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Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures #7
Doctor Who: Cat's Cradle - Witch Mark
'Spare no sympathy for those creatures. They were witches, they deserved to die.'
A coach crashes on the M40. All the passengers are killed. The bodies carry no identification; they are wearing similar new clothes. And each has a suitcase full of banknotes.
A country vet delivers a foal. The mare has a deep wound in her forehead. In the straw, the vet finds a tapered horn.
In the darkening and doomed world known to its inhabitants as Tir na n-Og, the besieged humans defend the walls of their citadel Dinorben against mythical beasts and demons.
The TARDIS’s link with the Eye of Harmony is becoming ever more tenuous and is in urgent need of repair. But the time machine takes the Doctor and Ace to a village in rural Wales, and a gateway to another world.
A coach crashes on the M40. All the passengers are killed. The bodies carry no identification; they are wearing similar new clothes. And each has a suitcase full of banknotes.
A country vet delivers a foal. The mare has a deep wound in her forehead. In the straw, the vet finds a tapered horn.
In the darkening and doomed world known to its inhabitants as Tir na n-Og, the besieged humans defend the walls of their citadel Dinorben against mythical beasts and demons.
The TARDIS’s link with the Eye of Harmony is becoming ever more tenuous and is in urgent need of repair. But the time machine takes the Doctor and Ace to a village in rural Wales, and a gateway to another world.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 18, 1992
8 people are currently reading
627 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Hunt
3 books5 followersLibrarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 1, 2020
It has been a while since I read a Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who novel. This is mainly due to the fact that I gave up half way through the first two Cat's Cradle novels. Not to mention, this book has some really bad reviews on Goodreads. When you have so many other books to read, the thought of wasting your time with another book you are not going to enjoy is not tempting.
However, I really enjoyed this novel. At it's heart there is something very British about this novel. The Welsh village the Doctor and Ace land in is described so well it seems to ooze off the page. While the world Tír na n-Óg coming across as so beautiful in it's hay-day, that you just want to visit it. The characters were great and the plot seemed vast with so many threads going off in different directions.
I would say that the main selling point of this book is it's writing. Andrew Hunt's prose are to die for. Each sentence is poetically described, giving everything a rich flavor to it. I recently finished a different book, which is currently do very well in the best sellers chart. However, the writing of that book is too simplistic. Language is never used effectively to communicate the importance of a scene or location. So to read Witch Mark was a lovely experience.
If I had any criticism it would be that there is a bit too much going on at one. There are lots of characters being introduced all at once and it can become overwhelming to remember who they all are. Indeed there are a few things that get lost or maybe left vague because it's never explored to it's true extent. For anyone thinking of reading this, I advise you to remember who the character or Hearn is. I forgot and then he became very important at the last minute!
This is not so much a criticism on this book, but for the Cat's Cradle trilogy as a whole; I still don't understand it. I don't understand why or how the Tardis imploded, what the cat has to do with anything, or how (in this book) it was resolved.
Besides that, I think this book is great.
However, I really enjoyed this novel. At it's heart there is something very British about this novel. The Welsh village the Doctor and Ace land in is described so well it seems to ooze off the page. While the world Tír na n-Óg coming across as so beautiful in it's hay-day, that you just want to visit it. The characters were great and the plot seemed vast with so many threads going off in different directions.
I would say that the main selling point of this book is it's writing. Andrew Hunt's prose are to die for. Each sentence is poetically described, giving everything a rich flavor to it. I recently finished a different book, which is currently do very well in the best sellers chart. However, the writing of that book is too simplistic. Language is never used effectively to communicate the importance of a scene or location. So to read Witch Mark was a lovely experience.
If I had any criticism it would be that there is a bit too much going on at one. There are lots of characters being introduced all at once and it can become overwhelming to remember who they all are. Indeed there are a few things that get lost or maybe left vague because it's never explored to it's true extent. For anyone thinking of reading this, I advise you to remember who the character or Hearn is. I forgot and then he became very important at the last minute!
This is not so much a criticism on this book, but for the Cat's Cradle trilogy as a whole; I still don't understand it. I don't understand why or how the Tardis imploded, what the cat has to do with anything, or how (in this book) it was resolved.
Besides that, I think this book is great.
October 9, 2024
Another pleasant surprise. I worried the unicorns and swordplay (not a fan of that type of fantasy) would overwhelm the book but it doesn’t skimp on the sci-fi.
One problem: the TARDIS is nearly dead in this story and is seemed to be fixed at the end. I know from reading reviews of other books in the Virgin range that future novels will fall back on the “TARDIS is sick/ destroyed” plot, I wish this book had been the end of this trope.
One problem: the TARDIS is nearly dead in this story and is seemed to be fixed at the end. I know from reading reviews of other books in the Virgin range that future novels will fall back on the “TARDIS is sick/ destroyed” plot, I wish this book had been the end of this trope.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2013
This has to rank as one of the worst books I have ever read. What makes me despise it more than other works of banality I have had the misfortune to read is that it bears the Doctor Who name and thus by association feeds into a greater narrative that Doctor Who novels are bad - which is simply not the case. There have been some truly excellent Doctor Who novels in the New Adventures series thus far, particularly Paul Cornell's "Timewyrm: Revelation" and Marc Platt's "Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible", but this book manages to tar those worthy efforts with the same hideous brush.
Where to begin? First off, the writing itself is really, really terrible. Want a lesson in how not to write creatively? Consult this book (at your peril). It is one lazy cliche after another, heaped upon a pile of hackneyed stereotypes that become ever more painful to read as each page drags by. How this manuscript ever made its way into print, given the plethora of other splendid material that must have graced Virgin's desk at the time, I cannot fathom. Some cite this book as an example of Virgin's courage in commissioning unpublished authors; I see it as something which could have driven a stake through the heart of such courage all by itself. Hunt is no writer, let us be clear on that point: he cannot write for toffee.
Of course, that by itself would have made the book unreadable - but Hunt evidently didn't want to stop there in the unreadability stakes, oh no. He decided to shoe-horn what is essentially a poor man's fantasy yarn into the Doctor Who universe, plonk it clumsily in Wales with a host of yokels, a couple of "Americans" (I have never met anyone in the US who sounds or behaves like this pair) and a thoroughly unbelievable inspector from - gasp - Scotland Yard. Quite simply, this is not a Doctor Who story. Not only that, but Hunt has completely ignored the character development of both Ace and the Doctor from the previous novels. Given that this is supposed to be the culmination of the Cat's Cradle series (albeit that the cat motif didn't really bind the books together in the way the Timewyrm did) you would have thought that Hunt might have noticed that in the preceding book Ace masterminded a kidnap operation with the help of some Chechen mercenaries. Yet here she is, at her ankle-spraining best, bumbling into a 'magical' stone circle and calling people "dum-dums" and "ratface".
