Review: Doctor Who: Into The Nowhere (Time Trips) by Jenny T. Colgan

Title: Into the Nowhere
Series: Doctor Who: Time Trips

Author: Jenny T. Colgan

Publication Date: January 16th, 2014

Publisher: BBC Digital

Genre: Sci Fi

Pages: 49

ISBN13: 978-1448141838

Source: ARC from Publisher

Rating:

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

The Eleventh Doctor and Clara land on an unknown alien planet. To the Doctor's delight and Clara's astonishment, it really is unknown. It's a planet the Doctor has never seen. It's not on any maps, it's not referenced on any star charts or in the TARDIS data banks. It doesn't even have a name. What could be so terrible that its existence has been erased?

A | B&N | Gr

Jenny T. Colgan was born in 1972 in Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK. After studying at Edinburgh University, she worked for six years in the health service, moonlighting as a cartoonist and a stand-up comic, before the publication of her first novel Amanda's Wedding in 2000. In 2013, her novel "Welcome to Rosie Hopkin's Sweetshop of Dreams" won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. She is now working on her next novel. 

She is married with Andrew, a marine engineer, and had three children, Wallace, Michael-Francis, and Delphie. She mostly lives in France, with frequent visits to London. She occasionally writes for The Guardian newspaper, as well as a TV series.

Her Doctor Who novel Dark Horizons is published under the name J.T. Colgan.

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          Doctor Who: Into the Nowhere is the eleventh doctor’s turn to be captured in print by the Time Trips series.  He and Clara stumble upon a mysterious planet with no name or known history.  Not even the TARDIS knows where they are.  Not long after they leave the safety of the TARDIS, they realize that the world might not want its secrets uncovered and it seems as if the elements themselves turn against the Doctor and his companion.  

      The Doctor and Clara encounter a dizzying number of obstacles from the get-go in this fast-paced mystery.  At times there was so much being thrown at them that it seemed chaotic, in a nail biting and enjoyable sense.  For instance, at one point they escape a moving forest closing in on them, run into a conflagration of sorts, jump through it and almost fall off a cliff with a valley full of huge maggots beneath and an animated skeleton on the other side. Then they get attacked by a giant snake, all without catching their breath. Whatever forces exist on this planet, mean business. 

     All the authors that write for this series have done an exceptional job at writing their characters into some original and entertaining circumstances. The same can certainly be said for Jenny Colgan in this story.  What has consistently amazed me with every installment in this series, is the way the authors are able to replicate the mannerisms and details from the characters we know and love from the television show, and make them believable. The eleventh doctor is full of quirk and insanity, energy and goofiness.  Jenny has done Matt Smith proud with her installment, just as she has done a service for Whovians by creating this wonderfully diverting short story. Clara seemed to be a bit angrier than usual, and maybe a tad whiney at times but such is the lot for a Doctor Who companion. I didn't feel that her character was as believable as the Doctor for most of the story but that doesn't hurt things too badly. 

     As long as you don’t expect to have all the answers by the end, you won’t be disappointed by Into the Nowhere.  It’s funny and action packed and it’s chocked full of timey-wimey adventure that any fan would enjoy.  In looking back, the fact that there were still questions at the end didn’t detract from my over-all enjoyment of the story.  The missing pieces add to the story and I hope one day to read (or possibly see) more from this story-line in the future.