Who Reviews Sting of the Zygons Book Review by DJ Forrest

Written by Stephen Cole

BBC Books

Published 2007

There’s something so deliciously enjoyable about a Zygon story, that far outweighs anything written about Cybermen, or indeed the Daleks. Even though, all the dastardly of beings, creatures, monsters all have one thing in mind – world domination.

What I love about the Zygons, is their shapeshifting abilities. I mean, who’d have thought, that out of all the creatures on this Earth, that they would adopt the template of a mere bovine – a grazer of the fields. So, while the Doctor is busy prattling away to what he thinks is a harmless milk machine, he isn’t, and that’s what makes it fun.

This is the third time I’ve read Sting of the Zygons, and I knew the cows meant something important after the first read, but I couldn’t remember which one in the story bore any significance. I’m not giving you the plot, although with many these are fairly obvious after the first few pages of the first chapter.

The Doctor and Martha Jones have arrived in the Lake District in 1909, where the Beast of Westmorland is terrorising the local villages, dealing a hefty blow to the buildings, and a ghostly image of a little girl called Molly Melton, is seen across the land, just before terror strikes.

King Edward VII offers a knighthood for the capture of the Beast.

The Beast itself reminds me of the Doctor’s earlier encounter with the Zygons, with Tom Baker and that hideous creature that towered above a house, and for the best part of when the Beast is roaming the countryside, making a hell of a racket with its screaming, that’s all I can picture. Given that my initial thinking of the Beast of Westmorland was akin to the Puma sightings on Bodmin Moor, but this Beast is somewhat bigger than this – much, much bigger.

The cast are superb in this story. You have the rich, with their invested interests in capturing the beast, with hunting parties and motor cars which are real bone shakers, and never let the 10^th Doctor drive. Although we know he can drive, it’s clear he took lessons from The Stig!

There are horse drawn carriages, and the Zygons are really keen to grab whatever is inside them. There are some Zygons you feel sorry for, in fact there’s quite a few, plus the usual nasty ones which you really hope don’t make it to the end, or if they do, they meet either the wrath of the Time Lord or the mighty big beast.

There are some surprises too in the story. Mrs Unsworth, who sounds like a jolly B&B owner who cooks mighty big breakfasts, and likes watching moving pictures, and is quite handy with a frying pan, as a weapon. I’d forgotten about her. Not forgotten about the prim Nanny, most definitely not Nanny McPhee but I could imagine her quite well as a strict school teacher used to dishing out castor oil by the tablespoon!

All in all, Sting of the Zygons is a bloody good read and I’d recommend it to anyone who fancies a change from the usual tin pot enemies who we all love but often need a change from the norm.

Who Reviews The Art of Destruction Book Review by DJ Forrest

Written by Stephen Cole

For BBC Books

First published 2006

10^th Doctor with Rose Tyler

The story is set in 22^nd century Africa, in the shadow of a dormant volcano. There are a group of agricultural scientists growing new foodstuffs to feed the starving millions in the basking heat. The Doctor and Rose land on the planet after picking up an alien signal close by.  But, as the Doctor and Rose enter the field where the new crops are, they encounter men with guns and it takes a lot of fast talking to persuade the riflemen that they’re not stealing crops, or from any camp.

There’s also something quite wrong inside the dormant volcano. Deep inside one of the chambers lies something alien, and when it’s threatened, begins taking the wildlife hostage and manipulates it for its own use – and not just the wildlife, either.

This novel could work quite easily without the intervention of the Doctor and quite a few times I almost wished it hadn’t been a Who story. There were often times where I became a little frustrated with how easy the Doctor handled situations and there’s often too many times when the sonic screwdriver saves the day – as if it explained a moment when the author couldn’t.    

I’ve read a lot of Stephen Cole’s novels now and this one was possibly the hardest to get into at first, because it didn’t feel like a Who story at all. Of course, when you picture the two warring alien factions, then it does begin to feel Who like, and I don’t think I can ever look at another earthworm in quite the same way ever again. Thanks Stephen!

That said, I really enjoyed the characters, the good guys and the bad guy come good. It was also great to read a story based on Earth but in another part of the world, rather than the UK. The action was there. I could smell the earth and could picture the scene as the earthworm characters began to fire back at the escaping humans.

I did get a little lost in one part of the story near the end, where the team with the Doctor, or with Rose, had to retrieve something, which was I think later taken back by the earthworm creatures with weapons on their shoulders. Cool piece of kit – hence why I can never look at an earthworm in quite the same fashion.

