Review: Fun, fast-paced adventure!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 8, 2013
This book appears briefly in the episode "The Bells of St. John" (season 7 part 2) of Doctor Who and is ostensibly written by previous companion Amy Pond.  I do love this new trend to feature books in the Doctor Who episodes and have them actually exist!  It reads like a children's adventure tale, but also like a Doctor Who adventure with the helpful "Curator" appearing to help the children as the Lord of Winter comes.  Kate is an unusually determined and focused girl who doesn't have a lot of faith in grown-ups, and when she wakes up in a wintry landscape with no adults around, she has to step up and figure out how to thwart the Lord of Winter.  This story is very exciting and fast-paced and while Kate bears some similarities to Amy Pond's spunkiness in my mind, Kate is a great character on her own.  I was disappointed that Kate's friend, Armand, doesn't do too much in this story - his inclusion in the story seemed unnecessary, but if this is going to be a sort of series of books, then maybe he'll have more of a part to play later on.The suspense of the Lord of Winter's arrival was very creepy and well done, and made this book well worth the read.  Especially the twist in the end which I did not see coming.  The nods to Amy Pond's original life in the future (brief mention of a cell phone like invention, and the very Doctor-like Curator) was very entertaining for me, and it seemed like the story worked on two levels for me - the narrative, and the glimpse into Amy's life.  The story is a great, quick and suspenseful read and I hope to read more of Kate's adventures!