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Doctor Who: The Decades Collection #6
Doctor Who: The Angel of Redemption
2012 (or the beginning of time itself).
A poem of tragedy and beauty . . .
The Weeping Angels are an ancient race of terrible power. Their true form is a mystery -- they wander the universe, cursed never to see one another.
But they see everything else. The course of time and space, and even the journey of their deadliest enemy: the Doctor.
But one angel looks back in time and sees so much more...
A poem of tragedy and beauty . . .
The Weeping Angels are an ancient race of terrible power. Their true form is a mystery -- they wander the universe, cursed never to see one another.
But they see everything else. The course of time and space, and even the journey of their deadliest enemy: the Doctor.
But one angel looks back in time and sees so much more...
168 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 2023
6 people are currently reading
390 people want to read
About the author
Nikita Gill
28 books5,816 followersNikita Gill is a Kashmiri Sikh writer born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and brought up in Gurugram, Haryana in India. In her mid twenties, she immigrated to the South of England and worked as a carer for many years. She enjoys creating paintings, poems, stories, photos, illustrations and other soft, positive things. Her work has appeared in Literary Orphans, Agave Magazine, Gravel Literary Journal, Monkeybicycle, Foliate Oak, MusePiePress, Dying Dahlia Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, Eunoia Review, Corvus Review, After The Pause and elsewhere.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 23, 2024
(4.5)
i wrote a whole review for this & then accidentally pressed cancel. i wish to weep. check back later for my thoughts
—
in the who’s who of who writers, gill effortlessly takes to the ranks alongside such authors as rayner and rudden with this hauntingly beautiful insight into some of our favourite villains.
gill has weaved this tale wonderfully into the stories we know & love from the ‘10s, and her tapestry of words is simply breathtaking. in particular, the first two parts stand out as some of gill’s strongest work.
a wonderful read, & i hope to see more poetry in the whoniverse !
i wrote a whole review for this & then accidentally pressed cancel. i wish to weep. check back later for my thoughts
—
in the who’s who of who writers, gill effortlessly takes to the ranks alongside such authors as rayner and rudden with this hauntingly beautiful insight into some of our favourite villains.
gill has weaved this tale wonderfully into the stories we know & love from the ‘10s, and her tapestry of words is simply breathtaking. in particular, the first two parts stand out as some of gill’s strongest work.
a wonderful read, & i hope to see more poetry in the whoniverse !
November 30, 2023
A delightful capstone to this short range: a prose poem narrated by a Weeping Angel that adds depth and lyricism to their race, and adds meaning to a particular encounter with the Doctor. If you’re so minded there are moments here which can be read as tying into the climax of The Star Beast.
December 23, 2023
Beautifully written. I read this in a couple of hours. I read it aloud to my friend and we became absorbed in the word the author created.
The words were poetic and lovingly crafted. There were times where we both had tears in our eyes.
The words were poetic and lovingly crafted. There were times where we both had tears in our eyes.
April 1, 2024
A touching light novella from the Weeping Angels' perspective.
A nice life-affirming hour and a half.
Although told in verse, the verse itself does not figure much into the story except to mete out the evocative pacing.
This would be an excellent bedtime read for young fans of Doctor Who or families seeking to share a read-together experience.
One can certainly relate with the story's meditation on loneliness.
A nice life-affirming hour and a half.
Although told in verse, the verse itself does not figure much into the story except to mete out the evocative pacing.
This would be an excellent bedtime read for young fans of Doctor Who or families seeking to share a read-together experience.
One can certainly relate with the story's meditation on loneliness.
November 18, 2024
This is a new favorite! It really captures the lonely, hopeful spirit of Doctor Who, even though it’s from the perspective of a Weeping Angel. I definitely recommend it for DW fans, but only if you’ve seen the episode The Angels Take Manhattan.
