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Past Doctor Adventures #39
Doctor Who: Bunker Soldiers
A fireball crash lands in the forests of the Ukraine and when the locals investigate, they find what appears to be a metal coffin at the center of the devastation. They superstitiously conclude that the casket contains the body of an angel sent to Earth to give hope to the people.Centuries later the Doctor and his companions find themselves trapped in Kiev, 1240 -- a city under attack by the Mongols. They are enforced guests of the governor, Dmitri, whose assistant Yehven believes that if the coffin is desecrated, then "all who threaten us will be destroyed".
When the coffin is opened by a group of men, a terrifying, skull-faced creature is freed, and kills a member of the group before fleeing. A spate of violent deaths ensue -- but this creature certainly isn't killing indiscriminately. How is this creature choosing its victims? Where has it come from -- and most importantly, can the Doctor do anything to halt its murderous trail of destruction?
When the coffin is opened by a group of men, a terrifying, skull-faced creature is freed, and kills a member of the group before fleeing. A spate of violent deaths ensue -- but this creature certainly isn't killing indiscriminately. How is this creature choosing its victims? Where has it come from -- and most importantly, can the Doctor do anything to halt its murderous trail of destruction?
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 5, 2001
2 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
About the author
Martin Day
43 books12 followersMartin Day is a screenwriter and novelist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and many episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and Family Affairs.
Day's first published fiction was the novel The Menagerie in 1995, published by Virgin Publishing as part of their Doctor Who Missing Adventures series. Following the withdrawal of Virgin's licence to produce Doctor Who novels, Day moved to BBC Books, who published the novel The Devil Goblins from Neptune in 1997. The novel (co-written with Keith Topping) was the first of BBC Books' Past Doctor Adventures series, and was quickly followed by The Hollow Men in 1998 - again written with Topping. 1998 also saw the publication of Another Girl, Another Planet by Virgin Publishing. Co-written with Steve Bowkett (under the pseudonym Len Beech), this was one of the first books in Virgin's line of Bernice Summerfield novels.
Following these novels, Day returned to solo writing, and to the Past Doctor Adventures range in 2001 with the novel Bunker Soldiers. This was followed in 2004 by the novel The Sleep of Reason, one of the final Eighth Doctor Adventures to be published and perhaps his most popular novel. Between 2000 and 2001 Day wrote nine episodes for Five's Family Affairs, and in 2005 he started writing for BBC One's Doctors. In 2008 he was lead writer on Crisis Control, a new series for CBBC; Day storylined all thirteen episodes.
As well as writing fiction, Day has also written several unofficial guide books to television series such as The X Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Avengers. These were published by Virgin, and co-written with Keith Topping and (with the exception of Shut It!, a guide to The Sweeney and The Professionals) Paul Cornell. Cornell, Day and Topping also wrote the extremely popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, published by Virgin in 1995 as a light-hearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The first book written by Cornell, Day and Topping was Classic British TV, which was released by Guinness Publishing in 1993 and 1996.
In recent years Day has continued his work on Doctor Who, with the play No Man's Land for Big Finish Productions' audio adventures range, the bestselling novel Wooden Heart for the BBC's range of New Series Adventures, and comic strips for Doctor Who Adventures. The Jade Pyramid, an original Doctor Who audiobook for the eleventh Doctor,and a novelisation of an episode of Merlin,are both due for release in 2010.
Day's first published fiction was the novel The Menagerie in 1995, published by Virgin Publishing as part of their Doctor Who Missing Adventures series. Following the withdrawal of Virgin's licence to produce Doctor Who novels, Day moved to BBC Books, who published the novel The Devil Goblins from Neptune in 1997. The novel (co-written with Keith Topping) was the first of BBC Books' Past Doctor Adventures series, and was quickly followed by The Hollow Men in 1998 - again written with Topping. 1998 also saw the publication of Another Girl, Another Planet by Virgin Publishing. Co-written with Steve Bowkett (under the pseudonym Len Beech), this was one of the first books in Virgin's line of Bernice Summerfield novels.
Following these novels, Day returned to solo writing, and to the Past Doctor Adventures range in 2001 with the novel Bunker Soldiers. This was followed in 2004 by the novel The Sleep of Reason, one of the final Eighth Doctor Adventures to be published and perhaps his most popular novel. Between 2000 and 2001 Day wrote nine episodes for Five's Family Affairs, and in 2005 he started writing for BBC One's Doctors. In 2008 he was lead writer on Crisis Control, a new series for CBBC; Day storylined all thirteen episodes.
