DOCTOR WHO LEGENDS OF ASHILDR

Ashildr/Me had been a remarkable character in Doctor Who, brought to life by the amazing Maisie Williams. When I discovered that there was a book detailing more of her singular adventures I knew I had to read it as soon as possible.Four stories, all with different styles of narrative. The first two stories were recountings from onlookers of the life of Ashildr/Me/Lady Sherade/Ash, while the last two were directly from her journals. Each story takes place in a different part of her life, a different time period, all with different stakes. In the end though, it is always Ashildr who lives on.The first story of the book was my least favorite, followed closely by the second. I had feared I wasn't going to be able to finish this collection of short stories, but by the third story I knew I had to keep going - as The Triple Knife was definitely my favorite. It was such an emotional story I almost shed a tear while reading it, something I never do.All in all, a wonderful read about a mysterious character that deserves a lot more attention.

Frankly, I was disappointed. I loved this character and was excited when I saw the book. But it was not quite what I expected - yes, it was stories from the title character's extensive diaries documenting her life, but I simply did not like the stories told nor the way they were written. While I realize there is not yet a lot of history to draw on for this character, I did not feel her "voice" was captured well at all. The first story was a rather pointless retelling of the Arabian Nights. The rest did not improve much. This was a wasted opportunity. In her several appearances on Dr Who, she had a lot of say about her unwanted immortality and how she wrote everything down to be able to remember everything later. None of the poignant and even bitter and angry qualities of her "musings" came through here. Nice try but I hope someone else picks it up. Great cover art!Having said all this, I do realize someone else might simply adore this book and respond angrily to my post. This is why I don't review books all that often because what one person likes another is bound to toss aside after one chapter - so take it with a grain of salt and see how YOU like it, which is what is important. Amazon sent me an email asking for reviews on a number of items, including this book, so I just went down the list.

I loved this collection of stories, I feel that they fleshed out more of Ashildr than that was previously shown on her third appearance on Doctor Who and why she had grown into a bitter young woman. I especially loved the last two because unlike the first set they were more ground, they showed that beneath her icy exterior she still had a warm heart. The only downfall is this collection of short stories leaves you wanting like her first adventure and she left her Viking, the Battle of Agincourt, and the time after her second encounter with the Doctor and before their next meeting in "Face the Raven"

Wish It Had Been Longer...It Was The Usual Length Of A Doctor Who Book,But Man, Good Stories,Even At Twice The Number It Wouldn't Have Been Enough..lol..IHope They Release More With Ashldr

4 stories about Ashildr in different times. Warning: one of them is about her three children. Read this book when you can stand some sadness. But if you know Ashildr, do read it.

I enjoyed the development of Ashildr/Lady Me and a bit more insight into her character. I would've enjoyed a few more stories, but I was quite satisfied with what I read.

It was like described! Little marks of used, but nothing very big! Perfect to read!

the stories were fun to read, but I felt like something is missing from the stories. like it could and should have been more to that.

This is a collection of four novellas that track the development of Ashildr from being ‘The Girl Who Died’ to ‘The Woman Who Lived’. They are far from a fully conclusive account of her life, and aren’t intended to be. Rather they serve as episodic snapshots with the underlying theme of how Ashildr comes to terms with her immortal existence and becomes ‘Me’.They are a reasonably varied collection of storylines and styles but all contain something of the spirit of Ashildr’s onscreen adventures in being of the quasi-historical type. Each are set within a different period and are concerned with some form of extra-terrestrial incursion.The first offering is an unashamed re-working of ‘1001 Arabian Nights’ where several of its stories are re-constructed into a rough narrative that centres round Ashildr. Not yet assuming the pseudonym ‘Me’, she adopts the more Arabic sounding Ash El Dir to engage in various adventures with the famous hero Sinbad before embarking on a quest to find a lost city with Prince Karim. It borrows heavily from ‘Arabian Nights’ in both content and style but tries to condense it all to fit into a short novella. This isn’t entirely successful as the story within a story within a story approach leaves little space to devote to each ‘episode’; which come in five or six page chunks. This makes it quite difficult for the reader to become engrossed in either the plot or the characters. There is also practically nothing of the onscreen Ashildr. The novella is more of a literary experiment that might have served this collection better by not being the opening story.What appears to be a life of crime results in Ash joining a ship’s crew destined for the inappropriately named ‘The Fortunate Isles’. The novella is set in the era of explorers and focusses upon the ‘El Dorado’ style obsession of discovering a mythical land of gold and wealth. Even though it is quite entertaining, it is a fairly typical plot where a supposed paradise becomes some something more jeopardous that requires the crew’s escape. Most of the characters are little more than cannon fodder and there is little development of Ashildr.‘The Triple Knife’ sees Ahsildr reach London, unfortunately during the outbreak of the Black Death. It is not as fast paced or action orientated as the other contributions to this collection but it possesses a greater emotional intensity. It focuses on the trials and mental anguish of raising a mortal family as an immortal and, as such, offers more of an insight into Ashildr and her life. It is this story of the four that really reveals the negative side of her circumstances since encountering the Doctor.‘Ghosts of Branscombe Wood’ is quite an atmospheric, almost spooky, tale involving ghostly apparitions in the local forest. By this time Ashildr has reached a stage nearing the somewhat detached, more amoral ‘Me’ that is seen in ‘The Woman Who Lived’. She is more of the lonely wanderer than in the previous novellas and is forced to adopt a slightly Doctorish role in being a mysterious stranger who arrives in a village, solves its problems and then disappears once more. It sets her up nicely for her second encounter with the Doctor.

