Doctor Who: David Tennant’s Doctor takes on death itself in new Time Lord Victorious books
The first steps in the multi-platform story have been revealed.
The first entries in Doctor Who’s mysterious multi-platform Time Lord Victorious project have been revealed, with BBC Books announcing two new novels which will star David Tennant’s Doctor, playing off themes explored in the actor's last year in the role.
In the first book, titled Doctor Who: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead and written by Steve Cole, the Tenth Doctor travels back to the Dark Times of the universe to try and prevent death from ever becoming part of life.
In the second, called All Flesh is Grass (and written by Una McCormack) the story deals with the fallout from his actions, with the Doctor coming into contact with his past selves (specifically Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor and Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth) as people around him keep dying.
The two books are set to be released on the 1st of October and 10th of December respectively, and you can read short plot summaries of each below.
Doctor Who: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead by Steve Cole
“We live forever, barring accidents. Just like everyone else in the universe.”
The Doctor travels back to the Dark Times, an era where life flourishes and death is barely known...
Then come the Kotturuh – creatures who spread through the cosmos dispensing mortality. They judge each and every species and decree its allotted time to live. For the first time, living things know the fear of ending. And they will go to any lengths to escape this grim new spectre, death.
The Doctor is an old hand at cheating death. Now, at last, he can stop it at source. He is coming for the Kotturuh, ready to change everything so that life wins from the start. Not just the last of the Time Lords. The Time Lord Victorious.
Doctor Who: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack
“Even a Time Lord can’t change the past.”
A wasteland. A dead world… No, there is a biodome rising from the ashes. Here, life teems and flourishes, with strange, lush plants and many-winged insects with bright carapaces – and one solitary sentient creature, who spends its days talking to the insects and tending this lonely garden. This is Inyit, the Last of the Kotturuh.
In All Flesh is Grass we are transported back to The Dark Times. The Tenth Doctor has sworn to stop the Kotturuh, ending death and bringing life to the universe. But his plan is unravelling – instead of bringing life, nothing has changed and all around him people are dying. Death is everywhere. Now he must confront his former selves – one in league with their greatest nemesis and the other manning a ship of the undead…
So far it’s unclear exactly how this massive Time Lord Victorious story will spool out, with more entries expected in the realms of audio drama, Virtual Reality gaming, comics and more – but clearly, it’s already off to an intriguing start.
Doctor Who: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead and Doctor Who: All Flesh is Grass cost £9.99, and are available for pre-order here and here
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.