Ruby Red

"The parasites are coming from under the ice!"

Writer: Georgia Cook

Format: Novel

Released: June 2024

Series: NSA 66

Featuring: Fifteenth Doctor, Ruby

Synopsis

April, 1242: the Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call sent from medieval Russia. The signal's sender? Ranavere, an alien girl forced to take part in a barbaric conflict between the armies of Estonia and Novgorod on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus. 

Ranavere wants to escape, but her distress call has summoned her warmongering sisters, intent on preserving family tradition whatever the cost. And as human battle begins, the Doctor and Ruby must face a more devastating threat – a monstrous entity with plans of conquest, growing stronger beneath the icy lake...

Verdict

Ruby Red was a decent novel to kick off the prose adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby! I think it's very exciting to be getting a brand new trio of books for the current TARDIS team as I think that's something that was lacking during the Thirteenth Doctor era after her first series, so it's nice to get some alignment across the different forms of media. It's also lovely that this book is actually released whilst the series is still being broadcast as that gives it more of a sense of a genuine feel in my eyes. The pace of the televised series has been quite rapid but I could definitely see this adventure slotting in on screen towards the earlier half. I thought the setting was very unique and that really excited me. It's safe to say I knew absolutely nothing about thirteenth century Estonia but the way we learned about the Battle on the Ice was very good. I found it intriguing and that concept in of itself is exciting! There was a strong educational value and it was good that Ranavere was thrown into the Estonian and Novgorod conflict. The ritual of her people was a pretty dire one to be honest in that on their sixteenth birthday they were thrust into a random battle to see if they could survive. Sure, Ran was put on the winning side but that wasn't exactly much solace amidst a conflict where many thousands lost their lives! I thought the personality of Ran was really strong and I liked that it was her who sent the distress signal. It wasn't only the TARDIS that picked it up though which was fun. I really loved the continuity of having the TARDIS with some indigestion problems making a few groans given the Sutekh reveal in The Legend of Ruby Sunday, and that tied in nicely with the humorous line on the coffee filters not working. Roast potato flavour beverages didn't sound good at all! I thought the emergence of the Genetrix was pretty good with it being housed beneath the ice and animating the likes of wolves with its ruby red eye look. That did seem to get slightly forgotten about as the story went on, but the threat Ruby faced of possessed wolves was a pretty frightening one! I wouldn't fancy that, especially on ice. Learning of the history between the Rentaran race with the Genetrix was good and I liked the threat of infection. It was a big scale and the latter race was nearly obliterated. It was good for them to challenge the Doctor on seemingly helping the Rentarans when they were deemed to have enacted genocide, but the Doctor wouldn't let that happen. He also wouldn't be letting the Genetrix take over the Earth with infection. The parasites seemed a bit useless though despite the threat as one was caught somewhat easily and then they weren't doing much when in the waters. I did think the underwater sequences were stretched a little beyond the realms of believability, especially with Ruby coming back up and hitting the ice. She firmly believed she was going to die which was powerful stuff, but I can't help but feel she should have. The length of passage just didn't seem like she would be able to hold her breath for that long. And then the TARDIS dropping beneath and creating an air bubble passage felt a little too convenient also. I thought the book was mostly good and there really was some good character development. Ran was not interested in becoming a warrior like her Mother-Commander demanded. She was creative and could create all sorts with a workshop to aid the race instead. She wasn't like her sisters and it was lovely that by the end of the book they could see that also. She wasn't going to fit into the norms of Rentaran society. She couldn't fight. I thought the way the Doctor stopped the Genetrix was a little easy in linking minds and reversing the control, and then just saying he'd pop it off to another planet before it woke up and the Rentaran could question it again. Parley was not going to work here. Overall though, a fun visit to a very unique setting and a more than enjoyable read as a whole! 

Rating: 7/10