Doctor Who: The Missy Chronicles

The idea of doing an anthology all about Missy/The Master is a really good one. The character is rarely seen outside of their interactions with the Doctor, but we know they've had an array of adventures all on their own. It seems like an anthology of stories starting The Master would've existed by now, but alas this is the first one. It works out well considering how prevalent Missy has been in the last few seasons of the show. She made a lot of appearances and there was a lot of room to give her some really fun adventures.

So, how does it play out? Well, it's definitely a bit of a mixed bag. Several of the stories are extremely good. The rest range from average to mediocre. None of them are truly bad, but the book never gets as good as its first two stories. It hits a high real quick then plummets with the third story and slowly climbs its way back to pretty good.

The first story, Dismemberment (by James Goss), is a lot of fun. It explores Missy's interactions with a gentlemen's club she frequents every time she regenerates and how she reacts to them kicking her out of the club now that she's become a woman. It's easily one of the most violent stories Missy/The Master has ever appeared in and it's an utter delight.

The next one, "Lords and Masters" by Cavan Scott, is my personal favorite. It involves the Time Lords recruiting Missy for a dangerous mission. There's some fun tidbits about what happened directly after the John Simm Master ended up on Gallifrey at the end of "The End of Time" and I always love when the Time Lords appear in a story, so this one was a lot of fun.

The third story, "Teddy Sparkles Must Die!" by Paul Magrs, is where the anthology started to lose me a bit. The story revolves around Missy posing as a governess for some children while she's in the possession of a magic, talking stuffed bear who can grant wishes, and the pandemonium that ensues. It's not that it's a bad story, exactly, it's just really really weird and not at the same level as the previous two. I'm sure plenty will like it, but it didn't work for me.

The next story, "The Liar, the Glitch, and the War Zone" by Peter Anghelides, is similarly weak. This story features Missy shortly after the end of "The Witch's Familiar" as she's recently escaped from the Daleks and gets herself into some trouble with the Gryphons, who end up making her crash land in Italy. The story from there involves her utilizing a rift in the time vortex to fix her TARDIS and leave. It's fine. Nothing to write home about. It took me a while to get through it just because it was a bit of a slog. It's better than the previous story, but only just.

"Girl Power", by Jacqueline Rayner, is really fun. It's a story set during Missy's imprisonment in the Vault as she reaches out to famous historical women in order to convince them to overthrow the patriarchy. It's told exclusively through emails/texts/chat messages, which is just a really fun way of doing the story. There's not a whole lot to the story, but Nardole and the Doctor appear in it which is fun. It's just fun.

The final story, "Alit in Underland" by Richard Dinnick, ends the anthology on a high note. It's a story that takes place during the events of "The Doctor Falls" (while the Doctor is unconscious after their crash arrival onto floor 507). Missy is joined by the John Simm Master and a local girl, Alit, as they go down a floor, to floor 508, in order for the Master to find a way back down to the bottom floor so he can reprogram the Cybermen again. This story features Missy at her most Doctor-ish and it's really interesting seeing her really trying to do the right thing while her earlier incarnation just wants to cause havac. Comparing this story to the first one in the anthology really helps you see how Missy evolved over her lifetime from someone who didn't care about anyone to someone who sorta did. It's really nice.

Overall, it's still a fun read. The majority of the stories are, at minimum, good, and the couple of less than good stories aren't all that bad. Plus the good stories are REALLY good and it's just a lot of fun seeing Missy on her own adventures, however short they may be. ( )

A collection of short Doctor Who stories focusing on Missy, aka the latest incarnation of the Master, the Doctor's old friend and long-term nemesis. Personally I adore Missy; I think she's enormous fun, and the best version of the Master since the original. So how could I resist?

To address each of the six stories included here individually:

"Dismemberment" by James Goss: Shortly after regenerating, Missy visits her favorite evil gentlemen's club, discovers she is no longer welcome as a member, and wreaks horrible vengeance on the people who kicked her out. There's some genuinely funny moments, and some darkly satiric sensibilities. And Missy gets some great lines. But the sheer levels of horror and gruesomeness to some of her actions actually made me feel a little uncomfortable by the end. I think this particular kind of villainous depravity might almost be a little over the top, even for Missy.

"Lords and Masters" by Cavan Scott: The Time Lords send Missy off on an assignment for them. They really ought to know better. I liked the concept of this one, and the way it offers up some rather dark little details about how things have been going on Gallifrey. I do wish the "companion" she was given for the job felt less two-dimensional, though. And it's genuinely a little unsettling to get a Doctor Who story like this where the Doctor doesn't get to show up to make things right in the end.

