The Haunted Wagon Train

"You have to get all those Hollywood ideas of Cowboys and Indians out of your head."

Writer: Colin Brake

Format: Novel 

Released: October 2007

Series: DYD 08

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha 

Synopsis 

Pioneers travelling across the American Midwest report ghost sightings, but you, the Doctor and Martha believe it's extraterrestrial activity. Can you teach down the aliens before it's too late? 

Verdict 

The Haunted Wagon Train was a great little read and another fine book in the Decide Your Desting series of novels. This time last year, or even a few months ago, I was very sceptical about reading this type of story as it just didn't seem suited to me nor appropriate for my age. The latter still probably holds but despite the target audience of this novel obviously being for children, I still thoroughly enjoyed. I think the thing I've liked most about these stories is that we as the reader feature as a character and it gives a taste of what travelling with the Doctor might be like. It's a wonderful idea and if I'm feeling that as a nineteen year old, I can only imagine what younger readers are feeling when this books whizzes them off through time and space with their favourite hero. It's such a wonderful idea and given how cheap the books are, as well as how quick they can be read, I think I definitely need to invest in some more as I've now completed all in the series that I own. There are many more available so I think I'll have to check for availability or keep an eye out in charity shops. I liked how this story got straight into the action and the reasoning behind us as the reader joining the Doctor and Martha was short and sweet. I liked the decision making in this one and when given the choice, I decided that the story would take place in native America. That's the History student in me. It was a good setting and I really enjoyed the mystery behind the wagon train potentially being haunted. What made it really interesting was the fact that the train was constantly on the move, but the strange lights continued to follow them wherever they went. Running Bear was a good and likeable character and I liked the description of him moving around with a deft quietness. He was skilled in his art and that was impressive. The characterisation of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was pretty decent with his likeness being well captured but I thought the representation of Freema Agyeman as Martha was actually better. I'm not sure why that was but it could have been due to her conversing with us as the reader a little more than the Doctor did. I enjoyed the references to Smith and Jones and The Lazarus Experiment very much as past story mentions are always something I love. Mrs Robinson was another good character and I loved the names of her children. Prudence, Courage and Endeavour are wonderful names in a Doctor Who story and although I would only consider the first name for a child of my own, I thought it was just fantastic. Prudence, in the route that I took, was particularly outspoken about the haunted mystery surrounding the wagon train. Martha picked up on that which I liked. The ending of this story was the first in my readings of the DYD that didn't come abruptly and seemed to flow well which was a great thing. The story wasn't perhaps quite as strong as some of the others in the range, but having an ending that flowed really did make a difference. My decision making this time also seemed to make the story last a little longer than my previous readings of books in the same range. It worked out very well indeed. Overall, a brilliant little book!

Rating: 8/10