* Infinite Requiem (Benny)

Kelzen, a chaotic force in the mind of an unborn twentieth-century earthling. Jirenal, intent on conquering a future society of dreamers and telepaths. Shanstra, evil incarnate - the conflicts on Gadrell Major are her sport and the tragedies of humans are her entertainment.  They are Sensopaths, their minds attuned to the collective unconscious, their power unleashed like a wild animal into the physical world. One by one, the TARDIS has located them. While Bernice faces the life-and-death struggle of a colonial war, with only a hologram of the Doctor to help her, the Doctor must confront the all-powerful trinity.

My Review:  Started off ok, but descended into bad Cyberpunk clichés and really you could have taken the Doctor out of this story and put in any other leading character with no difference to the end result, for instance this would have worked just as poorly as a TNG novel...

* Sanctuary (Benny)

The TARDIS is caught in the gravitational field of a dark star. The Doctor and Bernice are forced to evacuate, and find themselves stranded in medieval France - a brutal time of crusades and wars of succession.  As the Albigensian crusade draws to its bloody conclusion, men inflict savage brutalities on each other in the name of religion. And the TARDIS crew find their lives intertwined with warring Templars, crusaders and heretics. While the Doctor begins a murder investigation in a besieged fortress, Bernice finds herself drawn to an embittered mercenary who has made the heretics' fight his own. And they both realise that to leave history unchanged they may have to sacrifice far more than their lives.

My Review:  Started off a bit too slow for me but the layers of characterisation really made up for it  In the end I was disappointed that the evil baddie (tm) didn't get a death scene and I felt sorry for Benny that she lost out on what could have been an interesting love affair...

* Human Nature (Benny)

April, 1914. The inhabitants of the little Norfolk town of Farringham are enjoying an early summer, unaware that war is on the way. Amongst them is Dr John smith, a short, middle-aged history teacher from Aberdeen. He's having a hard time with his new post as house master at Hulton Academy for Boys, a school dedicated to producing military officers.  Bernice Summerfield is enjoying her holiday in the town, getting over the terrible events that befell her in France. But then she meets a future Doctor, and things start to get dangerous very quickly. With the Doctor she knows gone, and only a suffragette and an elderly rake for company, can Benny fight off a vicious alien attack? And will Dr Smith be able to save the day?

My Review:  Not a bad book but very dry for long sections at a time. A few extra helpings of weirdness would have helped and the gang of villains could have been a bit more powerful, they never really convinced that they were a serious threat, rather it felt like they were going through the motions without a clue as to why they did what they did (unless that's the whole point).

* Original Sin (Benny, Chris & Roz)

The last words of a dying alien send the Doctor and Bernice to thirtieth-century Earth in an attempt to avert an unspecified disaster. Before they can even unpack they've been arrested by the Adjudicators and sentenced to death by the Imperial army. Their attempts to prove their innocence take them from the mosaic planet Purgatory to a prison inside a star.  Meanwhile, Adjudicators Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej have their own problems. Investigating a series of apparently motiveless murders, they have stumbled upon a conspiracy with sinister overtones. On the run and out of luck, the only people they can turn to are their chief suspects: the Doctor and Bernice.  And as they run, someone is watching them. Someone who knows the Doctor of old...

My Review:  A good story with an epic pace and lots of excellent little touches that add so much depth without getting in the way. I loved the reveal of the evil baddie (tm) and it added a lot to the overall storyline (even though it could have quite merrily happened with another evil baddie (tm) instead. The sly scene with Romana was great and the line about if Tegan could figure out the TARDIS controls then anyone could was a marvellous little jab at series continuity. All in all a very readable book and one I'd recommend to anyone.

* Sky Pirates! (Benny, Chris & Roz)

Hoist the main brace, splice the anchor and join the Doctor and Benny for the maiden voyage of the good ship Schirron Dream, as it ventures into the fungral dark of air spaces occupied by the Sloathes - those villainous slimy evil shapeshifting monsters of utter and unmitigated evil that have placed the system under siege!  Watch Roslyn Forrester and Chris Cwej have a rough old time of it in durance vile! Meet the intrepid Captain Li Shao, and the beautiful if somewhat single-minded Sun Samurai Leetha t'Zhan! Roast on the dunes of Prometheus, swelter in the fetid jungles of Anea, swim with the Obi-Amphibians of Elysium and freeze off inconvenient items of anatomy on the ice wastes of Reklon in an apparently doomed search for the Eyes of the Schirron, the magickal jewels that will either save the system or destroy it utterly!  Who will live? Who will die? Will the Doctor ever play the harmonium again? All these questions and many more will be answered within the coruscating, fibrillating pages of ... Sky Pirates!

