Doctor Who: New Series Adventures - The Resurrection Casket Review

The last book of this first set of three Tenth Doctor novels is written by Justin Richards, the author of my favourite of the series so far The Clockwise Men.

His last entry was The Deviant Strain, a novel I liked the premise of more so than its execution, so the bar here was a bit wobbly.

So how is this novel in comparison?

Put it this way: I read it in one sitting.

Yeah, Justin Richards is back and, spoiler alert, I god damn loved this book.

It’s probably a given though as Treasure Island is a story that’s just sort of clicked with me along with the majority of the adaptation, with this sort of being added to the list.

It’s obvious that a small boy named Jimm going on a voyage to find legendary pirate treasure along with a shady crew sounds a bit familiar and I have no problems with that.

The Doctor and Rose make for great tag alongs in this adventure as their purpose for being here is believable enough.

If there’s something Richards needs to be acknowledged for it’s his interpretation of the Doctor. Clockwise Men nailed the Ninth and here he’s nailed the Tenth. His charm and charisma mixed with his human and alien outlook on the universe just add so much wonder to a tale already brimming with that.

Rose is written fine enough although this isn’t really as much of an in-depth peak inside her head as Richards first novel in this series was.

Something that a truly appreciated here was the time devoted to building the story and its characters before throwing everyone into the action.

Jimm, Kevin and Sally are characters that will linger in your mind afterwards.

The narrative itself was great in my opinion. Lots of unexpected twists that you don’t really expect from a TV tie-in novel.

One of my few criticisms is that I believe each other had a quota or a limit with how many pages the author can write and as such I feel like doubling the page count might’ve made this a standout novel overall.

Now the big question:

Is this better than The Clockwise Men and does it have what it takes to claim the title for best book in the series so far?

It’s great and definitely a must read in general but... I think this comes down to personal preference.

The quality his here and I’m not denying that but The Clockwise Men had this lure for me. The way each page of that book revealed a new clue or gave me a new question to ask was so compelling. Here that’s certainly the case but if you’re aware of the story of Treasure Island only the third act here will keep you guessing. Besides from that unsubtle nicknames may give some character arcs away here.

If that’s mystery was there throughout then this would absolutely be my favourite of the bunch but as it stands it’s on par with The Stone Rose for me.

8/10