Doctor Who. Nuclear Time

Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #40

by Oli Smith

'My watch is running backwards.'





Colorado, 1981. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in Appletown - an idyllic village in the remote American desert where the townsfolk go peacefully about their suburban routines. But when two more strangers arrive, things begin to change. The first is a mad scientist - whose warnings are cut short by an untimely and brutal death. The second is the Doctor...





As death falls from the sky, the Doctor is trapped. The TARDIS is damaged, and the Doctor finds he is living backwards through time. With Amy and Rory being hunted through the suburban streets of the Doctor's own future and getting farther away with every passing second, he must unravel the secrets of Appletown before time runs out...





A thrilling, all-new time travel adventure featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the spectacular hit Doctor Who series from BBC Television.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy, Media Tie In, Adventure

243 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second batch of Eleventh Doctor novels are a vast improvement on the first three books to feature this incarnation of the Time Lord.

Oil Smith’s only entry for the range has a great complex Timey-Wimey storyline that’s just confusing enough for all readers to enjoy.
Whilst the pop culture references of the late 70’s and early 80’s will appeal to older fans.

I think it helps that Rory is now traveling aboard the TARDIS, with him and Amy stuck in the idyllically sinister Appletown, The Doctor is off on his own time bending adventure to save them.

A strong supporting cast with bold unique story ideas, it’s one of the standout novels in the New Series Adventures.

[~Geektastic~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey one. Most of the Who books I’ve read so far, all of which have featured Doctors 10 or 11, have involved the TARDIS only as a means to land our hero (and sometimes his friends) in the middle of a conflict. Poor TARDIS, she never gets to be part of the fun. Nuclear Time, thankfully, gives her a chance to shine, if only just a little.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in the middle of the Colorado Desert in 1981. In the scorching sands lies an improbably perfect little town full of oddly cheery suburbanites called Apple Town. Of course, the people and the town are not what they appear to be, but this little mystery is actually solved rather quickly and isn’t the true focus of the story. The real adventure begins when the Doctor traps a nuclear bomb in stasis (where the TARDIS gets to be part of the action) and becomes trapped in an alternate time stream, running literally against the clock to save Amy and Rory from being vaporized.

This story is very character heavy. While the Doctor and the companions are still the central focus, a lot of time is spent with a couple of important secondary characters, which gives this story more emotional depth than your typical Who novel. The narrative focus switches back and forth in time and between characters, creating several threads that eventually converge in a nicely dramatic conclusion.

Overall: 5 stars
• The Doctor, Amy and Rory well characterized
• The twists and turns in the narrative are very well plotted, especially as working with time travel always complicates things
• No aliens, which in this case is a refreshing change from the norm
• The secondary characters are particularly interesting and make the story something more than a Monster of the Week scenario
• The audio book presentation was excellent, with one exception for the strained American accent of one particular character

[Kimberley doruyter · Rating 2 out of 5]

kinda crapy, but still who.

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Congratulations this wins the Headache Award 2022 lot of utter waffle going backwards for The Doctor. This is fun but it give you a Headache thus the award.

[Gab Hausi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not going to lie, this reads a bit like Doctor Who fanfiction. It has all the usual elements of Doctor Who: confusion, loop holes and almost-death. And I'm still definitely confused about what exactly happened at the end. It's always tense with the Doctor around, isn't it? Amy and Rory are being super cool, and the doctor does some crazy stunts to save everyone. Usual stuff. Still, there's quite a couple of elements of the story that I'm dying to change...


**SPOILERS**

I'm kind of sad that we didn't get a gay love ending with Albert and Geoff (c'mon, ride into the sunset together??). Insteas we just got the tense realization that there's a killer robot still hanging around. Plus, there's something icky about Albert fawning over Isley... isn't she his creation? So... shouldn't that love be more similar to daughter-dad love? It is literally said that "he loves her because he's made her so beautiful", so as the story currently sits it reeks of sexism. I wish I could overwrite time like the Doctor and make it so that Albert gets over Isley and realizes he loves Geoff. This is probably how I will remember the story going in my head (perhaps it turns out I can indeed overwrite time??). I would also most definitely change that unfortunate sentence proclaimed by Amy that compares killer robots to tribesmen collecting trophies. What the heck was that unprompted racism?? (Would _my_ Amy really say that??). Please delete from the story.
Other than that, yeah, nice story.

