Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric

Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #151

by Ian Briggs

The Doctor and Ace are put to the ultimate test when the TARDIS dematerializes in Second World War England at a top–secret naval base.

The army church, built on Viking graves, bears inscriptions calling for the wolves of Fenric to return for their treasure. Thereafter evil will reign... Even as the Doctor translates the words hideous corpses rise up from the sea, the evil Fenric now free to summon his wolves to a killing rampage.

In the stand against Fenric, only the Doctor can play the final moves...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Horror, Time Travel

188 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1990

About the author

Ian Briggs wrote the Doctor Who stories Dragonfire and The Curse of Fenric as well as their novelisations. He also created the character of the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace, who first appeared in Dragonfire.

He was approached by Peter Darvill-Evans at Virgin to complete the Timewyrm New Adventures sequence but so far, unlike his colleagues Marc Platt, Ben Aaronovitch, and (script editor) Andrew Cartmel, Briggs has not produced any original Doctor Who novels.

In 1990, Briggs wrote a script for Season 5 of Casualty (Street Life). This particular season was script edited by Andrew Cartmel and also saw contributions from Ben Aaronovitch, Rona Munro and Stephen Wyatt. The same year he also contributed to The Bill.

Briggs continues to work as an actor.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Curse of Fenric is still my favourite ever Doctor Who story. I love the original 1989 television story & the 1990 novelisation by Ian Briggs expanded the story & characters brilliantly.
So, here we are in October 2019. It's 30 years since the original broadcast & here I am listening to the audio version for the first time.
Terry Molloy narrates the story well, though occasionally his accents are a little weak. It's certainly better than his poor portrayal of Davros on television anyway. The music & sound effects are enough to enhance the story without being intrusive. It all adds up to a near perfect adaptation of a classic Doctor Who story.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1081346.html#cutid3

Ian Briggs does a masterful job with The Curse of Fenric, perhaps the most adult of any of the Who novelisations (in the sense of talking about sex). The most striking change from the TV original is that the vicar, Mr Wainwright, is explictly young (rather than Nicholas Parsons). Apart from that, the whole narrative feels very soundly rooted both in itself and in Who - particularly with Ace's introduction in Dragonfire (which of course Briggs also wrote). For once, the Doctor's-hidden-past motif actually seems to make sense rather than feeling like a bolted-on idea (the only other story that achieves this is The Face of Evil). An excellent read.

Also a comfortable pass for the Bechdel test, what with Phyllis, Jean and their landlady on the one hand, and Katharine, Audrey and the Wrens on the other, with Ace wandering between them.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-curse-of-fenric-by-una-mccormack-and-ian-briggs/

Rereading the novelisation, the same points struck me again; it’s a surprisingly adult book for the range, with the London girls and Ace bantering about sex. And given the timings, it does make more sense for the vicar to be a young man, rather than 66-year-old Nicholas Parsons. There are a couple of good interludes as well, one of which appears to have a drown-up Ace marrying a Russian aristocrat ancestor of Sorin’s. It’s one of the best of the 160+ novelisations.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Curse of Fenric has been my favourite Doctor Who adventure for a long time. I've seen the TV version many times & still love it after all these years. It combines my love of science fiction with two of my other passions; Viking history & World War II code breaking.
Unlike some authors of Doctor Who novels Ian Briggs keeps faithfully (though not slavishly) to the TV script, while adding many new elements that enhance the story. His additions feel natural rather than forced into the plot & add a new dimension to the characters of Ace & The Doctor.
Thankfully Briggs keeps in my favourite line from the programme, which leaves an episode on a great cliffhanger ending. What else can you say, except...."We play the contest again, Time Lord."

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the beginning of the Target audio book range, there have been a couple of the classic Doctor Who adaptations that I really wanted to see get the audio treatment. So imagine my delight when the range included several of those titles last year, including my all-time favorite Doctor Who serial and one of my favorite adaptations, "The Curse of Fenric."

The Doctor and Ace arrive in World War II at classified naval base where one of the first computers is being used to break the German coded ciphers. But with the arrival of a group of Russians, it soon becomes clear that a bigger game is being played -- one that the Doctor has known was coming ever since he met Ace.

