Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains; Doctor Who: Aliens and Enemies

Justin Richards' Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains and Doctor Who: Aliens and Enemies are two non-fiction books published to coincide with the first and second seasons of the New Doctor Who series.

For over forty years, the Doctor battled against the monsters and villains in the universe. Monsters and Villains brings together the best or rather the worst of his enemies. It's possible to discover why the Daleks are so deadly; how the Yeti invaded London; the true secret of the Loch Ness Monster; and how the Cybermen have managed to survive. The reader will learn who the Master was, and above all, how the Doctor defeated each and every one of them. This book provides a wealth of information about the monsters and villains that have made Doctor Who the tremendous success it has been over the years. This is a good book - very detailed and contains a lot of extra information about the "modern" villains and monsters supplied by the chief writer of the new series, Russell T Davies. The reader will learn more about the Forest of Cheam and just who "The Lady Cassandra" was originally ("The End of the World"), discover more about The Face of Boe ("The End of the World", "New Earth"), and more about the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, home to the Family Slitheen ("Aliens of London", "World War Three", "Boom Town"). There are a wealth of photos included in this book, including concept drawings for the various Monsters and Villains) and script extracts as well.

Picking up where Monsters and Villains left off, Aliens and Enemies (another fully illustrated guide) documents the return of the metal menaces known as the Cybermen - the Doctor has fought them on many occasions during his ten lives. Other foes, including the Sycorax, the Gelth and the Reapers are discussed. Also making a return are the baddies from the Classic Who series, such as the Celestial Toymaker, Sutekh and the Robots of Death. Unfortunately Aliens and Enemies doesn't contain the extra information from Russell T Davies that Monsters and Villains has, and that's a shame, but this is still an interesting book for those who are fans of this phenomenal series as a result of the work of Russell T Davies and his incredible team at BBC Wales, or those who remember watching the Classic series from behind the sofa in their childhood. If you've got a young Doctor Who fan in the family or your circle of acquaintance, I can recommend both these books - I'm sure they'll be fascinated.