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I've been spending so much time *writing* fiction of late (I began a series of Tenth Doctor/Martha Jones short stories last week - I didn't mean to, of course - a plot bunny came bounding into my head and wouldn't leave !), that I've not been writing any reviews of the fiction I read, and although I've just re-read Linda Buckley-Archer's Gideon the Cutpurse and The Tar Man (still brilliant on a third and second reading, respectively), I owe you reviews of about six other books. So I'm combining quick reviews of the latest three Doctor Who novels featuring the Tenth Doctor and Doctor-in-Training Martha Jones. All these books feature the Doctor and Martha Jones as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the acclaimed hit series from BBC Television.

The first of these is Stephen Cole's Sting of the Zygons which brings back Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant's favourite monster from the Classic Who series, the Zygons.

The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the Lake District in 1909 (although he'd been aiming for Russia), where a small village is being terrorised by a gigantic scaly monster. All the local huntsman are taking part in the search for the elusive "Beast of Westmorland" as it's been dubbed, and a number of explorers, naturalists and hunters from across the country are descending on the area. Even King Edward VII is on the way to join the search, offering a Knighthood for whoever can find the Beast. But there is a more sinister presence at work in the Lakes than a mere monster on the rampage, and the Doctor and Martha soon become embroiled in the plans of an old and terrifying enemy of the Doctor's. As the hunters find themselves becoming the hunted, a desperate battle of wits begins - with the future of the entire world at stake.

There is also an Audiobook available, read by Reggie Yates (who played Martha's younger brother Leo in the TV series).

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The second book is Jacqueline Rayner's The Last Dodo in which the Doctor and Martha set off in search of a real live dodo and find themselves transported by the TARDIS to the mysterious Museum of the Last Ones (MotLO). In the Earth section there they discover one specimen of every extinct creature up to the present day; there are billions of them, from the tiniest insect to the biggest dinosaur, all of them still alive, kept in suspended animation. The Museum's only job is to preserve each species by collecting the last surviving specimen of wach creature from all over the universe.

This book is particularly interesting in that Rayner does something that "Doctor Who" authors seldom dare to do - she writes sections of the story from Martha's perspective, in the past tense. Not only does this make a refreshing change, style-wise but it's also fascinating to experience first-hand Martha's thoughts about events, including an accidental genocide that she perpetrates (which, fortunately, the Doctor is able to reverse), as well her larger feelings about the Doctor and their travels together.

Unfortunately these passages have clearly been written with a younger audience in mind so they aren't as detailed as they might have been. Pleasingly whilst Martha's television story arc concentrates a lot on her unrequited feelings for the Doctor, Rayner makes only fleeting references to this in the story. The book also features the amusing device of the "I-Spyder Book of Earth Creatures Guide" which the Doctor gives to Martha before they arrive at the Museum, and which underpins the whole novel in a very humorous Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy manner.

There is also an Audiobook available, read by Freema Agyeman.

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Martin Day's Wooden Heart features the "Castor", a vast starship which is apparently deserted and has been left drifting slowly in the void of deep space. Martha and the Doctor explore the ship and discover that they may not be alone on board it after all. It appears that someone has survived the disaster that overcame the rest of the crew. The pair try to discover what continues to power the vessel - and why a stretch of wooded countryside has suddenly appeared in the middle of the ship. As they journey through the forest, the Doctor and Martha find a mysterious, fogbound village that is traumatised by some of its children going missin and by tales of its own destruction. The Doctor and Martha find themselves in separate races against time to save the village, Martha from with the forest and the Doctor from outside in the ship.

There is also an Audiobook available, read by Adjoa Andoh (who played Martha's mother Francine in the TV series)

I picked up Stephen Cole's Wereling trilogy (which consists of Wereling: Wounded, Wereling: Prey and Wereling: Resurrection) from the library after reading and enjoying his Doctor Who novels (The Feast of the Drowned, The Monsters Inside and The Art of Destruction) as I was curious to see what he did with a non-Whoniverse story.

