A great book to read about the myths and legends........ wonderful

I've been a fan on and off of doctor who since I was about 11 so i was intruiged to read this! I'd never read a book that is based from a tv series before.
This collection of stories was so fun and enjoyable. Some of the stories were better than others, but overall the book was a nice read!
It was a refreshing change to what I normally read, as i don't tend to read short stories very often

The Doctor Who publishing program lately has been focusing on theme anthologies, sometimes aimed at younger readers -- Christmas stories, American adventures, stories about Ashildr or River Song. This one's a recasting of familiar classical myths and legends from Earth as Gallifreyan tales, science fiction stories of other worlds. Some familiar elements from the original and new series appear, and the stories' protagonists may just meet someone whose description sounds more than a little familiar. (Hint: it's the Doctor. And sometimes someone else, like a certain archeologist.)

On its own, it's an entertaining enough collection of short stories, with some evident understanding of both mythology and Doctor Who, and I can see how this kind of storytelling keeps things fresh, introducing new viewpoint characters. But I do wish we could get more proper Doctor Who novels like we used to get.

If you like the Dr. Who TV series, you'll love this book!
Wheeping angels, daleks, Time Lords and almost all the aliens we met in the series are depicted in this book. An excellent anthology of short stories.

Mythology and the Time Lords mix as we hear the stories of the universes’ past.




I love Doctor Who, it is my second favourite fandom of all time – sorry, I saw Buffy first – and I’ve been on a big Doctor Who kick lately thanks to going to the Doctor Who Experience the week before it closed. So I read this at the perfect time.

I should probably mention that I have a bit of a collection of Doctor Who tie in books and don’t usually like them that much, and I usually hate short stories. That being said I loved this book. It was so much fun.

Like I said, it’s a collection of short stories based mainly on Greek/Roman mythology, but in space … I just realised, the only other short story anthology I liked was based on mythology too – Vacui Magia. Does that say anything about me?… Anyway, the stories are:

The Mondas Touch

The Terrible Manussa

The Unwanted Gift of Prophecy

The Evil And The Deep Black Sky

Jorus And The Voganauts

The Vardon Horse

Defiance Of The New Bloods

The Kingdom Of The Blind

The Labyrinthine Web

The Angels Of Vengeance

The Jeopardy Of Solar Proximity

The Multi-Faceted War

The Enigma of Sisterhood

Pandoric’s Box

The contents does tell you the myth each story is based on but some are reasonably obvious by the title, if you know anything on mythology. It also quickly becomes apparent as you read them, especially with the names of some of the characters. There were a couple of stories I found myself skimming but they generally corresponded with the myths I’m not really interested in. Have to say that my favourite was ‘The Unwanted Gift of Prophecy’, mainly because it’s set within one of my favourite episodes and one of my favourite characters, reasonably like the myth too.

I liked the last story as well but I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t about the Pandorica. Admittedly, it makes more sense what it actually is about so not that upset.

While I still remember, just want to mention there’s pictures. Not many, about one for each story, but still they’re there. They’re actually really good, nice and simple, though some show characters that are in the story but aren’t named, who you may or my not recognise.



Now let’s talk about it in terms of Doctor Who since it is set in that universe.

The Doctor is in a couple of stories, at least I’m pretty sure he is. He never gives his name so you can only guess by what he does, what he looks like or wearing … or the use of the sonic screwdriver. Sometimes he also gives references like having a companion called Handles, which helps tell which incarnation he is. My favourite name for him was “my best enemy”. Take a guess who called him that.

Though he’s in them he’s never the main character, they just show how he likes to travel through time and no matter how small the Doctor has made an impact on history, not just on Earth.

There are also a lot of well known characters like the Master, possible reference to River, Rassilon and Omega. Minor spoiler, but it seems that the Master has helped kill him/herself three times now.

You get to see different planets and creatures from both new and classic Who. There’s one story that’s in relation to a 5th Doctor story ‘The Kings Demons’, then there’s the Weeping Angels, Cybermen and Vampires.

I mentioned Buffy being my first love so seeing vampires made my day. They’re mentioned in a couple of stories as they are intertwined in Time Lord history. I was sort of aware of this because of fanfiction – don’t judge me – but it was so interesting to see. I loved that there were non-human vampires, there’s a Saturnyn vampire (‘Vampires of Venice’), which I’d never even thought of.

All in all these are a great set of stories, both as Doctor Who tie-ins and on their own. I loved all the references to both new and classic Who and how it felt that each story could be expanded with or without the Doctor. And it’s always fun to find out more about the Time Lords and Ladies of Gallifrey. Really is a must read for lovers of either sci-fi, mythology adaptations or Doctor Who.

There've been several Doctor Who books in this mould lately - Time Lord Fairy Tales, The Twelve Doctors of Christmas - all beautifully presented and illustrated hardback books which look just gorgeous on the shelf and are equally enjoyable to read. I'm sure the physical copy of Myths and Legends will be the same - hence it does lose something in the ebook format, but the stories themselves are equally fun to read.

There are fourteen stories here, subtitled "Epic Tales from Alien Worlds" and written by Richard Dinnick. While they clearly take place within the Doctor Who universe (there's an introduction by Chancellor Drakirid, Historian to the Bureau of Ancient Records on Gallifrey), the Doctor himself pops up only occasionally in different incarnations and is never named as such. There are plenty of familiar friends and enemies, though - including the Doctor's best frenemy in various guises! - and well known figures from Gallifreyan history.

Rather like the previous Time Lord Fairy Tales, a number of stories are clearly based on familiar tales. Quite a few also fit neatly into Time Lord history and fill in some gaps - the last one, Pandoric's Box, being particularly notable in this regard.

All in all, despite the main man being mainly absent, this was a fun read, and yes I will probably buy the hardback...

This is a fascinating collection of short stories, each is easily read and self-contained. The styles vary from those that are quite light and suitable for quite a young audience, whilst others are darker and more philosophical. Characterisation and world building are effective given the short scope of each tale.

Given the length of each story this is a collection that can easily be sampled when you have a free moment. Each story is based with a different location, backstory and characters, as such they could potentially be developed more fully. Certainly they each feel as though they are scenes from a much bigger picture and yet they do not coalesce.

Recommended read.

Time Lords have been an advanced culture for thousands of years and have the stories to show for it. Even though some tales have long been forgotten, many are still remembered and have become myths and legends. There are stories about other worlds, other cultures and, of course, their home world. These stories shed a light on this ancient civilization and give readers a deeper understanding about Time Lords. These myths and legends are not about the Doctor, yet readers may see his hand at work in some of the stories. Doctor Who: Myths and Legends is a fun read for all Doctor Who fans.