The Memory of Winter [AUDIO/2016.4.7]

★★★☆☆

  I have a lot to say about these BBC Audio adventures; it's less about what they are, exactly, and more about how they're (usually) presented that seems to agree with me less than I would want them to. The Twelfth Doctor Winter family arc has four audiobooks, and it's with some regret that I say that these, even the ones I gave three stars (which means it isn't bad), are pretty rote and rigid in execution. Something about their sound mixing, and narration, I suppose, and how the script lacks a lot of the attention to detail and gleeful examination on the most trivial of things that narrated stories are usually good at. I think the Companion Chronicles from Big Finish have found the right mix in this regard; their scripts tend to say a lot more in the same amount of time, and for the ones that are more or less similar in number in detail to BBC Audio scripts, there's almost always better sound design/music.

  The Memory of Winter has the same problems I have with most BBC Audiobooks, especially those in the Winter family arc -- a script not as detailed or engaging as I'd like, combined with lacklustre sound design creating an aural experience that relies perhaps a bit too heavily on its story, and if you know me, utilising the medium is just as, if nor more, important to me as the story is. It's a good thing, then, that the story's perhaps the best one yet. We have Joan of Arc, a proper resolution to the Winter family storyline (one I could see coming from miles off, perhaps, but fun nonetheless), bittersweet references to the Time War, and a scary villain. Jemma Redgrave's a good narrator, and it helps the audiobook a lot. I would cautiously recommend these BBC Audio installments to someone who's invested in the represented eras... but for people who aren't generally fans of audiobooks and/or pretty bland prose styles (which I wouldn't blame them for), I'd tell them... don't bother.