As for the Doctor, he barely does anything in the story, and for the rest of this sprawling morass we are treated to dreadful dialogue between unicorns, centaurs and medieval lords who sound like they've spent far too much time reading the King James Bible. Except, of course, Hunt is not content to call them unicorns or centaurs but instead insists on giving them silly names like "Ceffyl" and "Firbolg". Yes, yes, I know these are ancient Celtic references, but it is so hamfistedly done that it adds nothing to the story and just makes the description and dialogue sound clunky. When you have to read an entire paragraph punctuated with one daft name after another, it grates harder than a block of Parmesan. "Well do we know your land dispute with the Dragada of the far Neffrindypoop, Lord Agawotsit. You must learn the kvaar of your yindywaddle before we may entreaty with the Flubblewumps."
And where does it all lead? In the end, the entire story serves no purpose beyond the Doctor getting a creature called Hernia (or something) to fuse with Old Davy the Welshman (?!), thereby fixing the TARDIS. Somewhere along the line the cat is involved in this bizarre process. Oh, and some characters from Dungeons & Dragons get to stay alive because an alien with a passing resemblance to a Cyberman decides to refuel their sun.
I only persevered with this book out of some strange compulsion on my part to read every Doctor Who New Adventure in the Virgin series. If only I could reclaim the time it took me to slog through this monstrous blancmange of a book.
Where to begin? First off, the writing itself is really, really terrible. Want a lesson in how not to write creatively? Consult this book (at your peril). It is one lazy cliche after another, heaped upon a pile of hackneyed stereotypes that become ever more painful to read as each page drags by. How this manuscript ever made its way into print, given the plethora of other splendid material that must have graced Virgin's desk at the time, I cannot fathom. Some cite this book as an example of Virgin's courage in commissioning unpublished authors; I see it as something which could have driven a stake through the heart of such courage all by itself. Hunt is no writer, let us be clear on that point: he cannot write for toffee.
Of course, that by itself would have made the book unreadable - but Hunt evidently didn't want to stop there in the unreadability stakes, oh no. He decided to shoe-horn what is essentially a poor man's fantasy yarn into the Doctor Who universe, plonk it clumsily in Wales with a host of yokels, a couple of "Americans" (I have never met anyone in the US who sounds or behaves like this pair) and a thoroughly unbelievable inspector from - gasp - Scotland Yard. Quite simply, this is not a Doctor Who story. Not only that, but Hunt has completely ignored the character development of both Ace and the Doctor from the previous novels. Given that this is supposed to be the culmination of the Cat's Cradle series (albeit that the cat motif didn't really bind the books together in the way the Timewyrm did) you would have thought that Hunt might have noticed that in the preceding book Ace masterminded a kidnap operation with the help of some Chechen mercenaries. Yet here she is, at her ankle-spraining best, bumbling into a 'magical' stone circle and calling people "dum-dums" and "ratface".
As for the Doctor, he barely does anything in the story, and for the rest of this sprawling morass we are treated to dreadful dialogue between unicorns, centaurs and medieval lords who sound like they've spent far too much time reading the King James Bible. Except, of course, Hunt is not content to call them unicorns or centaurs but instead insists on giving them silly names like "Ceffyl" and "Firbolg". Yes, yes, I know these are ancient Celtic references, but it is so hamfistedly done that it adds nothing to the story and just makes the description and dialogue sound clunky. When you have to read an entire paragraph punctuated with one daft name after another, it grates harder than a block of Parmesan. "Well do we know your land dispute with the Dragada of the far Neffrindypoop, Lord Agawotsit. You must learn the kvaar of your yindywaddle before we may entreaty with the Flubblewumps."
And where does it all lead? In the end, the entire story serves no purpose beyond the Doctor getting a creature called Hernia (or something) to fuse with Old Davy the Welshman (?!), thereby fixing the TARDIS. Somewhere along the line the cat is involved in this bizarre process. Oh, and some characters from Dungeons & Dragons get to stay alive because an alien with a passing resemblance to a Cyberman decides to refuel their sun.
I only persevered with this book out of some strange compulsion on my part to read every Doctor Who New Adventure in the Virgin series. If only I could reclaim the time it took me to slog through this monstrous blancmange of a book.
Read
July 27, 2017This story is a ripping yarn and as an attempt to do fantasy within the Doctor Who framework it at least has atmosphere, even if it doesn't entirely make sense. I certainly don't have a problem with the writing, which is more than competent, especially next to some of the dire efforts in the Timewyrm series, and Hunt characterises both the Doctor and Ace quite skilfully. They certainly feel like their television counterparts, though unfortunately this sets Ace back a bit after the maturity she showed in the previous two books. In fact, Witch Mark's main problem is that it doesn't compare favourably to the other books in the series it purports to conclude, though since Cat's Crade is the loosest possible story arc perhaps it's unfair to draw too many comparisons.
Anyway, look, it's FUN, and after the weighty, portentous ambition of its predecessors I was perfectly happy to immerse myself in what would have made for a perfectly enjoyable tea time serial, so boo to the glut of mean-spirited one star reviews it has been given (a special mention for the one that begins 'I don't remember much about this book but…' - thanks for your terrific insights, there). It's a shame that there are so many underdeveloped ideas and that characters are left by the wayside, it's a shame the characters in Tír Na n-Óg are rather two-dimensional and dry, it's a shame the ending is so badly cobbled together. But the Doctor gets good lines and does Doctory things, there's a gateway to another world in a stone circle in Wales, there's a flying saucer and there are unicorns. Also the cover illustration is gorgeous. Stop taking it so seriously, folks, it's Doctor Who not Dostoevsky.
Anyway, look, it's FUN, and after the weighty, portentous ambition of its predecessors I was perfectly happy to immerse myself in what would have made for a perfectly enjoyable tea time serial, so boo to the glut of mean-spirited one star reviews it has been given (a special mention for the one that begins 'I don't remember much about this book but…' - thanks for your terrific insights, there). It's a shame that there are so many underdeveloped ideas and that characters are left by the wayside, it's a shame the characters in Tír Na n-Óg are rather two-dimensional and dry, it's a shame the ending is so badly cobbled together. But the Doctor gets good lines and does Doctory things, there's a gateway to another world in a stone circle in Wales, there's a flying saucer and there are unicorns. Also the cover illustration is gorgeous. Stop taking it so seriously, folks, it's Doctor Who not Dostoevsky.
