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Doctor Who: Target Books #174
Doctor Who: The Eaters of Light (Target Collection)
Rebecca Benson reads a novelisation of the TV adventure featuring the Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole.
"To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world!"
The Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century Scotland to learn the fate of the 'lost' Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation - how?
The search for the truth leads the Doctor and his friends into a deadly mystery. Who is the Guardian of the Gate? What nightmare creature roams the wildlands, darkening the sky and destroying all in its path? A threat from another dimension has been unleashed on the Earth, and only a terrible sacrifice can put things right...
Rebecca Benson, who played Kar in the 2017 TV episode starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, reads Rona Munro's novelisation.
Reading produced by Neil Gardner at Ladbroke Audio
Sound design by Simon Power
Executive producer: Michael Stevens
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
"To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world!"
The Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century Scotland to learn the fate of the 'lost' Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation - how?
The search for the truth leads the Doctor and his friends into a deadly mystery. Who is the Guardian of the Gate? What nightmare creature roams the wildlands, darkening the sky and destroying all in its path? A threat from another dimension has been unleashed on the Earth, and only a terrible sacrifice can put things right...
Rebecca Benson, who played Kar in the 2017 TV episode starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, reads Rona Munro's novelisation.
Reading produced by Neil Gardner at Ladbroke Audio
Sound design by Simon Power
Executive producer: Michael Stevens
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 14, 2022
9 people are currently reading
197 people want to read
About the author
Rona Munro
74 books14 followersRona Munro is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television. Her film work includes Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird (1994), Oranges and Sunshine (2010) for Jim Loach and Aimée & Jaguar (1999), co-authored by German director Max Färberböck. Her television work includes the last Doctor Who television serial of the original run to air, Survival (1989), episodes of the drama series Casualty (BBC) and the BBC film Rehab., directed by Antonia Bird.
Her play Iron which has received many productions worldwide. Other plays include Strawberries in January (translation) for the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Mary Barton for Manchester Royal Exchange, Long Time Dead for Plymouth Drum Theatre and Paines Plough, and The Indian Boy for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Munro contributed eight dramas to Radio 4's Stanley Baxter Playhouse: First Impressions, Wheeling Them In, The King's Kilt, Pasta Alfreddo at Cafe Alessandro, The Man in the Garden, The Porter's Story, The German Pilot and The Spider.
In 2006 the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith presented Munro's adaptation of Richard Adams' classic book, Watership Down.
Her play, The Last Witch, was performed at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival, directed by Dominic Hill, and in 2011 by Dumbarton People's Theatre. Her history cycle The James Plays, James I, James II and James III, were first performed by the National Theatre of Scotland in summer 2014 in a co-production with Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Scotland.
Her play Iron which has received many productions worldwide. Other plays include Strawberries in January (translation) for the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Mary Barton for Manchester Royal Exchange, Long Time Dead for Plymouth Drum Theatre and Paines Plough, and The Indian Boy for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Munro contributed eight dramas to Radio 4's Stanley Baxter Playhouse: First Impressions, Wheeling Them In, The King's Kilt, Pasta Alfreddo at Cafe Alessandro, The Man in the Garden, The Porter's Story, The German Pilot and The Spider.
In 2006 the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith presented Munro's adaptation of Richard Adams' classic book, Watership Down.
Her play, The Last Witch, was performed at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival, directed by Dominic Hill, and in 2011 by Dumbarton People's Theatre. Her history cycle The James Plays, James I, James II and James III, were first performed by the National Theatre of Scotland in summer 2014 in a co-production with Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 3, 2022
Eaters of light wasn’t the strongest episode of Peter Capaldi’s final season as the doctor. But it was the episode of that season that grabbed me and fascinated me the most. And this novelization definitely tries to improve the story I already loved.
What happened to the Ninth Legion of the Roman army? That is the question Bill asks the doctor. And they have an argument about it. To settle the argument once and for all, they decide to visit the time and place when and where the Ninth Legion disappeared.
