Doctor Who: Borrowed Time Review (4/5)

Borrowed Time boasts a really intriguing premise- what if you had all the time in the world? The world of banking might not seem an obvious starting point for such a concept to flourish, and yet newcomer to the New Series Adventures range Naomi A.Alderman manages to use the setting to her full advantage, creating a rich science-fiction environment for the narrative to develop while also reintroducing some of the more domestic elements of Doctor Who not as prominent in the Steven Moffat/Matt Smith era. As with George Mann in Paradox Lost, Alderman's characterisations of the main recurring protagonists, the Doctor, Amy and Rory, struggle to convince us they're the same people we see each week on screen bar the occasional reference to The Pandorica Opens or Leadworth, but Alderman's own character creations are very realistic and altogether believable, a trait that comes in handy when immersing the reader into such an unlikely yarn. When Borrowed Time is as its best will often be when the three somewhat iconic faces on the cover are not present in a chapter, as the author can really imagine what her own response to the situation might be and apply that to the new people who we have no expectations of to fit certain dialouge or action criteria, and so sometimes when we are simply with the Time Lord and his companions events can seem to drag a little. However, these occassional slowdowns do not greatly hinder Borrowed Time- it's an intriguing novel that should please fans of Doctor Who and Alderman's work in equal measure.