The novel “The Last Dodo” by Jacqueline Rayner was published for the first time in 2007.
After a discussion about zoos, the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones take inspiration from an electronic guide to the creatures of the Earth and decide to go in search of a living dodo. The Doctor programs the Tardis to find a dodo but the two travelers end up in a sort of museum of the last specimens of all the extinct species.
Their arrival isn’t exactly well received because they get mistaken for specimen thieves. For some time, someone has been stealing many of them and no one can figure out how. Despite being in a gray area from the ethical point of view, the Doctor and Martha decide to help the museum to solve the mystery.
“The Last Dodo” is part of a series of novels connected to the new “Doctor Who” series. They’re targeted to a wide audience by being linear enough to be appreciated even by very young readers but sophisticated enough to interest more mature readers.
The dodo – scientific name Raphus cucullatus – was a flightless bird that lived in the island of Mauritius and got extinct after its colonization by Europeans. The occupation of its habitat by humans was at least one of the causes of its extinction. Instead, the theory about the active dodo hunting seems unfounded because its meat was considered far from good.
The last dodo is central to this novel in which the Doctor programs the Tardis to locate a specimen and ends up bringing Martha Jones to a museum that preserves the last specimens of the extinct species of the universe. The organization that runs the museum has the means to find out when a species is about to get extinct and go pick up the last specimen.
The Doctor, who just had a discussion about zoos with Martha, is far from enthusiastic about the existence such a museum in which the last specimens are preserved for display. However, the two travelers are mistaken for thieves following the theft of various creatures on display and the Doctor has to choose the lesser of two evils.
The investigation into the thefts by the Doctor and Martha is a way to allow Jacqueline Rayner to develop ecological themes. At the end of each chapter there’s the description of a living creature extinct in the past or in the future and various parts of the novel include these kinds of themes.
Because of this choice, the plot of “The Last Dodo” ends up being quite thin and oriented to the environmental message. Not surprisingly, although the museum includes creatures of various planets the story is focused almost entirely on Earth’s animals and mostly extinct or endangered due to human intervention.
Concerning the story, “The Last Dodo” has the distinction of being told in part in the first person by Martha and partly in the third person. It’s a “hybrid” choice that in my opinion isn’t really successful, also because it could’ave been an opportunity to develop her character but in the end the parts told by her are generic, without really showing who is Martha.
The character of Martha Jones wasn’t treated very well in the new “Doctor Who” series but other companions had an even worse destiny. I confess that I had a laugh when the doctor named the last of dodo Dorothea, a reference to perhaps the most unlucky companion of the whole saga.
In the end, “The Last Dodo” seems more oriented to teenage, or even younger, readers who needs a lesson in environmentalism. This book series has length limitations but I think that Jacqueline Rayner could still develop this novel with a little more subtlety. As it is, I found it decent but nothing more so I recommend it only to those who want to have the complete collection and to younger readers.