The first difference we get from the very beginning is that the novelization starts with Kar as the new guardian of the gate. She consciously chooses to let one of the beasts she’s supposed to be keeping out of our world through the gate, so it can deal with the Roman Legion that’s marching straight towards her people. That’s the most important thing you need to know to understand the rest of the story, so I quite like that we’re getting this information from the get go.
The creatures were visually stunning and mesmerizingly beautiful on TV. But they didn’t really come across as particularly threatening or creepy. In the novelization they’re simply described as tentacles of dark, sucking the light out of people. How cool is that? It makes the creatures way more threatening, which makes the action scenes in particular so much more gripping. And I think the creatures are much better defined here than in the TV episode.
Of the scenes that were cut, one stands out the most. When Bill tells the Roman soldier she likes women. Because the Roman soldier’s response was so cool. The Roman soldier doesn’t care about gender. He would make love to a cactus if it didn’t hurt so much. Okay, I made up that last bit. But you get the point. Turns out the Romans were much more open and accepting of other people’s sexuality than you’d think. And this message is still very much present in the novelization by further fleshing out the Roman soldier. But it’s a shame Bill’s special bonding moment with the Roman soldier is missing here.
It’s quite a poetic kind of story and it deals with plenty of powerful themes. Kar in particular makes her feelings about the invading Roman army quite clear. Though the most powerful message her character tries to get across is her willingness to unleash a greater evil into the world, when her part of the world is about to end. She desperately wants to save her home and her people. No matter the cost. “To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world.”
The doctor pretty much lectures these children on the fact that they need to grow up. They need to learn to communicate with each other. So they can settle their differences like grownups and start working together, instead of fighting each other. The TV episode did this a little better though, with some assistance of Bill’s observation skills and the translation powers of the Tardis.
The creatures themselves also embody a powerful theme. They suck the light out of their victims, making them age very quickly. It’s a bit reminiscent of the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis. Basically, light is life in this story. The creatures consume light, much like how we consume the air we breathe. And the creatures can consume even the light we’ve absorbed from the sun over the years, essentially taking all those years away from us.
A friend from high school listened to a podcast recently and the topic of the week was the Romans. And he said to me: “I didn’t know history was so interesting. It’s like Game of Thrones without the dragons. How come nobody ever told us that while we were in school?” Now the Game of Thrones part definitely made me chuckle, as it’s inspired by history. But I do think he had a really good point about school. In school they serve us the most boring and useless facts about history and shove it down our throats, just so we can mindlessly regurgitate those facts word for word whenever there’s a test. It’s mind numbing and boring. So of course people are going to think history is boring when they graduate. But it’s not. This story is another brilliant reminder that history can be very interesting and so much fun. And this isn’t a knock on teachers by the way. They do way more than people give them credit for. It’s just that our entire education system needs a serious update.
I loved this story when I first saw it on TV and this novelization did a very good job of improving what was already a really good story. The side characters are fleshed out more. The creatures are more threatening and are better defined. And the action scenes feel more intense and gripping.
What happened to the Ninth Legion of the Roman army? That is the question Bill asks the doctor. And they have an argument about it. To settle the argument once and for all, they decide to visit the time and place when and where the Ninth Legion disappeared.
The first difference we get from the very beginning is that the novelization starts with Kar as the new guardian of the gate. She consciously chooses to let one of the beasts she’s supposed to be keeping out of our world through the gate, so it can deal with the Roman Legion that’s marching straight towards her people. That’s the most important thing you need to know to understand the rest of the story, so I quite like that we’re getting this information from the get go.
The creatures were visually stunning and mesmerizingly beautiful on TV. But they didn’t really come across as particularly threatening or creepy. In the novelization they’re simply described as tentacles of dark, sucking the light out of people. How cool is that? It makes the creatures way more threatening, which makes the action scenes in particular so much more gripping. And I think the creatures are much better defined here than in the TV episode.
Of the scenes that were cut, one stands out the most. When Bill tells the Roman soldier she likes women. Because the Roman soldier’s response was so cool. The Roman soldier doesn’t care about gender. He would make love to a cactus if it didn’t hurt so much. Okay, I made up that last bit. But you get the point. Turns out the Romans were much more open and accepting of other people’s sexuality than you’d think. And this message is still very much present in the novelization by further fleshing out the Roman soldier. But it’s a shame Bill’s special bonding moment with the Roman soldier is missing here.