As well as writing fiction, Day has also written several unofficial guide books to television series such as The X Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Avengers. These were published by Virgin, and co-written with Keith Topping and (with the exception of Shut It!, a guide to The Sweeney and The Professionals) Paul Cornell. Cornell, Day and Topping also wrote the extremely popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, published by Virgin in 1995 as a light-hearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The first book written by Cornell, Day and Topping was Classic British TV, which was released by Guinness Publishing in 1993 and 1996.
In recent years Day has continued his work on Doctor Who, with the play No Man's Land for Big Finish Productions' audio adventures range, the bestselling novel Wooden Heart for the BBC's range of New Series Adventures, and comic strips for Doctor Who Adventures. The Jade Pyramid, an original Doctor Who audiobook for the eleventh Doctor,and a novelisation of an episode of Merlin,are both due for release in 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 21, 2023
"Bunker Soldiers" might have made a very good straight historical "Doctor Who." The setting of the sack of Kiev by the Mongols provides plenty of intrigue, action, and emotion all by itself. However, the setting is also a limitation. As with "The Massacre," in "Bunker Soldiers" the historical outcome is as inevitable as it is gruesome. There is no chance for our heroes to alter events or wrest some good from the situation. Kiev will be sacked and half or so of its population slaughtered. The situation presents the writer with limited opportunities. One is the fight against the inevitable. The Doctor and Steven seem to be doing this each in his own way. The Doctor's way, though, is a half-hearted attempt to change the minds of the Mongol generals, which he knows he can never do. Steven's way is just to keep hoping that in some way they make a difference. An alternative for the writer is to have our heroes trapped in a bad situation and spending most of their time trying to escape. This plot occupies more or less the first third of novel. All in all, the writer's possibilities are limited. So, Lucarotti handled the problem by bringing in a non sequitur, a complex plot involving the Doctor's having a double who is also a vicious church authority. Martin Day's non sequitur involves an alien cyborg weapon crash landed a century or so before the events, and known to only a few of the people of Kiev as their possible saving angel. The problem is that these inventions are non sequiturs. They are non-problems, needless complications that when resolved have no real bearing upon the main sequence of events. The sideshow takes more novelistic resources than the main show and thus drags down the whole theater. The ending leaves an intelligent reader wondering "what was that all about" and finding no answers.
June 6, 2018
The First Doctor predominantly featured pure historical’s, I was expecting something similar when the TARDIS team arriving in Kiev 1240.
But midway through and alien race turn up!
A brutal but good Past Doctor Adventure.
But midway through and alien race turn up!
A brutal but good Past Doctor Adventure.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/810487.html?#cutid2[return][return]In some ways a very First Doctor-ish story: the crew land in Kiev in the year 1240, with the city about to be attacked and sacked by the Mongol hordes, and its defenders internally divided about how best to respond. However there is an element from later Who as well: under the city lurks an alien killer, working to its own agenda. Lots to like in this book: the descriptions took me back to my visit to Kiev in late 2005, and there is much good characterisation - even the bad guys have comprehensible agendas, and everyone gets something to do (the Doctor, at one point, riding off to plea for peace with the Mongol horde). Also, while Salvation was in part about belief, Bunker Soldiers addresses religion - the defenders of Kiev are weakened by tension between bigoted Christians and loyal Jews. About half the story is told in the first person by Steven, a tactic used also by Juliet E. McKenna in her novels (at least, in her novels that I have read). I've been very critical of this approach in Doctor Who novels elsewhere, it nearly works here, but not quite for me. (Also NB that the liturgical language of Kiev was not Latin.)
March 23, 2011
An interesting first doctor story, set around the fall of Kiev to the Mongols in 1240 AD. A time and place of history that I wasn't too familiar with, but which did indeed make an interesting historical doctor who tale.
This is one of those stories where the early doctor is deliberately avoiding meddling in time or changing history to any great extent, trying to play time-tourist, with Dodo and Steven in tow as nearly 'generic' companions throughout the tale.
The threat out of time/space that becomes key to the doctor doing something does turn out to be rather unexplained and a bit too modern from that which a real story from the series would have been like in the 1960s, but the author does reasonably well on the historical parts.
