I got The Good Doctor, by Juno Dawson, on our stop at Who North America. Our whole road trip this summer was full of amazing finds along the way (crystal digging! cave exploring! so many new hikes!) and when I saw that we were kinda sorta near a Doctor Who outpost, we had to stop. There’s a museum display of Doctor Who collectibles, and a Doctor Who shop absolutely bursting with all the books, comics, videos, toys, etc.

I just love these spinoff novels that are basically an extra Thirteen episode. In The Good Doctor, the Doctor and her fam have just finished a typical Doctor-y adventure and averted war between the native dog-like Loba people and the human colonists on the distant planet of Lobos. Back on the Tardis, though, Ryan realizes he’s forgotten his phone so, pausing only for a little good-natured teasing, they pop back to Lobos to pick it up. 

But — of course — something’s gone horribly wrong! Things are not at all how they first appeared! Seems the fam have landed several hundred years later, and the ruling humans worship a powerful deity called The Good Doctor, who once visited Lobos in a familiar blue box…

You guys, I love this. I loved the Star Trek episode where they accidentally make first contact and have to convince the locals not to worship The Picard. Accidental misinterpretation of minor words has been a scifi favorite of mine  since the deli list in A Canticle for Leibowitz. I also loved the Tardis as the Ghost Monument in the TV episode.

Graham tries to play along with his surprise new role as The Good Doctor, aided by his new acolyte, the, uh, Nurse. It’s a bit like in The Witchfinders, when obviously a woman couldn’t be in charge, and Graham was obviously the leader. 

The overall plot feels like a typical Doctor Who episode, including a warning about colonialism and extremism with middle-grades complexity. This is one of the spinoff books that gets the character voices and actions just right. I heard all the dialogue in The Good Doctor in the characters’ voices, it was just like finding an extra episode of the Thirteenth Doctor that I could read on the train. 

Fans of this one will also enjoy Molten Heart and Combat Magicks, two other Thirteen adventures in novel form.