To number the ways I love "Fenric" could take all the characters I have left in this review and it wouldn't even crack the surface. While the storytelling in the late 80's wasn't quite as serialized as we see in many of the television series today, seasons 25 and 26 did insert a loose character arc for Ace.

The novelization comes from the end of the Target line when writers were given more than 126 or so pages to adapt the story, allowing original script-writer Ian Briggs to expand the story a bit and give us some more shading. As with the televised version, the key word is "undercurrents" (a word you'll hear/read a lot in the book) as Ace grows up and begins to understand what being an adult is about. Briggs fills in the history of various characters, painting a more sympathetic version of Ms. Hardacre and offering some shades of nuance to Dr. Judson and Commander Millington. Also included is a document that details the original battle between the Doctor and Fenric. This was one of the things I loved when I first read this adaptation close to twenty years ago and it still brought a big, silly grin to my face as I heard it again.

I'm not sure what it says about me as a discerning literary person that one of my favorite novels is a printed adaptation of one of my favorite television shows. But listening to this one again, I found myself becoming less and less concerned with that and instead enjoying the story Briggs is relating here. There's a lot of room on my favorites shelf for a wide variety of literary offerings -- and while this one won't necessarily be taught in an overview of great world literature, that doesn't mean it doesn't connect with me and speak to me in the same way some of the best literature in the world does (and if we're being honest here, in a way that Lord of the Flies never really did).

The audio version is performed by Terry Molloy, who is best known for his on-screen portrayal of Davros in several late 80's serials. Molloy's reading of this one is well done and his attempts to mimic certain characters speech patterns works well. It helps that he's got strong material to start with, but I'll say that Molloy's performance made me enjoy the story even more over the course of the four plus hours I spent revisiting this one.

I'm sure there are people who can and will point out flaws, defects and plot holes in the original tv version and the novel. This fan isn't one of them.

Simply put, I loved it then and I love it now.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive Target adapation of the definitive "Doctor Who" story.

Expands the already superb "Fenric" storyline, adding depth and nuances to it that make the story even more enjoyable when you see the television version.

[Gabor Hernadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book form of one one the the classic Who era’s best adventure is equally great. We have more detailed background of the relationship of the camp commander and the scientist and of the priest who is much younger than in the tv version. Such a shame that the Cartmel Masterplan about the origin of the Doctor remained only a plan....

[David T · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was better than the last Harry Potter. You can disagree all you wish though listen first. This book was not an ordinary random Doctor Who Story. This story was so much more. This book was intense right down to the last word. This book was creative, dark, frighting, and very symbolic. The symbolism with faith is done perfectly. I think that it really shows what faith is and what power it has that can or can not protect you if you believe. I think that this was done really well. The entire story was very emotional. It was lonely, sad, depressing, hopeful, and much more. The characters helped to show these emotions in a very good way. The Doctor was knowledge. Ace was longing and hope. The Vicar was sadness. Millington was obsession and madness. Sorin was infinitive. Cathleen was reluctance. Jean and Phyllis were rebellious and showed what happens when you are. Hardaker was hypocritical. Judson was broken genius. Fenric was evil. And Crane was distrust. Each one of these characters portrayed these emotions perfectly and helped to build the story. The story though was already very good. The setting was very good and the extra elements really helped to bring it to life and give it the feeling of darkness that it needed. The story made sense too. Ian Briggs did a good job at explaining everything in the story that happened. He told the story of Fenric and the Flask very well. Everything was understandable and I was able to connect everything. The action was very good too, very thrilling. There was more in the book too. I think that this worked. The ending was very good. The fighting and the conflict both ex and internal was very apparent. These aspects helped to make the story very good. Every piece fit with ease. The story was symbolic in almost every way. This is something that no Doctor Who story had ever really tired before. The story was different and made you think. It was intriguing. It made you question if there is ever a "right" side in war. This is something that not many books or even Doctor Who stories have made me question before. This is excellent. Therefore I think that all of this and more are reasons why this book was much better than the last Harry Potter. This book is also one of the best Doctor Who stories I have ever read. I think that anyone could read it, not just fans of Doctor Who.

The Doctor and Ace have come to Commander Millington's North Yorkshire Base. There the following waits for them, a curse from the dawn of time, evil creatures, chemical weapons that could destroy the entire world, communists, and bloodshed. Now The Doctor must stop the curse before Fenric is released and the stories come true. Though Ace must discover her truth as well and how she fits into the entire story!