This is one of those stories where the early doctor is deliberately avoiding meddling in time or changing history to any great extent, trying to play time-tourist, with Dodo and Steven in tow as nearly 'generic' companions throughout the tale.
The threat out of time/space that becomes key to the doctor doing something does turn out to be rather unexplained and a bit too modern from that which a real story from the series would have been like in the 1960s, but the author does reasonably well on the historical parts.
March 13, 2021
This is a pretty good First Doctor adventure told mostly by Steven. The setting is fun (save for the brutality of history) and the characters are fairly recognisable. Steven gets himself framed for a murder, The Doctor meets the Mongols and Dodo well, she makes some friends, she could have been given a better role. The Doctor does take a moment to recall some advice given to him by Dodo showing respect for the wisdom of her contrasting views. And who doesn't love finding out that aliens had their sneaky fingers in our history? Of course we do.
May 29, 2008
Starts out feeling like it will be a straight historical adventure and then out of nowhere the alien shows up. Felt very tacked on and I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book much more, as it was a bit of history I knew only a little about.
Good characterization of the Tardis crew, but the story didn't work for me.
Good characterization of the Tardis crew, but the story didn't work for me.
July 25, 2017
Brilliant stuff! Not usually a fan of the historical episodes but I'd almost rather the sci-fi element of this novel had been left out. Best characterisation of the First Doctor I've ever read and Day really nails the companions' voices too. Possibly better than many of the episodes they were in (poor old Dodo)
June 11, 2022
Bunker Soldiers is an interesting novel. It’s one of the few books to use the team of the First Doctor, Steven, and Dodo, with only Steve Lyons’ Salvation doing so and Dodo only appearing in two additional novels, The Man in the Velvet Mask and Who Killed Kennedy?. It is also a novel that straddles two ‘eras’ of the show, mainly the two subsections of the Hartnell era, reflecting much of the tone of the first two seasons under producer Verity Lambert while also reveling in a plot that fits in with the third season of transition away from history towards more alien stories. This book is essentially a base under siege, but the base is the city of Kyiv on the verge of the Mongol Siege of Kyiv in 1240. The siege lasted a week and ended with the people of Kyiv dead, with an estimated 2,000 survivors of the estimated 50,000 inhabitants meaning that the tone of Bunker Soldiers is appropriately dark. Martin Day has learned since his last solo novel, The Menagerie, and grown as a writer to steep the novel in this atmosphere of doom a la The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve with some of the humor of The Myth Makers there just to make it not be a complete dirge. The book also is steeping itself in the history, the Doctor at the very beginning of the novel establishes the idea that the city will be sieged and there is nothing he, Steven, and Dodo can do about it. They just have to get away, which is difficult when the TARDIS is captured following the outline of earlier historicals like Marco Polo and The Aztecs.
Indeed, this is much of the first third of the novel following the historical ‘let’s get back to the TARDIS narrative’ leading to a point where the Doctor exits for a while as if Hartnell had a vacation. Now this is not a pure historical story. There is an alien killer stalking the streets of Kyiv, several chapters from the point of view of this thing, killing in odd patterns, letting some go for mysterious reasons. It’s how the genuinely evocative cover of this book comes to be but a lot of it is a background threat as Day focuses on the character drama of Steven and Dodo attempting to stay alive while suspicion lays on them. They arrive via the TARDIS arriving in a home while a family is eating dinner. Dodo has the focus of making a friend and discussing young love adding some humanity to the proceedings while Steven is eventually thrown into a prison cell for the murders. Although he is exonerated for the crime, the time from his perspective (and much of the novel is in the first person from Steven’s perspective) creates this intimate feeling to the novel almost like a Companion Chronicle, to which Day would contribute two installments at the time of writing this review. There is a genuine fear that they will not be able to get away once the siege begins nor able to actually help anyone survive the siege. Interestingly, they almost are able to in the end of the novel when the alien’s history is revealed and what exactly it’s doing in this time period. The interference from Steven and Dodo really only ensure that history stays on the right track. Day draws on historical records, with some license as you would expect from Doctor Who, to make Bunker Soldiers work as a novel. The historical figures are close to what you would expect, with the interesting amoral perspective taken from the Doctor without shying away from the horrors of a city under siege and the destruction that was to follow.
