FORMAT: HARDCOVER (REVIEWED), DIGITAL | RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 1ST

Time Lord Victorious has been marketed as an epic Doctor Who adventure told across novels, comics, audios, immersive theatre and more; it’s so epic, in fact, that no one seems to know where to start. The answer to that is Steve Cole’s novel The Knight, the Fool, and the Dead.

You may recognise ‘Time Lord Victorious’ as the name David Tennant’s Doctor gives himself in 2009’s The Waters of Mars. This book follows on from that episode’s ending, as the Doctor travels billions of years into the past.

In this era, the races of the universe live out indefinite lifespans, but veiled nasties the Kotturuh are putting an end to that, dispensing mortality as part of their grand design. Their powers are hard to stomach for those who prefer Who stories with a more scientific basis, but they’re nonetheless seriously creepy, one of the more creative of recent additions to the Doctor’s list of enemies.

There’s also some interesting character development for the Doctor, exploring the arrogance of this latter period of his Tenth life. His ego puts him on a collision course with the Kotturuh and leads to a universe-changing decision that sets up the whole multimedia saga. It’s not all serious stuff, though – Brian the Ood assassin provides excellent comic relief.

It’s only a short book, at under 180 pages, but Cole fits in a lot; fast-paced and thrilling, this will assuage doubts about Time Lord Victorious and leave you checking the calendar for the next instalment’s release.