If you already have a copy, great! Otherwise you could take it out of a library, buy from an independent book shop, or buy it from Amazon (affiliate link). There is also an audiobook version to listen on all available platforms including Audible and Spotify.
Please discuss below - no need to finish it first, discuss as you go along but please add spoiler tags for anything that could be considered a spoiler!
If you’ve previously read the book and want to join in the discussion, that’s great too!
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I might actually join in by listening to the audiobook version as that will be easier than reading along (as I’ve read it before), and especially as the book is buried in the garage.
I’ve started already (Friday is the weekend, right?)
I’m listening to the audiobook, an excellent suggestion by @deltaandthebannermen because it means I can ‘read’ while I got for a walk.
I’ve listened to the first 2 chapters so far. Nicholas Briggs does a serviceable impression of the Ninth Doctor - he’s no Jacob Dudman - and it’s just so nice to imagine Nine and Rose again, I can picture them in my head perfectly.
I’m one chapter in. I liked Rose befriending Freddie - it feels like something she would have done in the series (although the closest is her conversations with Gywneth in The Unquiet Dead).
I would join but I’m busy reading the VNAs, next for me is Timewyrm: Revelation. Though as I’m pretty dyslexic if I could find audiobooks for those it’d be sweet
There are a few older books that got Audiobook releases around the 50th. Look up the Monsters Collection and the History Collection (I think that’s what they were called). Off the top of my head, I know they did Scales of Injustice, Shadows in the Glass and Human Nature.
So I read this back in late-April 2021 via the audiobook narrated by the “voice of everything” Nick Briggs. From my GoodReads review at the time: “I really enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nicholas Briggs who’s a good narrator, even if his Ninth Doctor impression is only passable (let’s face it, Jacob Dudman’s is better). The book kept me engaged all the way through and was an intriguing mystery of who’s the villain and what the truth is about some of the main characters. The finale was fun and engaging, full of action and suspense.”
I honestly don’t really remember any of it at all now. It was enjoyable at the time, but wasn’t a novel that really stuck with me over the years. There are novels I’ve read that have, this just wasn’t one of them. I still look forward to potentially reading and commenting on other books along with you all.
I read it years ago and remember practically nothing about it so I’m enjoying listening to the audiobook this time round. Briggs is very ‘generic Northen’ but as it’s an audiobook reading (rather than an actor trying to ‘impersonate’ a Doctor for a ‘drama’) I think that’s okay. Plenty of these audiobooks are read by women and we don’t expect them to sound exactly like the Doctor.
Listened to Chapters 1-4 so far. Spoilered thoughts below:
Some interesting mysteries being set up but it’s a little plodding at the moment. There were far too many characters at the dinner party to keep track of (something I hate in a book) and more characters keep getting introduced. The revelation of Freddie’s identity will hopefully lead somewhere but, at the moment, seems a bit inconsequential because, as the Doctor and Rose say, they won’t be successful in restoring him to the throne of Russia. The Painted Lady is intriguing but the weird ‘who’s lying’ bit of Repple and Aske just got a bit confusing as to who we are supposed to believe - probably part of the point.
I was confused.