Review: Sting of the Zygons

When the Doctor and Martha accidentally arrive in the Lake District in 1909, they're surprised to find hunters prowling the countryside in an attempt to catch the vast and mysterious creature known only as the Beast of Westmorland. Even more unusual are the appearances of a phantom-like child heralding danger, and the involvement of one of the Doctor's old enemies - the shape-changing Zygons.

Given that previous New Series Doctor Who novels have used monsters and villains of the authors' own creation, or returning enemies from the New Series, the use of the Zygons in Stephen Cole's novel would seem to be a bit of a coup, and raises hopes and expectations for this story. Sadly, on the whole it's a disappointing book.

The caricatured cast created for the novel features everything from a prim and perpetually-cross Nanny Flock to jolly red-faced hunter Victor Meredith, all of whom seem rather cliched, and are difficult to believe in or relate to. This really undermines the novel's potential in places - far from the eerie atmosphere of Wooden Heart, or the horror of Feast of the Drowned, Cole's attempts to create fear or tension often fall flat because the people involved are somewhat ridiculous, making many of the plot's more dramatic beats limp and uninteresting.

Martha, on the other hand, is handled rather well, in her debut appearance in print. She's competent and strong, shining when she deals with the social prejudices of the era, and taking control of situations skilfully when the Doctor is absent. The Doctor, too, is utilised well, and is portrayed just as accurately as in Cole's previous books.

The storyline has a fair few twists and turns, but my lack of engagement with the characters and situation meant that I rarely cared whether or not so-and-so was a Zygon in disguise. And whilst Cole keeps things fluctuating and subversive enough to make the story unpredictable and surprising, things moved at too pedestrian a pace.

Sting of the Zygons feels like a lame Doctor-Who-by-numbers, adding little new to the eponymous aliens, basically retreading many of the ideas from their teleivision appearance. It's dull and plodding, derivative and disappointing. The Zygons deserved better.