Overall, Bunker Soldiers is a really nice little piece of Hartnell style Doctor Who, although this is a novel that suffers from some pacing problems and some of the flaws of certain Hartnell serials, especially those near the end of his run. While Dodo is nicely characterized, she isn’t actually unique in her characterization and could be switched with Vicki quite easily, although Steven is clearly Steven Taylor and the Doctor is clearly the Doctor. It’s an enjoyable ride of a novel, but does have some heavy problems. 7/10.
Indeed, this is much of the first third of the novel following the historical ‘let’s get back to the TARDIS narrative’ leading to a point where the Doctor exits for a while as if Hartnell had a vacation. Now this is not a pure historical story. There is an alien killer stalking the streets of Kyiv, several chapters from the point of view of this thing, killing in odd patterns, letting some go for mysterious reasons. It’s how the genuinely evocative cover of this book comes to be but a lot of it is a background threat as Day focuses on the character drama of Steven and Dodo attempting to stay alive while suspicion lays on them. They arrive via the TARDIS arriving in a home while a family is eating dinner. Dodo has the focus of making a friend and discussing young love adding some humanity to the proceedings while Steven is eventually thrown into a prison cell for the murders. Although he is exonerated for the crime, the time from his perspective (and much of the novel is in the first person from Steven’s perspective) creates this intimate feeling to the novel almost like a Companion Chronicle, to which Day would contribute two installments at the time of writing this review. There is a genuine fear that they will not be able to get away once the siege begins nor able to actually help anyone survive the siege. Interestingly, they almost are able to in the end of the novel when the alien’s history is revealed and what exactly it’s doing in this time period. The interference from Steven and Dodo really only ensure that history stays on the right track. Day draws on historical records, with some license as you would expect from Doctor Who, to make Bunker Soldiers work as a novel. The historical figures are close to what you would expect, with the interesting amoral perspective taken from the Doctor without shying away from the horrors of a city under siege and the destruction that was to follow.
Overall, Bunker Soldiers is a really nice little piece of Hartnell style Doctor Who, although this is a novel that suffers from some pacing problems and some of the flaws of certain Hartnell serials, especially those near the end of his run. While Dodo is nicely characterized, she isn’t actually unique in her characterization and could be switched with Vicki quite easily, although Steven is clearly Steven Taylor and the Doctor is clearly the Doctor. It’s an enjoyable ride of a novel, but does have some heavy problems. 7/10.
July 20, 2023
This is my 10th First doctor novel and it seems to me that they tend to fall under a very similar pattern. They either focus heavily on religion, or the doctor complaining about how they "can't change the past" there are a few that are a little different, but overall this seems to be what authors do with the first doctor. And this one, sadly is no exception.
This novel was, in all essence, a "lol you can't change the past" story. and i thought it was going to be something different as that is what the story seemed to be leading up to until about 2/3 of the way there. And then they figured "naw, it'll be fine." and threw in a lame normal ending.
The story is essentially 1, Dodo, and Steven go back to the mongol times and stop in on Kiev. The mongols are going to attack Kiev and dodo and steven want to stop it, but of course 1 is like "nah, can't do that sorry." When they get there they find a monster killing a bunch of people. (the monster is sadly only quasi-important"
I actually quite enjoyed it for the first 1/2 thinking that it was going to be different. then it wasn't. and it dropped a whole star because of it.
There's a LOT of talking in this one. like a lot of back and forth of the the people in charge of Kiev chatting with one another about what to do, the one guy doesn't want to listen to the doctor while the other does, but of course people don't REALLY listen to him and they screw themselves over, you know par for the course. Overall, this was just a very SAFE story. like it didn't do anything to wow the reader or anything out of the mundane and ordinary.
The only thing i can say is that the writing style is fine. This was my first Martin Day book and his style is very readable. My most recent First doctor book i read before this one was "Man in the Velvet Mask" and oh my god this is night and day with the style in this one. At least i understand what's going on in this. It's not too complicated and basically just tells a story which is nice.
One narrative choice i thought was weird was that overall it's in 3rd person, except for Steven's sections which jump to first person. No other parts of the book are in 1st, only with Steven. I thought this was an odd decision and never really learned WHY they did this, but it wasn't terrible, just left me a little confused on why Martin did it this way.
The book in itself is fine. It's not great, it's not terrible, it's fine. It's a normal, acceptable book that you're going to forget 2 days after you read it. It could have been great, as the writing style lends it to it, but Martin wanted to keep this book too safe, and it suffered for it.