[stormhawk · Rating 1 out of 5]

If it weren't for my love of all things Whovian, I would have stopped reading this book and added it to my so-bad-I-couldn't-finish shelf. This tale of the 11th Doctor twists time and even the fairly lax credulity of the average Who-fan. I've enjoyed the current doctor quite a bit, but unfortunately, none of the rakish charm that Matt Smith brings to his portrayal of The Doctor is translated into the book version.

Not that the plot wasn't bad enough, it's very noticeable to an American reader that the American characters speak in British English.

I loved the Who novelizations published in the 80s, and thought that I would enjoy the new adventures novels. Some of my British friends had been telling me how much fun they were. Perhaps I picked the wrong one?

[MJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one had potential,but unfortunately the writing was terrible. The author did not have a very good grasp on Amy's and Rory's characters and how they interact with each other. The Doctor was better, but some of the things he said were very un-Doctory. Also, it takes place in the United States, with Americans, who would be speaking American English. They would not have called dollar bills "notes" and the only time an American says "Cheers" is when they're toasting. The story itself was an interesting concept, and definitely a situation I could see these three getting into. However, the writing made it difficult to follow at times and just really missed the mark.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A town full of robots, this story is ok not the best 11th doctor book but it's enjoyable enough.

[Mesh'la Cyar'ika · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Doctor Who: Nuclear Time" might just be the most confusing book I have ever had the displeasure of reading. I didn't know what was going on half the time, to be honest. I hated the flashbacks that gave me nothing that I didn't already assume, I hated how Amy and Rory barely mattered, I hate the weird one sided love story of Albert and Isley and I hated how much the characters were mischaracterised.

I liked the beginning where the Doctor and his companions are trying to figure out what's wrong with the town, but the mystery gets revealed way too quickly. There's no level of suspense that has you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happens next.

This book could've been a really emotional and fun story where the androids have been "undercover" for so long and acting like ordinary people to the point where they view themselves as actual living beings. The Doctor could've been focused on saving them from the bomb, while Amy and Rory feel indifferent about the idea of saving the androids because they are literal killing machines. Something like that would've been much better than whatever this is.

[Eli Seibert · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Time can be rewritten” has been a well-known Doctor who credo ever since the 11th Doctor’s era, and boy, does this book put that credo to the test.
A neighborhood of android assassins, a nuke that should never detonate, the Doctor’s timeline reversing, and forbidden robot love… sign me up!
This story pushed the idea of “timey-wimey” to its limits, and my head almost exploded at certain points, as I tried to wrap my head around the absurdities of it all. But I love stories that make my head explode, and this is the first “no aliens” Doctor Who book that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

2023 52 Book Challenge - Summer Road Trip Mini Challenge - Vehicle - 3) 1980's Mustang Convertible

I quite enjoyed this book. It was very reminiscent of Moffat's era with time escapades and separating the Doctor from his companions. Honestly, I think my favourite parts were Rory being sarcastic all the time.

[Ajay Rajendran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A town full of robots! Who wouldn't like that.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short little novel. It leans into the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey plot devices; because that sci-fi technobabble makes no coherent sense, that spills over into the plot. By splitting Rory/Amy up from the Doctor, there's little interesting interaction. Too many narrative devices: Is this about killer robots? About the original AI killer robot? About the nuclear bombing? About how weird time travel is? I think the answer is 'All of the above' which, given the slim heft of the novel, is a bad sign--there's just not enough space to explore any given theme/issue. Still, it can be read in two sittings and maintained my interest long enough for me to get to the end.

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cher. Star Wars. Walkmans. The Isley Brothers. Vietnam. Mutually Assured Destruction.

This was the first Doctor Who novel I ever read, way back in 2010 when I was a brand new Whovian. I remember being impressed back then, and upon rereading the story I'm still impressed now, albeit for different reasons.

