“Combat Magicks” is a Doctor Who novel written by Steve Cole. It features the version of the Doctor currently played by Jodie Whittaker. The Doctor and her companions arrive in Gaul in the year 451 where they encounter Atilla the Hun on the eve of his battle with Roman Empire. As expected, the TARDIS travelers are split up. Ryan comes across a group known as the Legion of Smoke , which is a group that finds and studies extraterrestrial equipment. I guess it’s some precursor to Torchwood.
The Doctor and Yasmin are taken by Attila the Hun while Graham ends up in the Roman Army camp.
There is an alien presence assisting both sides of famous war. The dead aren’t staying dead. All kinds of chaos ensues. These aliens, known as Tenctrama resemble witches, which has actually been done before in the series.
The historical setting is somewhat interesting, but much of this novel feels very much like a retread.
This iteration of the Doctor comes across a little better in print than she does on the screen. Cole is not an incompetent writer, but he doesn’t do much to significantly grab my interest in this one.
The next effort of literary enjoyment will come from Martin Cruz Smith’s mystery that takes place in Moscow, “Gorky Park”.
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