"Teddy Sparkles Must Die!" by Paul Magrs: A weird, weird little send-up of kids' adventure stories, featuring evil governess Missy and a magical talking teddy bear. I honestly can't quite decide whether this one is pleasantly ridiculous or just plain ridiculous.

"The Liar, the Glitch and the War Zone" by Peter Anghelides: An adventure in Venice featuring a damaged TARDIS, a temporal rift, and an army of angry space gryphons. But despite the fact that there's a lot going on here, I found it a bit dull. There's less good Missy dialog here than in the other stories, too. I did like her villainous plan to flood Venice, though.

"Girl Power!" by Jacqueline Rayner: An epistolary story, also featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Nardole, in which Missy hatches a plan that gives new meaning to the phrase "smash the patriarchy.". Now, this one was pleasantly ridiculous. Delightfully ridiculous, even. I was laughing out loud through pretty much the whole thing.

"Alit in Underland" by Richard Dinnick: This one is told from the POV of Alit, the little girl from the episodes "World Enough and Time"/The Doctor Falls," and is set during the period between those episodes when the Doctor is unconscious. I don't know that it's a bit from that story that really needed filling in, but it does give us the opportunity for a little more interaction between Missy and her previous incarnation, and I will never say no to that.

Rating: It's enough of a mixed bag that I'm going to call it 3.5/5, but the best stories are fun enough that I'd say it's worth checking out if you're a fan of the character. ( )

Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Beatrix Potter... There were so many references to famous stories to spice things up.
Quite a wild ride. The first short stories 'Dismemberment' 'Lords and Masters' 'Teddy Sparkles' and 'The Liar the Glitch and the War Zone' were all deliciously evil. I thoroughly enjoyed Missy's version of revenge and mayhem. And it was great to know how she came to choose her name. I loved the tone and style of writing - I could just see and hear her laugh and caper her way through all that death and destruction.
The last few stories though... hm... I was a bit disappointed. I need to re-watch the episodes with Missy and see how they fit in.
( )

What Made Me Read It They had me at Missy! The 12th Doctor is one of my favorite incarnations of the character and Missy in particular was a delightful villain throughout the whole 10th season of Doctor Who.

The Good "Doctor Who: The Missy Chronicles" is a collection of 6 short stories told from the perspective of the Doctor's frenemy Time Lord Missy, the Master's last incarnation in the 10th season of the tv show. Set in chronological order from Missy's first moments after regenerating up to the final events aboard the Mondas Colony Ship in the tv show season finale, the collection explores Missy's evolution from ruthless heartless villain to someone who actually cares... even if in her own peculiar distorted way. As with any anthology, some stories are really good while others aren't as captivating, though which is which will depend on the reader's personal taste. Sill, each story is well written and vividly imaginative with each contributing author nailing Missy's characterization on point, I could easily picture Michelle Gomez's brilliant performance in all the stories. Keeping that voice consistent throughout the anthology, we get a strong sense of all the wicked mayhem, mischief and villainy the character is capable of. Missy comes across as delightfully psychotic, conniving, double-crossing and emotionally manipulative but with random acts of caring, concern and the most annoying desire to be good. And as a bonus, some of the stories include the appearance of the 12th Doctor, Nardole and a brief cameo by the 13th Doctor.

Read the full review on: https://literaryportals.blogspot.com/2018/11/book-review-doctor-who-missy-chroni....

Final Rating "Doctor Who: Missy Chronicles" is an anthology of light, humorous and quick read adventures of the Doctor's frenemy Time Lord Missy. Recommended for those who enjoy the tv show Doctor Who, particularly the Master's latest incarnation from the 10th season of the series. ( )

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3007892.html

Six stories here, and reading through other people's reviews I am struck by how different everyone's take is. However, most people single out "Girl Power!" by Jacqueline Rayner as a favourite, and I agree - it's set during Missy's years of imprisonment in the Vault, in the style of internet chat between her and famous women of history as she tries to develop a cunning plan for escape and domination but ends up getting changed herself.

The opening story, "Dismemberment" by James Goss, was a (very) rare miss for me from this writer; I simply found it too violent. However I go against fannish consensus in rather enjoying "The Liar, the Glitch and the War Zone" by Peter Anghelides, which features the first appearance of the Thirteenth Doctor in written fiction. I am more with the mainstream in having enjoyed Richard Dinnick's "Alit in Underland", set between the TV episodes "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls", and exploring what Missy and the John Simm Master got up to on the Mondasian colony ship. Well worth getting. ( )