Title: A Big Hand For The Doctor
Author: Eoin Colfer
Genre: Short Story, Science Fiction
Publisher: Puffin
Source: Purchased
Release Date: January 23, 2013
Rating: ★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Eleven Doctors, eleven months, eleven stories: a year-long celebration of Doctor Who! The most exciting names in children’s fiction each create their own unique adventure about the time-travelling Time Lord.
London, 1900. The First Doctor is missing both his hand and his granddaughter, Susan. Faced with the search for Susan, a strange beam of soporific light, and a host of marauding Soul Pirates intent on harvesting human limbs, the Doctor is promised a dangerous journey into a land he may never forget…
Review:
I’m not very familiar with the first Doctor Who. I’ve watched a couple of episodes with him in them, but they are very different from the current episodes. He isn’t my favourite Doctor, but without him the show may not exist today. The actor who played the Doctor got dementia, so he could no longer act on the show. They had him “regenerate” into a new actor. It was a clever way to keep the story going for 50 years.
I didn’t like the way the Doctor was portrayed in this story. He spent a long time obsessing over his new strange claw hand thing. He looked for weapons to fight the bad guys, when the Doctor is supposed to be a peaceful figure. He didn’t seem like the character I know. He may have changed over time, but this version isn’t right for today’s audience.
The narrative was strange. It kept switching from the Doctor’s perspective to the perspective of other characters. It was all done in third person, but the narrator knew everyone’s thoughts. I don’t like this style, because it isn’t focused on one character. It is too broad.
I didn’t like this story, but I hope I like the others in the 50th anniversary short story collection.
Jill's Book Blog 