The doc and Steven are separated for most of second half of the book, and it's of course, a lot of talking. Steven with the russians and Doc with the mongols. you'll be forgiven if you forget about Dodo though as the book itself does for long stretches of time as she just disappears for big chunks and then shows up and you're like "oh yeah she IS in this book, isn't she?"
No one is really out of character and i suppose everything makes sense, i just....didn't really care very much. it was a safe, dull experience, if inoffensive story i won't be revisiting any time soon.
Even 3 out of 5.
This novel was, in all essence, a "lol you can't change the past" story. and i thought it was going to be something different as that is what the story seemed to be leading up to until about 2/3 of the way there. And then they figured "naw, it'll be fine." and threw in a lame normal ending.
The story is essentially 1, Dodo, and Steven go back to the mongol times and stop in on Kiev. The mongols are going to attack Kiev and dodo and steven want to stop it, but of course 1 is like "nah, can't do that sorry." When they get there they find a monster killing a bunch of people. (the monster is sadly only quasi-important"
I actually quite enjoyed it for the first 1/2 thinking that it was going to be different. then it wasn't. and it dropped a whole star because of it.
There's a LOT of talking in this one. like a lot of back and forth of the the people in charge of Kiev chatting with one another about what to do, the one guy doesn't want to listen to the doctor while the other does, but of course people don't REALLY listen to him and they screw themselves over, you know par for the course. Overall, this was just a very SAFE story. like it didn't do anything to wow the reader or anything out of the mundane and ordinary.
The only thing i can say is that the writing style is fine. This was my first Martin Day book and his style is very readable. My most recent First doctor book i read before this one was "Man in the Velvet Mask" and oh my god this is night and day with the style in this one. At least i understand what's going on in this. It's not too complicated and basically just tells a story which is nice.
One narrative choice i thought was weird was that overall it's in 3rd person, except for Steven's sections which jump to first person. No other parts of the book are in 1st, only with Steven. I thought this was an odd decision and never really learned WHY they did this, but it wasn't terrible, just left me a little confused on why Martin did it this way.
The book in itself is fine. It's not great, it's not terrible, it's fine. It's a normal, acceptable book that you're going to forget 2 days after you read it. It could have been great, as the writing style lends it to it, but Martin wanted to keep this book too safe, and it suffered for it.
The doc and Steven are separated for most of second half of the book, and it's of course, a lot of talking. Steven with the russians and Doc with the mongols. you'll be forgiven if you forget about Dodo though as the book itself does for long stretches of time as she just disappears for big chunks and then shows up and you're like "oh yeah she IS in this book, isn't she?"
No one is really out of character and i suppose everything makes sense, i just....didn't really care very much. it was a safe, dull experience, if inoffensive story i won't be revisiting any time soon.
Even 3 out of 5.
January 30, 2025
Martin Day's Bunker Soldiers is almost a pure (1st) Doctor Who historical, and I kind of wish it HAD been that. There's an alien menace thrown in that causes more chaos than otherwise - and it thematically fits the story - but Medieval Kyiv, with a Mongol horde fast approaching its walls, is a rich and tense enough setting without what would later be a standard Who-ism. The threat isn't uninteresting, but still just basically a "monster", and it's the human cast that's most interesting. We have feuding sides in the city itself, but Mongols eventually get a voice as well, and there are no outright heroes or villains here, just people acting out of their particular system of values. Notably, Steven narrates some chapters, adding a lot to what, in continuity, would be an outgoing companion (this feels like it's just before The Savages), but it's odd that otherwise, the book is mostly third person omniscient. One wishes that Dodo, arguably the least developed companion in the canon, had been given the same treatment. She gets some things to do, but could be any of the First Doctor's girls. The Doctor himself is superbly written, a defiant negotiator for all sides, ever worried about the Web of Time. I seem to have a wishlist regarding Bunker Soldiers, but it's a more-than-solid entry in the Past Doctors Adventures line.
November 7, 2022
This book is excellent and far deeper and more complex than many of this series. Martin Day provides some fascinating religious themes combined with a grim but ultimately hopeful historical tale with some minor sci-fi elements giving the plot a slight push.
The characters are well realized, Steven is often in first person (which is not merely a stylistic choice but actually helps the narrative at points). Dodo is a bit side lined but is very solid and has more to do than she often did in the show. The Doctor likewise is well written and this story builds off of and challenges his character established in earlier episodes and adventures.
