Heart of Stone

"Whatever that thing touches turns to moon rock."

Writer: Trevor Baxendale

Format: Audio

Released: February 2011

Series: 2in1 1b

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

A single touch could turn you to stone... forever!

The Doctor, Amy and Rory are surprised to discover moonrocks scattered around a farm. But things get even stranger when they discover where the moon rock is coming from – a Rock Man is turning everything he touches to stone! Can the Doctor, Amy and Rory find out what the creature wants before it's too late?

Verdict

Heart of Stone was an excellent story to conclude my reading of the first 2in1 novel during the Eleventh Doctor era! After a really solid start in the form of Death Riders, turning the book over meant for an even better read which was just terrific. I really liked the sense of mystery that came from this story and I think being set on a farm and predominantly at night really helped create an enigmatic atmosphere. It was just enthralling and the pace was frantic. This couldn't really be more different than the first release in how it had thirty-two chapters! The pages absolutely flew by which is a compliment to my enjoyment of the story, but it did feel like we were building things up and getting ready for more cliffhangers with very quick succession. The characterisation for Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor in particular was excellent and I loved the dynamic captured with Amy and Rory as well. The banter was there and I loved how even Rory introduced he and his wife as Mr and Mrs Pond. He's finally getting it! I thought the Rock Man, or Athrocite as he later came to be known, was an intriguing element of the story and I really liked the concept of everything he touched becoming moon rock. That's quite the ability and at first it seemed accidental which was interesting, but by the end of the book he was on a rampage to try and speed up the instability he had and make the process faster. The threat it provided was terrific though and that was seen with Ralph Conway being turned to stone. The emotional torment that his daughter Jessica went through was extreme, especially when her partner Chris left up and ran away. The Doctor could tell right from his discussion about moon rock and the impossibility of everything that he knew more than he was letting on, but he was actually luring the Rock Man away from his fiancee. I thought his scientific background was good and it was fun to see him come up against the Doctor when it came to professional knowledge. He was certainly qualified! His experimentation with fragments of rock from the moon was certainly interesting stuff and the ultraviolet exposure had woken up an alien bacteria that was nearly four billion years old. That really was quite something! I liked the explanation and the UV light having woke up the bacteria really worked well. It was a lengthy passage of time to stay dormant but now the alien bacteria had awoken. The connection to the meteorite was good and whilst I won't pretend to have any kind of credence when it comes to scientific knowledge, it all seemed very logical! It also provided a really simple resolution by the end. I thought the Rock Man growing in confidence and almost swagger was good and the chapter cliffhanger of the Doctor being turned to rock was sensational! I thought it was brilliant to touch upon how dangerous this was and the potential for him to literally break into pieces was sublime. Would that be feasible for a regeneration? Of course, that is redundant in this incarnation but at the time of release we weren't aware of the War Doctor's existence so it's something fun to think about. I thought Ralph gaining some sort of movement was good and the way he turned Hoggett to stone for purely being annoying was magnificent. He was tiresome by the end which was absolutely the point of his character. I liked the resolution in how simple it was with the Doctor and Rory taking the meteorite back to the moon broke the connection and everything moon rock reverted back to normal. I was impressed the TARDIS key still worked when that was moon rock! It was also fun for the sonic to be rendered useless with that happening too. Rory had a strong relationship with Jess which was nice and I liked how she knew Amy was lucky whilst getting her own relationship back on track. Chris was more welcomed now by Ralph and he'd agreed to move to the farm rather than get involved with the tricky questions back in his science lab with what had happened. I was worried at the start that this would feel like a cheap imitation of the Weeping Angels, but thankfully this was a rather brilliant read with no such occurrence. Overall, just excellent! 

Rating: 9/10