July 26, 2024
Very creative
October 26, 2023
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Nikita Gill’s Doctor Who: The Angel of Redemption is an “epic poem” about the history of the Weeping Angels the way its synopsis suggests. Not really. But what it is is a genuinely moving, surprisingly personal tale of one Weeping Angel’s journey of redemption - and how that journey leads them across the Doctor’s path. Gill’s verse is simple, yet endlessly emotional. The Angel of Redemption is a poem about loneliness; about one being’s search for love in a universe that’s only ever shown them cruelty. A poem about how even the most wicked of monsters can find goodness and hope and light in the darkest of shadows.
For a poem that takes you from the Weeping Angels’ birth at the beginning of the universe to 21st Century Earth, it’s definitely a bit on the short side; much closer to a novella than a full-length story. And as such, it can sometimes feel like Gill blazes through parts of the story, passing by moments that would almost certainly benefit from a bit more exploration. But given how focused the story is on this one particular Angel’s life, it’s hard to fault the brevity.
And the story itself is so good, so tinged with heartache and sorrow and melancholy and hope. It’s exactly the kind of story you’d always hoped the Weeping Angels might get. A story that humanizes them in a way; that sheds a light on the sorrow underneath the monster. And in that respect, it’s hard to find any fault at all.
The best way to experience The Angel of Redemption is via the audiobook, though. Poetry is almost always best heard aloud, and that’s very much the case here. It is, after all, an oral tale of sorts. A legend meant to be passed down from generation to generation; the story of the Angel who found redemption through a Golden God. And Ayesha Antoine reads it gorgeously, her performance adding an immense amount of melancholy, fear, and hope. The Angel of Redemption is a great read, but it’s an even better listen.
At the end of the day, The Angel of Redemption is a sweet, haunting story. It shines a new light on a classic Doctor Who baddie while also being wholly accessible to those unfamiliar with the show. After all, who isn’t haunted by the statues of angels that litter graveyards?
For a poem that takes you from the Weeping Angels’ birth at the beginning of the universe to 21st Century Earth, it’s definitely a bit on the short side; much closer to a novella than a full-length story. And as such, it can sometimes feel like Gill blazes through parts of the story, passing by moments that would almost certainly benefit from a bit more exploration. But given how focused the story is on this one particular Angel’s life, it’s hard to fault the brevity.
And the story itself is so good, so tinged with heartache and sorrow and melancholy and hope. It’s exactly the kind of story you’d always hoped the Weeping Angels might get. A story that humanizes them in a way; that sheds a light on the sorrow underneath the monster. And in that respect, it’s hard to find any fault at all.
The best way to experience The Angel of Redemption is via the audiobook, though. Poetry is almost always best heard aloud, and that’s very much the case here. It is, after all, an oral tale of sorts. A legend meant to be passed down from generation to generation; the story of the Angel who found redemption through a Golden God. And Ayesha Antoine reads it gorgeously, her performance adding an immense amount of melancholy, fear, and hope. The Angel of Redemption is a great read, but it’s an even better listen.
At the end of the day, The Angel of Redemption is a sweet, haunting story. It shines a new light on a classic Doctor Who baddie while also being wholly accessible to those unfamiliar with the show. After all, who isn’t haunted by the statues of angels that litter graveyards?
November 20, 2025
I did a massive experimental review of this one over at Letterboxd which also included the mini-reviews of the other five back around the time series 15 was coming out but suffice it to say this is easily the best story about the Weeping Angels ever written, even moreso than Blink, and one that sets a new golden standard for all post-Wilderness Years Who fiction to follow. Such a grandiose and tragic piece of epic mythology that embodies the more positive aspects to the Smith era in a tremendous way.
Said long-form review can be seen here;
https://letterboxd.com/drashleywho/film/doctor-who-space-time/1/
Said long-form review can be seen here;
https://letterboxd.com/drashleywho/film/doctor-who-space-time/1/
May 2, 2024
This is really lovely. I wasn't quite sure about why this story in particular benefitted from being told in poetry at first, but it soon became very clear. It's a very unique way of telling a Doctor Who story and it uses this uniqueness to tell aspects of a story that wouldn't be half as powerful or emotional - or even conceptual - if they were just told through prose.
