The Silent Stars Go By: 50th Anniversary Edition (Doctor Who, #163)

by Dan Abnett

The winter festival is approaching for the hardy colony of Morphans, but no one is in the mood to celebrate. They’re trying to build a new life on a cold new world, but each year gets harder and harder. It’s almost as if some dark force is working against them. Then three mysterious travelers arrive out of the midwinter night, one of them claiming to be a doctor. Are they bringing the gift of salvation or doom? And what else might be lurking out there, about to wake up?

An adventure featuring the Eleventh Doctor as played by Matt Smith and his companions Amy and Rory

• ISBN10: 1849905177
• ISBN13: 9781849905176
• Publish Date: 7 March 2013 (first published 26 December 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 7 September 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: BBC Consumer Publishing
• Imprint: BBC Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nessa Luna]

I've been a Doctor Who fans for a couple of years now, and I have also enjoyed the books for a handful of years, but I had only focued on the two (and later three) companions that were my absolute favourites (Rose, Amy, and Clara, in case you wanted to know) and didn't really add any Martha or Donna books to my tbr list. Until I found out that this particular book told the story of her one year around the world between The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. Now that was something I was interested in!

Like I said, The Story of Martha tells how Martha traveled the world, looking for a way to defeat the Master and save the earth. And she does it, by telling stories. We all knew this already, but we didn't know which stories she told, where she went and who helped her around the world. In this book, we find out most of it!

It starts off two weeks after she used Jack's vortex manipulator to escape from the HMS Valiant, and she's in London trying her best not to get caught. She goes to France, to Turkey, Russia and eventually Japan. In each of these places she meets people and she tells them stories. Stories of her adventures with the Doctor.

There are four short stories in this book, written by different authors, and to be honest I quite liked them, but the last one was a bit 'meh'. It kind of felt a bit like a repeat of The Doctor's Daughter with two sides fighting about something and then finding out something was not quite the way they believed it was. Other than that, the stories were short but nice to read.

As for the story of Martha traveling around the world, I enjoyed that very much. Martha has never really been my favourite companion (mostly because the others were just my favourite more), but I thought the last three episodes of her season were very good. So this extra bit of story for those episodes was very nice in my opinion. I especially wanted to know about the burning of Japan, which Martha barely escaped from, according to The Last of the Timelords.

I honestly had wished to read more about her adventures, because I believe there was still half a year or so to go after she'd escaped Japan, but I was very happy with what we got. Dan Abnett's writing is very nice, I'd read The Silent Stars Go By written by him and enjoyed it very much. I've just found out he's written stuff for Marvel as well, so I think I am definitely checking that out soon!

In the end, The Story of Martha was a nice addition to the episodes, and I honestly enjoyed it very much! If you like Martha and you want to know how she survived that terrible year of the Master's rule over earth? Definitely pick up this book!

My opinion on this book in one gif: