Doctor Who: The Legends of Ashildr

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2612517.html

I had high hopes for this collection of novellas, since James Goss and Justin Richards, on form, are the best regular Who writers for print, and Jenny Colgan (here adopting a Banksian middle initial as Jenny T. Colgan) is one of the most visible of the big name writers who have been brought in of late - a generally successful initiative.

And I wasn't disappointed. Goss in particular inserts Ashildr into the Thousand and One Nights,in a story that both respects the original tradition of nested and linked narratives, but also throws in some gender subversion. Colgan's story of the Black Death is surprisingly bleak. Llewellyn mashes up Columbus and the Hunger Games. Richards wraps it all up at the end. It's a good collection, perhaps aimed at a more mature readership than is immediately apparent. Let's hope for more. ( )

It’s pleasing to see the imaginative approach to Doctor Who books continuing; concentrating on characters such as Ashildr or River expands the possibilities of the stories you can tell in the Doctor Who universe – different moral choices and approaches can be deployed. This collection largely settles for simply showing us the Ashildr we got on screen without greatly developing her; James Goss, creative as ever in his narrative choice, entertainingly places Ashildr into the world of the 1001 Nights; David Llewellyn puts her into a story which appears to be one thing but switches sharply and entertainingly into quite another in a way very typical of modern Who and Justin Richards uses her in a ghost story. These all paint her as a growingly resourceful character; often a pseudo-Doctor and where Goss and Llewellyn manage entertaining stories Richards’s is a nice idea which falls down somewhat when needing to convey the requisite terror and where a rationale is needed.

By far the most successful of the stories is Jenny Colgan’s The Triple Knife which uses the framework to deal with the terrors of motherhood and the worst consequences of having children. It’s a bleak tale with some lovely imagery which fits perfectly in developing the character from the Ashildr of The Girl Who Died to the Me of The Woman Who Lived; it adds extra resonance to Cath Tregenna’s Highlander-done-right story. A highlight of a generally entertaining volume. ( )

Decent set of YA stories, spin-off of Doctor Who. Very interesting premise, and some nice little stories, but don't expect anything too complicated. My fave is Jenny T. Colgan's story, set during the era of the Black Death. ( )

Four novellas that follow Season 9 Dr Who character Ashildr's adventures in between the first and second episodes in which she appears. Three aren't very good. The fourth, "The Triple Knife" by Jenny T, Colgan, is excellent - but also very sad, because it narrates a traumatic time in Ashildr's life that viewers of "The Woman Who Lived" will know about. The collection is well worth reading for that novella, but it's a pity the other three fall so far short of that standard. ( )