The Death and Life of River Song: Ace and Tegan

The Death and Life of River Song #2

by James Moran, Roland Moore, Alex Kingston (Narrator)

Ace and Tegan have been plucked from their twenty-first century lives and stranded in 1860. But who is responsible, and why is River Song mixing in nineteenth century society too? Somebody is out to eliminate the three of them, as Ace and Tegan realise that this may not be their first meeting with River. Their lives are entangled, and to escape, somebody must pay the ultimate price.

2.1 Castaways by James Moran - Adrift in the past, Ace and Tegan are looking into supposed hauntings on London’s new underground railway lines. But how and why are they there? Their memories are not what they were, and they are about to encounter River Song, perhaps not for the first time. One thing is certain - River knows more than she is telling!

2.2 Driftwood by Roland Moore - Back in her TARDIS travels, Ace is cut off from the Doctor, on a stricken spaceship with sixty minutes to live. Something has invaded the vessel - something that travels along wires and can control its metal structure. As time runs out, Ace’s only hope may be a mysterious woman with a blaster and fantastic hair.

2.3 Dead Rising by Roland Moore - With the Doctor and Turlough on ice, Tegan faces interrogation from the Pilot of Vrexel colony. Something is making the colonists drop down dead... Tegan claims she is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when River Song arrives and the dead start rising, Tegan's problems get a whole lot worse.

2.4 The End is the Beginning is the End by James Moran - River, Ace and Tegan must stop Gregor Ganley from changing their past again, and again... and again. But he's always one step ahead. And River's new friends want to convince her that assassination is not always the best option. But first, they have the matter of imminent certain death to deal with.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published March 1, 2025

Reviews

[Ellen Schoener · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this.
Sorry to say, but this was a bit average for me.
The performances were great, I loved Ace and Tegan in this.
But the story and the villain did not really grip me.
Maybe I need to do a re-listen and re-evaluate in a few weeks?

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one I thought would release on Eighth of March, but then that fell on a weekend. It was fun seeing River interact with Ace and Tegan. Kind of acts as a prequel to The Power of the Doctor.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

2.1 Castaways - Ace & Tegan met River Song, except almost nothing is what it seems. In other words a typical River Song adventure. Spoilers. (3/5)

2.2 Driftwood - This one takes place roughly in real time. These are always fun. (4/5)

2.3 Dead Rising - A fun wild ride. And things are beginning to come together. (3/5)

2.4 The End is the Beginning is the End - I want to say this one is brilliant, but it’s really the overall story that is all coming into focus. It’s absolutely nutty and only River Song could pull this kind of crazy off. (4/5)

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't bad. However, if you've ever thought of River Song as a Mary Sue, this set of episodes aims to prove you right. River Song is the Mary Suiest of Mary Sues here. She knows everything, she's completely capable, she's always in control, she's always fully assured of the correctness of her actions, she keeps Ace and Tegan in the dark about what's going on, and they always defer to her.

The only moment that felt real was when they tried to knock into her head that the Doctor would not approve of her methods. But . . . that didn't last.

Yeah, this wasn't bad, . . . but River Song as a flawless central protagonist was fully on display.

[Joseph S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wasn’t this range about her being in the library matrix as her diary is full? And that they ended the diary range