The book arrived on time and was in good conditionThis book is split into 4 stories and is overall the tale of how the 'Girl who died' became the 'Woman who lived'. I do believe the theme of this novel is the same theme that runs through Season 9 of Doctor Who: consequences of actions.The first story is basically a retelling of Arabian nights. Whilst it is intriguing and Goss’s writing is of pretty good quality, the setup of stories within a story isn’t one that always works well in this format.The second story is set in 1485 and is a pirate story. Llewellyn’s writing is much easier to follow and has good pacing. The plot line is overall interesting and exciting in parts and pretty lighthearted. I’m not sure what to make of the ending but it was certainly a highly unexpected turn of events.The third story is the best of the four. An extract from Ashildr’s diary, telling of the emotional journey of the loss of her children to the black death. The last few pages were particularly powerful and detailed and brought a tear to my eye. A real demonstration of what immortality really is.The last story shows Ashildr hardened slightly by her many lives and brings together all the themes of this book. Its a ghost story with a twist.

The Legends Of Ashildr is a collection of four short stories about the immortal Viking girl, Ashildr, played by Game Of Thrones' Maisie Williams in the recent series of  Doctor Who - Series 9 Part 1 [DVD] [2015 ].All four tales occur between the episodes The Girl Who Died (when the Doctor's actions result in Ashildr's immortality) and The Woman Who Lived (when Ashildr and the 12th Doctor next meet).Each story is written by a different author and they are quite the mixed bag; two are superb, one is okay and one reads like bad fan-fiction.The best tales are The Arabian Knightmare, by James Goss, which apes the style of the classic One Thousand And One Nights, and Jenny T Colgan's The Triple Knife, which deals with the loss of Ashildr's children.James Goss's story unfolds like a fairy story, beginning with a previously unknown voyage of Sin(d)bad The Sailor but grows into Ashildr's own adventure.This draws on established Whoniverse mythology (as referenced in  Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars [1975] [DVD] [1963 ], and then later spin-off materials) in beautiful ways to tell a very unique story that blurs the line between fantastical mythology and the hard science of Doctor Who.Goss adopts a style which sees characters within the story telling their own stories, creating a layered narrative akin to  The Saragossa Manuscript (Restored Edition) - (Mr Bongo Films) (1965) [DVD ], that some might find a bit off-putting.But it's worth persevering with as this helps capture the oral nature of the story, that is that it is meant to be a story being crafted on the fly and spoken out loud by a skilled storyteller.The resolution is particularly Whovian in nature, with a foe that just needs to be understood, rather than simply stabbed with swords or blasted with lasers.The Triple Knife sees Ashildr arriving in London in 1348 with her three young children, just as the city falls into the grip of the bubonic plague, a situation aggravated by the presence of seemingly inhuman 'plague doctors'.This is a truly heart-breaking story, incredibly written by Jenny Colgan, with a rumination on the nature of death, by Ashildr, that nearly brought me to tears.Justin Richards' The Ghosts Of Branscombe Wood is the story of Ashildr coming upon a small village in early 17th Century England whose inhabitants are troubled by apparitions haunting the nearby woods.This is quite a pedestrian tale, decently written but really offering us nothing new. Although it references the other stories in the book, it certainly doesn't help that closing out the volume highlights the fact that all the tales in The Legends of Ashildr, even the well-written ones, have a certain formula (but some dress it up better than others).This formula is most obvious in David Llewellyn's The Fortunate Isles, which has Asildr stowing away on a Spanish ship in 1485, sailing west 'into the unknown', and coming across the titular Fortunate Isles.What starts out as an okay adventure romp, that appears to be building up to some kind of Lost homage, suddenly takes a preposterous left turn into rather infantile silliness you'd expect to find in comic strips aimed at the under-sevens.Yes, there are some clever puzzle obstacles that Ashildr has to deal with, but the change in style and content undermines any credibility the story had to begin with.Bonus points, though, for referencing real world claims by explorers of the time, of dog-headed natives and disappearing islands, but this story felt very cheesy and rather overambitious compared to the rest of the book.I'd certainly recommend The Legends of Ashildr on the strength of The Triple Knife and The Arabian Knightmare (the latter, particularly, for those of us with a penchant for the Doctor Who spin-off mythology of the Osirans et al), but the differences in quality and writing style between these and the other stories can be quite jarring. Doctor Who - Series 9 Part 1 [DVD] [2015Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars [1975] [DVD] [1963The Saragossa Manuscript (Restored Edition) - (Mr Bongo Films) (1965) [DVD

Me and my boyfriend are Doctor Who fans. I got this for my boyfriends birthday and he was amazed. He’s half way through the book and said it’s a fantastic book for a Doctor Who fan

Enjoyable read

A nice collection of stories concerning the immortal the Doctor created. They as both exciting and move along at a great pace, a must for Farsi of Doctor Who.

A great read, I love Ashildr :)

Looked forward to this but even though it is cleverly written one of the four stories does not hold firm. SORRY.

I rather enjoyed this as my first Dr Who book. The dr does not feature in the book but was fun fan fiction all the same

Really enjoyed this book. Hope there is more coming

very good

I bought this for my daughter and she is really enjoying it.

Prompt delivery and as described.

Awesome

My son chose it and loves it and the speed at which it arrived