the town of Christmas and the Doctor?
Justin Richards utilzes the Church of the Papal Mainframe's truth field to the utmost in this tale. The Doctor proves to be as clever as a mongoose and Christmas is saved.
An Apple a Day by George Mann: A bizarre seed pod crashes through the roof of a glasshouse orchard and soon a Krynoid is running amuck in Christmas! Can the Doctor stop the Krynoid before it kills and devours everyone in Chrismas? Of course he can. He's the Doctor!
An Apple a Day is a fun tale that hearkens back to the era when all you needed in a Doctor Who episode was a monster and some running. The Krynoid was actually a little scary and reminded me of similar creature in Day of the Triffids and The Ruins.
Strangers in the Outland by Paul Finch: A prospector gets ambushed and his daughter wanders the forty miles back to Christmas, only to say that his attackers looked just like The Doctor?
The Autons are the villains this time. While I liked some of the Doctor's dialog and the Lifeboat, it was kind of weak compared to the previous story. The Autons are as creepy as ever, however.
The Dreaming by Mark Morris: A malign intelligence threatens the people of Christmas. But can even the Doctor stop an evil that attacks in the victim's dreams?
The final story in the collection is the creepiest and features the Mara. As always, the Doctor saved the day.
Tales of Tenzalore did a good job filling in a few gaps during the Doctor's time on Trenzalore in The Time of the Doctor. As the foreword said, there is ample room for hundreds if not thousands more like it so we'll probably see a sequel. The first two stories were my favorites but it's a pretty good collection overall. Three out of five stars.
Let it Snow by Justin Richards: Mysterious ice meteors rain down on Trenzalore and the Ice Warriors are responsible. But what do they have in mind for the town of Christmas and the Doctor?
Justin Richards utilzes the Church of the Papal Mainframe's truth field to the utmost in this tale. The Doctor proves to be as clever as a mongoose and Christmas is saved.
An Apple a Day by George Mann: A bizarre seed pod crashes through the roof of a glasshouse orchard and soon a Krynoid is running amuck in Christmas! Can the Doctor stop the Krynoid before it kills and devours everyone in Chrismas? Of course he can. He's the Doctor!
An Apple a Day is a fun tale that hearkens back to the era when all you needed in a Doctor Who episode was a monster and some running. The Krynoid was actually a little scary and reminded me of similar creature in Day of the Triffids and The Ruins.
Strangers in the Outland by Paul Finch: A prospector gets ambushed and his daughter wanders the forty miles back to Christmas, only to say that his attackers looked just like The Doctor?
The Autons are the villains this time. While I liked some of the Doctor's dialog and the Lifeboat, it was kind of weak compared to the previous story. The Autons are as creepy as ever, however.
The Dreaming by Mark Morris: A malign intelligence threatens the people of Christmas. But can even the Doctor stop an evil that attacks in the victim's dreams?
The final story in the collection is the creepiest and features the Mara. As always, the Doctor saved the day.
Tales of Tenzalore did a good job filling in a few gaps during the Doctor's time on Trenzalore in The Time of the Doctor. As the foreword said, there is ample room for hundreds if not thousands more like it so we'll probably see a sequel. The first two stories were my favorites but it's a pretty good collection overall. Three out of five stars.
booktiny's review
BBC Doctor Who: Tales of Trenzalore
the eleventh doctors last stand
theres five small stories in the book.
each story is just so good because the all fit in with the show, but still is their own story
the eleventh doctors last stand
theres five small stories in the book.
each story is just so good because the all fit in with the show, but still is their own story
rebelbelle13's review
3.0
This book serves a very niche set of people. First, you'd have to have seen some of Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor to understand his mannerisms, the crack in the wall, and some other references he makes. Second, you MUST have seen the Christmas Doctor Who special The Time of the Doctor for any of these to make sense. Thirdly, you really have to have a grasp on Who lore, villains, and other Doctors, as these four short stories refer to aliens that have cropped up as early as Tom Baker's Doctor. If you're familiar with these three, then you'll have a decent couple of hours reading about 11's time on the planet Trenzalore. There's a few downsides here, unfortunately. All of the stories feel the same, to the point where if I think back to try to distinguish them, I'm having a hard time doing so. Also, with each story the Doctor becomes older and older, and it's very sad to see him degenerate. Because there are several hundred years between each story, none of the townspeople are the same, so there's no real reason to invest in them or even try to remember their names.
I guess if I had to pick my favorite story, I'd go with An Apple A Day, and my least favorite was probably the last one, The Dreaming. This set of short stories is just fine, but there's nothing about it that stands out to me, and I'm happy to move on to something else.
I guess if I had to pick my favorite story, I'd go with An Apple A Day, and my least favorite was probably the last one, The Dreaming. This set of short stories is just fine, but there's nothing about it that stands out to me, and I'm happy to move on to something else.
genhuggins's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sabregirl's review against another edition
4.0
Struggling between three and four stars. I wasn't really too pleased with these. I understand that there had to be big gaps between the books because of trying to encompass the entire time he was on Trenzalore before Clara came back. It was interesting though that every resolution for all the months dealt the the sever weather of Trenzalore and snow, ice or what have you.
atlantic_reader_wannabe's review
5.0
This book was amazingly good! This book is a must-read for any and every Whovian and a great addition to any bookshelf! I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to all Whovians!