Book #81 of 2026: Doctor Who: Lucifer Rising by Andy Lane and Jim Mortimer (Virgin New Adventures #14) The longest entry in its series so far is also one of the best, delivering a militaristic space opera that in many ways presages later adventures in the franchise such as The Impossible Planet / The Satan …
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Book #59 of 2026: Doctor Who: Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans (Virgin New Adventures #13) One of the better entries that I’ve read in this 90s spinoff series so far, and especially notable for a few fun developments on the side. First, this is the sole VNA novel written by editor Peter Darvill-Evans, and so offers …
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Book #37 of 2026: Doctor Who: The Pit by Neil Penswick (Virgin New Adventures #12) This Doctor Who novel is so bad that it had me looking back over previous stories I’ve rated as three-out-of-five stars, wondering if I’d been too harsh on them. It’s both overstuffed and incredibly disjointed, offering not so much a …
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Book #15 of 2026: Doctor Who: The Highest Science by Gareth Roberts (Virgin New Adventures #11) Author Gareth Roberts hasn’t had any fiction published professionally for almost a decade, ever since falling down the same transphobic pipeline as J. K. Rowling. (I can’t say how much of that is by choice versus industry blacklist, though …
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Book #196 of 2025: Doctor Who: Transit by Ben Aaronovitch (Virgin New Adventures #10) This cyberpunk / cosmic horror mashup is big on worldbuilding texture but light on plot and character work. The worst thing about it, though, stems from its place in the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures series, as the first installment with …
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Book #174 of 2025: Doctor Who: Love and War by Paul Cornell (Virgin New Adventures #9) The New Adventures series of Doctor Who novels, put out by Virgin Publishing after the TV show went off the air in 1989, has until now played somewhat safe with its core premise. The Seventh Doctor and Ace were …
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Book #152 of 2025: Doctor Who: Nightshade by Mark Gatiss (Virgin New Adventures #8) Mark Gatiss is a true Doctor Who multihyphenate, having written nine scripts for the revived post-2005 series and appeared as an actor in another five episodes (with one overlap, in the uncredited cameo role of a spitfire pilot in his own …
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Book #130 of 2025: Doctor Who: Cat’s Cradle: Witch Mark by Andrew Hunt (Virgin New Adventures #7) A continuation (and end) of the Cat’s Cradle arc solely in that the TARDIS remains largely out of commission while it finishes its repairs, thereby stranding Ace and the Seventh Doctor in modern rural Wales. There they proceed …
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Book #108 of 2025: Doctor Who: Cat’s Cradle: Warhead by Andrew Cartmel (Virgin New Adventures #6) Andrew Cartmel served as the script editor for the last three seasons of Classic Doctor Who (1987-1989), which were also the years that produced the final protagonist team of the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace. The author thus …
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Book #86 of 2025: Doctor Who: Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible by Marc Platt (Virgin New Adventures #5) The first four books in this sequel series to Classic Doctor Who formed a loose quartet, and this next one purportedly starts a new trilogy. It’s pretty standalone, however, and ultimately one of those stories that I think …
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