There's a basic plot that tends to plague most media in the New Who expanded universe - the big bad aliens are somehow doing something bad to innocent humans (whether it be in the past, present, or future), and it's ultimately up to the Doctor to stop them. This story veers as far from this approach as possible, and instead focuses on the best and worst of the human race in the midst of the Cold War. It's naturally set in America - which is not unusual as one might think for books in the Eleventh Doctor's era - but instead of choosing an 'obvious' point in history like the Civil War or the Moon landing, author Oli Smith chose 1981.

Sometime between the events of Vampires of Venice and The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood (series five), the Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in an eerie town, and soon realise that they're never going to make it out alive. The whole story then plays out like an episode of LOST - story flips between the main characters fighting for their lives, and 'flashbacks' of a soldier and a mad scientist throughout the 1970s and the chain of events that brought them together. These two characters are very well-developed, and you find yourself caring about them whether you wanted to or not; this is especially important since Amy and Rory take a backseat, and the story is mostly about the Doctor and new these characters and how they all connect to the situation.

The tale is made even more interesting when the author employs a huge amount of timey-wimeyness. Complex and well-thought out, it felt like something straight out of the imagination of Steven Moffat, and in my opinion it was executed extremely well. I also really enjoyed the author's writing style, it was easy to read and used blatant humour and cultural references that almost lampshaded themselves and therefore worked. The only major issue I had was with the characterisation of Amy and Rory - the dialogue felt right, but Rory was way too heroic and Amy was way too helpless, especially considering the story was set when Rory was new to the TARDIS. A lot of Rory's heroic actions would have been much better suited to Amy, and she hung off him way too much and didn't display the confidence and independence that drove her to run off with a strange man the night before her wedding.

But overall, this book was well-structured, well-thought out and well-written, and definitely one of the better stories in the New Series Adventures range.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there is such a thing as guilty pleasure books, the Doctor Who books are it for me. They're not even that good, but boy do I love them. I'm slightly embarrassed to even admit that I read them, but for posterity (and challenges) sake, I'm going to at least write down a few thoughts.

This is one of the newest ones, about the Eleventh Doctor and his companions Amy and Rory. They land in Colorado during the Cold War in a town that is too perfect. Of course, that's because all the people are robot assassins, about to be terminated because they couldn't tell the difference between the target and everybody else.

The book overall reminded me of the episode Amy's Choice, and not in a good way. It was one of the less well written in the series, simply re-using bits and pieces from the series in a different order and slapping in a bit of admittedly accurate dialogue. That was the best part, really, because Smith got the voices of the characters just right.

I guess, in the end, the books can never live up to the series. One of the reasons I love the series is the way the writers are so careful about tying in loose ends and tying the entire series together. It really makes the show for me, and it tells me the writers truly care about the story and not just how many viewers they can get. True, each series has its own one-off adventures, and some are better than others, but they all tie in somehow, even if it's just the mention of a few words or a shot of a crack in time at the end. When you have a series made up of thousands of books each written by a different author, and often written before a series has even finished airing, it's really difficult to tie the stories in. So instead, you get a bunch of one-off adventures, some better than others, but without much relation to the series itself. It's good enough to tide you over when the next episodes are nearly a year away, but not the real thing. (Kinda like being on a diet. You can't eat the real thing, so you make do with something that's close to satisfy your cravings. Not a perfect metaphor, but you get the point.)

Anyways, overall, I wouldn't recommend this one, mostly because it's my guilty pleasure, and that's the only reason I enjoyed it. Only someone else as obsessed as me would get the enjoyment.

[Miles Reid-lobatto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to be honest, I rarely keep up with the Doctor Who tie-in novels. With the early days of the range, with the 9th Doctor books and the early 10th Doctor ones, there was a very hit and miss quality, not helped by a continuous reuse of the same authors time and again. With the 11th Doctor books, I think the range has really hit a fantastic stride and I'm going back and grabbing them to read as quick as I can.

'Nuclear Time' is an interesting beast with a entertaining 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey' element that actually puts some of the Moffatt's use of this particular trope to shame. The book has an incredibly fast pace, more like the TV show than a lot of these books do, but is able to leap back and forth in time without slowing. With the elements on hand (A-Bomb testing ground, Military secret projects to build Robot Assassin, cold war politics and wibbly wobbly) there are dozens of Doctor Who stories that could have burst from these. They would probably be a bit more true to form and generic that this wonderfully offbeat story.

