Review: Time Lord Fairy Tales by Justin Richards

Summary

A stunning illustrated collection of dark and ancient fairy tales from the world of Doctor Who. These captivating stories include mysterious myths and legends about heroes and monsters of all kinds, from every corner of the universe. Originally told to young Time Lords at bedtime, these twisted tales are an enchanting read for Doctor Who fans of all ages.

My thoughts

I randomly stumbled upon Time Lord Fairy Tales while browsing books online and I knew I had to get it right away. I’d never heard of this book before and hence went into it completely blind, not exactly knowing what to expect. Time Lord Fairy Tales did not end up to be what I thought it was.

“Ancient fairy tales from the world of Doctor Who” made me think these are all completely new stories with time lords and other creature from Doctor Who as their characters but it turned out these tales are “only” retellings of well known fairy tales. I can’t say that I was disappointed but I was definitely surprised when I first opened the book and saw the title of each tale and recognized fairy tales like those of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Time Lord Fairy Tales is a fun read that adapts old tales and brings forth new stories with well known characters from the World of Doctor Who. They still resemble the originals close enough for you to recognize which fairy tale lies behind it (even without the title), some more than others. I personally didn’t recognize all of them but after researching a bit, I found out that those were tales I wasn’t familiar with. 

The Fairy Tales

My favorite fairy tales ended up being those that featured some of my favorite characters/creatures from the world of Doctor Who, naturally. Some stories were downright amazing and a lot fun, especially those that incorporated the aspects of Doctor Who in a more clever way (e.g. Red Riding Hood with a girl called Rose and the Bad Wolf). 

• The Garden of Statues ★★★★★
• Frozen Beauty ★★★☆☆
• Cinderella and the Magic Box ★★★☆☆
• The Twins in the Wood ★★★☆☆
• The Three Little Sontarans ★★★☆☆
• Jak and the Wormhole ★★★☆☆
• Snow White and the Seven Keys of Doomsday ★★★★☆
• Little Rose Riding Hood ★★★★★
• The Gingerbread Trap ★★★☆
• The Scruffy Piper ★★★★★
• Helana and the Beast ★★★★★
• Andiba and the Four Slitheen ★★☆☆☆
• The Grief Collector ★★★★☆
• The Three Brothers Gruff ★★★★☆
• Sirgwain and the Green Knight ★★★☆☆

Andiba and the Four Slitheen was the only story that I was quite disappointed in but aside from that one I had a lot of fun reading each fairy tale and wished some of them had been a little bit longer. One story included Weeping Angels and was definitely my favorite of them all.

The illustrations

I’m completely in love with the cover of Time Lord Fairy Tales but even though the illustrations inside the book feature the same style, I can’t say that I liked them a lot. On the cover, thanks to the texture and shiny, golden parts it looks stunning but on the inside, as simple black and white drawings, it sadly doesn’t. I liked that there are illustrations at all, otherwise it wouldn’t be your typical fairy tales collection, but to be honest, I could have done without them as they aren’t that pretty.

Overall thoughts

Time Lord Fairy Tales is definitely worth it if you like both Doctor Who and fairy tale retellings. I had a lot of fun reading (most of) these tales even though I had originally expected something different from this book. Time Lord Fairy Tales is a cute collection of different well known tales, featuring our favorite characters and foes from the universe of Doctor Who.