The King's Dragon
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BBC Books The King's Dragon |
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| Author | Brian Minchin |  |
| ISBN | 1 846 07990 0 | |
| Published | 2010 |
| Synopsis: In the city-state of Geath, the King lives in a golden hall, and the people want for nothing. Everyone is happy and everyone is rich. Or so it seems. When the Doctor, Amy and Rory look beneath the surface, they discover a city of secrets. In dark corners, strange creatures are stirring. At the heart of the hall, a great metal dragon oozes gold. |
A Review by Jamie Beckwith 16/4/12
This was my first Eleventh Doctor novel. I will freely admit that chosing it as the first was determined by the fact that the fanzine I write for (Free plug! - The Terrible Zodin) had secured an interview with author Una McCormack, but I do also own one of her Deep Space Nine novels which I enjoyed.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the Eleventh Doctor in print. Like the Second Doctor, so much of his performance is the physical; the shifting eyebrows, the baby giraffe gait, the hands all over the place. However, McCormack captures it perfectly as there is the constant sense that not only does her Doctor sound right, but he moved right, an impressive feat given we're talking about prose. Also well-captured are companions Amy Pond (with insight in to her insecurities and abandonment issues from childhood) and Rory (who is also quite a physical character).
The story is simple but not simplistic and echoes the fairytale feel of the Moffat season as we have a storybook town with a castle made of gold and natives in the sort of timeless psuedo medieval garb that they seem to have in such stories. Oh and there's a dragon of course!
I read the book almost in one sitting on a Saturday where very unusually I was working. The reason for that was to do with the bureaucracy of my job so I couldn't help but raise a wry smile at the scenes towards the end of the book where the Doctor leaves the fairytale world below and has to deal with space bureaucrats. And Amy makes sure to steal a space pen for Rory.
All in all, a great start for my experience of the Eleventh Doctor in print. Whilst I was a bit concerned that the size of the books have grown but the amount of pages seems to have shrunk, implying they're being aimed at an even younger audience still, as with the best children's novels they don't patronise and are thus rewarding for us tie-wearing accountants who also wish we had a space pen.