“Because you’re not all the same. And because I know you’ve lost just about everything.” The Doctor looked towards Martha and the others, back in the valley, and sighed. “I hope none of them ever find out what that feels like.”
Excerpt from Sting of the Zygons

The Doctor and Martha find themselves in 1909 in the Lake District, and find that a local village has been trashed by a monster found dead on the shore that the doctor quickly recognizes as a Skarasen, a creature of the Zygons. The Doctor goes on the hunt for them without realizing that they are all around him. Many of the townspeople (and then some) are actually Zygons in disguise. The rest of the book operates on a sort of ‘The Thing’ angle, where characters don’t know who to trust, etc.

The book starts off fairly solid by getting to the point quickly. They are Zygons about, and one of their creatures has a giant hole in its head, which is apparently a difficult feat to achieve. The plot thickens when The Doctor realizes that the Zygons could be masking themselves as the townspeople. That’s about where the good ends, and he meh begins. Any supporting characters – anyone other than Martha and The Doctor – are exceptionally 2-dimensional. typical do-gooder 1910 male, The French Guy, The Hunting Lord, The Mischievous Child, The Nanny, The Innkeep. None of these characters (or others) stand out as even remotely memorable, and only serve to be a means to an end. As a result, much of the dialog is very stereo-typical (why do french characters always end statements with “, no?”) and lacks the personality to make it engaging.

I will give credit where it’s due, as Stephen Cole did manage to through a couple unexpected quirks into the story that caught me off guard, though I figured most of them out before they were really brought to light. The Doctors dialog is exceptionally David Tennant-y as well, which I’m sure is no easy task.

I’m really starting to wonder why I keep reading the new novels. I mean I can read through one in an afternoon if i dedicate myself, because they’re about half of the size (in word count) of the originals. On top of that, the language is toned down for a younger reader population. I’m not saying that these are bad traits, they’re fine attributes to have when appealing to younger readers. The problem I have is that I am not a young reader, and if they’re going to produce new Doctor Who books, why are there none that slot into the ‘adult’ category? Kill some people, swear a little, let The Doctor lose something in order to save the day. Show me the struggle that the older books were so great at.

An alright story, nothing to write home about, but I’m not upset that I spent my time on it. Very typical and straight-forward.

5.5/10