Doctor Who: Frida Kahlo and the Skull Children

Doctor Who: Icons #1

by Sophie McKenzie

Some art can be deadly . . .

Young Frida Kahlo is angry. Injured in a terrible accident, she lives with constant pain and worries that her dreams are unreachable.

But when the TARDIS lands in Mexico City – drawn by a strange disturbance in its energy fields – Frida’s life is turned upside down. Aliens have arrived, taking over the bodies of children and killing anyone who gets in their way.

With the fate of the Earth at stake, the Doctor and Frida must find a way to understand their alien invaders, and each other.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Historical, Fiction

125 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 24, 2024

About the author

Hey there! Welcome to my Goodreads page where you can keep up with all my stories - both the ones that are already published and the works in progress!!

I write mostly teen thrillers - plus some teen romance, books for younger children and four adult psychological thrillers.

I'm really excited right now because of...

Boy, Missing, my £1 book for World Book Day and Truth or Dare, my new teen thriller. (UK)


For more info on these and my other books, check out my website: www.sophiemckenziebooks.com

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the TARDIS lands in Mexico City in the 1920s the Doctor meets 18 year old (future artist) Frida Kahlo & together they encounter a race of aliens with potentially sinsiter plans for the human race.
My favourite artist meets one of my favourite Doctors, but sadly the story didn't live up to my high expectations. As a Doctor Who adventure it felt tired & stale & not very original. However, as a Frida Kahlo story it was very enjoyable! Funny old world.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Done with the skill of the best Target novels of ages past, with an excellent command of the 13th Doctor. I appreciated a story with (1) new & interesting aliens and (2) a use of Frida Kahlo that avoids her more famous adult life in favour of a time little explored.

[Westendgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Doctor Who: Frida Kahlo and The Skull Children" is a fun and simple read. The only commentary I have is that I wish the thirteenth Doctor's companions had a role in the story and I wish the story was more about what Frida Khalo is known for - being an artist.

I love that "The Icons Series" is about less obvious historical icons and not just british icons. I love when Doctor Who embraces all cultures and beliefs, it makes it more interesting. Especially since, in British schools at least, we dont really learn about other countries' history.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frida Kahlo's friends are acting strangely, but a blue box with a strange woman inside may provide the answers.

A fun short story, in keeping with the celebrity cameos which pepper the new 'Doctor Who' series. The plot is easy to understand and should hold the interest of its target audience.

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

first Doctor Who story in a while that didn't wow me and while this was a fun and touching little story maybe that's the issue, it's almost too short , the author does well but with Target books you expect the length, but here , it would have been nice to have a full length novel.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who as a franchise has a long history of introducing its alien time-traveler to historical celebrities of Earth, dating all the way back to the Marco Polo serial of its very first season in 1964. This newer range of licensed novellas continues that trend, beginning with this 2024 release in which the Thirteenth Doctor meets the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

Interestingly, author Sophie McKenzie writes her subject not in the prime of her artistic career, but rather as a teenage girl, still recovering from a vehicle accident that left her with agonizing chronic pain. She's young and unsure what she wants to do with the rest of her life, which the Doctor is careful not to spoil for her despite obviously recognizing the name. This is an element of Kahlo's story that I was personally unfamiliar with, but it's treated honestly and gives greater pathos to her role as de facto companion for the tale, especially when she's tempted to give up her mortal human existence for a painfree digital simulation.

The plot getting to that point isn't anything unusual for the series -- energy beings have landed in 1920s Mexico City and taken over the bodies of local schoolchildren to explore what it's like to be corporeal, hence the later virtual reality that the Time Lord devises to house them instead -- but it's delivered solidly enough. Perhaps because our normal protagonist is travelling by herself for once, she doesn't offer the usual didactic explanation of why her new acquaintance is important, which I could see confusing readers who don't already know about her. On the other hand, those of us who do might well wonder whether transcended artificial intelligences are really the best choice of extraterrestrial visitor for this particular era and guest star! The one possible axis of connection between them and her is that these entities are nonbinary, and yet the future artist's identity as a queer woman isn't referenced at all.

Ultimately it's fine, particularly for its length, but I think a lot more could have been done with the basic premise here.

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[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that this was a quick read, but it also felt like “just passing through,” if that makes sense. Was also kind of weird seeing the word “playdough.” Is that an actual term, or just this book’s way of getting around having to say the Play-Doh brand name?

