Night of the Kraken

"I'm usually in favour of saving as many people as possible."

Writer: Jonathan Green

Format: Novel

Released: April 2016

Series: Choose the Future 01

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor

Synopsis

In 18th-century England, the Twelfth Doctor meets a roguish time-smuggler and faces terrifying creatures from both land and sea. Can the Doctor concoct a last-minute plan to save the world?

Verdict

Night of the Kraken was so close to being a great book! After my recent return to reading some Decide Your Destiny books of the Tenth Doctor era, I have jumped ahead a few years in the library collection to the time of the Twelfth Doctor and something of a revamp of the range with a new twist in the form of Choose the Future. I have to say, on the front of it this was a much better reader experience and I think that is almost entirely down to the fact that as the reader we were influencing the story rather than taking part in it. That really helped and just made it feel more genuine. I still think the issue of what is canonical is problematic in my head now when it comes to these types of stories, but in my choices I primarily went with what I thought the Twelfth Doctor was most likely to do and what just felt right. Unfortunately, my chosen path seemed to be one that almost entirely missed the titular Kraken as a monster! It was such a shame as I was enjoying what I was reading before the Kraken were quickly mentioned as if they'd always been around and before long they were already defeated! I couldn't have been more disappointed really as the book was so promising to begin with and going to the eighteenth century in Cornwall was an exciting setting. There's some strong connections there with the likes of The Smugglers and The Curse of the Black Spot to hark back upon, but unfortunately in my chosen path there was no reference to either. That was a blaring gap in continuity! It was a shame that the Doctor was travelling without Clara here as there was probably slightly too much in terms of the Doctor talking to himself, but that's a necessity in prose. There wouldn't be much to read about otherwise! I thought it was good stuff to have Ravenwood as a character and his being a Time Agent came a little suddenly out of nowhere, but the Doctor wasn't messing around and he wasn't exactly thrilled to be encountering somebody of his nature. The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor here was pretty decent, but considering the release was in 2016 his character was very much fleshed out by this point and I think a little more familiar terminology and actions could have been presented. I thought the format of the story was good although considering the title of the series telling us we could choose the future, there were quite a few sections where we were just told to advance to a different number with no alternative. That seemed a little odd, especially when I had two in a row! I do think though the size of this book is intriguing given that there are literally close to 150 different instalments, and it has led me to wonder just how many different versions of the story there are. I only caught a glimpse of her name in one of the options that was forced as I hadn't met her yet, but it was a shame I didn't get to encounter Bess on my travels through the story. The book really was lacking in characters! That did add to the atmosphere though as it felt very contained despite the smugglers' presence. I thought it was quite amusing that Ravenwood was actually the one to defeat the Kraken but he did so in means that didn't get the approval of the Doctor. He was quite disgusted and left abruptly after the time agent's actions, and I liked that but it was just annoying that I didn't really experience much of the Kraken threat other than being told they were one. There was nothing in terms of action on my respective journey which is a shame as I felt like if I had taken another route I may have enjoyed this book a whole lot more. Nevertheless, this was the route I chose and unfortunately it was disappointing at the finish.

Rating: 6/10