It’s quite a poetic kind of story and it deals with plenty of powerful themes. Kar in particular makes her feelings about the invading Roman army quite clear. Though the most powerful message her character tries to get across is her willingness to unleash a greater evil into the world, when her part of the world is about to end. She desperately wants to save her home and her people. No matter the cost. “To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world.”
The doctor pretty much lectures these children on the fact that they need to grow up. They need to learn to communicate with each other. So they can settle their differences like grownups and start working together, instead of fighting each other. The TV episode did this a little better though, with some assistance of Bill’s observation skills and the translation powers of the Tardis.
The creatures themselves also embody a powerful theme. They suck the light out of their victims, making them age very quickly. It’s a bit reminiscent of the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis. Basically, light is life in this story. The creatures consume light, much like how we consume the air we breathe. And the creatures can consume even the light we’ve absorbed from the sun over the years, essentially taking all those years away from us.
A friend from high school listened to a podcast recently and the topic of the week was the Romans. And he said to me: “I didn’t know history was so interesting. It’s like Game of Thrones without the dragons. How come nobody ever told us that while we were in school?” Now the Game of Thrones part definitely made me chuckle, as it’s inspired by history. But I do think he had a really good point about school. In school they serve us the most boring and useless facts about history and shove it down our throats, just so we can mindlessly regurgitate those facts word for word whenever there’s a test. It’s mind numbing and boring. So of course people are going to think history is boring when they graduate. But it’s not. This story is another brilliant reminder that history can be very interesting and so much fun. And this isn’t a knock on teachers by the way. They do way more than people give them credit for. It’s just that our entire education system needs a serious update.
I loved this story when I first saw it on TV and this novelization did a very good job of improving what was already a really good story. The side characters are fleshed out more. The creatures are more threatening and are better defined. And the action scenes feel more intense and gripping.
August 7, 2022
The novelisation for 'The Eaters of Light' brilliantly interweaves the stories of Kar and Lucius, both of whom have lost everything, and fills in the holes with the beloved 2017 TARDIS team, the Doctor, Bill and Nardole.
It brings to prose what is, to me, an intrinsically Doctor Whoish story. It focuses on the 'guest characters' and companions rather than on our harsh yet ultimately softhearted Doctor. The reader gets a glimpse into what it's like to travelling with a Time Lord, what it does to you when a group of odd looking strangers stumbles into your life only to dissapear after a few years.
Though simple in its prose, 'The Eaters of Light' have proven highly effective on me.
It brings to prose what is, to me, an intrinsically Doctor Whoish story. It focuses on the 'guest characters' and companions rather than on our harsh yet ultimately softhearted Doctor. The reader gets a glimpse into what it's like to travelling with a Time Lord, what it does to you when a group of odd looking strangers stumbles into your life only to dissapear after a few years.
Though simple in its prose, 'The Eaters of Light' have proven highly effective on me.
August 11, 2022
I thought I might have to award this a 3 star rating: it is primarily a solid if rather stripped down version of the TV narrative (almost late 70s Terrance Dicks-style), and I was hoping for so much more. That said, I wasn't expecting the much more to be the provided back story of the Roman legionnaire Lucius and his triumphant & tragic love story with his commanding office Sextus. It's knock-it-out-of-the-park wonderful, and elevates this novel to its 4 star rating.
November 15, 2022
Oh yes!!! One of my top episodes of that season and a great novelisation
July 19, 2022
Bill Potts takes the Doctor back to northern Britain to see if she can work out what happened to the famed Ninth Legion, which mysteriously disappeared after marching north to face the Picts, never to be seen again. When she finds the remnants of the Legion, they are hiding from an interdimensional being that can only be faced in the daylight.
Munro's novelisation of her episode improves somewhat on the screen version, adding a sense of threat which was at times lacking when presented to viewers.
Munro's novelisation of her episode improves somewhat on the screen version, adding a sense of threat which was at times lacking when presented to viewers.
