Who let the Weeping Angels out? Good news, it’s not you or me. Just some poor bloke on the loose, trying to save the love of his life. This is a bittersweet story and shows the benevolent intentions humans may have, that can result into chatastrophic consequences. Welcome to my book review of Touched By an Angel by Jonathan Morris.
Books from TV shows and movies written by random authors always scream ‘fanfiction’ to me. I guess, they still technically are? But when it comes to something like Doctor Who, what is fiction and what fanfiction? I bet, some people would say the whole show has become fanfiction. Steven Moffat was a big Whovian before he started directing it. Couldn’t his seasons then be called fanfictions – as the fiction is written by a fan? And why am I trying to philosophise about fanfictions now? Let’s move on:
I picked up this book in an Oxfam store in York. It was cheap, I am a Whovian, so I thought, ‘heck, why not?’ I didn’t have high expectations (what I meant to say before is that I am not really a fanfiction fan, albeit I started my whole writing journey with Harry Potter and High School Musical fanfictions). BUT I was pleasantly surprised. I can only judge the Doctor Who books by this one, and let me tell you this: It is a good book! You needn’t be a Whovian to like this book. But it sure helps, a lot.
11 is my absolute favourite Doctor. I love love love him. When I am sad and watch an episode of him, I find new courage to get out of my sadness. When I am happy and watch an episode of him, I am even happier. It’s a win-win in all situations. If you’re like me, you’ll want to read this book! Though, the Doctor plays a minor role here. He is essential (as always), Rory is also there (mostly waiting, as always), and Amy is her usual energetic self.
Meet Mark. Mark lost his wife Rachel due to a car crash a decade ago, but he still can’t forget about her. One day he gets a letter which was sent to him (from him!) a decade ago. A bit strange since he can’t remember sending himself a letter. Not much long after receiving the letter he gets stalked by one of our favourite villains: the weeping angels! And yes, you’ve guessed right. Not long after being followed by weeping angels he bumps into the Doctor. The Doctor tells him he’s there to save his life, but Mark just runs home (which is fair. Imagine this happening to you), but unfortunately he’s not fast enough and gets touched by an angel. He finds himself back in the goold old 90s, has a chat with his mum, and wants to speak to his former self – and, yes, you guessed right again (or so I hope you did): he wants to save Rachel. Now, if you know Doctor Who and timey winey, you know this ain’t good. Don’t fiddle with time or else you might crash everything.
Mark can’t go back to the future though. He has to keep living in the past (quite handy for him as his future self tells him in the letter what to do to save Rebecca), and the Doctor uses his Tardis technology to find out if he’s behaving like a good boy or trying to change the past. No surprise, of course, he does, several times. The Doctor helps him, goes back to his Tardis, repeat. All the while trying to escape from the Weeping Angels who want to feed on Mark when he changes his past. It takes the Doctor a long time (right until the end) to figure out the plan of the Weeping Angels. We often think the Angels are kind of stupid as we can only see them in their stone forms (is it just me who really wants to know how they look like when nobody looks at them?!) – but these bastards are actually quite intelligent and came up with their own plan! Ha, never underestimate stone again.
Will Mark save Rebecca? Spoilers, sweety! I won’t tell you. Get the book and find out yourself. The book is only 237 pages long, which makes it a short and entertaining read. And, as every Doctor Who episode, it has a good message (mainly, try not to screw up the past, and be grateful for the time you got to spend with a person, and move on). I think Jonathan Morris is living the dream – writing Doctor Who stories and getting paid for it! I am definitely convinced and will read some more Doctor Who books in the future!
stay fantastic & have a great day,
mel
mel's corner 