The first thing the poetry really benefits is the lore. This is essentially an origin story for the Weeping Angels, and the images that are conjured up by the poems serves this really well. It allows it to remain mystical and hard to comprehend, while still telling us what happened. The second is the more personal story of the single Angel, who carries the majority of this book. As you slowly realise *who* this Angel is, and what their significance is, and the poem moves from being about gods and stars to being about experiences of people and feelings and monsters, it can't help but draw you in more and more. The book manages to convey lots of big themes and thoughts while its telling its story, and poetry was the right choice to do this.
I wish the poems had been a little more varied in form - I feel like there's so much potential here that isn't always realised. There's a moment when a chorus of Weeping Angels speak at once, and though the rhythm of the lines shift, it's a shame they didn't start rhyming, as I feel like it would've really differentiated it? I also wonder whether the book is formatted right for a poetry collection - the titles seem to be typed too big, and the poems are so small and connected I wondered whether they really needed individual titles at all? Some are integral to the poems themselves but feel a little disconnected from them.
But! I'm hoping for much, much more Doctor Who poetry, and much more playing around with what that form could do with these types of stories. This is a really exciting, emotional, promising start, though.
The first thing the poetry really benefits is the lore. This is essentially an origin story for the Weeping Angels, and the images that are conjured up by the poems serves this really well. It allows it to remain mystical and hard to comprehend, while still telling us what happened. The second is the more personal story of the single Angel, who carries the majority of this book. As you slowly realise *who* this Angel is, and what their significance is, and the poem moves from being about gods and stars to being about experiences of people and feelings and monsters, it can't help but draw you in more and more. The book manages to convey lots of big themes and thoughts while its telling its story, and poetry was the right choice to do this.
I wish the poems had been a little more varied in form - I feel like there's so much potential here that isn't always realised. There's a moment when a chorus of Weeping Angels speak at once, and though the rhythm of the lines shift, it's a shame they didn't start rhyming, as I feel like it would've really differentiated it? I also wonder whether the book is formatted right for a poetry collection - the titles seem to be typed too big, and the poems are so small and connected I wondered whether they really needed individual titles at all? Some are integral to the poems themselves but feel a little disconnected from them.
But! I'm hoping for much, much more Doctor Who poetry, and much more playing around with what that form could do with these types of stories. This is a really exciting, emotional, promising start, though.
December 26, 2023
The humanity within the inhumane
Doctor who and making me cry go hand in hand like bread and butter. And this experimental new novel following the story of a lonely weeping angel is no different.
Written in verse for nearly it’s entirety, it flips the traditional stories of Doctor who and every kind of hero and monster rivalry that have existed in modern media, as we see the pain and suffering of a lonely weeping angel and all that it has lost in contrast to the traditional heroic chivalry of the Doctor.
However, to turn something like this on it’s head is an easy task to complete, it is the way in which writer, Nikita Gill provides sense of warmth and beauty in her verse that makes it perfect. As she gives humanity to the aliens and monsters that are typically inhumane and simply bloodthirsty.
This novel exemplifies what doctor who was meant to be. Even without featuring the doctor as the main character, it shows the true power of love and hope that is the purpose and importance of the immortal character of the Doctor.
5/5
Doctor who and making me cry go hand in hand like bread and butter. And this experimental new novel following the story of a lonely weeping angel is no different.
Written in verse for nearly it’s entirety, it flips the traditional stories of Doctor who and every kind of hero and monster rivalry that have existed in modern media, as we see the pain and suffering of a lonely weeping angel and all that it has lost in contrast to the traditional heroic chivalry of the Doctor.
However, to turn something like this on it’s head is an easy task to complete, it is the way in which writer, Nikita Gill provides sense of warmth and beauty in her verse that makes it perfect. As she gives humanity to the aliens and monsters that are typically inhumane and simply bloodthirsty.
This novel exemplifies what doctor who was meant to be. Even without featuring the doctor as the main character, it shows the true power of love and hope that is the purpose and importance of the immortal character of the Doctor.