My Review:  Great story but it goes on for far too long. It took me 2 full days to read it but I did enjoy most of it.  I liked the characters and the way they all interwove and still managed to find ways to be suspicious and cool and funny and weird and the tap dancing mongoose* told me that it was the best book he'd read too.

* The TDM lives at 43 Chiselhurst Drive, Bromley, Kent.

* Zamper (Benny, Chris & Roz)

On the far side of a break in the fabric of space is the planet Zamper, home of a secretive organisation that constructs and sells the mightiest warships in the galaxy. It is to Zamper that the last warriors of the fallen Chelonian Empire have come in a final attempt to restore their race's glory.  Separated from the TARDIS, the Doctor and his companions are intrigued by the bizarre operations on Zamper. Why are accidents and power failures afflicting the planet? What is the true agenda of the mysterious Management? And what are the strange powers of the alien shipbuilders?

My Review:  A classic case of recipe writing what doesn't quite work. All the ingredients are right (Doctor, companions, returning enemy, crazy situation, plot twists) but somehow they don't quite mix together right and the final result is a toughened mess which goes flat the moment the finale is served up.

* Toy Soldiers (Benny, Chris & Roz)

The Doctor and Benny are following a trail of kidnapped children across Europe, a continent recovering from the ravages of the First World War. The only clue they find is the toy bear each missing child was given. But someone is aware of their search, and they soon find themselves unwilling guests on the planet Q'ell, where a similar war still rages - and has done for fourteen hundred years.  Stranded on Earth, Chris Cwej and Roslyn Forrester struggle to find a way of stopping the Q'ell from recruiting every child in the world to their cause. And the Doctor tries to start a peaceful revolution on a planet where there is no longer any word for peace.

My Review:  An interesting tale of morality and the stupidity of war. It was refreshing to have a story take a different view at things, with the Doctor caught off guard for a change and his companions struggling to catch up. Roz in racist post-war Europe was hard to read, I wish she'd beaten a few people up personally, they all needed a damn good thrashing if you ask me...

* Head Games (Mel, Ace, Benny, Chris & Roz)

Stand by for an exciting new adventure with Dr Who and his companion, Jason. Once again, our time-hopping friends set out to seek injustice, raise rebel armies, overthrow dictators and beat up green monsters.  But this time, Dr Who faces a deadly new threat: a genocidal rogue Time Lord and his army of combat-hardened, gun-slinging warrior women. To make matters worse, this foe is a twisted version of the good Doctor himself - and if Dr Who and Jason can't stop him, he'll and all life on Detrios and Earth.  Armed only with their wits and with the modest power of control over reality, our heroes must face Dr Who's evil double: the megalomaniac scientist who calls himself simply... 'The Doctor'.

My Review:  It took me a very long time to get into it, nearly a week to read the first 2 chapters, but after that things relaxed and I could go with the flow. It was interesting to see what Mel made of the 7th Doctor, a view that was counter pointed by that of the 6th Doctor who popped up from time to time. Both criticize the 'evil' manipulations of the 7th Doctor, yet the 7th Doctor feels that the 6th Doctor was more 'evil' than he. HG is an interesting book that makes no attempt to be a traditional novel; instead it's more like a series of sketches that are variants on a single theme. The Virgin demanded pseudo generic evil religious villain (tm) is pushed so far into the background it might have been better to have told them not this time. All in all I enjoyed the bits with the 6th Doctor and Mel.

* The Also People (Kaditau, Benny, Chris & Roz)

The Doctor has taken his companions to paradise, or at least the closest thing he can find. A sun enclosed by an artificial sphere where there is no want, poverty or violence.  While Chris learns to surf, meets a girl and falls in love with a biplane, Roz suspects an alien plot and Bernice considers that a Dyson Sphere needs an archaeologist like a fish needs a five-speed gear box.  Then the peace is shattered by murder. As the suspects proliferate, Bernice realises that even an artificial world has its buried secrets and Roz discovers what she's always suspected - that every paradise has its snake.

