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Doctor Who: The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery Kindle Edition
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Justin Richards
(Author)
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherBBC Digital
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Publication dateOctober 4, 2012
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File size667 KB
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B009KJ6DTO
- Publisher : BBC Digital (October 4, 2012)
- Publication date : October 4, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 667 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 80 pages
- Lending : Not Enabled
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Best Sellers Rank:
#244,443 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #13 in Doctor Who Series
- #746 in Two-Hour Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Reads
- #2,049 in Two-Hour Literature & Fiction Short Reads
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Justin Richards has written more books than he can remember. He has also written audio scripts, television, a stage play, edited anthologies of short stories, been a technical writer, and founded and edited a media journal.
Justin is the author of - amongst other things - The Death Collector, The Chaos Code, The Parliament of Blood and the series The Invisible Detective, Time Runners, and Agent Alfie. He is also Creative Director of the BBC's best-selling range of Doctor Who books, and has written a fair few of them himself.
His latest novel - The Skeleton Clock - is available for the Kindle.
Justin lives in Warwick with his wife and two children, and a lovely view of the castle.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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I have three wishes concerning this book:
1.) I wish I could have a hard copy
2.) I wish it was longer
3.) I wish we could get an audiobook with Alex Kingston voicing it.
PS: Don't go into this expecting a recap of the episode told through the book. This is what River was doing BEFORE the episode. It's about her and her alone.
PPS: Yes, I am aware that it HAS been made into an audiobook. This review was written before the audiobook was announced and so I'm happy (understatement) my wish came true. You guys don't need to leave comments letting me know it was made into an audiobook. I purchased it the day it came out. Thanks!
Indeed, as a lead-in prequel to the Doctor Who episode The Angels Take Manhattan, it is spot-on bang-up fun. The writing style is true to the classic era of over-dramatized private eye books and movies, twisted further with a tone of self-mockery. This is a novella that knows exactly what it is, and pokes fun at itself the entire way through.
I'd happily buy more Melody Malone novels. Very happily. In fact, Mr. Richards, may I wave some money at you in an effort to encourage you to continue this line? Or would you prefer plastic?
Doctor Who is on the cover, but don't be fooled. The only Doctor you'll find here is a stark resemblance between Melody and her alter ego Dr. River Song from the classic BBC program. Also along for the ride are the Angels - the ones that have come to be the penultimate monster on said program.
ANGEL'S KISS is probably closer along the lines of a Young-Adult book in length, reading level and literary construction; but the noir-esque entendre keeps the content firmly ensconced in the mature adult section of the library.
This really was a fun book to read, especially with all the hype surrounding its link to the fifth episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who featuring a similar story line, and brief quoting from the book.
I wish I could give this book an 'excellent' or even 'life changing' rating, but I simply cant justify that; therefore, I rage this book 3 STARS OUT OF 5 based on the following system:
+ poor read
++ so-so read
+++ good read
++++ excellent read
+++++ life changing read
Within the episode, the Doctor reads a pulp detective novel featuring hard-boiled private eye Melody Malone, a character remarkably similar in tone and style to River Song, who is later revealed to be the author. Cue the obligatory multimedia crossover, penned by frequent Who novelist Justin Richards. Richards has a good track record when it comes to capturing the voice of the Doctor in print, and he makes the transition to River-as-narrator with equal aplomb.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with River Song -- a little goes a long way in my book. To Richards's credit he does a good job bringing River to life in the 1930s, as her sass and temperament lend themselves to the female version of Sam Spade -- all hard-boiled dialogue and sarcasm. I have a special affinity for the '30s and classic Hollywood, and Richards's incorporation of the Weeping Angels into the studio star-making "machine" is inspired, a storyline I'd love to see explored in a Doctor-centric episode.
While I am admittedly not the best audience for a River Song novella, as I quickly lose patience with her character, Richards delivers a competently-executed supplement to one of the best Eleventh Doctor episodes to date. As a quick read this solid if unspectacular story suffices as an episode tie-in but falls short as it lacks the afterword promised within the episode's script. That aside, it's always fun to see the Doctor or his companions inhabit new worlds and time periods, and personally I hope that one day we get to see the Doctor inhabit the world Melody Malone's adventure introduces to him -- one filled with shadows, hard-boiled detectives, and glamorous femme fatales.
It was quick reading and it did take you from one scene to another, but I doubt that I'll buy anymore and just enjoy the TV show. It's fan fiction and should you like that then you'll love this.
The author did end the book with a cliff hanger and there may be a sequel available.
Top reviews from other countries
No, it's the Angels that take the crown, the silent statues that move only when you're not looking at them, and teleport you back in time so that you age to death. Or break your neck, depending on the plot. Despite being deleted from time in 2010, they recently popped up at the end of 2012's run of episodes, to play out Amy and Rory Pond. A mysterious book written by Melody Malone was a major plot element of that adventure, and now Doctor Who novel stalwart Justin Richards has provided an ebook story of Melody's investigations in New York.
It's important to stress that this isn't a novelisation of Angels Take Manhattan. It's more of a prequel, really, and some of that episode's characters pop in and out. The Angel's Kiss is a bit of an oddity in that it's quite short, and written in fairly simple language, suggesting quite a young target audience. The odd thing is that Melody's internal monologue is constantly suggestive and full of innuendo that suggests a much older readership.
But fundamentally, The Angel's Kiss is a fun hour's read. It zips along, is frequently pretty amusing, and has a lot of fun casting "Melody" as a private eye, and inverting the gender roles accordingly. It doesn't shed any particularly important light on the events of this year's Doctor Who episode, but it's a nice little embellishment nonetheless.
The character of River was captured perfectly and I could see and hear Alex Kingston in every line. The prose was so tightly constructed that there was almost a joke or a double meaning in every sentence. It isn't just that it was a good story, the control the author had over each word was amazing.
I don't imagine that many non-Whovians will read this book but I would certainly recommend this to them. Whilst there are lots of bits for Whovians to pick up on this isn't really a Doctor Who book and there is plenty to enjoy by simply reading this a straight-forward pastiche of the detective story genre.
As another reader said, the only thing that could make this book better is if there was an audiobook of Alex Kingston reading it.
Favourite character: Melody Malone
Favourite quote: "Everything about me is pretty and a lot of it is shrewd. So I had a pretty shrewd idea what was going on."
It is also written in the first person (which is quite rare for a Doctor Who book). The personality of River Song (or Melody Malone, if you like)works exceptinally well with this type of genre. Richards does a capable job of capturing her character, the text only occasionally feeling like it was written by a man (but not every author can be a Flaubert).
There is no Doctor for anyone who might be expecting there to be but he would seem out of place in this type of story and detract from the characterisation of River Song. It is slightly disappointing though that there is a lack of Angel action and perhaps they could have featured a little bit more.
Overall it manages to do quite a bit with its limited word count and readers other than Doctor Who fans will also enjoy it. There is defintiely scope for more Melody Malone adventures.
Fans of River will not be disappointed with the opportunity to follow her on a solo adventure, with the chance to see how she operates without the Doctor and to find out how she fills her time between adventures with the Time Lord in her life. I for one am hoping for more Melody/River spin-off stories.