The trilogy starts with 16 year old Tom Anderson who is on a holiday with his parents and younger brother, Joe. He doesn't want to be with them, he wants to be on holiday with his mates and he has a blazing row with his parents before going off to the river. He's been warned that he shouldn't attempt to swim in the river because the currents are far too strong, but he decides to go for a dip anyway. Unfortunately he disturbs a bear and ends up trying to swim across the river to escape; since the current is too strong he gets washed down river. Fortunately he survives his near-drowning, but unfortunately he falls into the hands of Marcie and Hal Folan, who live on an island in the river with their two teenage children. And the Folans just happen to be werewolves. Tom doesn't know it, but rather than treating him for his near drowning, Marcie, who used to be a nurse, is working up some old magic to turn Tom into a werewolf, intending that Tom will mate with her daughter Kate, who is a lupine pureblood and won't develop her werewolf side until she's mated with a werewolf. However, Tom is a silverblood - his blood is naturally resistant to werewolf magic and when he's finally "turned" into a werewolf he becames a wereling - a werewolf whose wolfish nature is in balance with his humanity, which means that he's not just a cold-blooded killer like most 'wolves. When Tom discovers what's happened to him, via a conversation with Wesley, Kate's younger brother, he attempts to escape. But he finds himself forced to fight Wesley, and when Kate tries to intervene, wolf-Wesley turns on his sister and Tom, because his wolf nature is in balance with humanity, tries to stop him, but Wesley gets killed. Tom and Kate then escape from the Folan family home, but they don't have an easy time getting away because Marcie puts the word out amongst the extensive lupine community that Kate and Tom are on the run. They find themselves running into various 'wolves who'd be only too glad to capture them and hand them over to Marcie in the hopes of earning the favour of such a long-established 'wolf family.


In addition, there's Takapa, a scrawny albino 'wolf who has a sick vision for the future of 'wolves everywhere across America. He's working in New York, trying to build up a stock of newly turned 'wolves (homeless people and street kids) who serve as fight bait for other 'wolves whom he's trying to turn into superwolves. The superwolves are fed on dosed blood samples that make them crazy with bloodlust and enhances their strength. They team up with a small gang of street kids and one Stacy Stein, a doctor who specialises in creating the blood that Takapa is feeding to his superwolves - although she doesn't know that her work is being tampered with by another doctor. Tom is also searching for Jicaque, a Native American, who is
descended from a long-line of shamans who have always worked to contain the 'wolf community. He can cure Tom, since he's a newly-turned 'wolf, but it will take a lunar month to do so - and in the meantime, Marcie is still hunting for Kate and Tom, and Takapa is causing havoc everywhere he goes. Tom and Kate, together with Jicaque, Stacy and a real estate agent named Adam Blood (whom Kate knows from certain internet chatrooms she used to frequent) soon find themselves facing Takapa who's attempting (successfully) to resurrect Peter Stubbe, an ancient 'wolf who is better known to scientists and historians as the Konig Man.

The Wereling Trilogy: Wounded, The Wereling Trilogy: Prey and The Wereling Trilogy: Resurrection are also available from Amazon.com.

Stephen Cole's The Art of Destruction is the fifth of the New Doctor Who Adventures to feature the Doctor and Rose as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper in the BBC TV series.

In the 22nd Century, the TARDIS materialises in Africa, in the shadow of an apparently dormant volcano. Agri-teams are growing new foodstuffs in the baking soil that surrounds the volcano in attempt to feed the world's starving millions, but the Doctor and Rose have detected an alien signal somewhere close by, hence their arrival. When a nightmare force begins to surge along the dark tunnels under the volcano, the Doctor realises that an ancient trap has been sprung. But for whom was the trap intended, and what is the secret of the eerie statues that stand at the heart of the volcano? The Doctor and Rose find themselves dragged into a centuries-old conflict and trying to elevate survival into an art form, as ancient alien hands practice arts of destruction all around them.