My Review:  A very clever story, basically a whodunit but with lots of nice scenery along the way. The culture of the sphere society is very well done with lots of broad strokes and great depth too, it felt like a much more real and complete culture than some of the ones previously encountered in the series. The final plot revelations are actually a bit of a downer compared to the rest of the book and it's good that they're gotten out the way as quickly as possible to allow the real story to end.

* Shakedown (Benny, Chris & Roz)

* Just War (Mel, Benny, Chris & Roz)

March 1941: Britain's darkest hour. The Nazis occupy British soil and British citizens are being deported to European concentration camps. Six thousand people a month are dying in air raids on London. The United States show no sign of entering the war.  According to the Doctor, this isn't a parallel universe, it isn't an alternate timeline; and everything is running according to schedule. But now something, somewhere, has gone wrong. The Nazis are building a secret weapon, one that will have a decisive effect on the outcome of the War. Chris thinks it's a UFO, while Roz believes that the Luftwaffe have developed the largest bomber ever built. Only Benny may have seen the mysterious craft - but she's disappeared off the face of the Earth.

My Review:  Comparisons with Timeworm: Exodus are perhaps inevitable as both books cover the same subject although from different perspectives. Just War goes much more in depth into the impacts of Nazi occupation, it looks at the lives of those involved and how they have been changed. While we don't get Hitler and his inner circle we do get the radical fanatics who believe that what they are doing is not only right but also good and proper. Such blind fanatics are of course there to be manipulated shamelessly by the Doctor who simply has to let them do the talking on their own terms to piece together the clues to his dilemma. The dilemma in the end has already taken care of itself, much to Benny's chagrin. The torture scenes are all the more scary because some of the more brutal moments are left out and we're forced to use our imaginations to work out what was done to her. The Mel cameos are a welcome addition too, at the time there was precious little 7th Doctor & Mel literary fiction. I'm left with two impressions, 1) this is a very intelligently written book filled with well researched facts and details and B) the proof readers must hate the author still to this day

* Warchild (Benny, Chris & Roz)

Creed is just an ordinary guy - as ordinary as you can be when you're a secret agent working for the government. But his family is another matter. His youngest child seems able to read his mind. His oldest boy, Ricky, may possess a stranger and far more frightening power. And others seem interested in his 'gifted' children - sinister forces who see them as a resource to be exploited.  Around the world, the Doctor's companions have been put in place, ready to act when the time is right. Old friends and enemies are gathering for a final confrontation that will shape the future of the globe - and the evolution of mankind.

My Review:  Crazy Dennis Hopper says in Apocalypse Now that the world ends not with a bag but with a whimper. Well this book is the embarrassed silence after the whimper. To call it the shattering conclusion to the saga is just asking for a law suit because under the trades descriptions act its hardly even a mild coda. Much of the book is an interesting story of killer dogs on the prowl in London and a shadowy government cleanup squad dealing with them, the rest of the book is blubbery school kid angst with pseudo intellectual mummery that would make even the most open minded believer point at it and laugh for hours in an attempt to shame it into crying. Warhead was indeed dark and futurey and cyberpunktual, Warlock was more like 70's punk London on a cocktail of benzos and amphetamines. Warchild is the 60's stoner bereft of technology and conflict, while the prose may have advanced through the series the story telling has declined even more, all that's left is middle of the book filler and not a very good book at that.

* Sleepy (Benny, Chris & Roz)

The Earth colony on Yemaya 4 is a very ordinary place. The colonists spend their time farming, building homes, raising families.  But when the Doctor and his companions arrive they find a virus sweeping through the population, unleashing the colonists' latent psychic powers. The Doctor and Chris fall prey to the infection, and discover telepathy is not the only symptom. Chris is unable to resist the call of an ancient place of sacrifice, while Roz and Benny travel back in time to the origin of the virus, and uncover a desperate bid for immortality.  And all the while the Doctor is playing a dangerous game with troopers of the Dione-Kisumu company, who have come either to reclaim the stolen biotechnology - or to sterilize the planet.

