::Review:: Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I have a confession, I am a Whovian. I’ve even turned other people onto the show—my husband proposed to me during an episode. I’ve watched the show since childhood. When I was offered the opportunity to review a Dr Who book, I jumped at the chance.

Doctor Who and Clara read a strange energy spike and land the TARDIS in late 19^th century London. There have been a rash of mysterious deaths, the only thing tying the victims together is the mysterious Carnival of Curiosities. Soon, the two are working with some old friends to solve the mystery—before any more bodies pile up.

Justin Richards does a great job of pulling in viewers of the show, as well as those fans of Doctor Who in the past (saving a spoiler from a plot point). I’ve not yet seen Capaldi as the Doctor, yet I was very intrigued by the writing style of Richards.

The Doctor, in any form, is stunning in my opinion. In Silhouette, we see this version’s idiosyncratic behavior—however the way he processes things shows he is still The Doctor. I enjoyed the character of Clara, despite having heard things about the show portrayal that lead me not to be so excited about that character (Where is Donna when we need her?).

Fans of the show will love the appearances by Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax. I adore the Sontarans, for some weird reason, and this is why Silhouette does not disappoint. We see plenty of Strax and get to hear him interact exactly as expected. Even those ‘extra’ characters in the books make a real impression on the reader. I was invested in what happened to those extras and wanted to know what happened before I finished/closed the book—I was not disappointed.

As I’ve said, Justin Richards does a great job of creating a visual and believable representation of the Doctor Who ‘verse in Silhouette. Fans of the series can appreciate this, as well as people not too familiar with the series—there is a little bit of backtracking, but not distractingly so.

I’m not so blessed to live in England, or to have access to BBC or BBC America, so there are times when I have ‘Doctor Droughts.’ Random Houses’ Broadway Books imprint makes those of us waiting on new Who to have a little bit of our favorite physician at all times, in perfect episode-sized bites.

This book is available in ebook and physical paperback from Broadway Books from most retailers. It released on September 9, 2014. It is 256 pages and can be found at your favorite retailer by searching under ISBN: 978-0804140881