I think where the book really hit a high point for me was with the character Geoff, a Vietnam veteren who finds himself in charge of a project completely beyond his expectations. It would be all too easy to have written the character as a gruff, flag-waving military cliche. Instead, he is actually portrayed as a real human being, the little hints of friendship between him and the scientist Albert build to a wonderful moment towards the end where we discover what Geoff was going to give him as a good-bye present should be one of Doctor Who's emotional highlights. Ever. Period.

If the book has a downside, it's that Amy and Rory really don't have much to do for the majority of the book outside run away from Killer Robots. The utterly fantastic TARDIS team of the Doctor/Amy and Rory, something which the new series and the novels have snatched and run away with is tragically short changed. But that doesn't detract from a book that is such a wonderful winner.

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating is 3.5 stars.

This book is based on the television series. This has the eleventh Doctor with Rory and Amy as his companions. In this one, they land in suburbia America during the eighties. They soon discover everything isn't what appears to be and they are basically in what amounts to be "The Stepford Wives".

I enjoyed this book as most Doctor Who novels are concerned with aliens attacking the Earth. This one was a nice change of pace as we get a book where the villains are humans. As for the characterization of the television characters I had no problem visualizing them. The aspect that stood out in this book was the minor characters. Most of these books in this universe are short with two hundred fifty pages of material. A lot of these books do not explore the minor character depth but this novel did and it stood out. The reason I did not give a higher rating is that Rory and Amy were relegated to "damsels in distress" characters and did not do much. Also, the timey-wimey was interesting but probably would have benefited more by being in visual form rather than prose.

That being said I enjoyed this novel and I enjoyed my time with these characters that I miss. It isn't serious literature but I wasn't expecting that. I wanted to be entertained and this book delivered.

[Anna Kļaviņa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like Doctor Who but to be honest the books are not good. This book is my first Eleven story and the weakest Doctor book read yet.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

kinda confusing but as you read, it makes more sense. also geoff and albert are gay

[S.E. Martens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is excellent - I love to see a Doctor Who story that plays with time in an interesting way!

The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in Colorado in 1981 to find themselves in a strange little town in the desert with no roads in or out. Like one of the fake towns the US military used for nuclear testing. Oh dear. This town appears to be populated, though - not with humans, but with androids. And 1981 is too late for these sort of "doom towns" - a display of arms like this might trigger the Russians.

While attempting to use the TARDIS to contain the nuclear blast, the Doctor is pushed into a backward-flowing timestream. Think Red Dwarf's Backwards only instead of time flowing backward across the entire universe it is only the Doctor who is experiencing it this way - so he perceives effects before the cause and such. It's very interesting and different and I'm a little surprised that Doctor Who hasn't (I don't think) done this before.

I loved the "timey-wimey" plot, the Doctor and his companions were all characterized very well, and the secondary characters were well fleshed out. One of the best Doctor Who "New Series Adventures" stories that I've read!

[EricW. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a nice, quick read. That's all I have to say about that. It's good for something to read over a weekend (or if you're like me, right before you have to finish a book for a class discussion.) while doing a good job of introducing the characters, even though each book is more of a short story with no coherent relation between books.

The one thing I didn't like about this book was that for the first few chapters, it set up what was going to be a rather interesting story, but a few chapters into the book, it switched plots completely, so neither story reached it's full potential. I feel like this could have been two separate stories, and that both stories could then be expanded upon to make them even better, but that didn't happen, and it was just this jarring jump between where you thought it was going, and even where the book itself seemed like it thought it was going down this path to write the story you're shown at the beginning, then suddenly jumped to another story, and it left me a little confused. That being said, I think that if I reread it, I'll have a greater appreciation for the story. It's still really good and I highly recommend it.

[Adi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been doing a readathon of the Doctor Who novels, and while most of them are average, Nuclear Time is easily one of the best.

The plot is enjoyable, although pretty confusing. The Doctor has to change the past, and like so much in Doctor Who, it's hard to keep track of it all. It required so much concentration and rereading on my part, I felt a bit tired afterwards. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, and the concept is interesting and executed well. The ending felt a bit rushed, though, as if the author just wanted the book to end already.

