The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Time Traveller

I have watched very few episodes of the Third Doctor so I can’t tell if this is on or not with his character. The short story has him near the point of regeneration due to radiation poisoning. He arrives in a small village where every day is April 8th and there is a daily parade of everyone in the village. He is found by the Queen and she “heals” him with the only medicine in the village. The Doctor of course twigs that nothing is as it seems here and quickly solves the mystery. In fact, it seemed the story was wrapped up almost too quickly and it is rather wistful.

Digital copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley

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This was a great read and a great addition to Doctor Who lore. I am coming to realize how much I love a good short story. The pacing was perfect. I felt there was plenty of detail, to give me a real sense of the town. The tone of the story fit with the tone of Doctor Who. I felt like I was really reading about the Doctor, and not someone's "fan Fiction." I could imagine this story being part of the television series and fitting in perfectly. I highly recommend this story to Doctor Who fans, or to anyone wondering what Doctor Who is about.

I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley. ( )

Beautifully sad. ( )

Sigue leyendo para encontrar la reseña en español.


The story was very good and it didn’t feel short, even though it has less than 100 pages. This is something that sometimes fails a bit, because the plot gets too complicated for the length of the book. However, this wasn’t the case with The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Time Traveller. The plot is mysterious enough to draw readers in, but not overly complicated and long, so that it isn’t rushed towards the end.

While I have watched some episodes of the 3rd Doctor, I haven't watched too many yet, but he seems in character enough. The story takes place shortly before Jon Pertwee’s Doctor regenerates. I haven’t seen the episodes when this happens, but this is not necessary to understand the story. The only information you need is that he’s going to regenerate soon, which is said in the story. In fact, as long as you know who the Doctor is, you can enjoy this story, even if you haven’t watched anything of the 3rd Doctor.

The plot was a bit strange at first, because we don’t know how the TARDIS got there or even why and the place where he finds himself is mysterious in an odd way. However, the mystery starts to clear up in small steps, so that the Doctor’s key thought is not very sudden and you can follow his investigation.

The ending was very beautiful, with the parallelisms between the Doctor and another character, although it was very sad at the same time. It worked really well and doesn’t leave the story open in any way.

In general, a great short story for any fan of the show.

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La historia estuvo muy bien y no se hace corta, aunque tiene menos de cien páginas. Esto es algo que a veces falla un poco, porque el argumento acaba siendo demasiado complicado para la longitud del libro. Sin embargo, no fue el caso de The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Time Traveller. El argumento es lo suficientemente misterioso para atraer al lector, pero no excesivamente complicado y largo, de modo que no es demasiado acelerado al final.

Aunque he visto algunos episodios del Tercer Doctor, no he visto demasiados todavía, pero parece bien caracterizado. La historia tiene lugar poco antes de que se regenere el Doctor de Jon Pertwee. No he visto el episodio en el que ocurre esto, pero no es necesario para entender la historia. La única información que se necesita saber es que se va a regenerar pronto, lo que se menciona en la historia. De hecho, siempre y cuando uno sepa quién es el Doctor, se puede disfrutar de la historia, aunque ni siquiera se haya visto nada del Tercer Doctor.

El argumento fue un poco raro al principio, porque no se sabe cómo llegó la TARDIS a ese lugar y ni siguiera por qué y el lugar donde se encuentra el Doctor es misterioso de un modo extraño. Sin embargo, el misterio se empieza a resolver poco a poco, de modo que el pensamiento clave del Doctor no es muy súbito y se puede seguir su investigación.

El final fue precioso, con paralelismos entre el Doctor y otro personaje, aunque a la vez muy triste. Funcionó muy bien y no deja la historia abierta de ninguna manera.

En general, una buena historia corta para cualquier fan de la serie. ( )

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Last year I started reading some of the Doctor Who books and so far, I've to admit, it's been a very nice surprise. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Time Traveller was a nice, but short story featuring the Third Doctor (I've never seen anything for the original series, so I didn't know this particular Doctor).

When the Doctor is dying from radiation poisoning the TARDIS takes him somewhere strange. Seemingly a perfect British village, it's not long before the Doctor notices there's more to it.

I really enjoyed it. The writing was very nice and I liked the story as well. I can't comment on how well the Third Doctor was captured in this story, but at least it felt like reading Doctor Who. Before I'd only read Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris, which disappointed me at the time. However, after reading The Loneliness of the Long Distance Time Traveller (love that title), I might just pick up another one of her books!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Other Doctor Who novels I've read and reviewed:

* 12th Doctor:

Silhouette (Killer Origami), The Blood Cell (Prison) The Crawling Terror (Giant Insects)

* 11th Doctor:

Touched by an Angel (Weeping Angels)

* War Doctor:
The Engines of War ("Ex-ter-mi-nate!") ( )