A lot of Who stories are fairly easy to follow from the first chapter, indeed some from the first page, but this took a bit of time to suss the characters and draw any kind of attachment to them. Towards the middle and near the end, the story picked up pace and everything began to make a lot of sense, and you had to feel for the female member of the agricultural team. You can tell from the writing that Stephen spent time building strong characters in the scientists at the base, and how their lives had changed since working to grow foodstuffs to feed the starving. My favourite character would have to be Solomon.

Rose and the Doctor tired me out however, from their moments of capture to their ultimate release. I wondered if they would ever find the peace required to send the worms packing and save the planet, and with too few pages left, it did seem as if a Part Two was needed, but as all good stories go, the author managed to wrap it up well – it wasn’t rushed – it all came good in the end.

Who Reviews The Monsters Inside by DJ Forrest

Written by Stephen Cole

BBC Doctor Who novel

Stephen is my new favourite Who writer. I initially thought I was reading a Steve Lyons novel purely because on merit, there is a lot of detail, a lot of action, and there’s no talking down to the reader. I now want to find other novels written by Cole, that may not necessarily be about our favourite Time Lord.

From the get go I was enthralled by the sheer magnitude of the story. The Doctor and Rose, land on a planet where before them slaves as it appears, are building a giant pyramid. On closer inspection, it turns out that they’re prisoners, and they’re on a prison planet, and are arrested for supposedly trespassing without due reason. Rose is sent to Borstal, where it’s a bit like teenage Wentworth, and the Doctor is sent to a scientific labour camp, and put to work.

In many of the Doctor and companion stories, there’s many ways of them reuniting and joining forces, good triumphing over evil. This again is one of them, but there’s a lot more than one planet in the way of them joining forces for some time. Rose, isn’t the most scientific of the bunch of companions who have travelled with the Doctor, of course, she’s a lot cleverer than Donna, but each of the companions have their own strengths, and much of Rose’s are put to the test in this, plus a lot of her weaknesses.

There’s also a surprise return of a scary monster that I’m not going to reveal, and it was interesting to discover that there are different varieties of these species, and just like human beings, these two hate each other. It seems that there’s a level of class, such as we have in our own society. One is regarded as the rag and bone merchant whereas the other is up there with the rich and knowledgeable, and you find yourself, rooting for the rag and bone merchant over the rich and knowledgeable, because underneath it all, even in those dark times when the Doctor is up against it, you can empathise with them.

Like in all stories, Rose finds a likeable ally who she becomes close to, and after some altercations with the Queen Bee of the inmates, forges long lasting friendships with many, albeit till the end of the novel when you know the Doctor and Rose will be on their merry way. There are familiar characters that you want to hope will see it through to the end. There are some you wish weren’t going to make it through at all, although, you also kind of hope the Doctor will have a showdown with them. There are a lot of showdowns in this novel.

What I enjoyed about the story which has taken almost 3 weeks to finish – bedtime reading – is the sheer detail on every page. This writer knows his planets and you can picture each and every scene unfolding, especially when you discover what the Monster inside the prison is. That was a joy!

I don’t tend to rate novels that I read, as in an out of 10 or out of 5, but if I had to, I’d rate this a solid 10.

It’s a 9^th Doctor story and I only wish more novels were written for this Time Lord as they have been a joy to read so far. If you haven’t read it yet, this is a definite must. It’s all action and an edge of the seat kind of story.

Big Finish Reviews+ The Devil in Ms. Wildthyme by Simon Mallinson

Written by Stephen Cole

Released December 2005

Katy Manning (Iris Wildthyme); Ortis Deley (Tom); David Benson (Panda); Michael Hobbs(Doctor Marwick); Lizzie Hopley (Alice Elbaum); Simon Guerrier (Spectres)

Iris, Tom and Panda find themselves facing demons from Iris' past, as a spooky and other-worldly presence makes itself known...

Another great outing for this trio, with lots of funny moments which will have you snorting with laughter.  If you are of a certain age you may get the joke in the title, have to admit I got it straight away but I have too much time on my hands.

Katy again pulls off another great performance, ‘ooo you are norty but I like you’ (pulling self together now).  I guarantee by the second story, Panda will be a firm favourite and you’ll been wanting more.

So may I say thank you to the gang for two wonderful episodes in Iris’s life which will have cheer you up.

Well done Paul for bringing this wonderful character to us and thank you Katy and David for making my life the better with listening.

Please buy this from Big Finish and maybe flood their boards, for maybe a Christmas special.

We say Eldrad must live, but I say IRIS MUST LIVE.