5/5
June 29, 2024
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-angel-of-redemption-a-2010s-story-by-nikita-gill/
So, this is very unexpected. It’s a story written in the form of poetry, the internal reflections of the Weeping Angel who is destined to yank Amy and Rory back in time in The Angels Take Manhattan, telling the story of the origin of the Angels, their desperate attempts to feed and deal with a hostile universe, and towards the end their interaction with the Doctor and with the world of the early twenty-first century in England. Doctor Who stories rarely take the perspective of the monster, and even more rarely do it well.
So, this is very unexpected. It’s a story written in the form of poetry, the internal reflections of the Weeping Angel who is destined to yank Amy and Rory back in time in The Angels Take Manhattan, telling the story of the origin of the Angels, their desperate attempts to feed and deal with a hostile universe, and towards the end their interaction with the Doctor and with the world of the early twenty-first century in England. Doctor Who stories rarely take the perspective of the monster, and even more rarely do it well.
November 20, 2023
The Angel of Redemption is a heart breaking poem about a weeping angel, that is alone. I listened to this via audiobook and I would recommend that as they way to consume this story. Ayesha Antoine narrates it beautifully, they add real depth to the words. The poem follows one particular Angel, their loneliness and search for love. Proving that even though they are considered monsters they are more complex than they seem. The poem covers the start of the angels existence all the way to the 21st century. I wish it went into more depth as it glossed over some things. Although we are focused on one particular angel so it makes sense. I cannot state how much I enjoyed the audiobook, I'm not really a fan of poetry but this made me reconsider.
November 21, 2024
I wish I knew going into this novella that it was A. A story told through poetry and B. A story told through the perspective of a Weeping Angel. We do get some insight into the life and thoughts of an Angel, as well as their origins. Eleven doesn’t show up until the very end, and even then only sparingly. I would highly recommend watching all of Amy and Rory’s era of the TV show, as the Angel mentions them frequently. The poems also won’t make sense if you haven’t watched Angels Take Manhattan, Amy and Rory’s final outing with the Doctor.
All in all, it was fine, but I wish that I knew what I was getting into beforehand.
All in all, it was fine, but I wish that I knew what I was getting into beforehand.
July 14, 2025
4/5
The Angel of redemption. This angel in order to survive in the world, the angel will need to devour humans. And they were actually in stones, and as this angel gradually know the world and see how the humans live and the angel learn to be compassionate. And the angel seemed to focus on protecting one man whom the angel feels like he is god. The angel struggle because it is kind of betraying their kind but the angel still doesn't care about what will happen because the angel's focus is on protecting the man.
The Angel of redemption. This angel in order to survive in the world, the angel will need to devour humans. And they were actually in stones, and as this angel gradually know the world and see how the humans live and the angel learn to be compassionate. And the angel seemed to focus on protecting one man whom the angel feels like he is god. The angel struggle because it is kind of betraying their kind but the angel still doesn't care about what will happen because the angel's focus is on protecting the man.
November 28, 2023
Doctor Who books can be full of adventure, they can be philosophical, dark, jolly, violent, well written, formulaic etc. I've never read a Doctor Who book like this before. A beautiful, poetical tale from the point of view of a Weeping Angel incorporating Angel history and touching on events on TV before launching into its own tale. Lyrical and touching. More please!
December 19, 2023
The Weeping Angels are amongst the Doctor's most fearsome foes. They capture a person and steal all their temporal potential, casting them back in time to live a full life away from all they know.
In Gill's 'The Angel of Redemption', readers see the loneliness of the Doctor and, through some beautiful verse passages, come to reevaluate the loneliness of the Angels themselves.
In Gill's 'The Angel of Redemption', readers see the loneliness of the Doctor and, through some beautiful verse passages, come to reevaluate the loneliness of the Angels themselves.
December 31, 2023
Fascinating book to read! It's told from the perspective of a Weeping Angel and told mostly in poetry or verse. Had some trouble getting used to this style of writing and storytelling, but eventually was able to follow the narrative, which featured references to the tv episode Angels Take Manhattan.