August 9, 2017
Started off really liking this one, the mystery was set up well and it was very easy to read, but the ending was quite rushed and didn't really tie up all the loose ends. Plus Ace becoming telepathically linked with a Unicorn and becoming it's best mate was a bit daft.
August 8, 2019
I'm trying to read the VNAs in order and i found out at the end this was the 3rd one of the cat's cradle trilogy lmao. Oh well.
Good story overall. Lush writing in scenery description and very fantastical feel. I love all the different types of mythical horses in this which made me happy.
Good, enjoyable story. Didn't hate it but it didn't wow me.
Good story overall. Lush writing in scenery description and very fantastical feel. I love all the different types of mythical horses in this which made me happy.
Good, enjoyable story. Didn't hate it but it didn't wow me.
April 27, 2014
Doctor Who goes all fantasy
27 February 2012
Once again I can't remember much about this book, but since I believe I got my hands on all of the Cat's Cradle series then I suspect that I must have read it. From a quick glance over some of the other reviews it seems that this was not a particularly popular Doctor Who novel. In fact one person describes is as 'the most blandest book ever to bear the name of Doctor Who' while another says 'this seems to be a book that the author took out of his draw and decided to throw the Doctor and Ace into it so as to make it a Doctor Who book'. Well, with comments like that (and them being near the top of the list of reviews) I feel that I really should not waste too much time commenting on this book.
Having a look over the blurb though, I noticed that it seems to involve fantasy elements. Granted there is probably not much of a problem with that, however I have always considered Doctor Who to be a work of science fiction, which means that everything eventually has an explanation (even if the scientific laws themselves may be fictional). However, a fantasy story generally does not have explanations, things simply happen because that is the way that it happens (no scientific law involved). When dealing with magic most authors do not go into detail as to how magic works (though some set it in a modern setting, such as the Dresden Files, do).
In Doctor Who books that involve magical or fantasy elements there usually is an explanation. The Doctor is a scientist and he simply cannot have unexplained phenomena scaring people, and thus he will begin to investigate the causes of these phenomena, with the story leading to the conclusion where everything is explained. There is also the motives of a mystery novel, in that there is always an explanation at the end, and we, the reader, can leave satisfied in knowing that the mystery has been revealed. I am not trying to use this as the only way to differentiate fantasy from science-fiction (there are no hard and fast rules, and in many cases the science-fiction/fantasy genre is usually one in the same), but it is just something that I have noticed and wanted to spend some time exploring.
27 February 2012
Once again I can't remember much about this book, but since I believe I got my hands on all of the Cat's Cradle series then I suspect that I must have read it. From a quick glance over some of the other reviews it seems that this was not a particularly popular Doctor Who novel. In fact one person describes is as 'the most blandest book ever to bear the name of Doctor Who' while another says 'this seems to be a book that the author took out of his draw and decided to throw the Doctor and Ace into it so as to make it a Doctor Who book'. Well, with comments like that (and them being near the top of the list of reviews) I feel that I really should not waste too much time commenting on this book.
Having a look over the blurb though, I noticed that it seems to involve fantasy elements. Granted there is probably not much of a problem with that, however I have always considered Doctor Who to be a work of science fiction, which means that everything eventually has an explanation (even if the scientific laws themselves may be fictional). However, a fantasy story generally does not have explanations, things simply happen because that is the way that it happens (no scientific law involved). When dealing with magic most authors do not go into detail as to how magic works (though some set it in a modern setting, such as the Dresden Files, do).
In Doctor Who books that involve magical or fantasy elements there usually is an explanation. The Doctor is a scientist and he simply cannot have unexplained phenomena scaring people, and thus he will begin to investigate the causes of these phenomena, with the story leading to the conclusion where everything is explained. There is also the motives of a mystery novel, in that there is always an explanation at the end, and we, the reader, can leave satisfied in knowing that the mystery has been revealed. I am not trying to use this as the only way to differentiate fantasy from science-fiction (there are no hard and fast rules, and in many cases the science-fiction/fantasy genre is usually one in the same), but it is just something that I have noticed and wanted to spend some time exploring.
September 20, 2008
It feels slightly mean to only give this three stars, but fundamentally the problem is that it simply doesn't feel like a Doctor Who story - it's more like the author took a story out of his drawer and stuck the Doctor and Ace into it.
But much of the actual story - the alternate world of Tir Na Nog, the interface between there and our own world, the vivid characters and the descriptive work - is excellent.
The major plot twist towards the end is rather clichéd, but to be fair it isn't massively predictable even though all the clues are given to you fairly. And I can just about forgive him the outrageously plagiarised "American Werewolf in London" subplot simply because it's so blatant it's funny.
Anyway, it's not a bad book, but I think that it fails as a Who story. Marks for effort.
Next up is the debut from someone who went on to write for the new series. Here comes Professor Nightshade...
But much of the actual story - the alternate world of Tir Na Nog, the interface between there and our own world, the vivid characters and the descriptive work - is excellent.
The major plot twist towards the end is rather clichéd, but to be fair it isn't massively predictable even though all the clues are given to you fairly. And I can just about forgive him the outrageously plagiarised "American Werewolf in London" subplot simply because it's so blatant it's funny.
Anyway, it's not a bad book, but I think that it fails as a Who story. Marks for effort.
Next up is the debut from someone who went on to write for the new series. Here comes Professor Nightshade...
March 3, 2010
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1400715.html
The Seventh Doctor and Ace find themselves in Wales dealing with peculiar mythological creatures leaking through from a parallel world, an adventure that self-consciously references both Delta and the Bannermen and Survival. This is one of the least impressive Doctor Who books I have ever read, and certainly the worst New Adventure that I have got to so far. No matter what you may think of Torchwood, it did this plot and setting rather better, several times. I see various fan sites excoriating the limp writing, flabby characterisation and unresolved plot lines of this book; I shall add a complaint about Welsh and Irish names being randomly jumbled together with unicorns and centaurs, because it's all mythical, y'know.
