Book review: Enter Wildthyme

I don't know if Paul Magrs plans to return to Brenda & Effie at any point but in the meantime he's starting a new series that crosses their own universe over with the Doctor Who one. Iris Wildthyme is a character Magrs created years ago for the Doctor Who novels and audio plays that came about when the series was off the air, another seemingly immortal time traveler who picks up companions to go around the universe having adventures with; except this one is female, much more fond of booze and fags than the protagonist of a family TV show, and travels in a double-decker bus instead of a police box. Evidently she's taken on a life of her own and has appeared in print and audio stories written by a number of writers, but now Magrs is giving her a new series of books, starting with Enter Wildthyme.

Iris' main sidekick Panda, a living stuffed toy, appeared in the last Brenda & Effie book, and there's a number of other sly little crossovers with his other series, including a cameo from Jessie the womanzee. The story itself is largely setup for a new series, with Iris acquiring a new crew for her double-decker (in addition to Panda she picks up a gay, Northern bookshop owner and a talking vending machine called Barbra) and then setting off in pursuit of a dangerous poet. You may not be able to judge a book by its cover but the tagline ("Time and Space. Good and Evil. Gin and Tonic.") should give you a good idea of the kind of sense of humour we're talking about.