Doctor Who (Broadway Books Series)

Doctor Who:

Shroud of Sorrow – Tommy Donbavand

Dalek Generation – Nicholas Briggs

Plague of the Cybermen – Justin Richards

$9.99, Softcover

Broadway Books, 2013

978-0385346788; 978-0385346740; 978-0385346764

Genre: Science Fiction

Age: 10+

Description: Three new adventures featuring the 11^th Doctor, Matt Smith, from Broadway Books. In The Shroud of Sorrow it is the day after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and everyone begins to see the faces of their dead loved one. Police Constable Reg Cranfield sees his father in the mist, reporter Mae Callon sees her grandmother in a coffee stain, and FBI agent Warren Skeet sees his dead partner looking back at him from the rain streaked window of the Texas School Book Depository. At first they all think they are just seeing things—that the grief of losing a beloved president has made them turn inward to their own grief—until the faces begin to talk and scream and move into our own world. Can the Doctor save humanity from the alien force known as the Shroud—a being that feeds on the grief of others? In The Dalek Generation the Doctor travels to Sunlight 349—a world where Daleks are a force of good? Can the Doctor convince the inhabitants the Daleks never have any other mission than to “exterminate”? In Plague of the Cybermen the Doctor  arrives in a world where a horrifying plague is killing the people. Can the Doctor figure out how the Cybermen and the supposedly undefeatable Plague Warriors are connected?

Opinion: As a Doctor Who fan who hasn’t gotten past watching the fourth Doctor (I know, scandalous, right? But, sorry, my heart belongs to the Third Doctor), I have to say that these books were good. First, I was attracted to the actual cover design and layout of the series. They were really nice looking and just fun! I hope Broadway Books releases more. (I swear, and I have it bookmarked in my Amazon account somewhere, that there was a fourth one coming out but I can no longer find it doing a general search!) These books are a great introduction to the world of Doctor Who. Not knowing the 11^th Doctor so well there was enough basic information given that I was able to jump into the world quite easily. I loved Shroud of Sorrow the best probably. I liked the mix of an alternative history with an alien species that lived off of grief. (I also love—and not much of a spoiler alert—the fact that the enigma of clown cars (how do they all fit in there?) is explained away by Tardis physics!) If you have Doctor Who fans—young or old—these books need to be in your collection! They won’t stay on the shelves for long.