The Seventh Doctor and Ace find themselves in Wales dealing with peculiar mythological creatures leaking through from a parallel world, an adventure that self-consciously references both Delta and the Bannermen and Survival. This is one of the least impressive Doctor Who books I have ever read, and certainly the worst New Adventure that I have got to so far. No matter what you may think of Torchwood, it did this plot and setting rather better, several times. I see various fan sites excoriating the limp writing, flabby characterisation and unresolved plot lines of this book; I shall add a complaint about Welsh and Irish names being randomly jumbled together with unicorns and centaurs, because it's all mythical, y'know.
June 29, 2015
It's a shame, as this isn't a bad book per se, especially for so early in the range, but it just can't hold a candle to its immediate predecessor, most importantly of all when it comes to Ace. We just left an Ace who was worldly, mature, experienced, adept and had a more than passing familiarity with weaponry incidentally. This novel has her more on the way to that, a definite step back. If not for the story arc, I'd imagine they'd been published out of order! The Doctor is also rather hit and miss, along with the rest of the (probably too large) supporting cast. The whole idea is an interesting concept, and much of the world building is beautifully evocative and powerful, but over all it falls sadly flat.
February 11, 2025
In what is probably my last Virgin New Adventure for a short while, the series takes a fairly sharp left turn into basically being a fantasy novel. Whilst I’m absolutely onboard with the concept of Doctor Who basically invading as many genres as it possibly can, the trouble is that this book is an absolute mess.
The opening five or so chapters is most definitely my favourite part of the book. I’ve been on record many times before in saying that Part One’s are usually my favourite episodes in classic serials. The Doctor and companions simply being in a new place and exploring is really up my street, and there’s elements of that here. Another thing I love is the Doctor having roots on Earth, being known by people from previous adventures and dropping by when he so pleases. The Doctor and Ace spending a night with a lovely old couple who treat the Doctor as a dear friend is a really wonderful idea and the simple ambience of those chapters were excellent.
It's when the Doctor and Ace get to Tír na n-Óg is where some of the cracks begin to show. The sheer amount of character names, location names and plotlines are thrown at the reader that it can become really overwhelming, and I found myself losing what was happening in the plot simply because I was spending so much mental energy in remembering who’s who and what’s happening where. By the end, I was resigned in simply having the Wiki open to fill in the many blanks I was missing.
And it’s a shame too because I think the core of the book is good. Stripped down to its bare pieces, I think it’s a fun and inventive Doctor Who story, the type of which is quite rarely seen. The side characters, while far too many, have mostly unique and interesting characters. The paranormal investigator was a lot of fun and I enjoyed his chapters, alongside the two American travellers. Bathsheba, a resident of Tír na n-Óg who spends a large chunk of story with the Doctor is someone for whom I quickly gained a lot of fondness. She’s a very endearing character who brings out the kindly sides of the Seventh Doctor’s nature. To find out she doesn’t appear in the rest of the New Adventures makes me, frankly, extremely sad.
Speaking of the Doctor, he’s fascinating in this book. Whilst it doesn’t go against what was established in his seasons of the television show, the Doctor and Ace’s characters have definitely taken a few steps back from Warhead, the previous novel. In that book, Ace is hyper-competent and practically leads a guerrilla mission by herself, and the Doctor is presented as a dark, almost ghostlike figure who hides in the shadows and constantly speaks in riddles. There’s a few moments which show off the Doctor being slightly more manipulative, such as leaving Ace alone to complete his quest of finding the world’s God, Goihbnie, but they’ve both practically abandoned all development. Interestingly, this book focuses on Ace’s continued connection with the Cheetah people as shown in Survival, the last television story. I’m far from Survival’s biggest fan, but I thought these sections were really effective. Ace immediately having an unexplainable connection to Tír na n-Óg gave a lot of precedent to how wholeheartedly she throws herself into the politics of the world.
The reveal that Tír na n-Óg was simply a failed experiment of a mad alien scientist (spoilers, I suppose) really fell flat for me. The way that Goihbnie, the scientist, had become intertwined with the lore of the world itself was a neat idea, but I think that there didn’t have to be a lacklustre science-fiction explanation the goings-on. Doctor Who, as a universe, I think has the capacity to include at least one planet which is basically a fantasy novel with centaurs and unicorns.
As for the titular cat, much like Warhead, it barely appears. Without knowing the full story, I understand that there were some production troubles with these books and that there’s indeed a very long-winded story as to why they were released as a trilogy despite having literally nothing to do with each other. The ending does somewhat fill in some loose threads, with Lynx, the cat, helping to restore the TARDIS back to full strength after the damage done to it during Time’s Crucible.
As I said, I think I’m going to take a short break away from the New Adventures. Over the past two years, I read the first seven in quick succession, and it took a lot out of a slow reader such as myself. There’s some interesting new horizons upcoming in the series though, such as a book by Mark Gatiss and another by Paul Cornell, as well as the introduction of Bernice Summerfield, something I’ve been very excited for.
The opening five or so chapters is most definitely my favourite part of the book. I’ve been on record many times before in saying that Part One’s are usually my favourite episodes in classic serials. The Doctor and companions simply being in a new place and exploring is really up my street, and there’s elements of that here. Another thing I love is the Doctor having roots on Earth, being known by people from previous adventures and dropping by when he so pleases. The Doctor and Ace spending a night with a lovely old couple who treat the Doctor as a dear friend is a really wonderful idea and the simple ambience of those chapters were excellent.
It's when the Doctor and Ace get to Tír na n-Óg is where some of the cracks begin to show. The sheer amount of character names, location names and plotlines are thrown at the reader that it can become really overwhelming, and I found myself losing what was happening in the plot simply because I was spending so much mental energy in remembering who’s who and what’s happening where. By the end, I was resigned in simply having the Wiki open to fill in the many blanks I was missing.
And it’s a shame too because I think the core of the book is good. Stripped down to its bare pieces, I think it’s a fun and inventive Doctor Who story, the type of which is quite rarely seen. The side characters, while far too many, have mostly unique and interesting characters. The paranormal investigator was a lot of fun and I enjoyed his chapters, alongside the two American travellers. Bathsheba, a resident of Tír na n-Óg who spends a large chunk of story with the Doctor is someone for whom I quickly gained a lot of fondness. She’s a very endearing character who brings out the kindly sides of the Seventh Doctor’s nature. To find out she doesn’t appear in the rest of the New Adventures makes me, frankly, extremely sad.