[Jamieson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novelization of the TV Story "The Curse of Fenric" was an enjoyable listen as read by Terry Malloy (Davros in the 80s). While his imitation of the Seventh Doctor leaves a bit to be desired, he's a good narrator and made this audio fun to listen to. The novel follows the TV story closely, though with a few added things that ended up cut from the original broadcast and some minor deviantions (which can be found listed in the Novel's page on Tardis Wiki). The most interesting things added are four documents that tie into the story and were just cool little additions (such as one that tells of how the Doctor trapped Fenric the first time). An enjoyable read that added to an already enjoyable TV story.

[Jacob Licklider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most fans attribute the novelization to Remembrance of the Daleks as the test run to see what original Doctor Who fiction can do in novel form. It was published in 1990 and given no limit on its word count, something that fans were incredibly receptive to Aaronovitch’s style, so much that it would be reprinted in 2013 to represent the Seventh Doctor in book form for the 50th Anniversary celebrations. Fans forget, however, that this was not the only book given that commission: Ian Briggs was asked when adapting The Curse of Fenric to novelization form to also take advantage of an expanded word count. This has the added effect of making this the longest novelization by wordcount to be published before the Virgin New Adventures began publishing and provided novelizations for The Power of the Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks, The Paradise of Death, and The Ghosts of N-Space which would be full novels. Interestingly enough, the longest audiobook thus far of the Target novelizations is Ghost Light which is nearly 30 pages shorter than The Curse of Fenric yet the audiobook is two hours longer.

In adapting the script to television Ian Briggs was able to restore several scenes which were deleted as the episodes themselves overran and restore the structure to its original intent. The four part version of the serial, while still brilliant, was a production Nicholas Mallett was unhappy with. Notes were compiled by Mallett and composer Mark Ayres to eventually convert the story into a film version, something which would happen in 2003 for the DVD release, but Briggs also structures this like a film. While there are the cliffhanger moments from the four episodes, they are not constricted by being in four 25 minute segments. The story itself already lends itself to a novel format, with the perfect extrapolation for character expansion and taking some of the themes to be expanded in very important ways. Perhaps the most interesting theme to be explored is the theme of sexuality, something that was there in the television story since Maiden’s Point is an important location and the Haemovores as vampires inherently make this sexual. The novel makes a lot of the sexual themes explicit with several character additions, most notably Mrs. Hardaker having a dead child out of wedlock making her an outcast, and the relationship of Millington and Judson being of two repressed gay men ho have hurt each other because of the society they are inhabiting. The former really makes you understand why Hardaker works as this spinster figure in parallel to Jean and Phyllis dying and becoming vampires as they are outcasts themselves. Jean and Phyllis are essentially innocents in the story, sure they are implied to be sexually active characters which is why Hardaker is so hard on them and drives them to their deaths, while Millington and Judson are implied to have been helping each other. Millington is especially portrayed as a man wracked with guilt due to being explicitly responsible for Judson’s accident which disabled him.

There are also additions to the character of Nurse Crane, while her role on television is important she does not get much focus, but here there is this added fear that she might be a double agent for the Soviets, explaining explicitly how the Russian soldiers were guided outside of Fenric’s supernatural assistance. Briggs also adds five interludes in the form of historical documents charting the history of Fenric, the prophecies around Fenric, and the wolves themselves which make for interesting moments adding to the mystery. The two taken for the history of Fenric that stand out the most are a mythic story a la One Thousand and One Nights exploring the first game the Doctor played with Fenric using an ambiguous incarnation of the Doctor (though it’s possibly William Hartnell or Tom Baker in the role and unlikely to be an appearance by the Other based on the characterization and using the moniker of the Doctor) and a reminiscence of Bram Stoker being inspired by stories of Fenric and the Ancient One for Dracula, both adding to the gothic quality of the story. It also allows some name drops of the working titles of the story Powerplay, Black Rain, Wolf-Time, and The Wolves of Fenric. Finally, an added epilogue helps complete the arc of the story for Ace (which on television ran throughout the season but is adapted to be a bit more self-contained as this is the climax of the arc and fallout revealed in Survival). It is the origin for her fate in Set Piece, living in Paris in the 1800s to her heart’s content, possibly continuing the Doctor’s own work, though here meeting him briefly after they have parted ways. Briggs also continues the thread of Ace being the first companion to be mature, explicitly having had sex and continuing the implied LGBT themes of Battlefield and Survival on television with attraction to Jean and Phyllis. There are also scenes played from her perspective exploring her emotions surrounding her mother and growing up.

