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Doctor Who: Target Books
Doctor Who: Lux
Fifteen missing people. A light that hungers. A trip outside reality.
A trip to 1950s Miami takes a dangerous turn, leaving the Doctor and Belinda at the mercy of Mr. Ring-a-Ding. A cartoon come to life who wants something that only the Doctor can give him. Can Belinda save the Doctor? Or will they be trapped by a trick of light?
Featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Varada Sethu as Belinda, this Target novelisation by acclaimed author James Goss brings Russell T Davies' format-busting adventure to vivid life.
A trip to 1950s Miami takes a dangerous turn, leaving the Doctor and Belinda at the mercy of Mr. Ring-a-Ding. A cartoon come to life who wants something that only the Doctor can give him. Can Belinda save the Doctor? Or will they be trapped by a trick of light?
Featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Varada Sethu as Belinda, this Target novelisation by acclaimed author James Goss brings Russell T Davies' format-busting adventure to vivid life.
- GenresDoctor Who
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2025
8 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
James Goss
231 books181 followersJames Goss has written two Torchwood novels and a radio play, as well as a Being Human book. His Doctor Who audiobook Dead Air won Best Audiobook 2010. James also spent seven years working on the BBC's official Doctor Who website and co-wrote the website for Torchwood Series One. In 2007, he won the Best Adaptation category in the annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards for his version of Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 13, 2025
The fifteenth doctor and Belinda arrive in 1950s Miami. There’s a mysterious movie theater where many people disappeared while watching a Mr Ring-a-Ding cartoon. The doctor can’t help but investigate.
Doctor Who’s Disney era wasn’t the big success they were hoping for, though that doesn’t mean there weren’t any good episodes. Lux is a good example of that. What stands out to me about that episode is that it doesn’t feel like a Doctor Who concept that was weakened by Disneyfying it. Instead it sometimes feels more like a Disney concept that was modified to fit Doctor Who.
I had my doubts about this novelization, as the cartoon animation in particular was such a big part of its appeal. Though they were smart to fix this by inserting some cool cartoon drawings. The Scooby Doo reference made me chuckle again, so that still works like a charm. And I appreciate that this novelization starts with the Doctor Who fans about to watch the episode.
This is a really fun and whacky read that makes me want to watch the episode again. Job well done, I say.
Doctor Who’s Disney era wasn’t the big success they were hoping for, though that doesn’t mean there weren’t any good episodes. Lux is a good example of that. What stands out to me about that episode is that it doesn’t feel like a Doctor Who concept that was weakened by Disneyfying it. Instead it sometimes feels more like a Disney concept that was modified to fit Doctor Who.
I had my doubts about this novelization, as the cartoon animation in particular was such a big part of its appeal. Though they were smart to fix this by inserting some cool cartoon drawings. The Scooby Doo reference made me chuckle again, so that still works like a charm. And I appreciate that this novelization starts with the Doctor Who fans about to watch the episode.
This is a really fun and whacky read that makes me want to watch the episode again. Job well done, I say.
December 21, 2025
Easily the best of the most recent batch of Target novelizations: imaginative, extra layers to the 4th wall breaks, and an author who even makes fun of his own previous book. This is the icing on the cake that is the actual episode.
November 29, 2025
3.5 stars
Glad I audiobooked this one in the end as the voice narrator was great!
Glad I audiobooked this one in the end as the voice narrator was great!
November 1, 2025
Lux was the 2nd televised episode of the fifteenth series of modern Doctor Who which featured Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor and Varada Sethu as The Doctor’s companion Belinda Chandra. The Target novelisation of this episode is penned by long-time Doctor Who writer James Goss. The narrative of the story follows The Doctor and Belinda as the pair begin their journey to try and get Belinda back home to Earth on March 24th 2025. With the TARDIS being pushed off course on every attempt to reach their destination, The Doctor lands the TARDIS in Miami in 1952. Using a machine he calls the Vindicator, The Doctor hopes to tether a hook line to March 24th 2025 to help him navigate to there. While exploring the local area, the duo learns about the mysterious disappearance of 15 people while attending a movie at the local cinema. Taking it upon themselves to investigate, The Doctor and Belinda soon discover a sentient cartoon has manifested in the cinema by the name of Mr Ring-A-Ding. While the cartoon comes off as a jolly, friendly ‘fella’, the pair soon learn there’s a far more sinister side to the cartoon as he seeks to torment the duo with a trip to literal big screen.