Speaking of the Doctor, he’s fascinating in this book. Whilst it doesn’t go against what was established in his seasons of the television show, the Doctor and Ace’s characters have definitely taken a few steps back from Warhead, the previous novel. In that book, Ace is hyper-competent and practically leads a guerrilla mission by herself, and the Doctor is presented as a dark, almost ghostlike figure who hides in the shadows and constantly speaks in riddles. There’s a few moments which show off the Doctor being slightly more manipulative, such as leaving Ace alone to complete his quest of finding the world’s God, Goihbnie, but they’ve both practically abandoned all development. Interestingly, this book focuses on Ace’s continued connection with the Cheetah people as shown in Survival, the last television story. I’m far from Survival’s biggest fan, but I thought these sections were really effective. Ace immediately having an unexplainable connection to Tír na n-Óg gave a lot of precedent to how wholeheartedly she throws herself into the politics of the world.
The reveal that Tír na n-Óg was simply a failed experiment of a mad alien scientist (spoilers, I suppose) really fell flat for me. The way that Goihbnie, the scientist, had become intertwined with the lore of the world itself was a neat idea, but I think that there didn’t have to be a lacklustre science-fiction explanation the goings-on. Doctor Who, as a universe, I think has the capacity to include at least one planet which is basically a fantasy novel with centaurs and unicorns.
As for the titular cat, much like Warhead, it barely appears. Without knowing the full story, I understand that there were some production troubles with these books and that there’s indeed a very long-winded story as to why they were released as a trilogy despite having literally nothing to do with each other. The ending does somewhat fill in some loose threads, with Lynx, the cat, helping to restore the TARDIS back to full strength after the damage done to it during Time’s Crucible.
As I said, I think I’m going to take a short break away from the New Adventures. Over the past two years, I read the first seven in quick succession, and it took a lot out of a slow reader such as myself. There’s some interesting new horizons upcoming in the series though, such as a book by Mark Gatiss and another by Paul Cornell, as well as the introduction of Bernice Summerfield, something I’ve been very excited for.
May 14, 2023
Well, i can safely say that this is the best book in the new adventure series since book 2 (aka Timewyrm: Exodus). Is that saying much? not really. But it was definitely a decent book.
Thankfully this is the last book in part of the "series" of the new adventures. for some reason they did the first 4 books as a timewyrm quadrilogy and then 3 books as a cat's cradle trilogy. i'm not entirely sure why they decided to try this route, but it didn't work either time and i'm glad they steered away from it moving forward as the 3 books in this trilogy had hardly anything to do with one another.
As for the book itself, the premise basically that doc and ace have a busted tardis and end up in this nowhere town in England. There's wacky stuff going on like Centaurs showing up. So they go investigate and end up in another world called "Tir-na-nog" (obviously based off the old mythology).
While there they have to find out what's going on and of course, have to save the world from stuff.
The first thing i'll say about this book is, thankfully, it was not difficult to read. i don't know WHAT mark platt was thinking with "Time's Crucible" but thankfully this one was pretty easy to understand. the wording wasn't overtly complicated and most things made sense. so that's always a plus when 2 of the 7 books have been nearly unreadable.
The story itself is fine. i found the fairytale creatures like unicorns and centaurs to be interesting, and the side characters they introduced (one group of a paranormal detective and 2 american teens and another character that's a girl who hangs with the doctor with a messed up arm) were at times unnecessary, but weren't painfully awful to be around. Like, i really don't know what the point of the group with the detective was as they kind of just farted and stumbled around for the whole book until they met up with the doc at the finale. they TRIED to shoehorn in a reason for one of the teens to be there, but it really just felt like a last minute thing like they needed a reason for his existence.
There were a TON of side characters in this one. i think we had at minimum 5 points of view throughout the book and it got jarring switching from one POV to another. Still though, it didn't CONFUSE me. Just jarring.
The story was definitely a self contained one with plenty going on to justify the length of the book (250 pages) but i feel like if it had more pages, it would have overstayed its welcome. The ending wasn't horribly rushed which is nice, but i felt like some of the characters needed a better epilogue as the doc literally runs away from the remaining characters and we deal with broken TARDIS.
Truth be told, i actually kind of enjoyed this one compared to the previous 4 i have read. i haven't enjoyed one this much since book 2. So, that's a plus. And at least Ace and the Doc were in character this time, unlike the last book. Like, i actually believed it was them this time.
I would LOVE to give this one a 3.5, but Goodreads is annoying for not letting 1/2 stars, so i feel it doesn't QUITE deserve a 4, so it's rounded down to a 3.
Looking forward to the next one as it's the first book in this series not attached to a quadrilogy or trilogy and it's written by Gatiss who's a fave of mine. but, we'll see.
If you want to read this by yourself, you totally can. only thing connecting the other two books with this one is a weird kind of ghost cat that walks around?
3.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 3.
Thankfully this is the last book in part of the "series" of the new adventures. for some reason they did the first 4 books as a timewyrm quadrilogy and then 3 books as a cat's cradle trilogy. i'm not entirely sure why they decided to try this route, but it didn't work either time and i'm glad they steered away from it moving forward as the 3 books in this trilogy had hardly anything to do with one another.
As for the book itself, the premise basically that doc and ace have a busted tardis and end up in this nowhere town in England. There's wacky stuff going on like Centaurs showing up. So they go investigate and end up in another world called "Tir-na-nog" (obviously based off the old mythology).
While there they have to find out what's going on and of course, have to save the world from stuff.
The first thing i'll say about this book is, thankfully, it was not difficult to read. i don't know WHAT mark platt was thinking with "Time's Crucible" but thankfully this one was pretty easy to understand. the wording wasn't overtly complicated and most things made sense. so that's always a plus when 2 of the 7 books have been nearly unreadable.
The story itself is fine. i found the fairytale creatures like unicorns and centaurs to be interesting, and the side characters they introduced (one group of a paranormal detective and 2 american teens and another character that's a girl who hangs with the doctor with a messed up arm) were at times unnecessary, but weren't painfully awful to be around. Like, i really don't know what the point of the group with the detective was as they kind of just farted and stumbled around for the whole book until they met up with the doc at the finale. they TRIED to shoehorn in a reason for one of the teens to be there, but it really just felt like a last minute thing like they needed a reason for his existence.
There were a TON of side characters in this one. i think we had at minimum 5 points of view throughout the book and it got jarring switching from one POV to another. Still though, it didn't CONFUSE me. Just jarring.
