Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the funniest of the the Doctor Who novellettes I have ever read.

It is a space pirate parody on Treasure Island. The folk-lore and focus of the entire plot centres on the most bloodthirsty Pirate that ever roamed the Space Seas ... Hamlek Glint, that legend has it went into the casket of the books title and has stayed in stasis for the past 50 years.

Meanwhile, the Doctor has landed on a planet called StarFall, an Industrial Revolution style planet, no new technology works, and that includes the TARDIS. The reason being is that galaxy is surrounded by a force called the Zeg that makes everything on the planet run on steam power.

They meet a young boy called Jimm, a boy fascinated by all of Glint's adventures, his uncle Bobb and a very eccentric millionaire leader of the region ... Drel McCavity, who turns out to be manipulative and obsessed by the Casket for his own gruesome reasons, (which I am not going to reveal just in case this review inspires you to read the book!) Sally, a cyborg waitress in a cheap pub. Oh, and a rather apologetic really rather kind monster that is told to kill once someone has been issued with the Black Spot ... oh and he is called Kevin.

The Doctor has to sail into space in real time which he hates to the edge of the galaxy out of the influence of the Zeg so his beloved TARDIS can work again. He counts on troubles but what he doesn't take into consideration is that he is sailing with an evil maniacal out-for-blood and guts crew of steam-powered Pirate Robots, an evil maniacal delusional human being and, of course, Jimm ... who was drugged by someone he trusted and smuggled on board.

With all the twists and turns and running and avoiding ... Pirates, Drel, and Kevin who all he wants to do is sit down watching Documentaries, do his suduku, crosswords and various degrees eating pizza and drink beer ... there is one thing that about the Hamlek Glint legend that the Doctor has to work out ... the most inventive twist on the tale I have ever heard.

Even if you are not a Who fan at least read it for the love of Robert Louis-Stevenson whom I am sure would love this take on his tale and would love the way Glint's legend ended and, in a way, started all over again.

This is one that should also have been televised.

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