Review: Doctor Who – The Death Pit (Time Trips #1) by A.L. Kennedy

4 out of 5 stars | Goodreads

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Just like Doctor Who: Into the Nowhere, this is part of the ‘Time Trips’ series, a sequence of short Doctor Who novellas by different authors and covering different Doctors. This one in particular follows the Fourth Doctor – one I’ve not actually watched in action, but probably the most familiar of the ‘Classic’ Doctors. It has the brilliant Doctor Who trait of combining both funny and scary situations in a unique blend, whilst still being pretty horrifying in parts – and this one really is.

Unlike other Doctor Who books I’ve read so far, there is no companion alongside the Doctor when he lands, meaning we get to experience that initial excitement of someone meeting the Doctor for the first time. Bryony, the someone in question, is a wonderful character in that she surprises even the Doctor. She is ambitious but somehow just got stuck working at the golf club, and her adventures with the Doctor help her to realise that if she wants to achieve her dreams, she needs to go out and do something about them. For such a short story the characters were quite detailed, which really added to my enjoyment of the novella.

As well as being well written and developed, there were plenty of fun and humorous moments to keep the reader amused. The Doctor was his manic self, as Tom Baker’s Doctor was, and it was pretty funny imagining him in a shower cap (especially with all that hair!). Overall, a wonderful short adventure for fans of the show, particularly those who would love some more stories involving Four.

 

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Monthly Roundup: January 2014

Every first Wednesday of the month (Tuesday this month, due to the Book of Apex tour!) , I’ll be posting a roundup of the month just gone, and writing about what’s to come in the next few weeks.

This month I read fifteen books, which as far as I’m aware is a personal record! Admittedly there were a couple of novellas and graphic novels, but I’m happy with my progress. The Death Pit by A.L. Kennedy, Into the Nowhere by Jenny Colgan, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Archaeology: the Basics by Clive Gamble (refreshing my memory!), Supernatural: Origins by Peter Johnson, The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon, The Creature in the Case (The Old Kingdom #3.5) by Garth Nix, Watchmen by Alan Moore, Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues by Gail Simone & Walter Geovanni, Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1) by Laini Taylor, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Mass Effect: Foundation by Mac Walters, The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co #1) by Jonathan Stroud, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and The QI Book of the Dead by John Lloyd.

Standout books include Brideshead Revisited, Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Screaming Staircase. I’ve now read fifteen books towards my goal of fifty for this year – so I may have to raise it, but I also have to remember that my reading will greatly decrease from mid-August.

 

Challenge progress:

• I read four books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge
• Just the one towards the Dragons & Jetpacks Ultimate Booklist challenge, but there is no real time limit on this one – it’s lifelong!
• And one more ticked off of my TBR Pile 2013 – I’m hoping to finish it off before I go to uni. I read about half last year and am aiming to finish it this year!

 

Currently reading:

 

Reviews on the blog on this month:

• Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues (Red Sonja #1) by Gail Simone & Walter Geovanni
• Mass Effect: Foundation by Mac Walters
• The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co #1) by Jonathan Stroud
• Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
• The Joy of Sexus: Love, Lust and Longing in the Ancient World by Vicki Leon
• The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler

 

Other posts:

• I discussed my favourite fantasy video games as part of the most recent Fantasy Friday
• I recommended books for fans of BBC’s Robin Hood, The Borgias, Firefly and Supernatural as part of Turning Off The TV
• I discussed my crazy insane amount of ARCs and other books to review, and asked for some advice – and got some great responses!
• My fantasy and science fiction book group, Dragons & Jetpacks, chose the Books of the Month for February 2014
• I shared my progress for Re-Read January, and it hasn’t changed since then. Oops, I’ve been a rubbish host…
• I absolutely LOVE soundtracks from films, TV and video games, so I decided to share my favourites with my readers
• I opened up the Museum of Literary Wonders to visitors… I will be posting another one soon!
• Towards the beginning of the month, I discussed how web design has changed since I started about ten years ago. This was my most popular post of the month!
• Fan of The Hobbit movies? I discussed them in the first Fantasy Friday of the month
• And my first post of 2014: My Bookish Resolutions for 2014!

 

Upcoming:

• I’m taking part in the Book of Apex tour, organised by Andrea @ Little Red Reviewer. Yay, speculative fiction!
• I’m also taking part in Insta-love 101, hosted by the lovely ladies at A Novel Idea. Boo, insta-love!
• And finally: the Review Copy Cleanup hosted by Books, Biscuits & Tea! and Nyx Book Reviews – time to tame that Netgalley ratio!

 

And that’s been my month! Pretty busy I think! How was January for you?

Weekly Roundup #34

My ‘Weekly Roundup’ is where I share the books I have received in the past week, whether bought, gifted, borrowed etc. This is a couple of weeks worth of this feature – apparently I haven’t posted one since October, what with Sci-Fi Month in November and then the blog migration to WordPress in December.

Gifted

• Lonely Planet: The Netherlands – I received this for Christmas from my parents, as I’m off to the Netherlands for my Masters this year. Even though I’ll be studying, I’ve got to make the most of my year abroad (although I’m hoping I’ll stay there a bit longer if possible) and I want to visit as many places as possible!
• The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – I’m sure you’ve seen this one all over the blogosphere. Samantha Shannon has been pipped as ‘the new J.K. Rowling’, and has signed a seven book deal, as well as the film rights to the series – and she’s a year younger than me. Urk.

 

Bought

• Hodd by Adam Thorpe – this is a sort of alternate version of the traditional Robin Hood story. I kept seeing it in my local charity shop, and eventually picked it up – it’s practically brand new. This is one of my planned books for the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge.
• The Dinner by Herman Koch – I first heard about this book when I read Kelly’s review of it. It’s the sort of contemporary/adult fiction novel I like – with something just hidden below the surface. Plus it’s set in Amsterdam, and I want to read more books set in the Netherlands!
• The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons – um, how was I ever going to spot this in a charity shop and NOT buy it?
• The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan – I’m interested to see how this one plays out, as it’s co-written by a film director – although it’s definitely within his genre. This is another one I’m planning to read for the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge.

 

For Kindle

Ever since I got my own Kindle, I’ve gone kind of crazy. All these 99p deals on brand new books! And the classics, which I’ll mention but not bother with covers: Popular Tales from the Norse, The Babylonian Legends of Creation, Lysistrata, The Birds, The Frogs, The Eleven Comedies, Travels in West Africa, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Vanity Fair and soooo many more… (I started listing them then realised exactly how many I had downloaded…)

• Raising Steam (Discworld #40) by Terry Pratchett – new Discworld novel? For 99p? Yes, yes I will buy it.
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – short adult fiction by Neil Gaiman. I’ve only read his books for younger readers, so I’d like to see how different his adult writing is.
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is one of my favourite books, and when I spotted this new release of hers for 99p I thought I’d give it a try.
• The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith – written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym, I’d love to see how this differs from her usual writing style.

 

Netgalley

So one of my Bookish New Years Resolutions was to get my Netgalley ratio up to at LEAST 50%. So naturally, at the beginning of the year I requested a whole load of new books from Netgalley. The cover links to the Goodreads page.

And that’s it! I think I have enough for a while now… not that that will stop me getting more books! What new reads do you have this week?