A review by zmull
Doctor Who: At Childhood's End by Sophie Aldred

3.0

Let me just start by saying I love Ace and I think Sophie Aldred is just great. Like a lot of Doctor Who fans I was excited to hear that Aldred was writing (sort of) her first novel and that it would feature her TV character Ace meeting the Thirteenth Doctor (as played by Jodie Whitaker). I tend to forget these books have plots until I start reading them and have the realization, "Oh yeah, there's going to some dumb aliens and a bunch of shouting and running," getting in the way of what I really want, which is hanging out with the best companion from the classic series and the newest Doctor. So, yeah, there's a plot. Is it good? Not really. Which leaves us with the point of the whole thing, Ace and the Doctor. Ace isn't just the best companion from the classic series, she makes up half of the best Doctor/companion pairing with Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. Not only do the two actors have great chemistry together, but the characters themselves spark off each other. Ace is young and impulsive. Seven is sly and manipulative. They love each other, but Ace is wary of him and the Doctor is aloof with her. In At Childhood's End, Ace, now going by her given name Dorothy, is fifty years old and quite sly herself. The new Doctor on the other hand is now a much warmer, seemingly younger woman. And sadly the chemistry is mostly gone. Ace is still angry at her Doctor for the way he treated her in the past. But very little of that sticks to the Thirteenth Doctor. These two old friends barely seem to know one another. It's disappointing. The modern companions don't do much better. Yaz has a character arc dealing with the insecurities that Ace triggers in her. Ryan and Graham are basically interchangeable here. (Speaking of Graham, Sophie Aldred narrates the audio version and does a great job with all of the characters, except for Graham. His part is so generic and Aldred sounds so little like him that I'd often forget he was in a scene and wonder who was speaking.) I said that Aldred "sort of" wrote this because it was done in collaboration with Mike Tucker and Steve Cole, two Doctor Who-lit pros. Neither of them have ever wowed me and unfortunately this book doesn't change that.