The King's Dragon

"This was what happened when you hung around with the Doctor. You started to believe there were monsters in every corridor..."

Writer: Una McCormack

Format: Novel

Released: July 2010

Series: NSA 41

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis 

"They called it Enamour. It turned minds, sold merchandise, and swayed elections. And it did its job far too well..."

In the city-state of Geath, the King lives in a golden hall, and the people want for nothing. Everyone is happy and everyone is rich. Or so it seems.

When the Doctor, Amy and Rory look beneath the surface, they discover a city of secrets. In dark corners, strange creatures are stirring. At the heart of the hall, a great metal dragon oozes gold. Then the Herald appears, demanding the return of her treasure... And next come the gunships. 

The battle for possession of the treasure has begun, and only the Doctor and his friends can save the people of the city from being destroyed in the crossfire of an ancient civil war. But will the King surrender his new-found wealth? Or will he fight to keep it...?

Verdict 

The King's Dragon was an absolutely brilliant novel and it really was one that I loved from start to finish. I went into this one with a blank slate, other than title, as I knew nothing about it and I even stopped myself from reading the synopsis. I'm not sure why as I usually do read the synopsis of a novel but I guess the excitement in me prevented me from doing so. As seems to be the case with most of my novel blog entries, I read most of this on the train to and from Cwmbran. It was the same route as my usual trips to mid Wales, but I got off some two hours earlier than usual for a football match for my beloved Port Talbot Town. We won 2-1 in an epic game and add to that the entertainment of this novel on the 90 minute journey each way, and I was one happy chap. I just loved the fantasy element of everything that was going on and I don't think that theme ever went away which was just marvellous. I mean, we had Kings. We had storytelling. We even had Dragons! It was all the ingredients for a perfect novel and credit must go to Una McCormack for following through and achieving a full marks rating. This has instantly become my favourite Eleventh Doctor novel, overtaking The Forgotten Army. I thought the characterisation of all three of the TARDIS trio was outstanding and it really added so much to the story. I think this is the best Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor has been captured in prose of what I've read so far so that was really great and it was also brilliant to see Amy captured exactly as she is in the televised format. Her daring confidence shone through extremely brightly. Rory had a really good story with his immediate liking of Hilthe and given that this story is set during Series 5, something that was also importantly captured brilliantly, I think it's good that he played a big role as I would argue that he didn't really get that during his first series as companion until The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. Hilthe was a very good character and as aforementioned, she got on pleasantly with Rory and it was good how he got friendly with her, given that she was one of very few not to be affected by the Enamour present in Geath. The city-state setting was brilliant throughout and it really was presented as almost Doctor Who's take of a fairytale. It was really good. King Beol was a great character and I loved how he had come to believe his own publicity and even the stories of the Teller about acquiring the Dragon, something he had himself instructed to be set up! It was just wonderful. The whole fantastical atmosphere was magnificent. There were good references to The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice and I liked how things were still pretty new for Rory as companion. That was another element I really liked about the story. The concept of Enamour was really intriguing and I didn't think it was too dissimilar to the Glamour which appeared in the recent Twelfth Doctor novel adventures. It attached to your subconscious and along with the emotional amplifier, something which annoyed the Doctor, it was an extremely powerful tool in manipulation, sometimes without people even realising. I particularly enjoyed the moments where the Doctor ordered his companions to empty their pockets. The dilemma of who to give the Enamour to was interesting and I enjoyed the claims of both the Regulator and the Herald. The latter would of course be quire aggressive but the former would actually cause a death which disgusted the Doctor. His demanding to be rid of protocol 619 was excellent. The way the debate was settled was very good with the late introduction of two great characters in Anwa and Camba. The way Hilthe and Beol were both won over by the words of the Doctor was fantastic and I think now they'll be united in ensuring Geath remains the incredible city it once was. A nice relationship seems to have blossomed late on in the novel. Overall, just a wonderful read. Truly brilliant. Fun, a great plot and superb characters.

Rating: 10/10