Doctor Who: The American Adventures

Doctor Who: The American Adventures by Justin Richards. October 25, 2016. Penguin Group (UK), 192 p. $14.99 ISBN: 978-1405928724.

“Travel through time and space with the Twelfth Doctor in these six brand new adventures, set in a host of locations across the US and eras from throughout US history.

An invisible spacecraft turns up at the Battle of New Orleans, an alien presence is detected at the 1944 D-Day landings, and ghosts take over New York’s subway tunnels as they’re being dug in the early 1900s…

Filled with mystery, excitement and the Doctor’s trademark wit, these timeywimey stories will delight any Doctor Who fan.” — Publisher’s Description

I have to start off by saying that I love Doctor Who.  I have for a very, very, very long time.  I am one of those kids who used to live for Saturday nights and tune into PBS to watch the funny talking man fight monsters in rubber suits with hokey special effects.  As I grew older, I came to appreciate the stories more and more and in fact, was able to appreciate the rubber effects even moreso.  I was devestated in 1989 when the Doctor left me, and was beyone ecstatic when he came to FOX, and then again to the BBC for his current run.

What was able to get me through the downtime were the books and audio adventures, especially the books.  I loved reading everything Who and still do, although taking on more adult responsibilities I have much less time.  When I came across the opportunity to try Doctor Who: The American Adventures, however, I made time and you should too!

Written primarily for children and tweens (the publisher recommends ages 9-12), Doctor Who: The American Adventures is not very deep or technical, and it does not need to be.  Six separate adventures see the twelfth (presumably, since it’s not specified in any real way) Doctor jumping in and out of American history, anywhere from 1846 to 2017 and taking on baddies to right wrongs.  Each story is complete and stands alone from the others in the book and anything on the televised series or other materials.  These are perfect for getting a younger reader immersed in a little history, a lot of science fiction, and the wonderful universe of Doctor Who.

Author Justin Richards is very well-versed in writing Who, having penned several novels already, including a few of the old Missing and New Adventures I came to know and love and it clearly comes through in each of his stories here.  There’s the perfect mash of rollicking adventure, action, and technical science (though to a lesser extent).  They are very reminiscent of the short stories that used to appear in Doctor Who Magazine and make for very quick, easy reading.

I highly recommend this collection to any Doctor Who fan, but remind you to remember the intended audience for this collection of stories is children and young adults.  If you are looking for the hard-hitting, technical interwoven plotline type of stories, you won’t find them here, but you will have lots of fun!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the Penguin Group (UK), Smith Publicity and Justin Richards for the opportunity to read and review Doctor Who: The American Adventures.

Four of Five Stars

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