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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
It's pretty cool that the actor who plays River Song wrote and narrated a River Song book. It's a book within a book. River writing a Melanie Malone mystery while trying to solve a real mystery. River finds herself within written pages of her book, only someone else started adding characters and changing the plot. All while both stories revolve around the tomb of Cloeopatra. Like a lot of Doctor Who stories, I understand it when I'm in it. But don't ask me to explain it. Just enjoy the ride.
As you may be able to tell from my profile picture, I am a fan of Alex Kingston and am especially fond of one of her most famous characters, River Song. I’ve been watching Doctor Who off and on since I was a small child, but I was lukewarm on the 21st Century revival until Professor River Song burst her way into the shadowy Library and captured my imagination. Since then, I’ve followed all of River’s adventures avidly and pre-ordered this book as soon as I became aware of it. I loved it. Alex Kingston clearly had a great deal of fun writing it and I had a great deal of fun reading it. She captured the character of River perfectly and wove an intricate timey wimey tale that suited her to a T. At some point I’m going to have to spring for the audiobook version, as her narration is apparently amazing as well. Highly recommended for anyone who likes River Song.
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I caught myself getting lost a handful of times (probably because I was reading it through a digital library service), but thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Really really struggled to finish, as I kept getting bored. Maybe too many characters confused me. I don’t know, I just didn’t enjoy this.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Picked up this book because I am a huge River Song fan and love Alex Kingston. I was so excited that she wrote and narrated the audiobook. Great ready for any Doctor Who fan that loves River/Melody Malone!
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
i won’t do a in-depth review as i don’t want to give you any spoilers but instead what i will say is that:
“the ruby’s curse” by alex kingston is a very well written novel. that takes you on a journey! it’s a great addition to the doctor who universe - well idk actually know if this would be classed as “cannon” to the shows lore or not but my point still stands.
anyway, i highly recommend you give this brilliant novel a read! ESPECIALLY if you love doctor who but more specifically river song. as you will not regret it!
“the ruby’s curse” by alex kingston is a very well written novel. that takes you on a journey! it’s a great addition to the doctor who universe - well idk actually know if this would be classed as “cannon” to the shows lore or not but my point still stands.
anyway, i highly recommend you give this brilliant novel a read! ESPECIALLY if you love doctor who but more specifically river song. as you will not regret it!
It was easy for me to hear the story being told through River Song as Kingston was able to write well the cadence. I often found that I struggled to read fast enough to keep up with her cadence, but to me, this made it all the more fun! It was an interesting twist for there to be "duplicate" characters who are the same, but not the same. Surprisingly, this brought me closure on the Amy-Rory story arc from the show, in a similar way how a loved one never really dies when you can reread their letters and imagine their voice still speaking with you. This was absolutely a passion project, and I adore Kingston for her dedication to the character beyond the screen.
This is fanfiction of the highest quality. Alex Kingston (and Jac Rayner) really loves River, Melody and the entire Doctor Who universe and it shows in every page. I loved every every minute of it. It’s a very clever book, plot wise and it is smug in its cleverness but that’s very River thing to be I wouldn’t have it another way. Sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous but at those times very self aware of that and it’s actually important to the style of the book.
Having Alex read the audio was a delight, I’m going to read the hardback too as I think that will give it a different experience.
Having Alex read the audio was a delight, I’m going to read the hardback too as I think that will give it a different experience.