Slip through time with the Tenth Doctor, to meet the Knights of the Round Table in these heroic stories, featuring duels, daring quests and epic legends with a Time Lord twist.
Doctor Who: Legends of Camelot
Jacqueline Rayner ì 6 summary
This is the second book in a promising new series of Doctor Who crossovers with famous literary worlds. As easily surmised from the title, this story sends the Doctor into the realm of Arthurian myth. Of course, this is an area of pseudo history that Doctor Who has touched upon before, primarily in ‘Battlefield’ which is heavily referenced here and already established that at some point the Doctor takes on the mantle of Merlin, which the Tenth Doctor does here.Featuring a mythological rather than a purely fictional setting, this book is a little different to the first book in the series, ‘The Wonderful Doctor of Oz’. That placed the Doctor and her companions within the events and world of a particular novel which is entirely the creation of one author. The Arthurian Cycle, though, is an amalgamation of myths and tales from multiple sources from over a considerable period of time that possesses some vague historical basis rather than being a single coherent story. The style in which this novel is presented is representative of this.However, this book also does seem chiefly inspired by the major children’s Arthurian novels ‘King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table’ and ‘The Once and Future King’.Thomas Malory’s ‘Le Morte D’Arthur’ is, perhaps, the definitive collection of Arthurian tales (it is also the basis for the two novels mentioned above). As a forced assemblage of multiple stories and fables, many of French origin, it often seems like it leaps from one episodic sequence concerning an event or quest without a great deal of coherence.However, that disjointed effect lends itself really well to the plot of this Doctor who adaption which is based around the idea that the Doctor does not travel to the semi historical world of Arthurian Britain but a facsimile based upon it that is used to play out a recurring game.It enables a novel way to tell the story from the perspectives of Donna and the Doctor. In a ‘timey wimey’ fashion they jump from one important event to another without living through the periods in between. In approaching the story in this way, the novel does capture a similar sort of feeling to ‘Le Morte D’Arthur’.The Tenth Doctor and Donna are a great combination and putting them into Arthurian legend is thoroughly enjoyable. The author captures all the nuances of their relationship and the characterisation is perfect. With her mockery of knightly values, infatuation with Lancelot and outrage at the role of Arthurian women, Donna carries the bulk of the story in her undoubtable manner and much comes from her perspective. If anything, this leaves the Tenth Doctor a little subdued than usual. But with him adopting the role of Merlin this is perfectly apt. English This book had an interesting premise — The Doctor and King Arthur — but read like a TV script than an actual novel. It would make for an EXCELLENT TV series entry, but was just a bit short on the kind of deeper exposition that would have made it a great book. Still, I DO recommend it for a quick read. English Brilliant, fantastic. Well written and a good read. English Jacqueline Rayner was able to portray the doctor and Donna so well that this was just like watching an episode of the show, the interactions were brilliant and placing them in camelot with Arthur and the knights of the round table what could you want! English I could literally hear the Doctor and Donna in my head as I read, Remembering the glasses, void energy, and . However I don’t remember Donna feeling so inadequate compared to Rosa and Martha English
