Doctor Who: The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery Kindle Edition

This was absolutely perfect, brilliant, sassy and so so RIVER. MY LORD, I could hear her voice when I was reading the dialogue. It was a fantastic read and I couldn't get over all of the flirting and the sass and the pure wit sprinkled throughout. Did I mention the SASS? This was exactly what I wanted in a solo River book and I am so pleased that I wasn't disappointed.I have three wishes concerning this book:1.) I wish I could have a hard copy2.) I wish it was longer3.) 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!

Justin Richard's prose is okay, although it suffers from the mistakes that many male writers make about writing women. However, Alex Kingston transforms a so-so novel (although far above any other Doctor Who tie-in novel) into a very entertaining and exciting tale. Ms. Kingston is not only a top notch, award winning, actress on stage and screen, but even alone in a recording studio. The BBC and Big Finish should take note of this and Ms. Kingston's huge fanbase (look up the term "kinglets" ) and make more audio books with Alex Kingston as River Song, especially with the actors who played the past Doctors who are still alive. A River Song and the Fourth Doctor audiobook with Alex Kingston and Tom Baker would be amazing. (River interacted with all the past Doctors on adventures, it would be wonderful to have some of those adventures on audiobook).

The first foray into River Song's head is a rollicking roller-coaster of snark and sass, and if you love River Song, you will adore this novella. Justin Richards has done a marvelous job of getting into her head, and her 'voice' comes across clearly as you're reading. Innuendo laden jokes and internal commentary are as snappy as her spoken word, and yet she maintains the show-established elegance that we have all come to know and love in the feisty creature that she is.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?

"The Angels Take Manhattan" -- the fifth episode from the current (seventh) season of Doctor Who -- saw longtime companions Amy and Rory bid a poignant and moving farewell to the Eleventh Doctor. Fittingly their final adventure involved one of the Doctor's most fearsome foes (in my view at any rate) -- the Weeping Angels. Only Stephen Moffat could take statuary associated with memorials and faith and give it such a deliciously sinister undertone.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.

Even though this book is affiliated with the TV show Doctor Who, it works pretty well as a standalone story - if you have a slight understanding of the show's baddies The Weeping Angels. It reads as a typical hard-boiled detective novel set in the 1930s, with Melody Malone's hilarious wit and way with words. As it says in the book and in the TV show, "She's got ice in her heart, and a kiss on her lips." and she is totally delightful - Melody's personality is wonderfully brought to life in this short mystery. The actual story had some surprises for me - the Angels involvement was really not what I was expecting. I wish there was more to this story, as Melody is such a fun character and I didn't want it to end!

This is a witty, quick adventure. You don’t have to be a Doctor Who fan to enjoy this but you will enjoy it extra if you are.