Overall, The Curse of Fenric is a perfect example of a novelization expanding upon a television story and making it work as a story and novel in its own right, not being afraid to change things from its source material and just letting the story be explored more than a visual medium ever could. It is a riveting read from start to finish and perfection on an already brilliant story. 10/10.

[David Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Curse of Fenric" is probably the highest regarded episode of the McCoy era of Doctor Who. It maintained a consistent atmosphere of anxiety, had an intriguing puzzle, and well developed characters. Ian Briggs' novelization of his script adds quite a bit to all of that. It is probably the best Doctor Who script novelization. Briggs writes this as a novel, and while he sticks pretty closely to the script in plot and much of the dialogue, he is not too bothered with making an exact match. Where using novelistic touches would strengthen the narrative, he uses them. The story itself is just on the edge of what we might consider "Doctor Who" to be. It is much more a Gothic horror story of insidious evil, ancient curses, and reanimated corpses than it is science fiction. It's more William Hope Hodgson than John Wyndham. The few science-fictional touches that are there are mostly just window dressing. Briggs adds some background chapters in different narrative styles to fill in some of the missing information from the TV shows. There is still a big, gaping hole to all of this, and that is how Ace is incapable of recognizing her beloved grandmother even if it is the grandmother from 40 years earlier. How Ace's backstory fits into the generational Viking curse never escapes the mist in which it is enshrouded. Also, Briggs adds a coda ending of what possibly happens to Ace years later, but it does not quite fit either the novel or Doctor Who continuity. Still, there is far more good than bad about this novelization.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by Ian Briggs, this is an excellent novelisation of his TV script. The Curse of Fenric is one of the best stories of the McCoy era. It is the culmination of Ace's story arc. The story in which she 'comes of age'. It is also the culmination of the devious and manipulative Cartmel take on the Doctor. The Seventh Doctor pushes his deviousness to the edge of failure, to the edge of destroying his relationship with Ace, but - thankfully - it all comes together in the end.

There is one more story - Survival - and then Doctor Who finished with a brief McGann shaped blip. 1989 to 2005. And then it came back and I think the Seventh Doctor's era, especially Ace, are key factors in what modern Doctor Who looks like.

Briggs adds lots of extra bits to this. A Bram Stoker letter, the story of how El Dok-Tar trapped Fenric in the first place, an essay from Millington etc. Plus a little more about Millington and Dr. Judson's relationship all of which makes this rather fine.

There's a trio of late Target books that I think are amongst the peaks of the whole range: this, Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch, and Battlefield by Marc Platt. Aaronovitch is better known for his 'Rivers of London' series now than his contributions to Doctor Who, but that Remembrance novelisation is superb.

So, a fine late Target Doctor Who book which is both a peak and an end to the Doctor Who's darker Seventh Doctor. Ace's story was supposed to carry on with her being taken to Gallifrey by the Doctor. It never happened, alas.

I might read Survival next.

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very strong novelization of a very strong Doctor Who story. While similar in some ways to Remembrance in terms of how the Doctor is, he isn't as overtly manipulative here until near the end (and only out of necessity it seems at the end), and also by now more used to this style of Doctor, so is very firmly 5 stars for me.
The story itself feels Lovecraftian in nature to me, with how everything is tied together and being manipulated by the main antagonist, but at the same time following on from Ghost Light delves into Ace's character and history more as well, very much a forerunner of how the new series of Doctor Who would handle it's companions.
The various one off characters are well fleshed out here too, many varying shades of character that meet all sorts of interesting, and often unfortunate, fates but make you care for a lot of them at the same time.
The Doctor is in good form here, feels a bit more reactive though obviously has a fair idea of what in general is going on, isn't prepared for the actualities as such.
At the same time though, it is something of a draining story, and I think it is good that while the strongest story of the season, it wasn't the last story of the season. Overall though, a great read.

