13 Books to Read If You Love Doctor Who

Travel through space and time in the span of a couple of pages
By Nivea Serrao
July 04, 2017 at 10:00 AM EDT
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Books for Doctor Who Fans 

Credit: Simon Ridgway/BBC

As Peter Capaldi's Doctor prepares to bid his tenure in the TARDIS adieu, here are 13 books that will capture that wibbly wobbly timey-wimey feeling fans love so much.

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Claire North, The Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Credit: Hachette Book Group

An immortal being who is reborn every couple of years and is asked to save the world? It isn't the Doctor, but Claire North's (a.k.a. Catherine Webb) Harry August, a Kalachakra, is reborn into the same point of time again and again and again. But when he's at the end of his 11th life cycle (where he has the title of "Doctor") and a young girl warns him that the end of the world is coming, he decides to go on the offensive to stop it — with or without the help of the Cronus Club. Order it here.

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Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

Credit: Zola Books

While the title will no doubt remind Whovians of the Doctor's wife, River Song, the book's plot (a woman who marries a man who has a genetic disorder that causes him to be displaced in time) hews closer to the tale of Sally Sparrow (from "Blink") and her detective love interest, as well as that of Amy and Rory's final fate. Order it here.

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James Gleick, Time Travel: A History

Credit: Knopf Doubleday

Why are we even fans of Doctor Who? What is it about the long-running show about an even older Time Lord that has captured our imaginations? Well, Gleick's 353-page read answers that question as it blends the science and fiction of time travel to examine this cultural phenomenon using elements from literature, science, philosophy, anthropology, and even religion. Order it here.

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Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Credit: William Heinemann Ltd.

From the writer of a few Doctor Who episodes himself, comes a character whose holistic view of the world might fit in with the Eleventh Doctor's more playful, laissez-faire philosophy. So it's no wonder that oddball detective Dirk Gently has his own TV series now. Order it here.

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Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair

Credit: Viking

The first book in Fforde's Thursday Next series sees literary characters go missing from their respective novels (including Jane Eyre) prompting Special Operative in literary detection Thursday Next to get on the case. This madcap adventure in a world where literary devices are quite real, and time travel and cloning are quite common, feels right up the pinstriped sleeve of the Tenth Doctor himself! Order it here.

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Octavia Butler, Kindred

Credit: Doubleday

A 26-year-old black woman finds herself repeatedly transported from the present in modern day California, to the past in the antebellum South. Doctor Who may have addressed the darker parts of history, like slavery and racism, in passing earlier this season, but Butler's novel is a more nuanced, in-depth exploration of both (as well as their long-reaching effects) which Bill herself has probably read (and dog-eared). Order it here.

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Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle In Time

Credit: Farrar Straus Giroux

Get ready to meet Mrs. Who (and Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which) in L'Engle's award-winning novel (the first in a quintet) about Meg Murray, a young girl who must travel across space and evade a dark power to rescue their scientist father. Order it here.

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Heidi Heilig, The Girl From Everywhere

Credit: HarperCollins

For fans who've wished for nothing more than to see Jenny's (the Doctor's daughter) adventures in time and space comes Heilig's duology which follows the story of Nix, the daughter of the captain of a time traveling pirate ship who is faced with her father's desire to get t 1868 Honolulu to save her mother, which might mean erasing her own existence. Order it here.

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Tara Sim, Time Keeper

Credit: Sky Pony Press

Sim's sweet relationship between a clock mechanic and the spirit of the clock tower he's meant to repair channels that of the Doctor and Idris' (a.k.a. the TARDIS) in "The Doctor's Wife." Though, perhaps with less stopping of time itself. Order it here.

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A.K. Benedict, Class: The Stone House 

Credit: HarperCollins

This series of books based on the latest Doctor Who spin-off serves as a reminder that life — especially at Coal Hill School — continues on after the Doctor leaves, while also offering fans a chance to keep reliving adventures from their favorite world-saving teens from BBC America's Class. Order it here. Read an exclusive excerpt from the sequel novel here.

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Derek Landy, Skulduggery Pleasant

Credit: HarperCollins

The first book in the series — which features Landy's wisecracking sorcerer skeleton detective as he recruits the favorite teenage niece of his friend (and author) Gordon Edgeley to help him save the world and solve a few crimes — will remind readers of the bond between Ninth Doctor and Rose. Order it here.

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Matthew Loux, The Time Museum

Credit: First Second

This graphic novel is perfect for younger fans of the Time Lord, and it sneaks in a few more educational facts than usual. The series follows a group of kids recruited as interns of the prestigious Time Museum from all over history. Their mission? To defend it. Kind of like the Doctor and the Vault this season. Order it here.

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Adam Hargreaves, Dr. Twelfth

Credit: Random House

You don't ever have to let go of Capaldi's Twelve, or Michelle Gomez's Missy thanks to this Doctor Who-Mr. Men crossover that sees both characters go on a little adventure. (The same for Ten and Donna.) Order it here.

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By Nivea Serrao