Made of Steel (novel)

Made of Steel is a BBC Books original novella written by Terrance Dicks, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. It is the second release in the Quick Reads initiative, a series of shorter works aimed at promoting literacy.

Publisher's summary
A deadly night attack on an army base. Vehicles are destroyed, building burned, soldiers killed. The attackers vanish as swiftly as they came, taking highly advanced equipment with them.

Metal figures attack a shopping mall. But why do they only want a new games console from an ordinary electronics shop? An obscure Government Ministry is blown up - but, in the wreckage, no trace is found of the secret, state-of-the-art decoding equipment.

When the TARDIS returns The Doctor and Martha to Earth from a distant galaxy, they try to piece together the mystery. But someone - or something - is waiting for them. An old enemy stalks the night, men no longer made of flesh...

Characters

 * The Tenth Doctor
 * Martha Jones
 * Kevin
 * Trevor
 * Dexter Hanson
 * Harris
 * Captain Sheila Sarandon

Individuals

 * Martha indicates that she is the cousin of Adeola Oshodi, a Torchwood Institute employee who died during the Battle of Canary Wharf (as seen in DW: Army of Ghosts).

Continuity

 * The events of the book must take place after DW: The Lazarus Experiment as Martha says something about facing mad scientists again.
 * Martha is forced to wait outside the TARDIS in the Doctor's absence, placing the events of the book before DW: 42 (when Martha receives a key to the TARDIS).
 * One of the Cybermen says: "Promises made to inferior species have no meaning", similar line is said by a Cyberleader in The Five Doctors, also written by Dicks.
 * This was the only Quick Reads novella of the five to feature an enemy which is not featured in another New Series Adventure novel. The Daleks appered in Prisoner of the Daleks, the Judoon appeared in Judgement of the Judoon, the Sontarans appeared in The Taking of Chelsea 426 and the Krillitanes appeared in The Krillitane Storm. The Cybermen, however, do not feature in any other such novel.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after NSA: Sting of the Zygons
 * This story occurs before DW: 42