The story was definitely a self contained one with plenty going on to justify the length of the book (250 pages) but i feel like if it had more pages, it would have overstayed its welcome. The ending wasn't horribly rushed which is nice, but i felt like some of the characters needed a better epilogue as the doc literally runs away from the remaining characters and we deal with broken TARDIS.
Truth be told, i actually kind of enjoyed this one compared to the previous 4 i have read. i haven't enjoyed one this much since book 2. So, that's a plus. And at least Ace and the Doc were in character this time, unlike the last book. Like, i actually believed it was them this time.
I would LOVE to give this one a 3.5, but Goodreads is annoying for not letting 1/2 stars, so i feel it doesn't QUITE deserve a 4, so it's rounded down to a 3.
Looking forward to the next one as it's the first book in this series not attached to a quadrilogy or trilogy and it's written by Gatiss who's a fave of mine. but, we'll see.
If you want to read this by yourself, you totally can. only thing connecting the other two books with this one is a weird kind of ghost cat that walks around?
3.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 3.
November 4, 2021
The conclusion to the most arbitrary arc I’m yet to see as part of the Dr Who universe, Witch Mark had little to wrap up and by such low standards exceeded my small expectations. The relevance to the arc is the cat turning out to be the Watched or something and honestly I don’t know nor care. A premise of all the fantasy characters like Unicorns and Centaurs being real did not excite me, I hate magical fantasy. What I wanted was a good Dr Who adventure and I got.. some of that.
Winding up in a Welsh town (strange how even pre-Torchwood the Doc is always ending up there) the Doctor and Ace find some mysterious goings on, only to end up in a charity shop equivalent of Narnia. If you asked me what the name of the world and the races that live on it are I would laugh, one big criticism I have of the book being that there are about 40 characters all with unmemorable names. I got to the halfway mark in the book and thought to myself ‘Is that not enough characters, I already couldn’t name half of them’ but no pretty much till 220 of the 256 pages do they stop. For that reason don’t expect me to refer to any character in this review by name, I couldn’t spell the names let alone name any of them.
The usual Doctor and Ace get split up story, it does nothing for the story as a thousand things seem to happen to Ace per chapter but the Doctor’s adventures seem to consist of him walking around a bit until he ends up in 2nd hand Narnia. There are a few interesting points like the exploded coach, and the two American boys discovering the dying centaur, but everything interesting seems to be at the end of 30 pages of sod all each time. I wouldn’t exactly call them plot threads, but they just seem to linger on and go nowhere interesting until the end where they actually end up being really well tied together and wrapped up. Its not quite a story with a good beginning and good end with nothing in between, but I could easily surmise the middle portion of the book as ‘the first 2 episodes of Terror Of The Zygons’ but with magic people instead of Zygons.
My biggest criticism of the story is the lack of explainable baddies. I had to literally go on the Doctor Who Wikipedia to find out who the villains of the book was (and I mean when I had like 20 pages left, not at the start) because it was so confusing. Once I found out I still had no idea, and all they really do is try and kill Ace then get shanked… not exactly an all time classic. The bait and switch with the god of the magic people was really nice and the revelation as to what the world was turned out to be fascinating, just could’ve been done a bit earlier. Expanding on what happens after the reveal and cutting some of the filler from before that would’ve given the story a bit more of an interesting pace, by interesting I mean not putting you to sleep each time you try and read it.
The ending of the book being tied to the next (due to a retroactive retcon when the writers realised the Doctor’s moodiness made no sense) could have been a bit more clear, as yet again I had to go check with the wiki to find out that some of the demon sperm got into the Tardis. Yes, I know, and no I am not joking it’s what actually happens. All in all I didn’t hate the book, god anything is better than the first book in the trilogy but given it’s the genre I hate most it was never likely to do much for me.
Winding up in a Welsh town (strange how even pre-Torchwood the Doc is always ending up there) the Doctor and Ace find some mysterious goings on, only to end up in a charity shop equivalent of Narnia. If you asked me what the name of the world and the races that live on it are I would laugh, one big criticism I have of the book being that there are about 40 characters all with unmemorable names. I got to the halfway mark in the book and thought to myself ‘Is that not enough characters, I already couldn’t name half of them’ but no pretty much till 220 of the 256 pages do they stop. For that reason don’t expect me to refer to any character in this review by name, I couldn’t spell the names let alone name any of them.
The usual Doctor and Ace get split up story, it does nothing for the story as a thousand things seem to happen to Ace per chapter but the Doctor’s adventures seem to consist of him walking around a bit until he ends up in 2nd hand Narnia. There are a few interesting points like the exploded coach, and the two American boys discovering the dying centaur, but everything interesting seems to be at the end of 30 pages of sod all each time. I wouldn’t exactly call them plot threads, but they just seem to linger on and go nowhere interesting until the end where they actually end up being really well tied together and wrapped up. Its not quite a story with a good beginning and good end with nothing in between, but I could easily surmise the middle portion of the book as ‘the first 2 episodes of Terror Of The Zygons’ but with magic people instead of Zygons.
My biggest criticism of the story is the lack of explainable baddies. I had to literally go on the Doctor Who Wikipedia to find out who the villains of the book was (and I mean when I had like 20 pages left, not at the start) because it was so confusing. Once I found out I still had no idea, and all they really do is try and kill Ace then get shanked… not exactly an all time classic. The bait and switch with the god of the magic people was really nice and the revelation as to what the world was turned out to be fascinating, just could’ve been done a bit earlier. Expanding on what happens after the reveal and cutting some of the filler from before that would’ve given the story a bit more of an interesting pace, by interesting I mean not putting you to sleep each time you try and read it.
The ending of the book being tied to the next (due to a retroactive retcon when the writers realised the Doctor’s moodiness made no sense) could have been a bit more clear, as yet again I had to go check with the wiki to find out that some of the demon sperm got into the Tardis. Yes, I know, and no I am not joking it’s what actually happens. All in all I didn’t hate the book, god anything is better than the first book in the trilogy but given it’s the genre I hate most it was never likely to do much for me.
August 15, 2025
A continuation (and end) of the Cat's Cradle arc solely in that the TARDIS remains largely out of commission while it finishes its repairs, thereby stranding Ace and the Seventh Doctor in modern rural Wales. There they proceed to stumble across some local intrigues that mostly read as an excuse to get unicorns and centaurs and the like into Doctor Who, which I understand certain fans absolutely detested.