January 30, 2025
For some reason I have no recollection of this episode, but it was a great story!
August 11, 2022
One of the absolute best of the recent novelisations.
September 5, 2023
Rona Munro takes the opportunity to expand upon her television script, building upon the plot and fleshing out supporting players. Her own characters gain most from her efforts, while the Doctor, Bill Potts and Nardole remain somewhat two dimensional in comparison.
The story is inspired by stone carvings found in northern England and Scotland that depict the mysterious Pictish Beast. It remains paper thin however; extradimensional invaders threaten the very existence of the Universe and only the Doctor and friends, aided by a group of Pict children and a few inexperienced Roman legionnaires, stand against them.
The plot weaknesses stem from the fact that this has all happened before - the Picts have been fighting back the alien hoardes for generations and have effective tools to do so - but the arrival of the Romans throws the situation off balance. So why has no one tried to do things better in the hundreds of years in between?
It's a pretty run of the mill effort for an era of Doctor Who that revels in big scene showpieces, without significant substance, that barely standup to even a cursory examination - the signature of the showrunner at the time. A shame as Munro is a talented writer who can produce so much better when actively supported by the production team.
The story is inspired by stone carvings found in northern England and Scotland that depict the mysterious Pictish Beast. It remains paper thin however; extradimensional invaders threaten the very existence of the Universe and only the Doctor and friends, aided by a group of Pict children and a few inexperienced Roman legionnaires, stand against them.
The plot weaknesses stem from the fact that this has all happened before - the Picts have been fighting back the alien hoardes for generations and have effective tools to do so - but the arrival of the Romans throws the situation off balance. So why has no one tried to do things better in the hundreds of years in between?
It's a pretty run of the mill effort for an era of Doctor Who that revels in big scene showpieces, without significant substance, that barely standup to even a cursory examination - the signature of the showrunner at the time. A shame as Munro is a talented writer who can produce so much better when actively supported by the production team.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2022
Rona Munro is class. Celebrated play-write, scholar of history, one of a bare handful of women to write for doctor who and also the only person to write for both the classic run and modern series of doctor who. This novelisation revisits one of the most atmospheric and mournful doctor who stories, starring one of the best teams to lead the show, Peter capaldi’s ‘Twelve’, Bill and Nardole - three wildly disparate characters with distinct voices captured convincingly in the prose. The story is tight and fun with a couple of memorable side characters. Rona Munro also provides us with a lovely postscript which demonstrates how personal the experience of writing and story were to her.
April 1, 2023
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/doctor-who-the-eaters-of-light-by-rona-munro/
Rona Munro is the only person to have written stories for both Old Who and New Who, having scripted the very last Seventh Doctor story before the cancellation, and then this story for the last Peter Capaldi season. I also saw one of her other plays at the Web Theatre in Newtownards in 2013, a single-actor piece with the only member of the cast playing three parts. I can’t remember the name of the piece, but research suggests it may have been “Women Behaving Madly”.
The Eaters of Light is a rare Doctor Who story set in Scotland (though filmed of course ni Wales) – especially considering that Capaldi and Moffatt are both Scottish, it’s a little surprising that they did not go there more often. It’s less surprising that they got a Scottish writer of the calibre of Munro to take them there. I rewatched the story before reading the new novelisation, and as I had expected, I enjoyed it a lot. (Here’s the BBC page if you want to refresh yourself quickly.)
The Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole arrive in Scotland and decide to investigate the disappearance of the Ninth Legion. They travel back to the first century AD and get involved in the local conflict between Picts and Romans, but manage to persuade both to unite in the face of a Cthulhoid alien enemy attempting to breach the boundaries of the universe. It’s a very simple plot, but it’s very nicely done, with some nice reveals when, for instance, Bill becomes aware of the TARDIS translation circuits, or the two factions realise just how young each other are. At the end of the episode there’s a coda with Missy being released from imprisonment by the Doctor. Season Thirteen is my favourite of the Capaldi seasons and this story is one of the reasons why.
