Sting of the Zygons

by Stephen Cole

Book Overview

The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the Lake District in 1909, where a small village has been terrorised by a giant, scaly monster. The search is on for the elusive 'Beast of Westmorland', and explorers, naturalists and hunters from across the country are descending on the fells. King Edward VII himself is on his way to join the search, with a knighthood for whoever finds the Beast.

But there is a more sinister presence at work in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1849907110
• ISBN13: 9781849907118
• Release Date: September 2013
• Publisher: BBC Books
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.4" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 13 to 16 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 11

Customer Reviews

A Great Story

Now, I've reviewed four of the new adventures with Martha and 10th Doctor, and this is my favourite so far by a long way. It feels very much like an old series adventure, and very in tune with the original Tom Baker one as well. Stephen Cole used the length of the story (2h 20min on audio) to good effect, and there is surprisingly little padding. The supporting characters were good (some not so good, some better), and the villains were actually quite good in this one. Although the shape changing is overused a bit, it helps distinguish this race from other monsters. The Doctor and Martha actually gets quite a lot to do, and there's very few Deus Ex Machina plot points in this story. Even the resolution was good, and I think that the historical setting is a good way to ground the story's background so the author can concentrate on other things. Overall, a good story, the best of the new adventures I've encountered so far.

Old Enemy, New Doctor

The Tenth Doctor and companion Martha battle Zygons in England's Lake District in 1909. If my basic plot summary sounds ho-hum, it's not meant to. It is not easy to resurrect old monsters (the Zygons first appeared in the 1975 Tom Baker adventure "Terror the Zygons"), much less keep them true to form while still making them fresh and interesting. Stephen Cole has done a good job; he's crafted a tale that, while firmly rooted in the "new" Doctor Who style, evokes fond memories of the "classic" era. This is one of the better books in this series of tie-in novels--well paced with interesting characters. This Doctor Who fan thought it was great fun!

"But that was ages ago, up in Loch Ness and about seventy years from now."

As science fiction novels based on a TV series go, "Sting of the Zygons" is an enjoyable adventure story. The mood and pace of the show in its third series (Doctor Who - The Complete Third Series) is translated into narrative prose skillfully enough and the characters of the Doctor and Martha are captured convincingly well even if the tensions in their relationship go unspoken here. Lots of memorable if uncomplicated supporting characters populate the tale and impel it forwards, and the Zygons and their cybernetic leviathans make for interesting antagonists. In that regard, it's nice to see a reasonably well known but not overhyped race of aliens from the heyday of the Fourth Doctor back in 1975 show up again here with the Tenth, and their portrayal is true to their original appearance without overly relying upon it and merely rehashing "Terror of the Zygons" (Doctor Who - Terror of the Zygons) in pumped-up 21st-century form. The plot has some nice twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing quite well at the beginning, though the author resorts to the shape-shifting abilities of the Zygons for shock value a few too many times so that it ceases to be much of a surprise. Besides Zygon metamorphosis, though, what you see is what you get, a straightforward sci-fi adventure with no real subtexts or thought-provoking themes. In terms of writing level and sophistication, then, "Sting" seems to be geared especially for older children and young adults, though a few clever touches make it accessible for older adults in a frivolous frame of mind--especially, as I can personally attest, if they're whiling away the creeping hours in airports or passing the time quietly while nursing a cold.

Dr Who: Sting of the Zygons

I'd recommend this book to anyone who loved the TV story "Terror of the Zygons" and/or the 8th Dr novel "The Bodysnatchers". The story keeps in continuity with what we know of the Zygons from those two stories, while expanding on it at the same time. Doctor Who: Sting Of The Zygons (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover))