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amyinthebluebox

amyinthebluebox

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A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass
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Libba Bray

Doctor Who: The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery

The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery - Justin Richards Before I read this I was completely aware that it wasn’t the same book that’s in the episode, The Angels Take Manhattan. I’m wasn’tsure what it was intended to be…a prequel or something completely different. Nevertheless, I was disappointed. Reading the first chapter, I had to stop part way through just to laugh. I thought the writing was terrible. It felt rushed to me and it didn’t capture the essence of River Song. As a huge fan of River Song, I would expect a better story from her. I understand that she’s a fictional character and therefore can not write the story herself. Though, River is an archaeologist and a professor, therefore a lot more capable of writing a decent piece. There were far too many cliches throughout the book. My favourite cringe moment was after reading, “I glanced out of the window now, and saw that in a sense it was still raining cats and dogs”. At that point, I had given up all hope of a great story.What was worse than the writing however, was the mother of all plotholes that was this story. It’s obviously set in the same place and time as The Angels Take Manhattan but it makes no sense in relation to the show, or the entire Doctor Who television series. The Angels in The Angel’s Kiss are helping a movie producer (or something of the like, I’m bad with remembering character names) to turn ordinary people into clones of actors. These people have no recollection of their former self, and eventually they rapidly age, die and turn to dust. The Angels then feed off that time energy. However, Angels don’t work this way. They have never done this in a Doctor Who episode, so why are they doing it in this book? If The Angel’s Kiss was a prequel to The Angels Take Manhattan, then why was this important new ability not mentioned in the episode? I feel an evolutionary trait is important to the show. To me this story feels like a poorly written AU fanfiction. It makes no sense as a prequel. It makes no sense in relation to the show. The Doctor is only mentioned once and not even by name, the Ponds aren’t mentioned at all and River’s personality is nothing like that of her personality on the television show. Not to mention the Angels are never referred to as ‘The Weeping Angels’.The story ends with, “But I am Melody Malone, with ice in my heart and a kiss on my lips. In the city that never sleeps and should never blink, mysteries are my business”. This is perhaps the only piece of the story (besides the ‘about the author’) that suggests it is a prequel to The Angels Take Manhattan. Perhaps if it had been written by Moffat, or another writer for the show, it may have made sense.I for one am disappointed that the BBC didn’t release the book that featured in the episode. I would absolutely love if they printed that book and sold copies. I am a huge fan of River Song and I long for more to her story arc. To have a copy of that book and to be able to read about River’s struggles with what happened to her parents…I WANT THAT SO MUCH.