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A review by annauq
Doctor Who: At Childhood's End by Sophie Aldred, Stephen Cole, Mike Tucker
3.0
I would give this four stars but I can't bring myself to because WHY WOULD YOU WRITE ACE AS STRAIGHT WHY
Anyway aside from the aggressive heterosexuality the characters display, this book is actually a pretty enjoyable read. The alien plot is a bit generic 'theyre bad oh no wait maybe they arent', but it is well-executed and the plethora of good character moments more than make up for it.
Ace as a multi-millionaire CEO of a charity instead of, you know, a queer anti-capitalist community activist, also isn't exactly inspired, but I'm just gonna chalk that one up to pre-established lore and get on with it.
So yeah, where the book really shines is in the interactions between the Fam, Thirteen and Ace, and in particular Ace and/or Fam calling out Thirteen. "The Doctor has no problems using weapons of mass destruction when it suits her" is quite possibly one of my favourite character call-outs, right up there with Rory's "you make people so dangerous around themselves" and Martha's "stand too close and people get burned". Coming from Ace? Delicious, delicious stuff.
Ace and Yaz seeing parallels in each other and finding it difficult to get on is not something I'd personally thought of, but I loved it. Only wish it'd had been explored further: Ace tells Yaz she dislikes cops bc the cops did dick all when her (girl)friend was murdered by racists, but then Yaz being a (queer) woman of colour and a cop herself isn't really touched upon.
Similarly, the Doctor's astonishingly poor job at parenting Ace is touched on multiple times, and she's definitely called out on it, but it doesn't really resolve itself to a satisfactory point (in my humble opinion, anyway, but then maybe that's because my favourite Doctor Who fanfic ever written is pretty much exactly this book except Ace is gay and she and Eleven take A Lot longer to be okay again).
Still, all in all, I basically listened to this in one sitting, and had a mostly great time while doing so. Can't wait for Thirteen to be held that viciously accountable for her actions in the show itself.
So, tl; dr: fun story, interesting characters and plenty of nods to bygone eras. Shame about the heterosexuality of it all.
Anyway aside from the aggressive heterosexuality the characters display, this book is actually a pretty enjoyable read. The alien plot is a bit generic 'theyre bad oh no wait maybe they arent', but it is well-executed and the plethora of good character moments more than make up for it.
Ace as a multi-millionaire CEO of a charity instead of, you know, a queer anti-capitalist community activist, also isn't exactly inspired, but I'm just gonna chalk that one up to pre-established lore and get on with it.
So yeah, where the book really shines is in the interactions between the Fam, Thirteen and Ace, and in particular Ace and/or Fam calling out Thirteen. "The Doctor has no problems using weapons of mass destruction when it suits her" is quite possibly one of my favourite character call-outs, right up there with Rory's "you make people so dangerous around themselves" and Martha's "stand too close and people get burned". Coming from Ace? Delicious, delicious stuff.
Ace and Yaz seeing parallels in each other and finding it difficult to get on is not something I'd personally thought of, but I loved it. Only wish it'd had been explored further: Ace tells Yaz she dislikes cops bc the cops did dick all when her (girl)friend was murdered by racists, but then Yaz being a (queer) woman of colour and a cop herself isn't really touched upon.
Similarly, the Doctor's astonishingly poor job at parenting Ace is touched on multiple times, and she's definitely called out on it, but it doesn't really resolve itself to a satisfactory point (in my humble opinion, anyway, but then maybe that's because my favourite Doctor Who fanfic ever written is pretty much exactly this book except Ace is gay and she and Eleven take A Lot longer to be okay again).
Still, all in all, I basically listened to this in one sitting, and had a mostly great time while doing so. Can't wait for Thirteen to be held that viciously accountable for her actions in the show itself.
So, tl; dr: fun story, interesting characters and plenty of nods to bygone eras. Shame about the heterosexuality of it all.