Doctor Who: The Dangerous Book of Monsters (176 Pages) is that small breed of books which I like to think of as the semi-coffee table book. A cornucopia of miscellaneous information for the devoted Who fan to dip in and out of.

Having survived so long, Doctor Who has produced pretty much every type of book for every possible audience, for most fans it’s far too many to collect, so it’s important to know who the books are aimed at. In the case of this tome I think it’s safe to say that we are looking at a young adult book, regardless that it is being published by Puffin.

The book is presented as if the present Doctor has written you a survival guide for any monster you might encounter. Where a photograph may not exist, the book gets over possible issues around copyright or non-existent source material by filling the page with illustrations. The whole book is designed as if the Doctor has produced a sheet on each creature, but not at the same time - it's presented as something he's been adding to over a period of time.

Each part has some typed text, telling you a little about the creature in a very conversational way. If available, a picture has been stuck down with a little masking tape. On top of this you have various survival tips on post-it notes as well as hints and tips written in script. At the bottom of each page is the monster data, which shows a picture of its size, relative to the Doctor as well as data on its origins, speed and overall dangerousness.

One of the things I liked about the book was that although the character of the Doctor is that played by Peter Capaldi, the monsters occasionally go as far back as William Hartnell, a reminder to all those whippersnappers that we were here first.

So, it’s not a bad trivia book. It has a nice heavy cardboard cover and internally, it is printed on quality silk paper.

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Charles Packer