Royal Blood - Una McCormack

Royal Blood by Una McCormack 
Series: Doctor Who: The Glamour Chronicles
Published on September 10, 2015  by BBC Books
[This book was given to me by the Publisher but this in no way affected my opinion]

The city-state of Varuz is failing. Duke Aurelian is the last of his line, his capital is crumbling, and the armies of his enemy, Duke Conrad, are poised beyond the mountains to invade. Aurelian is preparing to gamble everything on one last battle. So when a holy man, the Doctor, comes to Varuz from beyond the mountains, Aurelian asks for his blessing in the war.

But all is not what it seems in Varuz. The city-guard have lasers for swords, and the halls are lit by electric candlelight. Aurelian’s beloved wife, Guena, and his most trusted knight, Bernhardt, seem to be plotting to overthrow their Duke, and Clara finds herself drawn into their intrigue...

Will the Doctor stop Aurelian from going to war? Will Clara’s involvement in the plot against the Duke be discovered? Why is Conrad’s ambassador so nervous? And who are the ancient and weary knights who arrive in Varuz claiming to be on a quest for the Holy Grail…?

Before Royal Blood I had never read any of the DW books published, so I was a bit weary of how well the characters would translate to the writing format and if it would be possible to have the same feel as the tv show. After reading it I think that it isn't possible to translate the tone of the show entirely BUT it still is an enjoyable experience. The Doctor and Clara didn't translated exactly for me - there was just times where they would say or do something that I would scratch my head and be like "hmm, I don't think they would actually do that this way and/or say this".

What did bothered me was the start, this book has more than one POV. One is on third person and it usually follows Clara, the other is on first person and follows a character that we don't know who it's at the start and until I figure that out these passages didn't made any sense. Even so I did laughed at some passages and found the overall plot pretty doctor-ish, on its crazyness and twists.

I found this city, Varuz, so interesting. They are kind of a medieval setting but also have the most star-wars like weapons and other magical objects that we have to figure out how ended up being develop on that society and the reveal on this subject was really cool and interesting. We also have, about half into the book, the Holy Grail plot when that happened I couldn't help but remember of episodes as the one with Robin Hood, but these knights aren't as fun as Robin so be warmed - still, at first I thought "what the hell" but they ended up tying nicely with the rest of the story and giving sense to the plot on the most unusual way, as it always is with the Doctor.

If you have a curiosity to check the DW books as well as I had I would definitely recommend to start from here, for me it worked and I can't wait to pick up the next book on the Glamour Chronicles series.