The Story of Martha

"Martha Jones is a loose end that Our Master would like tidied up."

Writers: Dan Abnett with David Rosen, Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis, Robert Shearman, and Simon Jowett

Format: Novel

Released: December 2008

Series: NSA 28

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha 

Synopsis

For a year, while the Master ruled over Earth, Martha Jones travelled the world telling people stories about the Doctor. She told people of how the Doctor has saved them before, and how he will save them again.

This is that story. It tells of Martha's travels from her arrival on Earth as the Toclafane attacked and decimated the population through to her return to Britain to face the Master. It tells how she spreads the word and told people about the Doctor. The story of how she survived that terrible year.

But it's more than that. This is also a collection of the stories she tells – the stories of adventures she had with the Doctor that we haven't heard about before. The stories that inspired and saved the world...

Verdict

The Story of Martha was a great novel anthology! I was in two minds prior to picking up this book as to whether blog it and judge as five separate adventures, or to read it all as one. When I glimpsed at the format of the book and saw that the titular story was interwoven with over adventures, I felt I had to read and blog it all as one. Now that I have read the book, I'm very happy with my approach. I must admit that none of the four stories that were presented as Martha telling those she was enlisting to spread the word interested me in a big way, and I think if I blogged them individually then none would get higher than a 7/10 rating from myself, but it was a good format and approach to have them as examples of Martha's experience with the Doctor and why he could stop the Master. Fighting wasn't necessary, just spread the word. The setting of the Year That Never Was is so exciting and full of potential and I was big fan of all we explored. It was important to begin with Martha in London picking up essentially where The Sound of Drums left off with her trying to deal with everything that just happened in such a short space of time. She's watched the Doctor become helpless and elderly, Jack killed, her family locked up and captured, and now the Toclafane are wiping out 10% of the entire population. That's quite the setup! And now Martha has a year to walk the planet and spread the word ready for a year's time. Quite the task the Doctor has enlisted her for! It's good to see her helpless at the start but as her journey goes on she gets more and more confident. We see Martha exploring the likes of France, Turkey, Slovenia and Japan, with the latter sparking an almighty show of vengeance from the Master. I like how that comment from Martha in Last of the Time Lords about what she haw happen to Japan and how it was obliterated was presented here, as it was the moment that sparked her to cry after staying so strong for the first six months or so of her journey. I thought The Weeping was a decent opener for stories involving the Doctor and the focus on the lighthouse beacon worked pretty well. Waetcher wanting to mutate and finally be allowed to die was powerful, and made Agelaos a good setting. I was less a fan of Breathing Space as the Doctor having extensive knowledge of the Cineraria felt a bit of a let down after the build up and his reaction to their presence as it meant nothing to the reader. The Frozen Wastes was a very good little short story and exploring the Arctic in the 1890s was fantastic, although there was probably a bit too much time spent on the balloon, although that's kind of the point. Pierre was a great character though! Star-Crossed and the focus on the Artificials was strong and probably ended up as my favourite of the short stories interwoven into the narrative, although I do think that the stories Martha was telling should have focused more on Earth-bound adventures to appeal more to the humans in dire states. However, I did like the explanation that they could believe anything now because they had literally seen the sky rip in half and the Toclafane descend. I thought Griffin chasing Martha across Europe and into the Japanese labour camp was excellent and his desire to find her despite getting so close and being pipped by that perception filter was tremendous. It was always there and he got close, but never close enough. Heading to Japan and the perception filter losing its ability to hide Martha was a good bit of danger, and she quickly got embroiled into the mundane and fatigue-filled life of the slave labour. Her stories waited, but Griffin's arrival and capture there was intriguing because his UCF ID meant nothing. Japan wasn't controlled by the Master, it was controlled by the Drast which was a good little twist. I liked how they invaded by subtle economic shifts and with the Master being unforeseen, this would be how they escaped too through the Segue. That tear causing Martha's filter to cease working was good but the horrifying reveal that they had sent 99 test subjects through and none returned showed that they had a ruthless streak. Griffin's role in actually defeating them alongside Martha was a bit simple, but I loved the Master's reaction to knowing that they were present. It was wonderful to get some prose with him and a brief glimpse of the aged Doctor. His reaction and retaliation on Japan was beyond ruthless, and he asserted his authority brutally, as if the countless statues weren't already enough! The fate of Griffin at the hands of the Toclafane despite being the one to call UCF in was ironic, and Martha's reaction was very sad. Her mission was clear now, and whilst she lost the physical keepsakes of those she encountered, they were ingrained in her mind. Overall, a strong anthology and a great read! 

Rating: 8/10