This book is also available in Audiobook format and from Amazon.com.

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The BBC officially launched the third season of New Doctor Who (which starts in nine days time) last night, airing "Smith and Jones" for the press. And poor David Tennant got asked for the umpteenth time when he was leaving the show. He graciously refused to answer - I'm not sure I'd be half so gracious in his shoes since he's been asked that question at regular intervals ever since being cast in the role of the Doctor (great way to make someone feel wanted, press people !) Even if he wasn't going to continue to play the role for the officially commissioned fourth season, he and the BBC aren't very likely to say so when the new season is about to begin airing. The news of Christopher Eccleston's departure was leaked before the first season had barely begun and it really cast a shadow over the show. I'm quite sure the BBC has learnt a lesson from that debacle and would only announce David's departure towards the end of the season which would be his last.

Some fun facts about series three of Doctor Who - it required 20 gallons of latex rubber, 40 gallons of silicon rubber, four tonnes of clay, 10 litres of prosthetic adherent and three sets of prosthetic dentures.

Stephen Cole's The Monsters Inside is another of the earliest New Doctor Who Adventures novels and features the Doctor and Rose as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. Once again, I didn't feel that the author had captured the "voice" of the Ninth Doctor; this is a criticism I also made in my review of Justin Richards' The Clockwise Man, and I'm now wondering if it's because the Ninth Doctor is relatively taciturn, at least compared to David Tennant's Tenth Doctor who, by his own admission in "The Christmas Invasion", has "got a gob" (which isn't to say he can't shut up, just that he does talk far more than the Ninth Doctor ever did!).

However, I did enjoy this story which sees the TARDIS take the Doctor and Rose to a brutal deep-space prison colony, Justicia, where they're told they've violated the law simply by landing there, so they're both imprisoned, without a trial. Whilst Rose finds herself locked up in a teenage borstal, the Doctor is trapped in a scientific labour camp. Each is determined to find the other, and soon both Rose and the Doctor are risking life and limb in order to escape and find the other. But their dangerous plans are complicated by some old enemies, the Slitheen. I have to confess, when I saw Season 1's "Aliens of London" and "World War Three", I hated the Slitheen - the big, green, farting aliens just seemed too childish. However, "Boom Town" changed my mind about them.

The question that the Doctor and Rose face is whether the Slitheen are fellow prisoners, as they claim to be, or staging a takeover for their own sinister purposes. Their ability to disguise themselves as human drives much of the suspense and drama of this novel, with Rose (in particular) never quite sure just who is human and who is a Slitheen. Adding to the complexity of the situation is the fact that there is another family of Raxacoricofallapatorians on the loose, and Stephen Cole manages to blur the line between the traditional roles of good guys and bad guys to such good effect that you're left guessing who's "good" and who's "bad" until the very end of the novel.

The Monsters Inside is also available from Amazon.com.

Stephen Cole's The Feast of the Drowned features the Doctor and Rose as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper in the hit series from BBC Television.

When a naval cruiser sinks in mysterious circumstances in the North Sea, all hands aboard her are lost. Rose is saddened to learn that Jay, the brother of her old friend, Keisha, was amongst the dead. And then he appears to the two of them as a ghostly apparition, begging to be saved from the coming feast. As the dead crew of the cruiser being to haunt their loved ones all over London, the Doctor and Rose are drawn into a chilling mystery. What sank the ship and why? And when the cruiser's wreckage was towed up the Thames, what sinister force came with it? The river's dark waters are hiding an even darker secret, as is made clear by the fact that the loved ones of the dead sailors are desperately trying to join them, throwing themselves into the Thames.

This novel features one of the most complicated plots in a New Doctor Who Adventures story. The aliens certainly made me feel squeamish - not a book for sensitive readers, I feel ! I don't want to say too much more as I would be giving the plot away, but this book has a lot going for it. It's possible to buy the The Feast of the Drowned Audiobook and to buy The Feast of the Drowned from Amazon.com.