Doctor Who by Dan Abnett

Doctor Who (Doctor Who, #163)

by Dan Abnett

For a year, while the Master ruled over Earth, Martha Jones travelled the world telling people stories about the Doctor. She told people of how the Doctor has saved them before, and how he will save them again. This is that story. It tells of Martha's travels from her arrival on Earth as the Toclafane attacked and decimated the population through to her return to Britain to face the Master. It tells how she spread the word and told people about the Doctor. The story of how she survived that terrible year. But it's more than that. This is also a collection of the stories she tells - the stories of adventures she had with the Doctor that we haven't heard about before. The stories that inspired and saved the world...Featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the hit Doctor Who series from BBC Television.

Reviewed by Nessa Luna on

4 of 5 stars

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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: 

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 31 May, 2013: Finished reading
  • 25 January, 2016: Reviewed
  • Started reading
  • 25 January, 2016: Finished reading
  • 25 January, 2016: Reviewed