The Giggle

"The world had gone mad laughing."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Novel

Released: December 2023

Series: Target 180

Featuring: Fourteenth Doctor, Donna, Fifteenth Doctor, Mel

Synopsis

A sinister toyshop. The Earth erupting in violence. Shockwaves travelling through history.

With old friends powerless to help, the Doctor is drawn into a deadly duel against an old nemesis who can bend reality to his will – and change the Doctor's future for ever...

Verdict

The Giggle was a sensational novelisation of the final sixtieth anniversary special! Honestly, this has blown my mind and must go down as one of the best books I've ever read. The format was just incredible and I know the Target books are renowned for often going beyond what we saw on television, but this was just something else entirely! The whole use of the Toymaker and him actually becoming the author for a large chunk was sheer poetry. It was so good. I loved that even as a reader we got to play some games with a word search and maze thrown in as standalone moves! And with the sequence where Donna is lost in the corridors within the toyshop, we get a Decide Your Destiny type few chapters. Of course, I just read each move in order but even that had its benefits as Move 24 was just wonderful. There was no possible way to reach that move and yet it addressed the reader as cheating! It was marvellous. The follow on from Wild Blue Yonder was nicely done and the ending of that episode was reprised here which was good, and it was lovely to get a few extra scenes with Wilf which we sadly weren't able to get on television due to the ill health of Bernard Cribbins. It's really lovely how much the Doctor's love and admiration for Wilf was conveyed in the book. Right down to the mole force fields. Just gorgeous. I feel like so much happens in this book that the blog entry is going to be all over the place as I just don't know where to start. The use of the Toymaker is magnificent and I love the way the accent is written. He flits from German to standard English and it just jumps off the page in an engaging way. The little flashback to The Celestial Toymaker and how the First Doctor defeated the Toymaker originally was nicely done and I loved that Steven and Dodo were also mentioned as the companions of that adventure, with a cheeky jab on the latter also having all the accents included. This story sees the return of Kate as the head of UNIT and I love the addition of the scene where the Third Doctor picked her up from school in Bessy whilst the Brigadier was busy. Exploring a little of her everyday life was also a nice touch as it can't be easy heading up an organisation like UNIT. Now it was out in the open after her father worked so hard to keep it secret, but that's where UNIT belonged. Her demonstration of the Zeedex was also just as good in prose as it was on screen. Something I was very intrigued to see novelised was the incredible Spice Girls musical number, but this was something else entirely to what I could have anticipated! It seems the lyrics were the subject of copyright and couldn't be reproduced in the page, much to the chagrin of the Toymaker who it was suggested had the band members trapped in the song itself. Toying with the realm of the Toymaker and the Rules of Play was full of potential and the book really exploited that to its benefit. And now we get to the bi-generation which was just full of fun. I liked the differentiating between the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors by Old and New Doctor, and the thoughts of the Toymaker with his disappointment and not regenerating in the traditional manner was delightful. He would be outnumbered in his game of catch and there was nothing to say this was against the rules. After all it was the same person who challenged him! The explanation of bi-generation was enough and didn't go into excruciating detail which was the right move in my opinion. It was also explained really well just how exhausted the Fourteenth Doctor was. As if the incredible 'Well that's alright then!' puppet performance wasn't enough, the toil of recent adventures from The Power of the Doctor to Liberation of the Daleks to The Star Beast and beyond had all been within a fifteen hour spell. Talk about a short incarnation! And yet this Doctor would live a life. An everyday life. He'd use the money from his time at UNIT to buy a house for himself and friends. That was a lovely addition. The Toymaker was defeated emphatically and I enjoyed the final chapter of game over perhaps pointing to him returning one day, but his legions would be coming. There was an intriguing emphasis on The One Who Waits, and of course whose are those red-nailed fingers picking up the tooth containing the Master? So many questions and yet such finality. The Fifteenth Doctor moves on to new adventures but this feels like such a lovely end for the Fourteenth Doctor. A new era begins. Overall, a truly magnificent read. 

Rating: 10/10