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Beautiful Chaos was the twenty-third Tenth Doctor novel released. It was the last to feature Donna Noble.
Publisher's summary
2008 BBC Books edition
Donna Noble is back home in London, catching up with her family and generally giving them all the gossip about her journeys. Her grandfather is especially overjoyed — he's discovered a new star and had it named after him. He takes the Tenth Doctor, as his special guest, to the naming ceremony.
But the Doctor is suspicious about some of the other changes he can see in Earth's heavens. Particularly that bright star, right there. No, not that one, that one, there, on the left...
The world's population is slowly being converted to a new path, a new way of thinking. Something is coming to Earth, an ancient force from the Dark Times. Something powerful, angry, and all-consuming...
2013 BBC Books edition
Wilfred Mott is very happy: his granddaughter, Donna, is back home, catching up with family and gossiping about her journeys, and he has just discovered a new star and had it named after him. He takes the Tenth Doctor with him to the naming ceremony. But the Doctor soon discovers something else new, and worryingly bright, in the heavens – something that is heading for Earth. It’s an ancient force from the Dark Times. And it is very, very angry...
Characters
References
- Geoff Noble, Martha Jones and UNIT are mentioned.
- Lukas Samuel Carnes goes to Park Vale Comprehensive School, the same school as Luke Smith and his friends do.
- The late wife of Wilf and mother of Sylvia was named Eileen.
- The Doctor mentions that he hates bow ties. The Eleventh Doctor would later often express his fondness of them.
- The Doctor says that Aubrey Fairchild "clearly makes no impression on history".
Notes
- This is the last novel to feature Donna Noble.
- Indeed, the preface and epilogue are set post-Journey's End, suggesting a "goodbye" to Donna.
- Discounting the special case of the multi-authored PROSE: The Story of Martha, this was the last announced Tenth Doctor Adventures release to feature the Doctor with a regular companion. All novel releases for 2009 featured the Tenth Doctor travelling alone.
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
- The novel was reprinted with a new cover in 2013 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.
Continuity
- The Tycho satellite from TV: The Last Sontaran is referred to.
- The Prime Minister is called Aubrey Fairchild. This is also the name of the deceased reverend in TV: The Next Doctor. This is most likely because an early draft of TV: The Stolen Earth included a Prime Minister of the same name before his scenes were removed.
- This story is a sequel to the Fourth Doctor story TV: The Masque of Mandragora.
- There is a reference to a splinter of the Mandragora Helix being involved with the white and the crimson. This harks back to Sarah Jane Smith's encounters in the Big Finish Sarah Jane CDs.
- There are also references to splinters at the Sacred Mountain of Xi'an and the Mandrake nightclub, referring to the First Doctor novel PROSE:The Eleventh Tiger and the Seventh Doctor comic strip COMIC: The Mark of Mandragora.
- Netty is referenced in TV: The End of Time as a part of the Silver Cloak.
- The preface and epilogue occur after TV: Journey's End
- While pondering how Sylvia does not like him, the Doctor remembers Jackie Tyler and Francine Jones - particularly the occasions when they slapped him. (TV: Aliens of London, The Lazarus Experiment)
- The Doctor, trying to explain why London is deserted, suggests that it's Sunday. The Third Doctor had once remarked that London seemed to close on Sunday. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs) The Tenth Doctor and his immediate successor had both stated that they did not like Sundays, finding them boring. (TV: Silence in the Library, The Impossible Astronaut)
Audio release
- The story was released as an audiobook on 2x CD read by Bernard Cribbins.