[Julian White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a different format: the narrative is interspersed with documents - some lengthy - with background detail useful though not essential to the plot. I'm not entirely convinced that it works - but that may be partly due to the rather overblown plot device: an isolated land-based naval station developing a decoding machine in rivalry with Bletchley is invaded by a group of Russian special force commandos... In fact this is the site of an ages-long battle between the Doctor and Fenric, an elemental evil force, which has ranged bakwards and forwards in time - future humans (haemovores) are also involved.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

when I read this, i had never seen fenric. the biggest compliment I can give this book is that I was let down by the episode. the pacing is perfect, the characters are well developed, broken people, and the setting and atmosphere perfectly houses two old gods fighting one last game of chess. the episode let me down because the format of doctor who and the fact this book changes from novel to an anthology book about the journey of the flask and ancient tales about fenric elevates the story and the stakes and the conflict to this centuries spanning story, whereas the tv episode feels smaller than that

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who : The Curse of Fenric (1990) by Ian Briggs is the novelisation of the penultimate serial of the original run of Doctor Who.

The Doctor and Ace arrive in 1943 near Maiden’s Point on the Northumberland Coast near a navy base that has a device that can decrypt messages that is like the ENIGMA machine. The base also has nerve gas. The base is also surprisingly lightly guarded. A group of Russian commandos also appears from a Soviet submarine.

What transpires is a clever, adult themed Doctor Who serial. It is one of the best of the seventh Doctor’s serials. It’s well worth a read for any Doctor Who fan.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite episodes when I was a kid. There was something about the spookiness mixed with the historical setting that always worked for me. One difference I did notice from when I was a kid to now was when I was I kid I never really noticed or at least I didn't mind how manipulative the doctor, especially the 7th Doctor could be. I still love the Doctor but I am not blind to his machinations. I good story overall.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to read the novel and not have the episodes playing in your mind. The book is very true to what unfolds on screen along with some welcome extra background and character development. I'm still not 100% sure that if I really thought about it that it would all hang together, and there are possibly a few too many storylines vying for attention. Don't really get the epilogue either. But otherwise it's a good addition to the target catalogue.

[Jeff Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best Whos I've come across! Much scarier and more complete than the TV serial. An ancient evil, the manipulative Seventh Doctor, and a young Ace just coming into her adult identity. Brilliant stuff, and scary as hell!

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvellous story. Showed how devious and manipulative the Seventh Doctor could be

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most late 1980s Doctor Who, the TV episode this book is based on tries to pack too much into too small a space. The novel adds a bit of detail and background, but more importantly it gives the story time to unfold at a more leisurely pace, making it more coherent and easier to follow.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novelizations are exactly what their name implies: a previous work (usually a script) that has been turned into a novel. Novelizations therefore can range from being little more then prose version of the script it's based on to full fledged novels in their own right. The Target novelizations of stories from the original series of Doctor Who ranged between both ends of the spectrum. Falling somewhere into the middle of those two ends of that spectrum is the novelization of The Curse Of Fenric by its original writer Ian Briggs.

Briggs takes the chance to expand upon the original TV story. Some of the additional scenes were later reinstated for the expanded 1991 VHS release and the 2003 special edition DVD version but there are plenty of things that can only be found in this novelization. There's new material throughout the entire story from an agent signaling the Russian commandos where to land, to recasting Reverend Wainwright as a young man instead of the older one seen in the TV story, Miss Hardaker's tragic background that created the old woman seen in the story and a slightly different final showdown between the Doctor and Fenric to name a few examples. These changes or additions aren't for done for the sake of doing them: they each expand upon the story and give it a new interesting development.

The most intriguing additions are four "documents" placed between the four "chronicles" (chapters) that cover the scripted material and the epilogue. The documents expand on things seen or hinted at in the story proper such as Commander Millington's interest from his school days in Viking legends, the curse of the flask that plays a major role in the story that's told through an "excerpt" from an old Norse saga, a letter from Bram Stoker upon visiting the village where the story takes places (something hinted at by Reverend Wainwright) and the story of how the Doctor's first confrontation with Fenric as laid out in Arab folklore. The epilogue expands upon two things referenced as the story builds to its conclusion and suggests a rather intriguing possibility in its own right. Though these documents and the epilogue are all fairly short, they make for fascinating additions that can only be made in the context of a novelization.

