Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious: All Flesh Is Grass by Una McCormack (book review).
In ‘All Flesh Is Grass’ has the Tenth Doctor is on a rampage. He’s gone back to the time before time of ‘The Dark Times’. He wants to destroy the Kotturuh, the bringers of the death curse. He’s been pretty successful, too, with his mercenary fleet and the god/rock star status. He’s even started wearing his Imperial Time Lord robes but, boy, do they itch.
We’ve seen this behaviour before and it’s not a good look for the Doctor. It’s so bad that two of his former selves arrive with battle fleets of their own and some very disturbing allies.
This is an intriguing combination. The Tenth already has an odd or rather an Ood, companion; the assassin known as Brian. Now he has the double Jiminy of the Eighth and the Ninth trying to get him to prevent his purge and the serious consequences for the universe.
Meanwhile, on the planet where the Kotturuh first brought their curse, a lone gardener in a bio-dome nurses hope. Inyit is the last of the Kotturuh.
‘All Flesh Is Grass’ is quite the action adventure with multiple Doctors, Daleks and vampires with some other species interaction, too. It’s almost the last release of the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ book series. There are a lot of other adventures that feed into this one, including a backstory for Brian, but it’s just about all right as a standalone with the previous novel release.
It would also make sense and be most rewarding to pick up the Big Finish Adventures of these three Doctors which form the start point to their arrival in the Dark Times. Full details on how this series marries together are on the BBC Doctor Who website https://www.doctorwho.tv/time-lord-victorious/ .
Sue Davies
January 2021
(pub: BBC Books/Ebury, 2020. 208 page hardback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-78594-633-2)
check out website: www.eburypublishing.co.uk
