REVIEW: THe Glittering Storm (Sarah Jane Adventures)

The Glittering Storm (Sarah Jane Adventures)
Author: Stephen Cole

I have been a Doctor Who fan for a very long time. Way before the new television series. I grew up on the Doctors & companions who are now lumped together as Classic Who. My favorite? Easy answer -- Tom Baker. Doctor #4. And his stalwart companion, Sarah Jane. In fact, when the 4th Doctor regenerated, I was so angry that I stopped watching the show unless it was reruns of Tom Baker episodes. This wasn't too difficult, because back in the late 70s/early 80s the only stations showing Doctor Who were PBS affiliates. The one I had access to played a few episodes of the 3rd Doctor (portrayed brilliantly by Jon Pertwee), all of Tom Baker up to his regeneration, and a few episodes of the 5th Doctor (Peter Davison. Boo! Hiss!  Just kidding.....don't want Peter Davison fans hunting me with clubs and torches. lol. I have since come around to loving all the doctors.....I just liked MY Doctor and the regneration was too much for a tweenie nerd girl to take.) The PBS station only played a couple Peter Davison episodes....then started back at Jon Pertwee again. I never saw anything by the earliest Doctors, or those after Davison until I was an adult.

The Fourth Doctor had other companions that joined him as well, but Sarah Jane, along with the ever faithful robot dog K-9, was my favorite. Spunky, brave and cute, she made the episodes fun to watch.

Zoom forward a couple decades and I absolutely LOVED it when they brought Sarah Jane onto the new Doctor Who, and when she had her own series for a short while. I had no idea at the time that Sarah Jane Adventures stopped abruptly because actress Elisabeth Sladen was ill. I was so happy to see Sarah, K-9, and Mr Smith the Super Computer! The show was fun to watch! I was very sad when Elisabeth Sladen passed away, but they have kept her beloved character going with many books and audiobooks!

With snow falling outside today (pretty much shutting down the southern town where I live), I loaded up a Sarah Jane audiobook and disappeared into the lovely world of Doctor Who. Well, the lovely world of Sarah Jane, rather.  Sarah Jane Adventures is about Sarah's life after the Doctor is gone. She has K-9, an adopted alien son, Mr. Smith, and lots of friends to help her out. She's still on a quest to protect Earth from menacing aliens -- and manages to find trouble quite often!

In The Glittering Storm, westend London housewives and grandmothers are stealing jewelry and gold. They seemingly have no idea what they have done. Sarah Jane catches an older woman in her house at night, rifling through her jewelry looking for the precious metal. Turns out, all the thieves can be traced to the Auriga Clinic, a medical facility that treats muscle and joint pain using gold and titanium injections. When Sarah's teenage friend, Maria, starts to exhibit the same behaviors as the older women, Sarah knows she has to get to the bottom of what's going on!

This was such a fun, interesting audiobook to listen to! Elisabeth Sladen narrates. It was so nice to hear her voice again. Technically, these books are for the middle grade and young adult crowd....but I don't care! I like them, too! It's a great mix of the old Classic Who and modern Who, too (doesn't that sound like a Dr. Seuss sentence? ha!)! The story is perfect length to listen to on a short car trip or while waiting for an appointment. I was doing housework....Sarah Jane kept me company as I cleaned my kitchen and dining room. :) Lots of action and Doctor Who-ish shenanigans going on! Definitely worth listening to!

I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for more Sarah Jane Adventures books and audiobooks!