September 2014 BBC Books Doctor Who Novels

[Etoile]

In September 2014, BBC Books released three Doctor Who novels featuring the Twelfth Doctor:

• Silhouette (by Justin Richards)
• The Blood Cell (by James Goss)
• The Crawling Terror (by Mike Tucker)

Has anyone read these? I've read The Blood Cell and would love to discuss it with others; I wonder if anyone has read the other two and would be like to discuss those, too.

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, I read all three. They're not bad for what they are, early tie-in novels where the authors would have had nothing to go on from the show, in this case, Capaldi's performance as the Doctor. Unlike other similar NSAs where it constantly seems like the author is still writing the previous Doctor, I had no trouble picturing Capaldi in all three novels, though I'll agree The Blood Cell certainly came the closest depiction to what we've seen on TV. Although Clara in that novel seems more like what she was like in season 7 than 8.

As for the other two, they're not bad, but they're not awesome either. Mind you, I got them all in a batch which included the War Doctor novel, and that's certainly the star of that batch, anything else pales by comparison.

 

[Etoile]

Interesting that you note The Blood Cell read more like Capaldi - I actually found myself switching throughout the book between Capaldi's voice and Smith's voice. It worked equally well in each of them, but I found the Doctor could read as either gruff or whimsical throughout the book.

I certainly don't fault authors when that happens - hell, the book came out three weeks after Capaldi's debut, which means it was handed in well before that - and it frankly speaks to the nature of the Doctor as a regenerating being, because he is the same person, so why shouldn't he read the same either way?

I had issues with The Blood Cell, though...I think because it was told from the Governor's perspective. It really felt like Goss wrote a story with other characters, then shoehorned the Doctor and Clara into it. Maybe that's just me...

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Yeah, I read all three. They're not bad for what they are, early tie-in novels where the authors would have had nothing to go on from the show, in this case, Capaldi's performance as the Doctor.

I know what you mean. I felt much the same way about the early Matt Smith novels. "Apollo 23" in particular felt very middle of the road and felt like it just as easily could have been a story with Tennant & Rose, Pertwee & Jo, or T. Baker & Sarah Jane.

 

[The Wormhole]

I certainly don't fault authors when that happens - hell, the book came out three weeks after Capaldi's debut, which means it was handed in well before that - and it frankly speaks to the nature of the Doctor as a regenerating being, because he is the same person, so why shouldn't he read the same either way?

To an extent, I agree, and it is true that several TV writers, most notably RTD and Moffat have said they just write the Doctor the same regardless which incarnation they're writing, and it's the actor's performance that gives each incarnation a sense of individuality. So certainly, a novel can get away with having the Doctor's dialogue written the same way and having that work across the spectrum. Even on the show, Capaldi's dialogue is interchangeable with Smith's for the most part. However, the books also include things like descriptions of the Doctor's mannerisms and body language and so on. Like I said above, these novels do a decent enough job at Capaldi, not once did I end up thinking of Smith or any other Doctor. Compare that to the first three Smith novels, which seemed practically tailored for Tennant, or even the first three Tennant novels were channeling Eccleston.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

I wonder if we'll ever get another Ninth Doctor novel? Granted, I know that mostly the novel lines focus on the current Doctor, but there's still the ocassional past Doctor novels coming out, most recently Engines Of War (Although Hurt counts as a "new series" Doctor technically).

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, never say never, but it'll probably be a good long while before we get any more new novels featuring Eccleston, or even Tennant or Smith. BBC's practice is primarily do novels for the incumbent Doctor, with the occasional past Doctor novel written by a "celebrity author" like Stephen Baxter or Alastair Reynolds. The War Doctor novel came about as a result of a noticeable gap between Smith's departure and Capaldi's premiere kind of preventing new novels for them, and so the War Doctor was used to plug that hole. BBC Books has no plans for more War Doctor novels.

So, unless a big name in science fiction literature decides they want to do an Eccleston novel, we're probably going to wait a while for one. E-Books are always an option, though, and there is an ongoing e-book series which caters exclusively to former Doctors, Time Trips. I don't know if they've done an Eccleston one yet, but they have done Tennant and Smith, so there's nothing preventing an Eccleston story from happening. And all Doctor Who e-books do get released in print compilations eventually, making them accessible to those who don't own an e-reader.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I wish they were still doing novels as frequently as they were during the late 1990s/early 2000s. Back then, they would do several previous Doctor adventures alongside the new adventures with the 8th Doctor.

I did really enjoy the 2 most recent previous Doctor adventures: "The Wheel of Ice" with the 2nd Doctor, Jamie, & Zoe and "Harvest of Time" with the 3rd Doctor, Jo, UNIT, & the Master. (I don't count John Hurt as a previous Doctor because he is a relatively new character retconned into the continuity.)

 

[Worf2DS9]

I'm currently reading Silhouette and enjoying it so far. I chose this one because it features the Paternoster Gang, and since I enjoy that trio, this novel was a no-brainer. It also has quite lovely cover art, despite the fact that Clara was oddly bumped out in favour of Vastra, Jenny & Strax. The voices of all the characters seem bang-on to me, including Capaldi's Doctor.