Let it Snow

"Since the Doctor arrived, I've been scared for my life almost every day."

Writer: Justin Richards
Format: Short Story
Released: February 2014
Printed in: Tales of Trenzalore 01

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor is defending Christmas. He can't let the Time Lords back into this universe. He can't let all of his enemies kill the Time Lords. The Ice Warriors attempt to take out the Doctor through an 'accidental' avalanche. But will their own sonic technology be their undoing?

Verdict

Let it Snow was a good start to the Tales of Trenzalore collection of stories set during the dramatic events of The Time of the Doctor! I really like the idea behind this book as there was such a big timeframe of potential stories and with the vast array of enemies old and new that came to the planet to try and prevent the Time Lords from returning, the choice was off the charts! First up we had the Ice Warriors and I was delighted to be reading another encounter between them and the Eleventh Doctor. They're a long favoured enemy of mine and I thought the way they got past the Papal Mainframe's barrier by reducing themselves to nothing more than their green armour was terrific. Despite this, their idea of defeating the Doctor very much concerned sonic technology and I really liked how they were hoping to just make it look like the Doctor was using his sonic screwdriver. I mean, surely setting off a sonic canon would register things slightly more than a simple use of the Doctor's screwdriver? Whilst I did enjoy this story, I thought the first part had a lot of nothingness which was a bit of a shame. The chapters were unnecessarily small and very basic with the Ice Warriors arriving, stating their plan and then doing what was needed to carry it out. It was all very methodological and just seemed to be going through the motions rather than having some excitement. I did very much like the development of Christmas and some of the town's outskirts and water supply. That was the kind of thing I was really hoping for from this book and I got it which was a big positive. I didn't think the characterisation of the Eleventh Doctor was overly great in this story but I think a large part of that was down to the fact that he turned out to be the character of Elias. I really didn't see that coming and that was a very good twist, even if it could have been revealed in a less gradual way. The Ice Warriors having the plan of making the snow of Christmas so thick that it almost became mountainous was intriguing, especially when their sonic canon was going to convert it into an avalanche and wipe out the city in what would look like an accident. The way the differing components of the canon were spread across Christmas didn't make much sense to me though. Lord Sssardak made a fantastic Ice Lord and I really did hope for more of him. It is so often a shame that these short stories are small in length! This story didn't really suffer from the lack of a companion which was good and I loved the smugness of the Doctor when he came to challenge the Ice Warriors and claimed that he would stop them with ease. The Ice Warriors refused to believe their plan would fail but the doubt they had when it came to the Doctor was just delightful to see. He already knew he'd won and he knew they knew it too. A lovely moment. The ending was a tad rushed but the explanation was good, although I could have done without the moment the Doctor didn't know the exact numbering of the Ice Warriors' frequency. The Doctor honed in and increased the waves to make them actually wipe out the Warriors but surely if they came with no sonic technology and were using a sonic canon to make it look like the sonic screwdriver was used, why would they be so shocked by its use? It was a tad confusing but as a whole, this was a good little start to the book!

Rating: 7/10