One of my favorite things from this was the characterization of Amy, Rory, and the Doctor. Smith nailed the wide emotional range of the 11th Doctor and the spunk of Amy. The characters really came alive for me, and they really, really felt like the characters from the show.

Overall, a pretty good, enjoyable read that adds exciting action and amazing characterization to create a new story for the eleventh Doctor and his companions.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Minor Spoilers*

This is easily one of my favorite Doctor Who novels! I loved that - aside from the Doctor and the TARDIS - there are no aliens and no alien tech. This alone makes the novel stand out and gives it a more Classic Who feel to it.

The characters were almost spot on, with just a few out of character moments for Rory and Amy. I loved the friendship between Geoff and Albert. It was definitely one of my favorite dynamics in the book!

Even with the great military influence, I didn't get the "Evil-military-evil-guns" feeling that normally pop up in these books. I felt this aspect of the story was handled very well, showing the good and the bad.

The story is extremely mind-bending and there were moments that were hard to follow, but I loved every second of it! I would recommend this book to people who don't care much for the fantastical/alien side of science fiction, or fans of Classic Who. Or anyone who loves the Eleventh Doctor!

[Roman Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute banger of a story. I’ve been making my way through the Eleventh Doctor novels. While I’ve enjoyed the previous entries (Night of the Humans, Forgotten Army, etc), Nuclear Time is the first in this series that I’ve loved and could see myself rereading.

The story starts off slow, but the moment you think you know where it’s going, the narrative swerves in a completely different direction. Yes, there’s killer robots and shadowy government officials, but the main antagonist is time itself. The Eleventh Doctor is literally fighting a ticking clock and breaking the rules of causality in order to save Amy and Rory. And that is the type of story where Eleven shines best.

The characterization is excellent; Amy, Rory, & Eleven act and sound exactly as they are depicted in the show. This novel feels very much like an extra-length episode from the Matt Smith era. Also, the audio version narrated by Nicholas Briggs is a joy to listen to as well. Highly recommend.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

star rating:
— ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

this book is such a cute a fun way to start my dive into the doctor who realm of books. although i wouldn’t advise this to be your first book if you aren’t a huge fan of the doctor explaining how time can work and ways that he can move around it.

i really loved the story. it was such a sweet and short story and listened to it between 2 days via audiobook. the story reminded me of the darlek episode in the 9th doctors season. where the doctor that the darleks built is talking about his first love. i found this book very well done, loved how perfectly rory, amy, and especially the doctor where writing because it felt exactly how they acted in the show !

[Andrew Ten broek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one and thought it's one of the best tie-in novels I've read. Traveling back to 80s America, the Doctor and his companions end up in Appletown, a secretive town in the middle of the deserts where humanlike robots are housed. Something will happen with a nuclear bomb and the Doctor needs to find out why and try to save the inventor of the robots (Albert) and his companions Amy and Rory. Thought the nuclear war aspect also is timely with today's politics, so I read it at the right time I suppose.

[Nathaniel Nemeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

The guy who wrote this really had no idea what he was doing. The story is very minimal, the structure is a complete mess and the characterization of literally everyone except the Doctor is just plain awful and cringy. It also is really predictable and feels too much like the episode Amy’s Choice. Finally, it is certainly not child friendly at all, due to the swearing and twisted nature of violence.

[Ms Boutelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Doctor who tv shows. So when I saw this on the bookshelf, I just know I had to read it. I was disappointed in this book. It could have more action and be more exiting then it was. The writer just made this book so dry. As I left like I was being dragged through the book and not part of the book. I would have like to see more personalities coming from the characters.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a rather obscure one.

Doctor Who does a sci-fi spin on Nuketown, years before Black Ops 3 (and maybe Black Ops 2 as well?)

I don't particularly remember fully why I loved this one so much as a kid, but I strongly recall the plot being very strong, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory being captured perfectly, and the ending being particularly clever - at least to me as a kid!

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book Doctor Who: Nuclear Time Was very hard to follow even for this time travler. Jumping forward in time then back in time then forward ect .... very confusing. The ending ? Would not recommend this book.