[Rosie · Rating 1 out of 5]

ok i obviously wasn’t expecting amazing things from this, and ive read some truly diabolical dr who books in my time, but for some reason this one annoyed me the most any of them have in a longgggg while so im gonna rant about it.

it all just felt incredibly lazy!!!! it didn’t even feel like a frida kahlo story. frida spends the entire time being clueless and asking questions while the doctor spouts generic sci fi words or lame dr who references, and the doctor and frida never feel like they bond. the book talks about fridas pain, but i dont feel as though its explored in much depth, and other than that the only thing that defines this to be frida kahlo is the couple of paragraphs tacked on at the end to link it to her art. the fact that the doctor smugly asked the aliens pronouns and yet there wasnt a single mention of frida kahlos queerness is LAUGHABLE.

i absolutely do not claim to know much about frida kahlo btw, but honestly that makes it worse - the fact that ive come away from this not knowing a single new fact about frida kahlo is crazy!!!! this book was clearly meant for children but its not educational at all

and i think that if it wasnt gonna try to be a good frida kahlo story, it should at least try to be a good dr who story, but it very much did not do that either. ‘energised binary code’ is one of the laziest bits of technobabble ive ever heard and yet THE ENTIRE STORY was about that. vaguely mentioning ai once or twice and then VR at the end is huge a sign of someone who has not written sci fi before, and doesnt even care about it enough to research one or two more concepts.

idk man obviously dr who books are very silly and often quite bad but it really annoys me when i know i could have done better!!!!! bbc let me write the next book in this series please. i’ll make 12 meet fucking joan of arc or something. i dont know anything about joan of arc but based on this i dont think thatll be a problem.

(P.S. the fucking ‘my body my choice’ line oh my GODDDD shut upppppppppp)

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

An original adventure featuring the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker).
Eighteen year old Frida Kahlo encounters strange shimmering beings shortly before meeting an eccentric woman with a mysterious blue box in the park. Teaming up, Frida and the Doctor discover that the shimmering beings are seeking to experience the sensations of humanity by seizing control of the bodies of children.

This book is fine. But not much more than that.

I think what really holds it back from being genuinely engaging is how it fails to take advantage of the inclusion of Frida Kahlo herself.
The version of Frida we get here is the one after the devastating accident that gave her chronic pain for the rest of her life but before she's actually chosen to channel her pain into being an artist. So, having the Doctor meet an iconic artist before they've become an artist seems a bit of a waste.
Worse, there's the implication that Kahlo becomes an artist due to the Doctor's intervention and I've always hated Who historicals which make the Doctor responsible for the life choices of real, historically important people (don't get me started on that awful 'mavity' joke).

Similarly to the fact that this book doesn't utilise Kahlo's most interesting life experiences, the aliens featured here don't really gel well with Kahlo's inclusion either. They're living binary code and the solution the Doctor finds is very much computer-based, none of which would even mean anything to a Mexican woman in the 1920s, let alone feed thematically into their inclusion.
Why not make the aliens something to do with art? Or even to do with the nature of chronic pain? Then at least there would be a coherent link between them and the titular icon.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this proved a pretty decent, but very clumsily-made, drama. When a teenaged Frida Kahlo sees a lot of swimey things in the air above her local park, the female Doctor turns up to decide they're living code entities, and in searching for experience that human biological forms might give them, could see to the end of the planet. Saving the day will require imagination, and some pain – but between them, the two women have more than enough – or do they?

So what's clumsy about it? Well, Frida knowing about the chupacabra decades before it was first reported is amateurish. The way the bilinguality – you know, the easy phrases the author knows in Spanish and English appearing in both, just to add 'flavour' – survived after the TARDIS Translator was switched on makes no sense. A defensively-positioned cupboard seems to disappear. And when the binary code/binary pronouns woo-woo turns up as a joke?/device?, you see the issues Doctor Who has faced for many a year, writ far too large.

Perhaps the biggest sin is that it relies on the young reader knowing Frida Kahlo – not every artwork, of course, but while what had caused her such injuries was on these pages, a lot was not clear about this drama possibly being formative for her presentation, outlook and so on. At the same time, while she's a main part of this story, in a nice sidekick-of-the-week manner, this would only need a minor tweak to be a book able to feature anyone; you'd have to change too little to make Frida's presence here far too inessential.

So yes, distinctive, dramatic and giving itself every opportunity to show Kahlo a new world and show a new audience Kahlo, but begging for a sounder production.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like most Doctor Who books, this was a fun, fast, light read. It was from Frida Kahlo's point of view so you see the Thirteenth Doctor through her eyes (no companions are with her- Frida basically is the companion in this book), and there is a timely message about the dangers of AI that we don't necessarily think of. Unlike many sci-fi books that depict AI as malevolent, this one more accurately depicts AI as logical and without emotion. You might think that means it's not dangerous, but how do we feel about humans who can't feel emotions? Yeah, exactly.
My favorite part of the book was the description of Frida's chronic pain. The author did well in including this as something that is always there - it doesn't magically go away when she finds something to be happy about - but she can be temporarily distracted from it. As a chronic pain sufferer, I almost never read characters with chronic pain (and in this case, I know it's only because Frida Kahlo was a real person who suffered from severe chronic pain) so it was refreshing to see and to see it done right. The author pulls no punches about the severity of it and how it can pull a person's spirits down, but we still see Frida eager to do something meaningful with her life instead of lying around feeling sad about the pain. That's the way it is living with chronic pain - it hurts worse than we can expect others to understand, but since it doesn't go away, we have to learn how to do things that make our lives exciting and meaningful and hopefully bring us joy in spite of the constant physical pain. It meant a lot to me to see this depiction.