The novelisation of the story, also by Rona Munro, was one of the few Doctor Who books released in 2022. The book, as with the best Who novelisations, brings more joyous detail to the plot and fills out the author’s intentions. (174 pages for 45 minutes is pretty generous by the historical standards of novelisations – compare the 143 pages that Terrance Dicks got for ten 25-minute episodes of The War Games.) It turns very much into a story of Picts and Romans, with the Doctor and friends intervening in a local story. This makes the ending, where they reject the Doctor’s help and take responsibility for guarding the Gate themselves, all the stronger. Some of the nicer one-liners are lost, but this is a differently shaped story and in some ways it is stronger for it. The scene with Missy at the end is omitted. Strongly recommended.
Rona Munro is the only person to have written stories for both Old Who and New Who, having scripted the very last Seventh Doctor story before the cancellation, and then this story for the last Peter Capaldi season. I also saw one of her other plays at the Web Theatre in Newtownards in 2013, a single-actor piece with the only member of the cast playing three parts. I can’t remember the name of the piece, but research suggests it may have been “Women Behaving Madly”.
The Eaters of Light is a rare Doctor Who story set in Scotland (though filmed of course ni Wales) – especially considering that Capaldi and Moffatt are both Scottish, it’s a little surprising that they did not go there more often. It’s less surprising that they got a Scottish writer of the calibre of Munro to take them there. I rewatched the story before reading the new novelisation, and as I had expected, I enjoyed it a lot. (Here’s the BBC page if you want to refresh yourself quickly.)
The Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole arrive in Scotland and decide to investigate the disappearance of the Ninth Legion. They travel back to the first century AD and get involved in the local conflict between Picts and Romans, but manage to persuade both to unite in the face of a Cthulhoid alien enemy attempting to breach the boundaries of the universe. It’s a very simple plot, but it’s very nicely done, with some nice reveals when, for instance, Bill becomes aware of the TARDIS translation circuits, or the two factions realise just how young each other are. At the end of the episode there’s a coda with Missy being released from imprisonment by the Doctor. Season Thirteen is my favourite of the Capaldi seasons and this story is one of the reasons why.
The novelisation of the story, also by Rona Munro, was one of the few Doctor Who books released in 2022. The book, as with the best Who novelisations, brings more joyous detail to the plot and fills out the author’s intentions. (174 pages for 45 minutes is pretty generous by the historical standards of novelisations – compare the 143 pages that Terrance Dicks got for ten 25-minute episodes of The War Games.) It turns very much into a story of Picts and Romans, with the Doctor and friends intervening in a local story. This makes the ending, where they reject the Doctor’s help and take responsibility for guarding the Gate themselves, all the stronger. Some of the nicer one-liners are lost, but this is a differently shaped story and in some ways it is stronger for it. The scene with Missy at the end is omitted. Strongly recommended.
November 20, 2023
A novelisation of a Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) story, originally scripted by Munro, and featuring the companions Bill and Nardole.
Seeking to resolve the mystery of the disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion, the TARDIS arrives in 2nd Century Scotland. There the Doctor, Bill and Nardole discover that, amid the war between the Romans and the Picts, a creature has a emerged that threatens to devour all light in the universe.
The TV version of this story always felt a bit half-baked and low-budget, plot-holes aplenty; a cheap filler episode to pad out Series 10. That said, it had a few nice moments of humour that gave it a certain charm at times. Strangely, this novelisation is something of an inversion of all that.
Here Munro gives us a much more detailed and well thought-out story, delving deeply into the cultures of both the Romans and the Picts (even if her afterword acknowledges that we actually know very little about the Picts). We get full backstories for the Pictish girl Kar and the young Roman Legionary Lucius, giving some much-appreciated depth to two characters who were pretty shallow and unengaging in the screen version of the story. The Eater of Light is also given more weight here, feeling like a genuine horror in a way that the silly CGI version from the TV episode wasn't.
Unfortunately, the flip-side of this is that all of the humour and charm of the episode has been removed here. It means that we don't get anything to break the grim tone of the story and none of the camaraderie of the TARDIS travellers is in evidence. The Twelfth Doctor often has a serious air to him, but the humourless versions of Bill and Nardole presented here just really didn't feel true to those characters (I particularly missed Nardole's sardonic remark about the body drained of all light as being the victim of "Death by Scotland").