I remember enjoying the actual episode quite a bit when I watched it. As a story it does a good job with establishing an interesting premise with a historical setting and a larger-than-life threat. It works as a quintessential standalone episode just based on the core traditions it upholds throughout the course of it’s runtime. The novelisation does a great job faithfully capturing the essence and core structure of the episode and that’s all down to James Goss. As a writer I find Goss has an excellent ability to faithfully adapt an existing story while injecting it with his own unique contributions. His writing style is able to reflect the metatextual tone of the story really well. I was curious with how much this story commentates on the world of cinema with some interesting visual sequences, whether Goss would be able to translate it well into the prose format, Goss does find some smart ways to work around those factors though and it ends up making the book feel quite fun and distinct to the actual episode as a result.
Like most Target books, this is a fairly breezy read in terms of page count so it’s all the more impressive how it feels like all the key areas of the original script are given fair representation in the novelisation without any clear omission. In fact, Goss was able to expand on a few subplots in the story quite nicely with the prose format. He’s also able to incorporate a few additional scenes into the story too. I think the tone and scope of the story is really fun, it captures nearly all aspects of the episodes emotional scope quite well.
Lux is a great story on all accounts and James Goss did a fantastic job translating it into the prose format. It’s structure and format follows all the core beats while seamlessly interjecting original elements alongside them. It’s probably one of my favourite stories from Series 15 with how imaginative and sharp it feels. I know a lot of the writing credit for this story goes to Russell T Davies for his original screenplay, but James Goss as I mentioned is always fantastic at adapting existing work without losing any of the original quality, Lux is another notch on his record to reflect that skill.
I remember enjoying the actual episode quite a bit when I watched it. As a story it does a good job with establishing an interesting premise with a historical setting and a larger-than-life threat. It works as a quintessential standalone episode just based on the core traditions it upholds throughout the course of it’s runtime. The novelisation does a great job faithfully capturing the essence and core structure of the episode and that’s all down to James Goss. As a writer I find Goss has an excellent ability to faithfully adapt an existing story while injecting it with his own unique contributions. His writing style is able to reflect the metatextual tone of the story really well. I was curious with how much this story commentates on the world of cinema with some interesting visual sequences, whether Goss would be able to translate it well into the prose format, Goss does find some smart ways to work around those factors though and it ends up making the book feel quite fun and distinct to the actual episode as a result.
Like most Target books, this is a fairly breezy read in terms of page count so it’s all the more impressive how it feels like all the key areas of the original script are given fair representation in the novelisation without any clear omission. In fact, Goss was able to expand on a few subplots in the story quite nicely with the prose format. He’s also able to incorporate a few additional scenes into the story too. I think the tone and scope of the story is really fun, it captures nearly all aspects of the episodes emotional scope quite well.
Lux is a great story on all accounts and James Goss did a fantastic job translating it into the prose format. It’s structure and format follows all the core beats while seamlessly interjecting original elements alongside them. It’s probably one of my favourite stories from Series 15 with how imaginative and sharp it feels. I know a lot of the writing credit for this story goes to Russell T Davies for his original screenplay, but James Goss as I mentioned is always fantastic at adapting existing work without losing any of the original quality, Lux is another notch on his record to reflect that skill.
September 11, 2025
James Goss es mi padre. Proclamo. Habiendo sido el escritor de la novelización de The Giggle (que ya dije en su momento que me había vuelto loco porque era un libro que no leías, que JUGABAS) cuando me enteré de que iba a encargarse también de Lux, me interesó inmediatamente. Porque ambos capítulos comparten ciertas características juguetonas que son muy trasladables a su novelización.
Y Lux lo hace. Lo consigue. No a niveles de The Giggle pero lo hace. Tiene cositas. Juguetonas. Disfrutonas. Es formalmente más comedido (las locuras de su maquetación son menores) pero a cambio aprovecha mucho más a los tres frikis que aparecen en el capítulo para lanzar todo tipo de dardos y referencias al mundo whovian actual que, a poco que hayas estado dentro durante la emisión del capítulo, te harán gracia.
