Tales of Trenzalore

The idea of the Doctor allowing himself to be stranded in one place for centuries was absurd, so I was eager to see if this book redeemed it at all. Instead it offers up 4 cartoon depictions of enemies of the Doctor that new series viewers wouldn't be very familiar with. The enemies in the Ice Warrior and Auton stories could have been almost any other characters - the stories were that generic and weak. The Krynoid ending hurt. It was a Doctor ending, but the Doctor in question is Seuss. The Mara installment may have been the strongest - but it was a struggle not to be in full-on skim mode by the time I got to it.
Do we get to look at whether generations of humans appreciate one person endangering their lives non-stop? Not really. Do we get to know Handles? Nope. How about some insight into how it is that the town itself barely changes in so many hundreds of years? LOL, no.
Damnit Doctor Who handlers, why you wanna do me this way? I wish I didn't care. It's silly to be bothered by this. ( )

These were wonderful. For everyone who wondered what the Doctor was up to during his time on Trenzalore. ( )

If you're a Doctor Who fan, then you probably know that in the 2013 Christmas special, "The Time of the Doctor," the Doctor spent a long, long time on the planet Trenzalore. We only saw a tiny bit of his time there during the episode, which means that there's a lot of scope for filling in the blanks. This book provides four short stories, set at different points during the Doctor's extended stay, which attempt to do some of that. And... Well, to be honest, I wonder why they bothered.

OK, I did rather like the final story, Mark Morris's "The Dreaming," which at least featured an unusual choice of villain and some wonderfully Doctorish dialog. But even that felt underdeveloped, and the other stories were even slighter and less memorable. They're not bad, really. But they do seem kind of pointless. None of them does anything particularly new or interesting with its familiar bad guys -- indeed, the one with the Autons doesn't really do anything with them at all -- and while the characterization of the Doctor is mostly decent and fits well enough with what we saw on screen, there's absolutely nothing added to it, either. Which just seems like such a lost opportunity, as there is so much room for some insightful character exploration in this setup.

Rating: 2.5/5. I considered bumping it up a half star just for "The Dreaming," but, honestly, even that story doesn't make this collection anything but skippable. ( )

Four stories from the Doctor 's life when he was the defender of Trenzalore. While they're entertaining, the only thing I could think of reading this book was how unnecessary these short stories are. We will know nothing new or surprising about nor the Doctor neither the whole background situation. Just for fans. ( )

Doctor Who: Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand by Justin Richards, Mark Morris, George Mann, Paul Finch

This tale of the Eleventh incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. The planet Trenzalore is where the Doctor ultimately meets his death defending the town of Christmas. These four stories occur before he dies and recount how he met and defeated aliens sent to assassinate him. Each story stands on its own and frankly after a while seemed be repetitive. If you are a Whovian I will whole heartedly recommend this collection of short stories. If you are not a Dr Who fan I would steer you away from this collection. There are undoubtedly better books which will introduce you to the Doctor. ( )