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Seeking to resolve the mystery of the disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion, the TARDIS arrives in 2nd Century Scotland. There the Doctor, Bill and Nardole discover that, amid the war between the Romans and the Picts, a creature has a emerged that threatens to devour all light in the universe.
The TV version of this story always felt a bit half-baked and low-budget, plot-holes aplenty; a cheap filler episode to pad out Series 10. That said, it had a few nice moments of humour that gave it a certain charm at times. Strangely, this novelisation is something of an inversion of all that.
Here Munro gives us a much more detailed and well thought-out story, delving deeply into the cultures of both the Romans and the Picts (even if her afterword acknowledges that we actually know very little about the Picts). We get full backstories for the Pictish girl Kar and the young Roman Legionary Lucius, giving some much-appreciated depth to two characters who were pretty shallow and unengaging in the screen version of the story. The Eater of Light is also given more weight here, feeling like a genuine horror in a way that the silly CGI version from the TV episode wasn't.
Unfortunately, the flip-side of this is that all of the humour and charm of the episode has been removed here. It means that we don't get anything to break the grim tone of the story and none of the camaraderie of the TARDIS travellers is in evidence. The Twelfth Doctor often has a serious air to him, but the humourless versions of Bill and Nardole presented here just really didn't feel true to those characters (I particularly missed Nardole's sardonic remark about the body drained of all light as being the victim of "Death by Scotland").
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
October 14, 2022
I’ve never been the biggest fan of the episode Eaters of Light, to me it has always been the black sheep of series 10, but I could never quite pin point why. I was very excited when this book was announced because I was hoping Rona Munro could change my mind on her episode, or at the very least help me figure out why it doesn’t quite click for me.
Book 1 of this novel was a pretty standard fair, the prose was pretty, the characterisation of Bill and The Doctor pretty spot on, but it seemed like a pretty one to one adaptation of the episode. I felt the story seemed to work better as prose, but I still wasn’t blown away. Then I read book 2.
Dedicating a third of the book to all new backstories for Lucius and Kar, delving into their pains and traumas and how wildly Different the poverties and riches of their lives has been was amazing. Suddenly I really cared about these two characters and when Book 3 rolled around with its dramatic final fight against the monster and both young soldiers heroic sacrifices to save their whole universes; well I was simply enthralled.
Giving the story more time to look at the character of this story elevated the entire journey from and alright one to one bordering on fantastic. I can’t wait to rewatch the episode again soon with new context for Kar and the soldiers of the Ninth, I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy the episode a lot more too.
Book 1 of this novel was a pretty standard fair, the prose was pretty, the characterisation of Bill and The Doctor pretty spot on, but it seemed like a pretty one to one adaptation of the episode. I felt the story seemed to work better as prose, but I still wasn’t blown away. Then I read book 2.
Dedicating a third of the book to all new backstories for Lucius and Kar, delving into their pains and traumas and how wildly Different the poverties and riches of their lives has been was amazing. Suddenly I really cared about these two characters and when Book 3 rolled around with its dramatic final fight against the monster and both young soldiers heroic sacrifices to save their whole universes; well I was simply enthralled.
Giving the story more time to look at the character of this story elevated the entire journey from and alright one to one bordering on fantastic. I can’t wait to rewatch the episode again soon with new context for Kar and the soldiers of the Ninth, I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy the episode a lot more too.
August 23, 2025
I love rona Munro, but this story was really awful on TV. The reason it was such a bad episode on TV is why it actually works so well as a book. The story is very focused on its characters pov of this time period and the eaters of light behind a gate that comes and gets them. But, because the tv story didn't have long to tell that story, we get very very rushed development of both sides, Kar and her children friends and lucius and the roman army of the ninth legion. Here we get many chapters really exploring their worlds and stories. Kar is a very good character that you really feel for as she so much responsibility at a young age and now older has to stay and protect her group. We see how he she feels guilt of letting the monsters kill the Romans to save her clan, which makes her decision to close the gate feel earnt. The Romans are decent enough characters but there very weak compared to kars development. Why makes no sense why she isn't on the cover. So overall this story still isn't perfect but it's a really enjoyable who story that really works as a book compared to the show.