Lo único malo que le veo, y aquí estoy siendo quisquilloso, es que... a ver cómo lo explico. Hay material gráfico en el libro. Hay una parte que es un cómic. Hay dibujos de Mr. Ring-a-ding. Hay otras cosas. Pero al final se usan pantallazos del episodio o material gráfico existente. Hubiese estado muy guay haber pillado a un ilustrador que crease cosas solo para la novela. Porque está bien maquetado pero aún siento que es un aspecto un poco descuidado ese. No sé. Igual soy yo que pido demasiado.
Resumiendo: está muy bien. Es el hermano pequeño de la novelización de The Giggle. Más formalito en apariencia pero en cuanto abre la boca bastante más desbocado. O algo. O qué sé yo. No me hagáis reír.
Y Lux lo hace. Lo consigue. No a niveles de The Giggle pero lo hace. Tiene cositas. Juguetonas. Disfrutonas. Es formalmente más comedido (las locuras de su maquetación son menores) pero a cambio aprovecha mucho más a los tres frikis que aparecen en el capítulo para lanzar todo tipo de dardos y referencias al mundo whovian actual que, a poco que hayas estado dentro durante la emisión del capítulo, te harán gracia.
Lo único malo que le veo, y aquí estoy siendo quisquilloso, es que... a ver cómo lo explico. Hay material gráfico en el libro. Hay una parte que es un cómic. Hay dibujos de Mr. Ring-a-ding. Hay otras cosas. Pero al final se usan pantallazos del episodio o material gráfico existente. Hubiese estado muy guay haber pillado a un ilustrador que crease cosas solo para la novela. Porque está bien maquetado pero aún siento que es un aspecto un poco descuidado ese. No sé. Igual soy yo que pido demasiado.
Resumiendo: está muy bien. Es el hermano pequeño de la novelización de The Giggle. Más formalito en apariencia pero en cuanto abre la boca bastante más desbocado. O algo. O qué sé yo. No me hagáis reír.
Read
November 7, 2025One of the best stories from Ncuti's brief, uneven stint, Lux is also perfect material for James Goss, who's always enjoyed the opportunity for a bit of formal jiggery-pokery and can really go to town on this one. Not least because, the story's gnostic fourth wall rupture having had its chance to surprise on first broadcast, in this revisit it can be set up, tweaked, extended, and even given a line about how the episode is being novelised by the same guy who did The Giggle... Beyond that, there's Goss' usual knack for a lovely description (a single page gives us the TARDIS interior looking "as though someone had tried 3D printing a cathedral to use as a disco" and the Fifteenth Doctor as "somewhere between a male model and a supply teacher"), a thoughtful digression (why are 'god' and 'dog' the reverse of each other, anyway?), a new way to get a tear and/or a laugh. Though when he added one of the watching fans insisting the surprise was going to be the Rani –"It was always definitely going to be the Rani. It never was."– he swears he didn't yet know what was coming. Less amusing in its prescience is one of the lines added while fleshing out the mundane awfulness of Belinda's first encounter with historical racism. "'Don't think you're better than history, babes,' the Doctor said. 'Your world is burning, so all those old hatreds are waking up. Everything that happens...happens again.'" Yes. Well. Still, the collapse of any notion of progress aside, it's a delightful read.
July 23, 2025
James Goss adapts the second episode of the Fifteenth Doctor's second season, Lux, with all of the joyous fun he brought to his novelization of 2023's The Giggle. And Goss proves to be a perfect choice for a story with as chaotic a villain as Lux is. Unfortunately, Lux proves to be one of those stories that works significantly better on screen than on the page, despite Goss' attempts at fleshing out the story—especially when it comes to the Doctor Who fans and their backgrounds. Goss breathes a lot of life into the story, throwing every trick in the book to try and make it come alive on the page, but Lux nevertheless proves elusive.
It's just one of those stories that really only works on television, what with its beautifully animated sequences and very visual gags. Even with the unlimited budget afforded by the page, reading about the Doctor and Belinda being animated in various classic animation styles pales in comparison to actually seeing them animated. And regardless of how well written Goss' novelization is (and it is exceedingly well written), it just doesn't quite have the same impact as the episode does.
Reviewed as part of Geek Vibes Nation's July 2025 Book Round-Up.
