Doctor Who: The Aztecs Audiobook

Quotes

• “Barbara is actually the villain of the piece…Barbara is one of my all-time favorite companions because the writers allowed her to be complex and reactive…We are told so much about the Aztecs and their culture within the narrative, their social and military structure, their traditions and punishments, that I felt I had learned a great deal about a fascinating period of history…Barbara’s scene stealing exposes more layers of the vastly unwinding tapestry that is Doctor Who.”

  — Joe Ford, DoctorWhoReviews.co.uk

• “Your attention is entirely focused on the moral dilemma burning at the heart of the narrative…The Aztecs explores Barbara’s desire to change history ‘for the better’— i.e., to save the Aztec race from itself—and her patent inability to do so. The Doctor tries to explain to her that she cannot interfere, but it is a lesson she has to learn painfully for herself, and as a result her three companions are placed in all kinds of dangers by the priest of sacrifice, Tlotoxl (a villain easily as terrifying as any modern alien menace), who wants to expose her as a fraud…What’s so clever about the writing here is that in following each character on their own separate adventure, we learn something different about Aztec culture without even realizing it…That’s what I like the most about these early adventures—there is far less emphasis on saving the world, more on pragmatic (and arguably amoral) survival.”

  — E. G. Wolverson, DoctorWhoReviews.co.uk