The Ashes of Pompeii

"You invaded my volcano.!"

Writer: Janelle McCurdy

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2025

Printed in: The Adventures After 06

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis

Discover what happened after...

A remarkable collection of new Doctor Who short stories that give a glimpse into the moments just after the Doctor saves the world, and the credits roll.

The Doctor has had many adventures, visited many planets and made a whole host of friends (and some enemies). 

But if you thought it was all over after the TARDIS doors closed, and the time ship dematerialised, onto the next adventure, you'd be very much mistaken.

From Earth's past, present and future, to the furthest reaches of the universe, here are eight tales that give us a glimpse into the worlds the Doctor left behind. Sometimes triumph, sometimes tragedy (and always chaos) these are stories you'll never forget.

Verdict

The Ashes of Pompeii was a great short story to continue my way through The Adventures After collection of sequels! Following on from The Fires of Pompeii is a superb choice to do a sequel for as that episode has so much impact and immediately sets the tone for Donna of what life in the TARDIS will be like. She got a taste in The Runaway Bride and then as we saw throughout Partners in Crime she was craving it after initially rejecting the offer to become companion, but here we continue to see her feeling the full extent of when things aren't so easy sailing. I thought that was established well although I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it being an immediate sequel as in this story takes place directly after Fires. If the TARDIS hadn't fully departed I think it would have worked even better, but it does still have that emotional appeal as after everything they've just been through and the toll that takes on Donna knowing that to even pull out one family from a fixed point in time took so much persuasion and angst from the Doctor, that they immediately returned after the volcano had erupted and as the title suggests were surrounded by ash. That was a daunting thought to think that the ash could literally be the people they had interacted with just a few hours. Poor old Donna, at such an early point in her travels! I thought the concept of the Granite was pretty intriguing and getting a species as something that was literally Mother Nature was quite incredible! I loved the Granite's reaction to hearing that her place had been named as Pompeii as there really is something majestic in that name for a location that is so incredibly high on my bucket list. I've only been on Italian soil for two hours on a layover in Milan airport en route to Yerevan, Armenia and there's just so much of the country that is on my bucket list. Pompeii is incredibly high on that list and getting further Doctor Who stories there is brilliant. It was really intriguing at the end of the story to have Ava dropped off in Pompeii during the eighteenth century as I really am fascinated to think what that might have been like! A few centuries off the city being inhabitable but she admired its beauty and that's great. I thought she was a strong character who fostered a good relationship with the Doctor an Donna despite them being obviously shaken by such a swift return to a place rife with emotion. They almost couldn't believe they had to fight to save lives again in such terrible surroundings, but at least a little bit of the pressure was off in that regard because the volcano had already erupted. The Granite needing to remember itself to form the link back with Ava and tackle the last remaining Pyrovile was interesting and I didn't expect to have one survivor, but it does make sense given the situation and the nature of a volcano! I think the imagery of them as a monster is excellent and I think perhaps a tad more could have been made of them being pretty monstrous! But I guess they had lost a lot of themselves with the rest of the race going. I did disagree with the Doctor's comments about genocide to the Granite because he didn't know there was a survivor so surely letting the actions of the volcano occur meant he had done the same thing because I doubt they were part of the fixed point in time element? Regardless, matters were taken out of the Doctor's hands here and he doesn't like that. The forewarning of events to come in The Stolen Earth was excellent and really fit in nicely with then overall series arc. This slots in nicely before Planet of the Ood and I must say is one of my all time favourite story titles. So it's a good job it's a great little read! 

Rating: 8/10