Name: Dead of Winter
ISBN: 9781849902380

James Goss

At a remote clinic in Italy, a lonely girl writes to her mother about the secrets and strange faceless creatures that rise from the sea that are found there.

Dead of Winter

Cassidy

It was really confusing in the beginning, though at about 75% of the way through it got really good!

In a remote clinic in 18th century Italy, a lonely girl writes to her mother. She tells of pale English aristocrats and mysterious Russian nobles. She tells of intrigues and secrets, and strange faceless figures that rise up from the sea. And she tells about the enigmatic Mrs Pond, who arrives with her husband and her trusted physician. What the girl doesn't tell her mother is the truth that everyone at the clinic knows and no one says - that the only people who come here do so to die. An adventure set in 18th century Italy, featuring the Eleventh Doctor as played by Matt Smith and his companions Amy and Rory.

The History Collection

MJ Laird

I read this book mostly because I was out of reading materiel. I also figured that I do like Doctor Who so maybe I would enjoy it. I didn’t. I really didn’t.

It’s written in multiple POVs. One of them is a little girl’s letters to her mother and another one is a man’s diary. The others are typical first-person. At first it’s just three, the little girl, the man, and Amy. Then randomly Rory is added in. Then there are some letters from another extremely minor character. Then the Doctor had a couple very short chapters. It was just really confused, I thought. But what really bothered me about it were the little girl’s letters and the man’s journal. At first it made sense but then as the book reaches the climax and all this crazy stuff is happening they’re apparently pausing to write it down. I don’t know. It just didn’t make sense to me.

And the writing itself was a bit painful to me. It really felt like something a fourteen-year-old fangirl would write. It just hurt to read it. Everything about this book hurt.

The story itself wasn’t at all interesting to me and was just was confusing as the jumbled narratives. About halfway through the book you find out that the whole time, (view spoiler)[The Doctor was Rory and Rory was The Doctor.  (hide spoiler)] I’m sorry, but what?

And that brings me to my biggest issue. Rory and The Doctor. Now, for about the first half of the book I felt like Rory was unusually grumpy. He was constantly being described in the multiple POVs as being unpleasant and unhappy. That’s not Rory. Then after it’s revealed that (view spoiler)[he was actually The Doctor (hide spoiler)] I was like, ”Oh, okay. So it wasn’t (view spoiler)[really Rory at all (hide spoiler)]” but it still made no sense. I don’t think that The Doctor or Rory are as grumpy as all that. And the way they treated each other! Oh, they were spiteful! It was like every word they said to one another had venom inside it. This made no sense to me! When as it ever been that way between them? I get that Rory is jealous of The Doctor but I feel like that was mostly before he married Amy and this book takes place after that. But even then, he was never that bitter towards The Doctor. And why was The Doctor treating him the same way? The whole book, The Doctor seemed to feel that Rory was stupid and a waste of space. I never really got that vibe in the show, even before the wedding. And this is after the whole Last Centurion thing! And that’s another thing. For the entire book people keep talking about how Rory’s not a big hero like The Doctor but then in the end there’s this big “wow, he’s actually really brave” thing. What? Did the author just miss everything Rory ever did on the show? And Amy kept being all conflicted about her feelings towards Rory and The Doctor. I know that she did feel that way for a while on the show but I really feel like that stopped when they were married. I know Rory still felt like she liked the Doctor sometimes but I really don’t think she did. Maybe I’m wrong about that but I don’t think so. And Amy wasn’t portrayed very well either. She just didn’t feel like Amy. She felt like someone who was trying too hard to be Amy. I just really don’t think the author knows these characters very well.

Negatives

Everything I just said plus a bit of language. I think that’s about it… I don’t know. Some people died.

Why did I even bother to finish this book? Partially it was because I hate not finishing a book. But mostly it was because I wanted to count it for my Reading Challenge.

Haley Murray

Mathilde Snijder

Justine Travis

Gemma

Douglas Adams

The hugely powerful Key to Time has been split into six segments, all of which have been disguised and hidden throughout time and space. Now the even more powerful White Guardian wants the Doctor to find the pieces. With the first segment successfully retrieved, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 trace the second segment of the Key to the planet Calufrax. But when they arrive at exactly the right point in space, they find themselves on exactly the wrong planet - Zanak. Ruled by the mysterious 'Captain', Zanak is a happy and prosperous planet. Mostly. If the mines run out of valuable minerals and gems then the Captain merely announces a New Golden Age and they fill up again. It's an economic miracle - so obviously something's very wrong...