"The Pirate Loop"
by Simon Guerrier

No-one knows what happened to the Starship Brilliant. Not even the Doctor. Armed with a secret experimental drive, it vanished unexpectedly, and Martha wants to know why. But when the TARDIS arrives on the vessel, the pair encounter space badgers, an infinite supply of nibbles, and more surprises than they ever expected.

The central mystery of the novel is the time loop, an unusually complex concept for this line of novels, which are aimed primarily at younger readers. Author Simon Guerrier attempts to simplify things with the frequent use of vivid analogies and with humorous scenes, but ultimately this serves only to complicate things further. It's resonably easy to see what's happening from an early stage, so a simple and clear explanation would have sufficed, but the various metaphors and repeated summaries of the situation add unnecessary confusion.

For the most part, characterisations are good, especially of new characters such as Gabriel and Mrs Wingsworth, all of whom have endearing and well-rounded personalities. The Doctor and Martha, on the other hand, don't always ring true - in particular, Martha teases the Doctor about being the last of his race on a number of occasions. Given his passionate and emotional speech at the end of Gridlock, and Martha's obvious affection for him, this seems uncharacteristically insensitive and even a little cruel on Martha's part, and the fact that the Doctor doesn't protest is even more unusual. There are lengthy scenes of dialogue between the two which, whilst being excellent reproductions of the characters' speech patterns, seem to go on a little too long sometimes. In general, the dialogue of the two leads is excellent, but their actions and behaviour don't fit.

The "badger-faced space pirates", as the blurb concisely describes them, switch from endearing to irritating on a regular basis. They act in a child-like way, speak with simple language and have lovely Hampshire accents, which for the most part portrays them as cute and amusing, but in certain scenes they grate. More so than any of the previous books in this series, the badgers really do seem to have been created with a younger readership in mind. That's fair enough, and entirely understandable, but it means The Pirate Loop runs the risk of alienating some older readers.

The story's conclusion is also a little disappointing due to its predictability - the consistent use of the metaphorical 'reset button' throughout the book removes any element of jeopardy, and the deaths of the story's best characters point towards it being used again. Granted, the final scenes are uplifting and cheerful, but the fact that they could be seen coming a mile away means the novel ends rather limply.

The Pirate Loop is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some moments of genuine brilliance, with great humour and a general sense of fun replicating the tone of the television series well. However, many readers are likely to find some of the ideas a little too silly, and the plot is unnecessarily over-complicated and rather predictable. Ultimately, it's not one of the best Doctor Who novels, and definitely one for younger readers only.