It's just one of those stories that really only works on television, what with its beautifully animated sequences and very visual gags. Even with the unlimited budget afforded by the page, reading about the Doctor and Belinda being animated in various classic animation styles pales in comparison to actually seeing them animated. And regardless of how well written Goss' novelization is (and it is exceedingly well written), it just doesn't quite have the same impact as the episode does.
Reviewed as part of Geek Vibes Nation's July 2025 Book Round-Up.
August 20, 2025
I see why James Goss was chosen for this novelisation, since thematically, the experimental approach used is very similar to "The Giggle", but at the same time, just like the Pantheon of Gods, an author only gets one trick with Target novels...
I like the context provided around Lux himself, a useful backstory missing from the episode.
The three Whovians featured in the episode have a greater presence in this novel, which helps to swallow the big moment when it happens, and the meta humour is funnier here than in the televised episode, especially the joke about the leaks - the fans were a little bit overdone throughout the book, but I could cope.
I think the main problem with this novelisation is that it's based on a very, very visual story. The episode had some of the most impressive special effects ever done in the show, and there just isn't any real way to translate that into prose and have the same effect.
I think the slot for this Target novel would have been better off given to "Lucky Day" or "The Story And The Engine" as these were more plot driven and had certain characters and plot points which could've been expanded well with a Target novel.
I like the context provided around Lux himself, a useful backstory missing from the episode.
The three Whovians featured in the episode have a greater presence in this novel, which helps to swallow the big moment when it happens, and the meta humour is funnier here than in the televised episode, especially the joke about the leaks - the fans were a little bit overdone throughout the book, but I could cope.
I think the main problem with this novelisation is that it's based on a very, very visual story. The episode had some of the most impressive special effects ever done in the show, and there just isn't any real way to translate that into prose and have the same effect.
I think the slot for this Target novel would have been better off given to "Lucky Day" or "The Story And The Engine" as these were more plot driven and had certain characters and plot points which could've been expanded well with a Target novel.
October 7, 2025
This episode has one of my favourite resolutions and this novelisation of it is great. I wish the illustrations were in colour, that would make this perfect. Yep, the visualisation is super important and it’s why the you need the show. But this does a great job. I liked the illustrations, cartoon/2D/3D 15 & Belinda, the way the fonts & chapter headings are chosen to reflect the fun aspects of the character are clever - if they were in colour, it would be perfect
p65 Belinda missed bedpans. First she’d been chased by robots and now she was Roger Rabbiting
p121 The Doctor named all the action figures and got one of the pronunciations wrong, which you could see Robyn was trying not to make a thing about
p170 There was always room for more light
p174 this was it, his happiest, final, gorgeous state. An entire universe to wander at the speed of light, the speed of love
p65 Belinda missed bedpans. First she’d been chased by robots and now she was Roger Rabbiting
p121 The Doctor named all the action figures and got one of the pronunciations wrong, which you could see Robyn was trying not to make a thing about
p170 There was always room for more light
p174 this was it, his happiest, final, gorgeous state. An entire universe to wander at the speed of light, the speed of love
August 9, 2025
There were some elements of the tv episode I doubted could be conveyed in a book. I was so wrong, the solution being simple, effective and fun. The book also contains the usual expansions and additions. My favourite was Mr Pye's response at being made to get into a police car and the link to his wife's death. Such a telling and poignant moment. Overall, the book is as bonkers and enjoyable as the episode without glossing over the darker elements. The fans come out of it very well, such a pleasant change after the days of being called Barkers.
December 7, 2025
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/doctor-who-lux-by-james-goss/
It’s a story with several epic shifts of scale – the small-minded tableau of a Florida town, the big imaginative expanse of the fans’ cramped living room, and the superhuman struggle between the Doctor and a rogue god. The fourth-wall-breaking scenes of the Doctor and Belinda with the fans, Hasan, Robyn and Lizzie, are really excellent, and I found I had something in my eye at the end. As usual with this writer, recommended.
It’s a story with several epic shifts of scale – the small-minded tableau of a Florida town, the big imaginative expanse of the fans’ cramped living room, and the superhuman struggle between the Doctor and a rogue god. The fourth-wall-breaking scenes of the Doctor and Belinda with the fans, Hasan, Robyn and Lizzie, are really excellent, and I found I had something in my eye at the end. As usual with this writer, recommended.
September 30, 2025
great book. love how it adds more depth the people watching doctor who and to the doctor
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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