Cooper, Christopher

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

4 out of 5

(1 book)

Doctor Who: The Krillitane Storm

An original adventure, set between Series 4 and 5, featuring the Tenth Doctor as portrayed by David Tennant.  Arriving in Medieval Worcester, the Doctor finds the city in the grip of fear, terrorised by the Devil's Huntsman.  When the Huntsman kills again, the Doctor discovers that the Krillitanes are the truth behind the myth.  However, enlisting the help of an offworld bounty hunter and a guard captain, the Time Lord soon learns that there is an even more callous villain at work than just the Krillitanes.

Although I've always enjoyed the Series 2 story which introduced the Krillitanes, that's mostly because of the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9, as well as a brilliant performance by Tony Head as the villain of the piece.  The Krillitanes themselves were just functional CGI bat monsters, there to chase the Doctor and company around the hallways and not much else.  I therefore wasn't overly impressed at the idea of a novel which reintroduces them as antagonists.  However, Cooper genuinely manages to come up with some interesting new things to do with the Krillitanes and having there be more to the plot than just 'bat monsters = bad' was definitely the right move.

With a nicely interpreted appearance by the iconic Tenth Doctor, this book moves along at a nice pace and has enough twists and turns to the plot to not feel stale.  The only criticism I have of this otherwise perfectly enjoyable Who adventure is that the setting of Medieval Worcester (it's pronounced 'Wooster', for the benefit of non-British readers) is largely incidental to the plot.  It therefore comes across as a little contrived that various alien elements and then the Doctor would all just randomly rock up there.

4 out of 5

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