Martin Day likewise uses his mixed medium story telling again for this one (See The Menagerie) wherein parts of the story are told from alternate perspective and sources (ie archives, notes, writings etc) these are well placed in the book to help build the mystery and story.
Overall this is a very solid book that that I have little criticism for and deserves full stars.
The characters are well realized, Steven is often in first person (which is not merely a stylistic choice but actually helps the narrative at points). Dodo is a bit side lined but is very solid and has more to do than she often did in the show. The Doctor likewise is well written and this story builds off of and challenges his character established in earlier episodes and adventures.
Martin Day likewise uses his mixed medium story telling again for this one (See The Menagerie) wherein parts of the story are told from alternate perspective and sources (ie archives, notes, writings etc) these are well placed in the book to help build the mystery and story.
Overall this is a very solid book that that I have little criticism for and deserves full stars.
March 23, 2021
I found this to be a very enjoyable, albeit rather dark, novel. I loved the historical setting, and the inclusion of the historical characters in it, and was pleased that it didn't shy away from any of the violence/gore that you would expect from this time period. I also loved the characterisation of all three of the main cast, though Dodo did seem to be forgotten for a few chapters in the middle (I guess that is in keeping with her character though). The only thing which let's this story down is how underdeveloped the dark angel is. I genuinely find it to be a fascinating and creepy creature, however, it's back story is rather glossed over and it feels like its ending was a bit too convenient. Overall a brilliant story which I enjoyed far more than I was expecting. 9/10
September 7, 2025
A wonderful historical tale involving monsters, both terrestrial and extra.
This was an engaging story featuring the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo in the final few weeks of Kiev before the Mongols attacked in 1240. But something unnatural is going on, and somebody in the city knows more than they are letting on. Unable to access the Tardis, the Doctor and his companions are put to the test in order to keep history on its natural course and to make it out alive.
This was such a fun read. All of the characters had something unique to say. The cast was kept relatively small which made it easy to follow. The mystery was intriguing enough and filled with twists and turns
This was an engaging story featuring the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo in the final few weeks of Kiev before the Mongols attacked in 1240. But something unnatural is going on, and somebody in the city knows more than they are letting on. Unable to access the Tardis, the Doctor and his companions are put to the test in order to keep history on its natural course and to make it out alive.
This was such a fun read. All of the characters had something unique to say. The cast was kept relatively small which made it easy to follow. The mystery was intriguing enough and filled with twists and turns
December 10, 2017
Fairly well written historical novel set in 1240 Kiev involving the sacking of the city by Mongol hordes. The twist comes with a confused alien robot soldier that landed in it's escape pod centuries earlier and is activated during the story seemingly killing in a random manner. Not enough of the Doctor in it for me although characters were well written on the whole.
December 4, 2018
This and other Martin Day books reviewed here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com...
October 16, 2020
One of the good ones. An historical First Doctor romp that highlights the futility of war...
May 20, 2011
One of the best -- and epically violent -- Doctor Who historicals...and a peerless depiction of the 1966/3rd season team of the First Doctor, Steven & Dodo. Particularly wonderful are the major passages told in the first-person, from Steven's p.o.v...a much under-rated character. I believe William Hartnell would have LOVED to have sunk his acting teeth into a story such as this.
August 11, 2013
Very slow going in the beginning and at first I resisted it a bit since being a first Doctor story I thought it was going to be another historical. Thankfully though it picked up considerably by the second half. Just enough to push it into the like category for me.
Good read, not great. Probably one of the better stories for a first Doctor one, which are often harder to pull off.
Good read, not great. Probably one of the better stories for a first Doctor one, which are often harder to pull off.
August 29, 2016
The Doctor, Steven and Dodo land in Kiev just before the Mongols invade. The council is suspicious so ban them from the TARDIS. And someone has released a Dark Angel that is killing people. If this were a pure historical it would have been really, really good. The adding of the alien menace just made it a normal adventure. Steven and the Doctor are really well portrayed. A good read.
March 9, 2009
I didn't know what to expect reading about the first Doctor as I don't know that much about him. It was a very exciting story, plenty of twists and turns to make you want to find out what was happening next.
December 17, 2016
Wow!! What a story! I already love the Mongols and the history surrounding their empire and conquests so the setting for me was just perfect! The story itself kept me guessing the whole way through and I did not expect the ending at all. All in all terrific.
August 20, 2016
Quite depressing but a good read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews