The Coldest War

"That's the Cloister Bell. It's the ultimate alarm; it only sounds when things are really, really bad."

Writer: Colin Brake

Format: Novel

Released: April 2010

Series: Decide Your Destiny 13

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis 

You're in the TARDIS when it loses power and crash-lands in a deserted snowy landscape. Something is sucking the energy from everything that passes! Is it the Sycorax? Or something else entirely? Help the Doctor and Amy unravel the mystery, before it's too late...

Verdict 

The Coldest War was a terrific little novel and has greatly changed my opinion on the Decide Your Destiny books! I know they're not really aimed at my age of 19 but I had so much fun reading this adventure because I really did feel a part of things. The reader appearing in the novel is a magnificent idea and for the younger children reading, whom the series of books is aimed at, they must feel really special. As I'm a bit older now, I imagined my character as a younger version of myself at the age of about 8 or 9 and I imagined what it would be like to step into the TARDIS at that age. Before I reached double figures, I was yet to discover the wonderful show that is Doctor Who but it wouldn't be long before I did. After a lengthy walk this week to where I spent a lot of my childhood, this book really did add to my trip down memory lane. Through the book I remembered what it was like to be a young child again and that was truly magnificent. I liked the length of the story as it was quick but not so fast that you felt like it was a waste. I mentioned in my blogging of Claws of the Macra that I thought it flew by but thankfully that wasn't the case here. I liked the lengthy scenes in the TARDIS and I liked the continuation of Amy comforting my character. She was still in her early days if the release date is anything to go by but compared to us, she was a TARDIS veteran. The Doctor was fantastic and amazing and the way his rushed nature in flying the TARDIS at the console was presented fantastically. The characterisation of Matt Smith's incarnation was decent also, which makes a big difference. I know these books must be incredibly difficult to write, but I really didn't understand where it got its title from. I never usually mention this as I don't think it's relevant most of the time because a lot of story titled don't often make sense, but my version of events were set in a ward that had distinctly grey corridors. I know it was set in the Antartic but there really was no mention of a war. We had the return of the Sycorax which was superb and I liked how it was just one Sycorax Warrior, stemming from what happened the last time the Doctor met them. There was more than one good reference to The Christmas Invasion and I loved how the method of blood control was once again utilised by the Sycorax. They're due to appear alongside the Seventh Doctor shortly in an audio boxset that I am greatly anticipating so I'm glad to have done a story with them from another format. I am aware they also appear in a Tenth Doctor comic strip story so I'll be looking to read that in due course. The Yarkop was an interesting character and I liked how it impersonated both a Judoon and Draconian. The Doctor enjoyed those and even wanted to request some more aliens. He wasn't being intimated though. The ending came a little abruptly as seems to be a running theme in this format of books but it worked well. The micro universe went with the Yarkop and safety was accomplished and the Sycorax was dealt with. We were quickly returned home and the Doctor and Amy were back off on their travels. Overall, a wonderful little book!

Rating: 9/10