Doctor Who: Summer Falls and Other Stories

Once I started reading the stories, i couldn’t put it down.

I saw a copy of this at my local big box bookstore and decided I didn’t want it because we weren’t yet caught up with the show. However, when Kindle offered it as one of their daily deals, I picked it up because I knew I would be reading it at some point–I LOVE that sometimes Amazon’s daily offers just get me.Amelia Pond, best known as Amy Pond (the girl who waited) from the Who franchise serves up a trio of short stories that make their way as a book into the series (okay, so Justin Williams actually writes the book, but really, that’s just in this timeline). From a small village in England whose summer is ended abruptly to Melody Malone investigating the Angels in Manhattan to a tale including Strax, Madame Vastra and Jenny, Summer Falls and Other Stories does not disappoint Whovians of any age.Summer Falls is a story in which we can see Amy Pond (as a child)–her name is Kate, but the story is completely based on Amy’s childhood. She is entrusted to solve a mystery and save the town she and her mother just moved to, but there are darker, colder forces at play and Kate will need all her wits about her to save the town from eternal winter.The Angel’s Kiss is a thinly-veiled River Song story. In fact, the doctor and River use it within an episode of the series in order to solve a mystery, themselves. The setting is in Manhattan, and features the Weeping Angels, which happen to be one of my favorite Who villains of all time. I especially like that they stuck to the timeline within the episode. However, there are two important chapters that are missing (where the titles were just read) and I think longtime fans will know what I’m talking about.Devil in the Smoke: An Adventure for the Great Detective is the final novella in this grouping, and features Madame Vastra (the Great Detective), Strax and Jenny in victorian-esque London. Two boys stumble upon a snowman that bleeds human blood and set forth a mystery to the likes which Vastra has never seen. And longtime fans will definitely appreciate the way she works the case, along with Strax and Jenny.I liked this book a lot more than I thought I might, and I think it was the perfect read for this dreary week in California. The best books are always read curled up under a blanket in the midst of weather.You can get a copy of this book for yourself in paperback and ebook formats–the stories, themselves are available individually in ebook format from your favorite retailer.

Three very different stories make up the collection in the anthology. I own each story separately on Kindle, but when I saw they had been published together in paperback, I had to have a copy for myself. I'm glad, because there is a forward by Amelia Williams that ties she and Rory to another "traveler/friend"; and there is also an afterward in the form of an interview with Amelia and Rory several years after they had come to the states. Of course, no where in the five pieces is there a direct mention of The Doctor as it is up to us, the reader to claim follow that thread that binds all of these characters into his universe.

These were three entertaining novelettes (large print and really would only have been half as long normally), nothing too complex and little characterization (which for most of the characters was done in shows). Each story has a different writing voice and unique characters with nothing connecting them except for being other adventures tangentially related to Dr. Who episodes. I would say that these would fall solidly into the YA portion of Doctor Who fiction.Summer Falls reads a bit like a lost episode of Dr. Who, where the Doctor is very much not the center of the story. The Angel's Kiss is set before the episode Angels take Manhattan an tells another adventure of Melody Malone (still not explaining why she is there in the first place). Devil in Smoke is everyone's anticipated adventure involving Straxx, Madame Vastra, and Jenny and lives up to the billing.

As an avid Doctor Who fan, I was more than tickled to find this collection. An easy read, but with the excitement and adventure one would expect from the Doctor and their companions!

He had mentioned the stories and it was an opportunity to get all four at a reduced price. His only complaint was that starting the collection with the children's story made the other tales feel out of joint as they are written more for adults. So, if you're giving this to a young Doctor Who fan, you might want to consider giving the "Summer Falls" book as a stand-alone instead of in the anthology.

Absolutely great, my wife is a huge doctor who fan, and freaked out when she realized what this book was from.

If you are not a Doctor Who fan, this will mean nothing to you. If you are a Whovian, however, this is absolutely necessary. Three separate stories, each tied to an episode of Doctor Who and including River Song (Melody Pond or Melody Malone) There is also a preface that is as heart rending as the afterward shown in "The Angels Take Manhattan" and a final interview with Amelia Williams and her husband Rory. Since I am a devoted Whovian, this was a wonderful read. I cannot recommend highly enough.

Good stories about adventure without The Doctor, but inspired by him.(When) Summer falls (the Lord of Winter will arise...) tells the story of Kate who has a cold adventure in her last week (of the summerbreak) before school starts again. Without any help of an adult (except the curator) or Armand and Milo, she alone has to solve the mystery of an old painting to get back to her warm seaside village.In The Angel's kiss Melody Malone (Pond) is a detective specialised in special cases. This case has a movie star and a weeping angel.In The devil in the smoke we meet our Victorian trio of The great detective of Paternoster Row again. This time they have to deal with a snowman, a murder and mysterious smoke. The London fogg will never be the same again. While Vastra and Jenny try to solve this mystery, Strax is being his Sontaran self. Exceting and funny, like the Doctor Who series itself.

And that sums up the three stories perfectly. If you like tales where you get all the answers, where everything is explained then alas, you won't get that here. Things are hinted at, but it's left to the reader to use their imagination and intuition to do the rest.There are clues that one character could be the Doctor himself, judging by what he says and mannerisms, but if so why does he call himself Barnabus and where does the talking cat come from? Is Melody Malone actually River Song? However they are enjoyable enough but leave you wanting more.

Will probably sell this one after I finished reading it. 3 stories the Doctor is not in these but is relelative to him

I read Summer Falls as an e-book some time ago and loved it and the rest of this wonderful book doesn't dissapoint!!

Fine book