All that through is undermined though by two different things Briggs does. The first is that that the novelization cuts very much like its screen version in places which leads to to a brief paragraph that cuts away from a scene and then back into it. While this of course works for a screen version, there's something rather disconcerting about it on the printed page as it tends to make the novelization feel unfocused. The second is Briggs lapses into the melodramatic ranging from stating the obvious (for no apparent reason) on page 38 about what the Doctor finds to a rather melodramatic take on the final scene of the TV story which in fact undermines it or the melodramatic opening prologue that really no purpose story wise. The issues undermine the novelization's additions and the strong nature of the TV story itself and serve to do nothing but hurt it.

With its intriguing additions that expand upon the original TV story, Ian Briggs' novelization of The Curse Of Fenric has the makings to be amongst the best of the Doctor Who Target novelizations. Yet despite making moves that would made the story into an excellent novel, its hampered by its sticking to the editing of the TV story and of the use of melodramatic elements. As a result, The Curse Of Fenric novelization is a good read but leaves one wondering if a few changes could have made it even better.

[Adam James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's keep it real: "The Curse of Fenric," the TV episode, is kind of a mess. Ian Briggs action-packed the narrative with wayyy too many plotlines and references to myths. You'd have to truly understand the myths going into the story (not to mention the Alan Turing references) to even begin to TRY to follow the damn episode.

This is where the novel succeeds. With the ability to flesh out his concepts and add exposition where it's needed, Briggs pens a near-masterpiece that foreshadows the series' mature New Adventures novels. The Doctor is manipulative, Ace is complicated, sex is actually acknowledged - Doctor Who was getting ready to turn a corner and become the legitimate art that it is today, and it all started with season 26 and specifically, "The Curse of Fenric."
Maybe we needed the show to disappear from our TV's; a generation of Doctor Who writers were born from the Cartmel era as well as the similar New Adventures series.
And Ian Briggs and "The Curse of Fenric" is essential to the successful series we're blessed to have today.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last in the 'Ace Trilogy' I set myself to read, in anticipation of finally finding out exactly what happened to Ace (in the novels), something I never got around to doing in my adolescence. 'Curse', an action-packed, very bleak and very adult tale for Who, critically features Ace's transition from childhood to adulthood, as she finally understands the overwhelming feelings that have driven her hatred for her mother, and is able to synchronize them. However, the events are a harbinger of difficult times to come aboard the TARDIS, as the Doctor reveals his complicity in her manipulation from the moment she set foot in his ship.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd wibbily-wobbily, timey-wimey story involving nazis, monsters from the future, a bit of the Doctor's past that we never saw before this story and a bit of Ace's past that was nicely bitter sweet.

The story feels like it's trying to do too much, almost made me feel I was reading the end of a trilogy without reading the first two parts.

There was a good atmosphere of menace and I did like how there were several stories done for the seventh Doctor that included bits of Ace's past being a thread of the story. She was one of the strongest written companions. Even compared to Rose.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just behind Marc Platt's two season 26 novelizations, in terms of overall quality. I never imbibed the kool-aid that so many others did regarding "The Curse of Fenric" on television, but there's no denying that Ian Briggs goes to town with his novelization. There is added character depth, a few interesting tweaks to lines and motivations, and many ancillary "documents" that help to make this yet another progenitor of the "New Adventures" line of original "Doctor Who" fiction. Kudos for also making the story MUCH darker than it was on television...which is an impressive feat.

[Leela42 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seventh Doctor and Ace. Written like a novel. Most of the added material is in the movie version of the episode (DVD only), but the book has several interludes as well, plus a pre-prologue and a prologue, and some of the subtext is more obvious. The only thing I didn't like about the novelisation was two characters die who resonated better surviving in the show.

[Jim Short · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was a good idea but the writing is so disjointed. At the end, there is almost no telling what actually happened and the epilogue is completely useless. Maybe this worked as a broadcast where the added visual provided information but as a story it needs major work.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original rating 4
2025 rating 4

[Texv Velis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Curse of Fenric is my favorite 7th doctor adventure, the book added to my enjoyment of the story by filling in holes in the plot of the TV version.