A collection of short stories about the Doctor's time on the planet Trenzalore. Trenzalore was one of the more audacious conceits of the modern Doctor Who series. Featured in only one episode, The Time of the Doctor, it is implied that the Doctor spent 900 years defending the planet while waiting for his final death, having run out of regenerations. One consequence of this idea is that the Doctor spent about the same amount of time defending Trenzalore as he did Earth. The Doctor was supposedly about 1200 years old at the start of the episode, and he was 236 when he left Gallifrey, that means slightly less than 1000 years defending Earth. It also means that the entire body of Doctor Who adventures: TV, audios, novels, and comic books combined are roughly equal to the length of time he spent on Trenzalore.

Mountains of material could be written about the Doctor's time on Trenzalore, but if these stories are anything to go by it is probably not worth the effort. The stories are not bad, but given the constraints of the short format, the fact that we already know the start and the finish of the Doctor's time on Trenzalore, and the rather dull nature of Trenzalore itself, there is not a whole lot that the stories can accomplish. The stories feature four old enemies of the Doctor taken from the classic days of the series; the Ice Warriors from the 2nd Doctor's time, the Krynoid from the 4th Doctor, the Autons from the 3rd Doctor and subsequent appearances, and finally the Mara from the 5th Doctor. This is not a spoiler as all four are pictured on the book cover.

There are a lot of plot points from the episode that could have been expanded on or explained in this book but were not. Nothing about how the Silence changed from being invaders of Earth to being a religious order. Nothing about the crack in the universe that allowed Clara to contact the Time Lords, only a reference to Handles the Doctor's pet Cyberman head, not even a mention of Tasha Lem and her relationship with the Doctor. The whole thing feels kind of rushed, like they wanted to get something published before Trenzalore was forgotten. I hope in the future we will get more War Doctor material and not more Trenzalore.

Tales of Trenzalore is a collection of four stories that attempt to give a little more insight into the life of the Doctor during the centuries-long siege of Trenzalore. These are very lightweight adventures, just a few notches above the little vignettes that appeared in The Name of the Doctor (the wooden Cyberman, the Sontarans in the invisible vehicle). Essentially, they attempt to give readers an idea of the continual struggle between the Doctor and the various alien races that forever try and fail to reignite the Time War. Of course, since we know the Doctor lives beyond Trenzalore, it isn’t a spoiler to say that each story ends with the Doctor victorious.

Let it Snow by Justin Richards

An “invasion” (if four is an invasion) of Ice Warriors threatens to bury the town of Christmas. This one had an interesting introductory sequence and a nice plot twist, though the Warriors themselves were incredibly underwhelming.

An Apple a Day by George Mann

An old-fashioned monster chase, this one sees a Krynoid- a flesh-eating, plant-based life form- land in one of the few heated spaces on the planet and attempt to consume all the living things on Trenzalore. The Doctor works with a young boy, Theol, to save the day. The less recognizable foe was a nice touch, though the solution could be seen a mile away. (This author also wrote the full-length Engines of War, featuring the War Doctor).

Strangers in the Outland by Paul Finch

We finally see a little bit more of what Trenzalore is like outside of the town of Christmas, as a lone trapper and his daughter find trouble in the subarctic tundra miles away from civilization. This one brought back a foe that we haven’t seen since the earliest days of the New Series, and the Doctor’s battle with them felt a little weightier than the preceding two.

The Dreaming by Mark Morris

An enemy familiar to fans of the Fifth Doctor makes an appearance, threatening to destroy Christmas from the inside. This one had a very Tommyknockers/pod people feeling, and seemed to be resolved the quickest, though the menace felt the most powerful of the four.

Taken all together, the stories are fun but not terribly substantial. We know that many, many instances like these had to have occurred over the centuries the Doctor spent defending the town of Christmas, and most of them had to have been fairly undramatic, as he survived for so long. It’s a nice read if you’re looking to bridge that gap in the timeline, and it does make The Name of the Doctor feel a little more substantial in retrospect, but none of them felt particularly memorable. Recommended if you just can’t let go of Eleven and need a few more adventures to help you along.

(Cross-posted at Goodreads: Tales of Trenzalore)

During the siege of Trenzalore, all races in Time and Space gather to keep The Doctor from saying his name and bringing the Time Lords back. From the episode "The Time of the Doctor", we know that The Doctor stays in the town of Christmas to protect the people living there from attacks from above. During the 900 years that The Doctor acts as the savior, snippets of his adventures are shown in the episode, but there is so much more to tell.

And so Tales of Trenzalore is born. A book to tell a few more tales of The Doctor and the people of Christmas. The legacy of The Doctor's life.. and perhaps you may say death... on the planet that he is foretold to protect until his time is over.

The four stories contained in this book explore the actions of four different races (aka monsters) who have come to kill The Doctor and keep him from forever saying his name. The wonderful thing about this book is that the enclosed stories read as if you were watching an episode of Doctor Who... you can see The Doctor in the words on the page, imagining him running around in the snow with his sonic screwdriver. If you're a Doctor Who fan and want to read more about Trenzalore, I highly recommend picking up this book if you can find it.

I read this book courtesy of netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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I haven't been able to find a kindle version of this book, however you can pick up a paperback at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1849908443/?tag=shasworofboo-20.

If you enjoyed my review, I would appreciate if you could mark it as being helpful on Amazon as well, as this is useful to both the reviewer and the author. I have included the link to the Amazon review in the Source section at the bottom of this review.

Well, nice to see the autons make an appearance. Haven't seen them since Autonomy (New Series #35).

Two stories down, two to go. I guess not all confrontations with the Doctor will be as complicated as an episode, but some alien invaders are really bad at everything. This book does remind me that I need to go back and watch Name of the Doctor again.