Book Review: Doctor Who: Ruby Red by Georgia Cook

By georgelthomas on 7 Feb 2025 • ( 0 )

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Friday, and it’s time for another review. Today, I am reviewing Georgia Cook’s Doctor Who: Ruby Red.

Doctor Who: Ruby Red was published in June 2024 by BBC Books and is 208 pages long.

The Plot
The Doctor and Ruby receive a distress signal, bringing them to medieval Earth and an icy lake where a historic battle between the Estonians and the Novgorodians is about to occur. Upon arriving, they discover the signal’s origin: a young girl who has been sent to Earth to take part in a battle as a coming-of-age rite of passage — the only problem is that she doesn’t want any part of it. Meanwhile, local people and wildlife are walking around like zombies with glowing red eyes, and the Doctor and Ruby must find out what’s happening before established history is changed.

Characters
The Doctor
In his fifteenth incarnation, the Doctor arrives on medieval Earth with his companion, Ruby Sunday, immediately becoming involved in an invasion attempt and a family drama. The Doctor is in his element as he investigates the strange zombie-like locals with ruby-red eyes, and his trademark kindness and intelligence are on full display.

Ruby Sunday
Ruby Sunday becomes fast friends with Ranavere, the girl forced to live in Earth’s medieval period so that she can take part in a war as a rite of passage. Ruby helps to encourage her to use her intelligence and to explore which path her life should take.

Ranavere
Ranavere is a brilliantly intelligent alien girl from a family of mercenaries, the Rentarans, who send their children to take part in a war on a randomly chosen planet when they come of age. Ranavere is sent to medieval Earth to participate in a war between the Estonians and Novgorod. Ranavere doesn’t want to be there, so she sends a distress signal intercepted by the TARDIS. Her warmongering siblings also pick up her signal and arrive to demand that she finish what she is there to do.

Cellisamere
Cellisamere is the less aggressive of Ranavere’s two warmongering sisters. She is more compassionate towards Ranavere’s desire to be an engineer and inventor rather than a warrior.

Helgadane
Of Ranavere’s two sisters, Helgadane is the more warrior-like. She wants Ranavere to follow the rules and fight in the war to prove herself to their people.

The Genetrix
The Genetrix is the story’s main antagonist. She infects people and wildlife like a parasite via a small creature that attaches itself to a person’s spine, creating a hive mind that has been almost hunted to the point of extinction by the Rentarans. On Earth, she wants to take over Prince Alexander to control his Novgorodian army. The tell-tale sign that someone is under her control is that their eyes glow ruby red.

Onfim
Onfim is a guard in the Novgorod camp where Ranavere is staying. The Genetrix quickly takes him over, and although Helgadane wants to kill him to prevent the spread, the Doctor wants to try to save him. Entering Onfim’s mind, he makes contact with the Genetrix.

Writing Style
Although Cook’s style is immediately engaging and her storytelling ability is on point, her interpretations of the Doctor and Ruby fall a little flat and one-dimensional, with only a slight glimpse of the personalities shared by their TV counterparts.

Though I felt that the story could have been about any of the previous incarnations of the Doctor and their companion, I did enjoy the family drama of the story’s three Rentaran sisters; I feel the development of their characters was complete enough to keep the story compelling.

Now for the baddie of the story.
While having all the hallmarks of a typical Doctor Who villain, the Genetrix appeared just as flat and one-dimensional as the Doctor and Ruby; whenever I read her character, it felt like she could have been any villain from Doctor Who canon. I felt the Genetrix could have been so much more if she had a touch more depth. Then again, there is limited space in these Doctor Who novels, and perhaps the author did the best she could within the constraints placed upon her by the publisher.

One of the novel’s strengths (yes, it does have some!) is its exploration of themes such as identity, friendship, and the consequences of one’s choices as Ranavere struggles with what she wants for herself and what her family want and expects of her; this is, after all, what the heart of the story is about.

Another of the book’s strengths is its pacing; Cook masterfully balances scenes filled with intense drama and action against quieter moments that allow for introspection and emotional resonance, allowing us time to try to get to know the characters and learn about the history of the story’s setting.

Speaking of setting, I think the story could have occurred on any frozen lake in the universe. I didn’t really see the point of using this particular battle since it is not intrinsic to the story. The story could have easily happened at a carnival or any place with hoards of people for the Genetrix to infect.

Final Thoughts
Overall, Ruby Red is a decent story with some compelling characters. It has some flaws, but the story itself is good.

Although I think the story lacked meat, I would recommend reading it if you are new to Doctor Who, as there isn’t really any backstory to follow — you don’t need to have read all the other Doctor Who books in the world, nor do you require any previous understanding of the TV series to enjoy the book.

I am giving Doctor Who: Ruby Red a 5/10.

Have you read Doctor Who: Ruby Red? What did you think?

Thank you, as always, for stopping by to read my review.

Until next time,

George