At Childhood’s End is a Doctor Who novel written by Sophie Aldred, who had played the Seventh Doctor’s companion, Ace. Ace is a few decades older and runs some kind of global charity organization. She also has resumed using her real name, Dorothy McShane. An alien satellite has entered the moon’s orbit, and Ace is compelled to investigate. When an old friend gets to the satellite, she sees a familiar blue police box belonging to an unfamiliar woman and her three companions. The Doctor has changed more drastically than usual, but Ace remembers her previous incarnation’s tendency to duplicitous scheming. Basically, they have some things to work out and some fences to mend.
Ace meets the current Doctor, who is currently being played by Jodie Whittaker. She has some friends of her own, and they all work with Graham, Ryan, and Yaz to help head off this latest alien incursion. The Doctor and Ace find themselves caught in a familiar war between two species they had encountered before. The previous involvement with this war is what led to their separation. Although the parting of the ways between this two has had several interpretations between previous novels and the audio plays.
This novel was kind of interesting, but I am always interested in Doctor Who even if the current direction stirs little excitement. Aldred turns out to not be a bad writer. She isn’t the most talented of scribes either, but she is writing Doctor Who, so there is a risk of judging her too harshly. The novel was fairly entertaining but not that memorable.
Next up, Sherlock Holmes is quite a bit older, but that doesn’t keep entirely out of involvement in the The Great War by Simon Guerrier.
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