I don't really mind the eventual logic here myself -- a powerful alien has specifically fashioned these beings to resemble creatures from Earth's mythology -- but the story doesn't have much of a point to it beyond explaining the original premise and its foray into the fantasy genre. Meanwhile subplots get dropped without resolution, the tone veers all over the place, and our heroine has rather disappointingly regressed from the capable operative she was in the previous installment into more of a generic teenager. Ultimately the time machine is restored via nonsensical deus ex machina, bringing both the adventure and this weak attempt at an ongoing multi-volume storyline to a close.
This was author Andrew Hunt's first and only published novel, and it shows. (He was reportedly working as a veterinarian when he pitched it, which makes me suspect the character who shares that profession may have been a bit of a self-insert.) Still, I blame the editors more than anything else. I know the franchise was in a tailspin at the time, but this is not how you go about producing a series. Could we at least have gotten a version of this tale that didn't implicitly suggest that witch burnings were justified?
[Content warning for violence against children, genocide, and gore.]
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I don't really mind the eventual logic here myself -- a powerful alien has specifically fashioned these beings to resemble creatures from Earth's mythology -- but the story doesn't have much of a point to it beyond explaining the original premise and its foray into the fantasy genre. Meanwhile subplots get dropped without resolution, the tone veers all over the place, and our heroine has rather disappointingly regressed from the capable operative she was in the previous installment into more of a generic teenager. Ultimately the time machine is restored via nonsensical deus ex machina, bringing both the adventure and this weak attempt at an ongoing multi-volume storyline to a close.
This was author Andrew Hunt's first and only published novel, and it shows. (He was reportedly working as a veterinarian when he pitched it, which makes me suspect the character who shares that profession may have been a bit of a self-insert.) Still, I blame the editors more than anything else. I know the franchise was in a tailspin at the time, but this is not how you go about producing a series. Could we at least have gotten a version of this tale that didn't implicitly suggest that witch burnings were justified?
[Content warning for violence against children, genocide, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/lesserjoke
--Or click here to browse through all my reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
December 13, 2022
The third and final of the Cat's Cradle series, Witchmark starts well enough with a mystery or two - a crashed coach full of unidentified bodies and large amounts of cash, a small town in northern Wales where centaurs and giant wolves appear from nowhere, mysterious locals, and a broken down TARDIS in need of some off time to recover. Once the book starts moving the plot, it does not go so well for me. It seems a bit underdeveloped and rushed. The plot devolves into two standard motions going in rather predictable ways - one is the journey to the wizard's tower, and the other low-rent X-Files. The plot is basically a way to shoehorn heroic fantasy into a science-fiction box. The ending is rushed, really rushed, with many loose ends. We don't truly learn what happened to Hugh and Janet, or to the Doctor and Ace clones, or even why there were Doctor and Ace clones in the first place. We don't know how The Doctor knows to call Bathsheba "Bats." We don't learn what has happened to the four Earthlings who crossed over to Tir na n-Og.
Additionally, this novel doesn't really wrap up the 'Cat's Cradle' arc. That arc has been problematic given that it is hardly a presence in any of the three novels. The silver cat is some sort of virtual avatar indicating danger to the TARDIS? That is about all I got out of it. The three novels do not in any way link together apart from the almost non-present cat.
One positive of this novel is that Andrew Hunt writes the characters of The Seventh Doctor and Ace well. In this novel, they look after each other. We do not get any of the Ace moaning and shouting that dogs so many of the Seventh and Ace productions. Hunt gives us reason to believe that Ace really likes traveling with The Doctor.
Additionally, this novel doesn't really wrap up the 'Cat's Cradle' arc. That arc has been problematic given that it is hardly a presence in any of the three novels. The silver cat is some sort of virtual avatar indicating danger to the TARDIS? That is about all I got out of it. The three novels do not in any way link together apart from the almost non-present cat.
One positive of this novel is that Andrew Hunt writes the characters of The Seventh Doctor and Ace well. In this novel, they look after each other. We do not get any of the Ace moaning and shouting that dogs so many of the Seventh and Ace productions. Hunt gives us reason to believe that Ace really likes traveling with The Doctor.
March 20, 2019
This is one of many obvious “my first novel”s in the New Adventures. Virgin encouraged first time writers, and that’s great, but the result was crazy hit and miss. Witch Mark, for example, is amateur stuff.
It has two settings: a sleepy Welsh village and a fantasy world that is somehow linked to it. Hunt’s best writing is in the village section, which is mostly charming and atmospheric. When things move to the fantasy realm they go down the most obvious Tolkien-meets-sci-fi route, with Welsh words used in place of more obvious terms, not that they enliven the content.
Witch Mark has a decent enough quest narrative, but it has a few too many ideas that don’t amount to anything. (In particular feral duplicates of the Doctor and Ace, introduced and forgotten about presumably due to insufficient editing time.) The prose ranges from neatly atmospheric to dully overwritten, particularly the dialogue.
There’s not much to say; it’s another one you can skip. Gorgeous cover, though.
4/10
NB: Cat’s Cradle isn’t much of an arc. The TARDIS suffers some damage in Time’s Crucible, and that is somewhat referenced in the next two. That’s it. Good or bad, the three books can be read in isolation.
It has two settings: a sleepy Welsh village and a fantasy world that is somehow linked to it. Hunt’s best writing is in the village section, which is mostly charming and atmospheric. When things move to the fantasy realm they go down the most obvious Tolkien-meets-sci-fi route, with Welsh words used in place of more obvious terms, not that they enliven the content.
Witch Mark has a decent enough quest narrative, but it has a few too many ideas that don’t amount to anything. (In particular feral duplicates of the Doctor and Ace, introduced and forgotten about presumably due to insufficient editing time.) The prose ranges from neatly atmospheric to dully overwritten, particularly the dialogue.
There’s not much to say; it’s another one you can skip. Gorgeous cover, though.
4/10
NB: Cat’s Cradle isn’t much of an arc. The TARDIS suffers some damage in Time’s Crucible, and that is somewhat referenced in the next two. That’s it. Good or bad, the three books can be read in isolation.
June 17, 2021
I first read the New Adventures as they were released, devouring each new book with an intensity that the TV show rarely inspired.
Re-reading them all again now, often for the first time in nearly 30 years, I'm finding different things to enjoy and (occasionally) wince at, but Witch Mark is the first in the series of which I have no recollection of at all. And that's strange, because it's actually rather lovely.
Perhaps 17 was too young to fully appreciate it on original reading, but I now find its rural setting, complete with hints of Terry Pratchett, JRR Tolkein and even James Herriot, very appealing.
It's a real shame that this was Andrew Hunt's sole contribution to the range. He presents us with an intriguing story, maturely told without any narrative gimmicks. The book's modern-day setting (at the time) means that time has been kinder on it than some of the stories set in a putative future. It is also a interesting to see Hunt tackle similar concepts to some of the original novels of Ben Aaronovitch and Paul Cornell, a good 20 years before they were written.
There are possibly one or two too many characters, but they are all carefully and efficiently drawn. The characterisations of Ace and the Doctor are particularly good, especially if you're comparing them to the characters on TV rather than the slightly less consistent versions who populate the other early books in the range.
My only criticism is that once the science fiction rationale behind the fantasy is finally revealed things get unavoidably less magical for the remainder of the book. But this is definitely a novel that I would recommend tracking down, particularly if you are more interested in mature, nuanced storytelling than explosive spectacle.
Re-reading them all again now, often for the first time in nearly 30 years, I'm finding different things to enjoy and (occasionally) wince at, but Witch Mark is the first in the series of which I have no recollection of at all. And that's strange, because it's actually rather lovely.
Perhaps 17 was too young to fully appreciate it on original reading, but I now find its rural setting, complete with hints of Terry Pratchett, JRR Tolkein and even James Herriot, very appealing.
It's a real shame that this was Andrew Hunt's sole contribution to the range. He presents us with an intriguing story, maturely told without any narrative gimmicks. The book's modern-day setting (at the time) means that time has been kinder on it than some of the stories set in a putative future. It is also a interesting to see Hunt tackle similar concepts to some of the original novels of Ben Aaronovitch and Paul Cornell, a good 20 years before they were written.
There are possibly one or two too many characters, but they are all carefully and efficiently drawn. The characterisations of Ace and the Doctor are particularly good, especially if you're comparing them to the characters on TV rather than the slightly less consistent versions who populate the other early books in the range.
My only criticism is that once the science fiction rationale behind the fantasy is finally revealed things get unavoidably less magical for the remainder of the book. But this is definitely a novel that I would recommend tracking down, particularly if you are more interested in mature, nuanced storytelling than explosive spectacle.
September 20, 2023
Didn't love this one, it felt like a step back from the previous books in both storytelling and characterization. In fact for much of this book I was imagining that it could fit as a lower budget third doctor serial being filmed in the countryside. There are some interesting ideas introduced in the last third of the story but they aren't enough to make up for how boring and underdeveloped everything is, especially considering how one character's story ended so anticlimactically just one page after something interesting happened to them. Basically I'd reccomend you skip this one, tho if you're looking for something more old school and traditional after the last couple books you might end up liking this more than me.
September 22, 2018
Ein relativ gefälliges und unaufgeregtes Buch, das man gut mal zwischendurch lesen kann. Der komplette Cat's Cradle Strang war zwar absolut überflüssig, fast so überflüssig wie die künstlich aufgeregt wirkende Auflösung in diesem Buch, war aber trotzdem insgesamt ganz nette Unterhaltung. Besonders gut gefallen haben mir bei Witch Mark die Nebenfiguren, welche in den bisherigen NAs meiner Meinung nach viel zu vernachlässigt wurden.
Die NAs nehmen wirklich keine Gefangenen. Es ist deutlich zu spüren, dass man ein erwachsenes Zielpublikum hat. Bäuche von Schwangeren aufschlitzen und die Ungeborenen mit der Nabelschnur zu erdrosseln ist wahrlich nicht mehr für Kinderbücher.
Die NAs nehmen wirklich keine Gefangenen. Es ist deutlich zu spüren, dass man ein erwachsenes Zielpublikum hat. Bäuche von Schwangeren aufschlitzen und die Ungeborenen mit der Nabelschnur zu erdrosseln ist wahrlich nicht mehr für Kinderbücher.
April 4, 2021
A rather good book. Very well drawn out characters who I cared about. Good easy to follow story and few twists and turns.
I loved how the magical world was made up and how the Doctor advised/ manipulated the creator to give it a second chance.
But sadly at that point the book lost its focus, and my attention, and meandered into what I felt was a mess of an ending.
Three stars mainly on the first 80 percent or so of the book.
I loved how the magical world was made up and how the Doctor advised/ manipulated the creator to give it a second chance.
But sadly at that point the book lost its focus, and my attention, and meandered into what I felt was a mess of an ending.
Three stars mainly on the first 80 percent or so of the book.
February 1, 2024
Following on from Andrew Cartmel's much more subtle take on working fantastic themes into Doctor Who, this seems clumsy; it feels kind of unfair to task a first-time author with writing the final book of a trilogy like this when both the previous episodes were substantially more ambitious. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
May 8, 2018
This was one of the Doctor Who novels I had never read before. Neither having a strong reputation nor being valuable to the overall storyline I hadn't worried.
Now I have read it honestly I wasn't missing much. Whilst not aggressively bad or offensive I honestly found my concentration wavering and boredom ensuing as I went through it.
Now I have read it honestly I wasn't missing much. Whilst not aggressively bad or offensive I honestly found my concentration wavering and boredom ensuing as I went through it.
February 18, 2022
The last few pages of this book are what bumped it up to 5 stars for me, I already enjoyed the book but didn't find anything particularly special about it, but I just adore the way everything was wrapped up. Perfect little conclusion to the Cat's Cradle trilogy, and has now joined the list of my favorite VNAs
April 24, 2018
The distinct whiff of low effort taints this novel all throughout its thankfully short length - at least somebody’s fevered dream of unicorns and goblins and what-have-you popping up in the middle of a Doctor Who has come true.
January 5, 2020
Really interesting concept but it didn't quite land for me in the end. Maybe that was just too many ideas being crammed into one book. It was enjoyable enough and I didn't have any specific grievances with it but it wasn't amazing.
May 4, 2024
"Ace paused by the first stone and, digging her fingers under it, levered it out of its indentation. A worm glared at her and then proceeded about its business. She flipped the rock back into place and then went over to the Doctor."
September 18, 2019
The book was so great.
December 14, 2020
An irritating book.
July 8, 2021
Quite an interesting book.
November 13, 2024
Andrew Hunt's syntax is generally straight forward and amateurish, and his understanding of the Doctor and Ace's relationship is extremely limited, but his passion for fantasy is apparent.
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