The Eaters of Light (novelisation)

The Eaters of Light was a novelisation based on the 2017 television episode The Eaters of Light. It was written by the original writer Rona Munro and released by Target Books on 14 July 2022.

Publisher's summary
"To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world!"

The Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century Scotland to learn the fate of the 'lost' Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation - how?

The search for the truth leads the Doctor and his friends into a deadly mystery. Who is the Guardian of the Gate? What nightmare creature roams the wildlands, darkening the sky and destroying all in its path? A threat from another dimension has been unleashed on the Earth, and only a terrible sacrifice can put things right...

Chapter titles

 * Prologue
 * BOOK ONE
 * Chapter I
 * Chapter II
 * Chapter III
 * Chapter IV
 * BOOK TWO
 * Chapter I
 * Chapter II
 * Chapter III
 * Chapter IV
 * Chapter V
 * Chapter VI
 * BOOK THREE
 * Chapter I
 * Chapter II
 * Chapter III
 * Chapter IV
 * Chapter V
 * Chapter VI
 * Chapter VII
 * Chapter VIII
 * Chapter IX
 * Chapter X
 * Epilogue
 * Author's Note

Deviations from televised story

 * The story is divided into three parts, with the middle section largely dedicated to the back-stories of Kar and Lucius, exploring their past lives side-by-side in greater detail and strengthening the parallels between both characters, culminating in their confrontation on the battlefield.
 * The episode's cold opening with the two children exploring Devil's Cairn in the present day and the crows cawing "Doc-tor!" is omitted, as is the representation of the TARDIS on a rock carving. Instead, the book's prologue depicts Kar being alerted of the creature's arrival by the cairn's previous Gatekeeper, who dies in front of her.
 * The Picts are treated with more respect by the Doctor than in the televised episode. Onscreen, he shows little sympathy towards Kar for allowing the Eater of Light to break free in order to defend her people against the Romans, and continually questions her abilities. By contrast, the novelisation depicts the Doctor as showing far more compassion towards the surviving Pictish children, even being impressed by their community's tools and craftsmanship.
 * Despite appearing on the back cover of the book, the Doctor's line "To protect a muddy little hillside, you doomed your whole world!" is notably never said during the narrative.
 * Kar's ambush of Bill in the woods and her subsequent encounter with the Roman legionaries is streamlined and far more dramatic. Rather than being chased on foot until she falls into a pit trap, the book instead has the encounter take place in a cow meadow by the riverside. Kar charges Bill while riding on the back of a bull when both are suddenly attacked by the Eater of Light, which consumes the bull Kar was riding. Bill jumps into the rushing river to escape and surfaces in the cave where Lucius and the other survivors of the Ninth Legion have taken refuge.
 * The novel removes Lucius's unrequited attraction to Bill and their conversation where he surprises her with the fact that he and his fellow Romans are bisexual. Instead, Book Two portrays Lucius as being entirely homosexual and explores his past relationship with a fellow legionary named Sextus, who is later killed by the Eater of Light.
 * Bill's encounter with the Roman soldier Simon in the pit, where she discovers the TARDIS's auto-translation of all languages (including Latin) into English, is absent from the book. His death is instead mentioned in passing by Lucius while recounting their escape from the Eater of Light.
 * The Doctor is knocked unconscious by Nardole to stop him going through the gate, rather than being knocked down by Bill.
 * The episode's final scene in which Bill and Nardole find Missy waiting for them back in the TARDIS is omitted.
 * The Romans and Picts recognising each other as children once they can understand each other is omitted. Instead, Bill points out to Lucius that the Picts are children, with the two groups far more eager to kill each other than on screen.
 * Instead of referring outright to the Vault, Nardole makes a vague reference to the Doctor being involved in a world-saving situation that Bill doesn't know about.

Writing and publishing notes
to be added

Additional cover images
to be added

Audiobook
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 14 July 2022 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Rebecca Benson.