The Gingerbread Trap

"How could a star fall from the heavens?"

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Short Story

Released: August 2026

Printed in: Time Lord Fairy Tales 09

Featuring: Krillitane

Synopsis

We are all stories in the end...

Sixteen tales of ancient wonder and mystery, passed down through generations of Time Lords. 

Dark, beautiful and twisted, these stories are filled with nightmarish terrors and heroic triumphs from across all of time and space.

Verdict

The Gingerbread Trap was a great little adventure to continue my way through the Time Lord Fairy Tales collection of short stories! This was a terrific take on Hansen and Gretel and whilst it did take a little bit of time to get going which isn't always what you want in a short story format with only sixteen pages to play around with, it was worth the buildup. I really wasn't sure where things were going for the first few pages and how the Whoniverse was going to tie in, but it was done really nicely. I can't say that I am overly familiar with the real life fairytale that this story is based on, but I think knew just about enough to appreciate how that was basically merged with School Reunion to create this adventure. I think that's fun and it just works. Sure, it has a few similarities but the goal of the Krillitanes is essentially the same, just on a smaller scale. The individual Krillitane here wasn't exactly out for universal domination and control, but still we had children being fed the Krillitane oil to enhance their intelligence and solve something ordinary beyond their capabilities on a computer. I really liked that and it's good that the Krillitanes have a set method, even if past hit rates aren't entirely successful! The amalgamation of the gingerbread house and it actually being a cage to trap Malkus and Everlyne was really good and I thought they made a brilliant little sibling pairing. I could relate to the cuteness and closeness of their relationship as my own son and daughter are really starting to bond and play on a similar sort of level. My boy is five and full of energy whereas my girl is starting to come out of her shell a lot now as she is a few months off turning two. They're wonderful together and I just love watching them enjoy each other's company and that seemed to also be the case for siblings featured here. They had such a strong bond and that was just pleasant to read. They cared for one another greatly and wouldn't do anything without the other or that would jeopardise them. It was all rather sweet so it was pretty ironic for them to be trapped within a gingerbread house that was actually a cell masquerading in the perfect disguise. The pair seeing the Krillitane fluctuate between a bat and an old woman was really good and I like how the truth was seeping through in small flickers. It was just enough for Malkus and Everlyne to realise that not everything was quite as it seemed. I thought that was played out very nicely and Malkus realising the significance of the oil was good. As a reader, we've obviously seen the impact of that oil on the Krillitanes so as soon as he made that link, we knew the end was near. And I rather enjoyed how the story didn't linger from there. We knew what was coming and the siblings just got on with it when it came to the oil cans. Fried potatoes to get the job done indeed! Overall, a really good little story that paid homage to a wonderful on screen episode and turned it into a fairytale. A great read.

Rating: 8/10