January 5, 2024
Beautiful story. Made me feel quite nostalgic and very sad. Nikita Gill tells a familiar story from a different point of view through the use of poetry and prose. I felt that the unorthodox way of storytelling was the perfect way to tell the story of an unorthodox protagonist. What a way to start the year.
January 15, 2024
Given the fairy tale themes to the 11th Doctor's story, it's fitting that this tale focusing in on his era has a similar feel. A fable about a monster learning there's more to life than its base nature, and charmingly put together in the style of a long form song or poem which adds to the fairy tale aesthetic.
Excellent read for any 11th Doctor fan
Excellent read for any 11th Doctor fan
June 29, 2024
It thumbs me in the eye, structured like poetry...but I didn't have to worry, as this was simple, concise, beautiful prose...telling the story of the Weeping Angels in a gentle, surprisingly compassionate way that ties in beautifully into the 11th Doctor story "The Angels Take Manhattan". A lovely way to send the 60th anniversary book series.
March 9, 2025
The final book in the decades collection turned out to be my favourite! Seeing what happened to the Weeping Angel that stole away Amy and Rory was a good idea for a book. Told in a style that initially seemed like poetry worked better than I thought! If you read this series in decades order then it definitely ends on a high!
May 26, 2025
I didn’t want to buy this book at first because I honestly don’t like the 11th Doctor but after reading the tons of positive reviews I, against my better judgement and to collect all the 60th celebratory novels, did buy it.
It was a mistake.
The format is interesting but rhymes are sort of a required part of poems? I could barely find any in this book.
Moffat did his utmost best to retcon the Doctor’s life and history and insert himself everywhere on the timeline. Also he went to extremes to make his companions the most important ones. However this story just had to have make another step further in that directions.
All in all lesson learned. Nothing connecting to the Moffat era stand a chance to be anywhere readable let alone good.
It was a mistake.
The format is interesting but rhymes are sort of a required part of poems? I could barely find any in this book.
Moffat did his utmost best to retcon the Doctor’s life and history and insert himself everywhere on the timeline. Also he went to extremes to make his companions the most important ones. However this story just had to have make another step further in that directions.
All in all lesson learned. Nothing connecting to the Moffat era stand a chance to be anywhere readable let alone good.
June 22, 2025
Love doctor who? or statues that move when you aren't looking and want to know their point of view, this is exactly that, but than in the shape of 160 pages of poems XD. totally not what I expected, but actually really easy to understand and a really short read because of the small amounts of text per page. 100% would recommend!
June 5, 2024
I loved this story. I think Nikita Gill did a wonderful job with these characters who have been around for decades. I love that it is written in prose from the angels point of view & she uses Matt Smith's version of the doctor. Simply marvelous
July 7, 2024
The journey of this book and the poetic way it is written creates such a powerful beaitful story of the weeping angels. Hooked from start to finish. Recommend tk anyone who loves Who or Poetry or Both!
Just incredible!
Just incredible!
August 14, 2024
Beautiful and moving poetry with so many geeky references and insights for dedicated Who fans. I've liked Gill's poetry for a while, and pairing it with the world of what I suppose we now call the Whoniverse is a real dream match.
February 24, 2025
Probably the strangest Doctor Who book I`ve ever read, about the story and history of the weeping angels - in the form of poetry. Which sounds interesting, and it IS interesting but sadly I don`t think it works.
July 16, 2025
I absolutely loved the way this story was told. I've always seen quotes from Nikita Gill make their rounds on the internet, but this is the first time I've read her! It was so beautifully told through the eyes of the Weeping Angel that took our beloved Amy and Rory away 3
January 19, 2024
Wasn't expecting a collection of poems and to be honest I found it annoying at the start. However, it told the story really well once I was able to link them together. Very clever writing 👏
February 19, 2024
Finally remembered to pick this back up and I feel so insane rn. I love Doctor Who and I love Nikita Gill and this was just wonderful????? Made me cry multiple times lmao
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews