DW: Shroud of Sorrow

It's the third book. We've had Daleks. We've had Cybermen. What other representative of the general view of Doctor Who can we have? How about... really bad fan fiction? I'm certainly suffering under a Shroud of Sorrow by Tommy Donbavand.

Everyone (well, most Doctor Who fans) know of the 23rd November 1963 the start of the series. But that's an entirely meta-date that is only significant to the viewers, so... of course we must set a story there! And, everyone (possibly less) knows that the first episode was delayed due to the assassination of JFK. So why not base a story around that? Well... it can be done. But not like this.

JKF died... and everyone was sad... and so the Shroud decided to feast on the grief. They do this by appearing as faces that represent people who died and make the viewer sad... and eat! Apparently no-one is capable of looking at these faces and going 'nope, that's wrong'. Mental powers! Fortunately, the Doctor and Clara are around to find out their exposition, then set about defeating them. (I won't reveal the latter part with the other people coming in... but suffice to say you don't see it coming, and wish you still didn't after you do.)

Hey, yeah, the previous two books are Doctor solo, this is with Clara. And indeed you will believe that there is a person in this book called Clara. I'm doubting Tommy got all the inside skinny on her, so don't be surprised if she is fairly generic. As is the Doctor, but you definitely know he's the 11th Doctor. Because, as this is fanfic, we get references to the previous Doctors and stories.

This reads like someone came up with a bunch of (what they thought were) cool ideas, and stuck them all in a story. The editor should have spent more time on this, or gone with something completely different.

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