Apollo 23

"People are dead and you turn up out of nowhere and seem to be an expert on a top secret system."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Novel

Released: April 2010

Series: NSA 37

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis 

"For a few moments this afternoon, it rained on the moon."

An astronaut in full spacesuit appears out of thin air in a busy shopping centre. Maybe it's a publicity stunt.

A photo shows a well-drssssd woman in a red coat lying dead at the edge of a crater on the dark side of the moon - beside her beloved dog 'Poochie'. Maybe it's a hoax. 

Bust as the Doctor and Amy find out, these are just minor events in a sinister plan to take over every human being on Earth. The plot centres on a secret military base on the moon - that's where Amy and the TARDIS are.

The Doctor is back on Earth, and without the TARDIS there's no way he can get to the moon to save Amy and defeat the aliens. 

Or is there? The Doctor discovers one last great secret that could save humanity: Apollo 23.

Verdict 

Apollo 23 was a very good, strong and solid start to the Eleventh Doctor era of novels. This was a great start I must say! I thought the plot was very good, for the first story to feature this TARDIS pairing the characterisation was very good. The little traits and quirks of Matt Smith's Doctor were captured pretty well in print but I thought the characterisation of Amy was absolutely spot on. A very strong showing for the feisty redhead companion. This story has a very strong feeling of being early series five, which of course it is, but I think it's vital that a novel feels part of its era. There are no such problems here as Justin Richards definitely makes this feel a part of the continuity alongside the televised series. Reading this for the first time now, some five years since its release, it seems a tad strange to be doing an Eleventh Doctor story that features Amy but doesn't have Rory! It seemed a nice change though and I think it allowed Amy to shine being the sole and prominent companion. Whereas with say Ian and Barbara, it would feel strange if the First Doctor had a story with just one of those pair but with Amy and Rory, companions who we would associate as a pair, it doesn't seem too strange to have just Amy on her own. Of course, we've the benefit of around half of the televised series five stories to just be with Amy, but hindsight is an interesting thing. If I was reading this at the time of release then I wouldn't have given it a second thought. The plot was very good though I'm absolutely convinced that Steven Moffat must have taken some elements from this novel when conjuring up The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. I mean, surely! There's the spacesuit wearing astronaut appearing out of nowhere in England with a trail of moon dust. The story is heavily set in the United States and there's the whole moon theme and heavy setting as well. It'll be a huge coincidence if Moffat hadn't at least read the synopsis of this novel. I found there were just too many similarities. Not that it wasn't good, because it definitely had its differences to give it a feel of separation from the epic series six opener. The Talerians were an intriguing enemy though they're probably the reason that this story didn't sneak a higher rating. It was mighty close! I just found that the threat of them was actually stronger before they arrived. The fact their bodies could burst at the slightest tear or press she was hardly scary, was it? I mean, I play Darts and I'm actually very good (I play for the back to back division one champions in my hometown and am currently unbeaten this season) but if the arrows can be used to defeat the alien invaders then what kind of bloody monsters are they? I think they'd work well in the Sarah Jane Adventures but not in a Doctor Who novel like this, that was particularly dark in places. I loved the quantum mechanics usage and the way people could just step from Houston to the Moon was pretty impressive. I loved the end of chapter one with the infamous "Houston - we have a problem" line being dubbed. Jackson was a very good leader for the Talerians and I also liked Nurse Phillips. I liked that data storage in water once again appeared in a story after it made its debut in The Genocide Machine. It's an extremely clever technology and I adored the Doctor's ocean mixing analogy when coming up with the resolution. Him getting trapped on Earth whilst Amy and the TARDIS were trapped on the Moon was just typical of the Time Lord and set up some nice elements to the story, namely the title of the novel itself! After years on display, Apollo 23 would be fueled and readied for takeoff! The Doctor would of course be on board and I loved how he knew just about everything and was surprising nearly everyone. Carlisle was a great character and I liked how she ended up on the side of the Doctor and Amy. Having read the UNIT and Torchwood files, she knew of the Doctor but not this youthful. There were some good twists and turns along the way even if Amy being blanked was pretty obvious. I loved how she just drank the phial though. The climax was well-paced but an open window basically defeated the Talerians. They were good until they actually arrived. Thankfully, the rest of the story was superb with the relationship between the Doctor and Amy absolutely magnificent. The Seeds of Death reference was stunning! Overall, a very good book! 

Rating: 8/10