Doctor Who: The Blood Cell: A Novel Paperback – September 9, 2014

"Blood Cell" is the first of the New Series Adventures to feature the 12th Doctor and Clara. The series has been around since 2005, opening with the 9th Doctor and Rose. Author James Goss previously wrote an 11th Doctor novel called Doctor Who: Dead Of Winter, a creepy mystery set in a French hospital. This one is set in outer space, but is no less creepy.The story is told in first-person narration, from the point of view of the governor of an asteroid prison (in the States, you'd call him the "Warden", and if that reminds you of The Shawshank Redemption, you're not far off). One of his inmates is the Doctor, who's been imprisoned for horrible crimes against humanity. This means that it takes a while for the Doctor to assume center stage in the novel, and even longer for Clara to join the plot.However, if you have the patience to wait for the Doctor and Clara to join the story, you're in for a very clever ride. The prison is under attack from within; inmates go missing, the Governor's second-in-command seems to have a hidden agenda, and escalating power failures threaten the survival of everyone on board. The Governor soon realizes that he's not exactly in charge, and soon the body count begins to pile up.This book was written, obviously, before we had any 12th Doctor stories on TV. However, Goss appears to have been well-briefed on what the plans were for the current TV season. The Doctor sounds quite a bit like Peter Capaldi, and Clara mentions Danny Pink a couple of times. The Doctor and Clara have the same enjoyably insulting rapport with one another that they have on TV, and of course Clara gets a pretty meaty role in the story's resolution.And don't forget the Governor. As the narrator, this is "his" story. We come to learn quite a lot about his past, how he came to be in charge of an isolated asteroid prison, and why he has such awkward relationships with most of the prison staffers and inmates. Because we're seeing things entirely through someone else's perspective, it's a delight to watch the Doctor progress from "Prisoner 428", to the eventual hero, in the Governor's eyes.While there's a high body count in the novel, and while the concept behind the book's principal monster is a bit grisly, this one is aimed primarily at the YA crowd, so its not overly graphic. The writing is, as I said, quite clever. This is definitely one of the better books published during the 9-year-history of the New Series Adventures.

The Blood Cell was a quick, and albeit dark, read. The Twelfth Doctor and Clara were separated for most of it, but both were very much in character. The monster was well done, although the suspense of it awaiting the characters was far scarier than the reveal of what it truly is.That said, I think the book suffers from having been written in the first person narrative. Being inside of the prison Governor’s head didn’t provide us with much insight; he probably would’ve been more interesting if we didn’t know so much about him. At times he fell flat, mostly because he judged the Doctor in ways that we knew weren’t accurate. He’s lying to himself for most of the book, but I don’t believe it’s effective here. Also, the relationships could’ve been developed a bit more between him and his prison officers.Another miss is that the Doctor and Clara barely have any interaction with one another until the last quarter of the novel. Her interactions with the Governor are entertaining, but the story could’ve used more Clara in general, in my opinion.Regardless, The Blood Cell is still a fun read if you can look past some of the above issues. The plot is strong and we see Capaldi’s Twelve in what could easily be a two part episode in the show. I’d recommend it to those who enjoy his era.

The Blood Cell is a decent enough read to occupy your attention for a couple of hours. The entire story is told from one man's point of view, which worked as a novelty for the first half of the book, but by the halfway point began to feel stale and limiting. Clara's characterization was pretty spot on, but the Doctor's was not as convincing. It's possible this book was written before the author had the opportunity to watch Capaldi's interpretation of the character, but certain lines and actions just didn't ring true for me.

I've read this one twice now. The whole thing is written in first person perspective, narrated by the warden of a prison so remote, so secure, so important that it's just called The Prison. He's interviewing a new prisoner, who of course we all recognize very quickly as the Twelfth Doctor. At first, it seems like a fairly straightforward story -- the Doctor has gotten himself arrested for a horrible crime that he did not commit as part of some overarching plan to investigate something inside the prison, and has to escape and/or make his point clear -- but as we wait and follow along we see it is not as simple as that. We gradually learn more about the prison, about the mysterious Level Seven that for some reason (we'll learn the reason later, of course) has its own propulsion system, about why systems have been breaking down increasingly aboard the prison, and that the Doctor and Clara (who keeps visiting but isn't allowed in) have discovered something immensely important that the warden needs to know.But one thing kept puzzling me. Why was it called The Blood Cell? Such a melodramatic name, and two-thirds in it still didn't seem like we'd find out.And then we did find out. Oh lord. We found out. This one I'm quite happy to have as *book*, rather than a TV show. It would be the stuff of nightmares. Fortunately, the warden is unable to bring himself to really describe in detail what he's seeing there. So yeah. And that bit came when I figured most of the loose ends had been tied. It's a good book, and I highly recommend it.