The Way through the Woods

"Who believed there were monsters in the woods?"

Writer: Una McCormick
Format: Novel
Released: April 2011
Series: NSA 44

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

'As long as people have lived here, they've gone out of their way to avoid the woods..."

Two teenage girls disappear into an ancient wood, a foreboding and malevolent presence both now and in the past. The modern motorway bends to avoid it, as did the old Roman road. In 1917, the Doctor and Amy are desperate to find out what's happened to Rory, who's vanished too.

But something is waiting for them in the woods. Something that's been there for thousands of years. Something that is now waking up.

Verdict

The Way through the Woods was a brilliant novel and a wonderful way to get back to reading an original novel for the first time this year. It has felt like an eternity since I have managed to read a full book and this was a great way to be back blogging prose. The trio of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory really is right up there with the best TARDIS teams and they worked outstandingly well here. They all got to split up and do their own thing and the way it all linked was superb. We had Rory in 1917 getting acquainted with Emily while in present day Amy was garnering an interesting relationship with local journalist Jess. And as for the Doctor, well he was arrested and the prime suspect in a double missing persons case. It was quite the mashup. The story behind Swallow Woods was terrific and I love how people just unconsciously avoided going too close to them. Even the roads and motorways bent away from it. It was quite the phenomenon but nobody dared mention it. Vicky Caine's entry was a good place for the book to start and from there on in the pace was perfect. The revelations came at the right time and I particularly enjoyed the moment that the Doctor realised the pilot was still in the woods after all this time. Speaking of the Doctor, I thought the characterisation of number 11 was sublime with Matt Smith's likeness being excellently captured on the page. It really was very impressive. The conversation he had with Amy regarding her scarf and him explaining how the spaceship could bend space was magical and perfectly representative of their on-screen relationship. Rory was quite humorous and I was rather surprised when it was revealed that he was the man waiting for Emily to finish her shift. Reyn was not really an enemy at all but he provided the problem which the plot served to tackle. He was a Were-Fox which was quite unique and I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't evil. He had kept Laura as company for over six decades but she was no captive. Their relationship was mightily intriguing. Porter and Galloway were quite humorous detectives and I loved how they dealt with the Doctor and eventually let him solve the problem of Swallow Woods. I though the conclusion really was well done and even when Reyn was going to risk the Shift going wrong because of his devotion to the Long War, the Doctor talked his way into saving the town. I do raise questions over the rules of interference for the Doctor with how he jumped around time regarding the woods and especially with the photos Amy supplied Jess regarding the bending roads through time. Laura, Emily and Harry getting to go off with Ship and travel through space was a nice way to end the book and I loved how we got little anecdotes at the story's end regarding the major characters. The novel also contained some wonderful references to Ian and Tegan and I also enjoyed the mentions of The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang with Rory being plastic. He just went through the simplicity of losing his memories here. But that wasn't Ship's fault, not once it was able to think for itself. Overall, a superb novel!

Rating: 9/10