The Story of Martha picks up in the year where the Earth has been overtaken by the Master and Martha is on the run, spreading stories about the Doctor to the people she meets. The stories obviously give the Doctor a chance to feature in this book and they are not bad stories. I think the writers wrote sufficient short stories. Some of the stories managed to get the Doctor’s personality across well and in his interactions with Martha. Loved that it was Martha breaking her arm, having been pushed too hard on a swing by her brother Leo, that sparked her ambition to be a Doctor and as a teenager she had posters of skeletons on her bedroom walls. The Frozen Wastes by Robert Shearman was my favourite story, because it was trippy and anything involving time loops and memories and dreams and I start to get goosebumps. Aside from the stories is Martha’s narrative of traveling the world, being pursued by the army tasked to find her and take her to the Master. The man in charge of the operation Griffon had the cliché baddy scar on his face. I thought The Story of Martha started strongly with Martha still new to being on the run and coming across a young child Aleesha, who we never hear about again. And the latter half of the book is weak, with an added subplot of aliens the Drast and their Segue chamber. I would have preferred there to have been no aliens in the present and have kept those for the stories with Martha and the Doctor. The Story of Martha is well written, and an easy read. It certainly filled in some of the blanks about the year Martha was on the run.

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