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a long-time Whovian, I enjoy all things Doctor Who and was looking forward to reading this novella. The story had strong potential: the Thirteenth Doctor encountering a young Frida Kahlo and "skull children" sounded like a "missing" episode that should have been made for TV. So, I had hoped to recommend it.

While this work was perhaps intended for a younger audience of readers, the overall plot was weak, and the character development, particularly of Frida Kahlo, was overly simplistic. Generally, when Doctor Who stories include historical figures or events, they're interesting and informative. It's unfortunate that this novella lacked these elements.

[DrAshleyWho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like how Time Trips followed up on the 50th anniversary e-books, it seems that the Icons series is a spiritual successor to the Decades Collection, and by the looks of it not quite as successful writing-wise. I appreciate its delve into Frida Kahlo’s chronic pain as a result of her traumatic accident, but I wish it leant in just as much as her being an artist and tying that into the story of the Caretans and their desire to gain corporeal form (which otherwise is by-the-numbers generic Who). Not bad, but I preferred the DWM strip The Way of All Flesh which incorporated Kahlo into Who more memorably.

[Sean Clunie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frida Kahlo and the skull children is a story which is very fast paced and fun to read. It gave insight into a historical figure that, perhaps naively, I was not aware of before.
The threat in the novel is uniquely Doctor who and the characterisation of the thirteenth Doctor is great, the author has a great sense of Doctor who as a whole.
However, the ending did feel slightly rushed and like it told us what happened rather than showing.
Nevertheless, I would still recommend this book to any Doctor who lover and definitely to any thirteenth Doctor lover.
3/5 ⭐️

[peep ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“because at this point, you may be humanity’s only hope”

not as bad as i was expecting but not show stopping either! i heard some mixed reviews on this but overall i enjoyed it a lot! i do think frida’s character was a little stunted i would have liked more about her, perhaps her queerness mentioned or some more intelligence highlighted. would have LOVED her chronic pain given more depth, was fine as it was but as a chronically ill girlie i would have liked more 🩷

[Tiina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this, I love Frida Kahlo and I love Doctor Who, and the cover of this book is just plain beautiful.

However, there was barely any story, nothing interesting or scary happened, Frida could have been literally anybody, and I think I read these 144 pages for almost three months because I felt no pul towards the story... The only thing I liked about was how, at the end, Frida understood that it's not her against her pain, but her and her pain living together.

[Gabor Hernadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Thirteenth Doctor and Frida Kahlo together trying to stop an alien arrived to the Earth in an asteroid millions of years ago from possess everyone`s mind and taking over the control of the whole humanity.

[Kelsey Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an avid reader of Dr Who novels with a decent collection, I have found the quality of stories declining recently. Though this was a short book, it was interesting and encouraged me to explore the life Frida Kahlo a bit more (which I guess is the purpose of this particular series). A fun read!

[F.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 13th Doctor's fam was such an unwieldly beast, that it makes sense to separate her for solo adventures. Here she is in a very YA adventure with Frida Kahlo, which is perfectly fun. I liked the talking energy particle bad guys, but they seemed to come from 1960's STAR TREK.

[Hen Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I love Doctor Who and have been a fan since it started on my 9th birthday. Unfortunately I was not a fan of the scrip for Jodie's Doctor, however this story line was brilliant. Typical Doctor in every way.

[Michael Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice straightforward read reminiscent of the Quickreads series published alongside the Tennant and Smith eras. The story has a simple prose style and simple plot and a villain that seems a little bit reminiscent of the TV Action strips in the 60s (villains who aren't exactly evil but more like misbehaving kids).

For a book in a series called Icons, I am not sure the story has enough specifics for the book to be specifically featured Frida Kalho as opposed to any other artist, but I am not familiar enough with her work to swear to that.

Had I been reading this when was 10 or 11, I probably would be less cynical on that front and just enjoyed the story

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I miss the thirteenth doctor ☹️☹️☹️

[Joe Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little story, with an intriguing new ‘villain’ and told simply but beautifully from Frida’s POV. I felt her pain, and her the beauty she sees in the world.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prose is great in this book. There’s a richness to the Kahlo back story and the Doctors adventure is fully realised.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

thought the parts about chronic pain were interesting and it was a good concept but... it just didn't work in my opinion.

[Ari Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

suffers badly from:
companion - "how did you do that?!"
doctor - "oh, i just [insert sci-fi jargon]"

[Helen Marsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

an easy read but I kept imaging the wrong doctor it felt more like 10th doctor.

[Grets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the parts where they use español.

[Spook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet.

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Whovians and Frida Kahlon fans

This takes place in Frida's childhood and before she begins her art work. 1eth doctor and her help an alien race find a new home.