The Time Crocodile

"How did a crocodile get to be smart enough to have thoughts to express?"

Writer: Colin Brake

Format: Novel

Released: July 2007

Series: DYD 03

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha

Synopsis

The space zoo isn't like any zoo you've ever visited on Earth. For a start, some of the animals can talk! Explore the zoo and work out who can be trusted and who has a hidden agenda...

Verdict

The Time Crocodile was a terrific little read to continue my sporadic reading around the Decide Your Destiny series! It actually feels quite horrifying to think that these books were starting to be released eighteen years ago now as that just doesn't feel possible. I really do tend to forget that I am now twenty-eight years old and probably shouldn't be spending my time reading the DYD range, but I'm a completist! I'll get there eventually I hope. With everything. If it's possible. But with a newborn in the house and taking advantage of her nap lasting out of the car and into the house, I pounced to the bookshelf for a quick read and the DYD series is perfect for that. I mean, it is difficult to judge just how quick the read will be as who knows what direction you will be taken as the reader, but I have a good idea. It was not more than fifteen minutes so that worked perfectly for me. I was intrigued by the name of the story and it definitely sounds like something that would appeal to the younger target audience. I also like the idea of a space zoo and when the reader becomes an unnamed character in the story, that's an exciting place to venture to. It's never implied how old of a kid you are which I think is the correct move, but I tended to think of the character that I was in making the decisions as around 11-12 years old. With that in mind, I was surprised when one of the choices requiring a decision was whether you landed under or on top of Martha when the TARDIS took a wild swing! Especially with her blushing as she got off. I can't even remember what I chose now but either option seemed positive. The meeting of the Time Crocodile was good and I loved how both us as the reader along with Martha were stunned when he started talking. I mean, even in a space zoo I'd be pretty shocked to be conversing with a crocodile! The Doctor was on the get go from the off in trying to work out what had happened with Professor Thomas Morrow's experiment going wrong. He knew straight away that it wasn't just a mistake of the DNA with Morrow being a geneticist. The proximity of the space station that housed the zoo to a weak spot in the fabric of the universe and seeing parts of the Time Vortex leak out was good and quite the logical explanation really! I thought it was quite amusing that one of the choices was basically to accept if you understood the explanation or not. It sounded all good to me so I went with yes. I am intrigued to read the TARDIS Wiki entry for this book because it gives hints at the routes I did not take, such as numerous alternative names for the Time Crocodile. Especially considering I didn't read any of them! Also a tortoise called Kyle? He sounds quite fun and whacky so it's a shame I never got to meet him. I thought the way the Doctor used the TARDIS to materialise around the Time Crocodile and essentially sever the time connection was good and just as Martha was showing despair thinking the creature was gone, he was just an ordinary crocodile now within the pen. That was a nice touch and it was good that everything ended nicely. I liked how comforting Martha was as a character too and she really made the reader feel welcomed. She encouraged the Doctor to give him a trip and was just a really nice companion. Overall, a great little read!  

Rating: 8/10