Book Review: Doctor Who Time Lord Victorious - The Knight, The Fool and the Dead

Set up as a multimedia story event, Time Lord Victorious covers an era of time left untapped between the 10th Doctor's final two television adventures; The Waters of Mars and The End of Time. After the devastating events at the end of Waters of Mars we see the 10th Doctor taking on a more egomaniacal perspective on his position as the last of the Time Lords. Designating himself to be the Time Lord Victorious, 10 runs away from the aftermath of his callous actions after Mars and sets out on a series of adventures which would expand on what his darker and selfish line of thinking would cause for the entire universe and the forces that would admass to stop him. I was rather intrigued by the idea of an expanded multimedia storyline serving as the conduit for this story. There was that initial intimidation that you wouldn't be able to get the full picture if you didn't buy every aspect of the media, but a close friend reassured me that the core story is covered well enough in the books.

So following another re-watch of Waters of Mars (A cracking episode by the way! One of 10's best!) I sat down to read the first book in the expanded story titled The Knight, The Fool and Dead. Written by Steve Cole who has notable experience writing for Doctor Who's wide range of expanded novels; the story follows 10 just off the back of departure from Earth after the shocking suicide of Captain Adelaide Brooke. He visits the ancient planet of Andalia during the Dark Times. While exploring the local temple he soon learns of a demonstration of a piece of technology called the Lifeshroud which is claimed to prevent it's wearer from every dying. While watching the demonstration 10 ends up getting involved in an assassination attempt which preluded the arrival of a dark and sinister force called the Kotturuh. Known as the Bringers of Death, this species has the ability to enforce a specific lifespan on any species of their choice. Seeing their powers as abuse of time and nature, the Doctor sets off to save a girl they kidnap with the help of an Ood assassin called Brian and put an end to the Kotturu's devious rule once and for all.

As far as premises go, this was a solid narrative to expand on 10 just after he deems himself the Time Lord Victorious. That cold and self-absorbed mentality he displayed back on Earth was such a pinnacle moment for 10 as a character and I appreciate how this book looked to expand on his thoughts as he runs away from the responsibility of his actions. He's tackling with the weight and regret of what that mentality caused but again he's provided with a brand new scenario where the laws of time and his people are tested against a foe which doesn't abide by them. The Kotturu as a force serve to challenge the Doctor not just on a practical level, but on a mental level. They push him to a point where he must deem if his beliefs back on Mars were unfounded or actually legitimate. This overarching story is helped along nicely by a interesting set of characters to aid the Doctor; the most notable one being Brian the Ood. We're no strangers to the Ood by this point and after seeing Ood Sigma back on Earth it's easy to note the Doctor was shook by this Ood's presence. Brian however adds a nice bit of charm and humour to the dark narrative, as his pleasantries and suave outfit are only matched by his deadly prowess including his handy translator weapon he aptly calls Mr Ball.

In terms of tone and pacing it's nice to see how the story follows in the darker groundwork that Water of Mars set. As this is a truly dark and cold period of 10's final days, it was important to tackle that period of his life with a story which is weighted in the more serious aspects that challenges him as a person. Death is an ever present concept in this story and the book doesn't shy away from tackling the concept of it in many forms. It's fitting really, as we know by this point 10 is running away from his inevitable passing, so to face a challenge layered so heavily around it works to bring out that darker elements of his character.

To generalise, The Knight, The Fool and The Dead was a great way to start out this expanded multimedia narrative. It does a brilliant job in adequately following on from the dark turn the Doctor took in Waters of Mars with a story well suited for his struggling nature at that time. It's got a fun cast of characters and the initial narrative serves as a great foundation for what bigger stories are yet to come in this phase of the Doctor's life.