July 30, 2022
My memories of the episode only go as far as "Something about young Romans? In a cave??" and that I found it underwhelming for reasons that I cannot remember for the life of me. Reading the Target of the story I think I know why this is, though. It is somewhat slight and it's missing something of an extra punch to make it truly memorable. In addition to that, knowing that it was written by Rona Munro you wish it would have been more... "special". What you get instead is a "meat and potatoes" Doctor Who.
But well, that's alright enough. If anything, "Eaters of Light" works better in book form because the side characters and events are more fleshed out, and it is an entertaining and very readable yarn. It might not be one of the greats, but that doesn't really matter. It's super okay.
But well, that's alright enough. If anything, "Eaters of Light" works better in book form because the side characters and events are more fleshed out, and it is an entertaining and very readable yarn. It might not be one of the greats, but that doesn't really matter. It's super okay.
December 31, 2022
"The story has lasted. The story has survived and travelled as far as crows could fly. Generations afterwards, people knew that the hilltops might be hollow, that inside green mounds and ruined cairns you might find a whole other world, a dark gateway to another realm."
This is an example of the very best kind of Target novelisations that I have loved since early childhood: one that both captures the performances and essence of the original televised story whilst also expanding upon its characters and themes. Rona Munro's episode was a standout of Series Ten, and this novel sings with her lyrical prose. The epilogue and author's note in particular draw out the folk horror themes inherent to The Eaters of Light that particularly appealed to me. A great, brisk read that I heartily recommend alongside the episode itself.
This is an example of the very best kind of Target novelisations that I have loved since early childhood: one that both captures the performances and essence of the original televised story whilst also expanding upon its characters and themes. Rona Munro's episode was a standout of Series Ten, and this novel sings with her lyrical prose. The epilogue and author's note in particular draw out the folk horror themes inherent to The Eaters of Light that particularly appealed to me. A great, brisk read that I heartily recommend alongside the episode itself.
May 13, 2023
Hmmm....yeah it was okay.I really enjoyed Peter Capaldi's portrayal on television so it's a shame that he's hardly in this novel.Bill the companion is okay but Nardole is just a waste of time and space,I really can't understand what they were thinking when they put him in the programme.Anyway,the actual book was an enjoyable enough read.The sections about the Picts and the Ninth Legion were interesting but the actual ' monster/alien was a little weak.I do think these novels struggle to depict the show when today the episodes,more often than not ,are just one fifty minute.episode.It all just seems a bit of a rush then it's all over and it's back to the TARDIS.So....a fairly enjoyable read but a bit of a weak plot and certainly not one of the best of the recent releases.....
November 18, 2023
Although Munro’s previous Doctor Who story is a classic (Survival, the last story of the original run and the reason why she is so far the only writer to straddle both runs of the show), Eaters of Light always felt a little like one of those slightly rushed stories that needed a bit more space to really stand out. And the book doesn’t really do much to do that, plus it singularly fails to conjure Capaldi’s ability to shift from grumpy to joyous/ fearful to caring which makes him by far my favourite Doctor. It mostly makes him an arsehole in print and clearly shows what a great job he did to lift the part on television. It’s fine but only really conjures up those original Targets which kind of just filled a gap in your shelves rather than felt great in their own right
November 26, 2023
Still far from the strongest Doctor Who story, but the Target novelisation affords Rona Munro some added depth for the Ninth Legion characters. We get more of Kar's backstory, and the Picts and Legion's attempts to guard the portal, which means their decision to step through the portal to keep the titular monster at bay.
Bill comes across as weirdly confrontational in the way she's described in the text, particularly at the beginning, when challenging the Doctor's views on what happened to the missing Ninth Legion. Overall, however, this story works better in prose than it did as a TV episode.
Bill comes across as weirdly confrontational in the way she's described in the text, particularly at the beginning, when challenging the Doctor's views on what happened to the missing Ninth Legion. Overall, however, this story works better in prose than it did as a TV episode.
December 25, 2022
Target style novels were originally made for children and for an audience which couldn't rewatch the original televised episodes. What is the selling point for an adaptation of an episode you could probably watch on a streaming service? The chance to improve the quality of the storytelling.
Rona Munroe takes the opportunity to expand the character backgrounds through flashbacks and adds some scenes which improve the flow of the story.
The end product is exciting and entertaining to read. Something Doctor Who fans can enjoy.
Rona Munroe takes the opportunity to expand the character backgrounds through flashbacks and adds some scenes which improve the flow of the story.
The end product is exciting and entertaining to read. Something Doctor Who fans can enjoy.
May 19, 2023
This book was based on the doctor who episode that was originally broadcast on the 17th of June 2017 featuring the 12th doctor played by Peter Capaldi. This was another fun story that I read in one sitting and like the others in the target collection I could picture the story playing out in my head as I read. As well as the saving the world stuff going on in this story I really liked that we also got the back story of Lucius and Saxtus. I am looking forward to picking some more of these books up in the future and I will definitely be rereading the ones I have already read.
March 29, 2024
So, this was a lovely novel.
If you didn’t already like the story then the novel isn’t gonna do much to change that for reasons which should be obvious.
I really like how we learn more about the side characters, it gives a bit more depth to them.
Rona Munro should totally be brought back to write for the show in the future, I feel like she gets the Doctor really well.
I don’t really have much to say here, wonderful novel which expends on everything I loved from the original episode.
If you didn’t already like the story then the novel isn’t gonna do much to change that for reasons which should be obvious.
I really like how we learn more about the side characters, it gives a bit more depth to them.
Rona Munro should totally be brought back to write for the show in the future, I feel like she gets the Doctor really well.
I don’t really have much to say here, wonderful novel which expends on everything I loved from the original episode.
January 24, 2025
Not one of my favourite Capaldi stories, mainly because it ventures a little too into the fantastical for my tastes. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to reading the novelisation because I like the cut of Rona Munro’s jib. However, I still had the same problems with it. To be honest, if this were a purely historical tale, I’d have liked it a lot more. The chapter depicting Lucius as a child and his sudden desire to join the Roman Legion is what engaged me the most. Otherwise, I’m not overly fussed about otherworldly ‘dragons’ and talking crows.
December 3, 2022
Searching for the reason that the entire 9th Legion disappeared in Scotland, the Doctor, Bill and Nardole arrive in 2nd century Scotland. They find the legion has been wiped out, almost to the last man - and the survivors are facing something much worse than Pictish warriors... A nice, literate expansion on the TV episode that is always lively and interesting.
April 10, 2023
I went into this book knowing I wasn’t a massive fan of the story it was adapting into prose so I can’t say I’m surprised that the story didn’t really grip me.
I can say it was written in a good way and I actually understood what was happened in the plot this time but it also felt a little too blotted at times.
I can say it was written in a good way and I actually understood what was happened in the plot this time but it also felt a little too blotted at times.
May 8, 2023
I once saw a play that Rona wrote that ended up with the entire audience being evacuated from the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen as the dry ice set off the fire alarm.
Thats as interesting an anecdote as this is a book.
Thats as interesting an anecdote as this is a book.
July 6, 2023
The Doctor Who version of what happened to the lost Ninth Legion, reminding me that one day I really want to re-read some Rosemary Sutcliffe. This was okay. The Doctor and his companions don't really get much to do as the Picts and the legionaries take over the narrative. There's a nice additional backstory to the legionaries, which has two of them being a couple. But there's not much else here.
April 26, 2025
This book is a really nice companion to the TV story. Since it is by the same author, it remains quite true to the episode while also adding interesting details that were not on TV. The last season of the 12th Doctor was strong and this is a highlight of the season.
September 21, 2022
Rating: 4.5 stars
February 19, 2023
Wonderful novelization. Loved the authors note at the end
July 26, 2023
its split into three books and book two should have been condensed into a few pages at most...
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