My Review:  Where to start? Hmmm, begin the begin. The opening chapter is completely awful; it's a horrid mess of incomprehensible visuals and unattributable thoughts. Luckily the next chapter and most of the rest of the book is fantastically brilliant, superb attention to detail makes each page a joy to read. The sumptuous prose really is most welcome after the last book; I took my time and really enjoyed every noun, verb and simile. The only other problem with the book (for me) is the uber-rushed ending, suddenly five chapters has been packed into just one and I had to keep going back a couple of paragraphs to make sure I'd read everything correctly. A better opening and closing would have made Sleepy a much more complete novel, although the rest of the book does compensate for it.

* Death and Diplomacy (Benny, Chris, Roz & Jason)

In the far-off Magellan Cluster, the savage Dakhaari, the militaristic Czhans and the evil backstabbing Saloi are at each other's respective throats over a tiny, peaceful planet of Moriel. The Hollow Gods have decreed that a satellite be built in which they must settle their differences or else. But just who has the tact and diplomacy to arbitrate these talks?  Meanwhile, Roz and Chris are on Moriel with the Czhanist army, knocking seven bells out of the native populace. Why have they launched this sneak attack? Will it wreck the talks completely? Are they participating in the Hollow God's hidden agenda - a plan that will result in the death of billions?  And while the others are otherwise occupied, Benny is stranded, lost and alone, facing the most terrifying challenge of her life - someone who will haunt her for the rest of her days. He's called Jason.

My Review: An interesting story, mildly funny, mostly ironic and partially tragic. There's a lot of plot in the book (again) as the very simple character arc meander aimlessly from A to B via Z and back again calling at every stop in between, some of them twice. I liked the intro of Jason, in other circumstances he could have been a new companion. As it is he's a means of writing Benny out, but he's given more to do than that. The Doctor (for once) doesn't have that much to do except talk and talk and talk, he's much more like he was in season 24 at times and I think that's a good thing. Roz and Chris are gotten out of the way too, given a simple 'duck and cover' story line but some vivid characterisation to make up for it. All in all a good story but just a little too meandery for me.

* Happy Endings (The Brigadier, Romana, Ace, Benny, Kaditau, Chris, Roz & Jason)

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Mr Jason Kane and Professor Bernice S. Summerfield, to be held in the village of Cheldon Bonniface in the year 2010.  If everything works out, that is. Between rows, fights and pre-emptive divorce proceedings, there may not be a wedding at all. Especially if there really is someone who wants to prevent it happening.  Everybody's coming: from Ice Warriors to UNIT veterans, a flirtatious Ace to a suspicious Hamlet Macbeth - and a very confused trio of Isley Brothers. The Doctor has to organise a buffet, Roz has a mystery to solve, and Chris has a girlfriend who used to be the Timewyrm.

My Review: A rather good story all round, there's a little padding that could have been trimmed but that's just a minor nitpick, there's really nothing wrong with it. The story itself is a rather simple affair and quite rightly its pushed to the back to leave extra room for characterisation and little teases. We're told early on the Master is in the story and so we're lead along a few wrong paths as the identity of his disguise is seemingly revealed only for it to be a red herring. It seems like every NA is referenced too, from Gilgamesh to Gallifrey! It's an enjoyable romp but even after reading every NA so far in such a short space of time I was hard pushed to recognise half of the characters! A little appendix at the end would have been perfect to put names to places and books imho. Still it's Benny's big day and in the end she finally manages to marry her man and not his identical clone who's been shagging Ace every second he can get! It's also interesting to note that the Doctor was going to leave Roz and Chris on Earth and go off alone in his TARDIS, thankfully this doesn't happen, although it does foreshadow the opening moments of the Enemy Within TV Movie with the 7th Doctor travelling alone in his TARDIS...

* GodEngine (Chris & Roz)

* Christmas on a Rational Planet (Chris & Roz)

December, 1799. Europe is recovering from the Age or Reason, the Vatican is learning to live with Napoleon, and America is celebrating a new are of independence. But in New York State, something is spreading its own brand of madness through the streets. Secret societies are crawling from the woodwork, and there's a Satanic conspiracy around every corner.  Roz Forrester is stranded in a town where festive cheer and random violence go hand-in-hand. Chris Cwej is trapped on board the TARDIS with someone who's been trained to kill him. And when Reason itself breaks down, even the Doctor can't be sure who or what he's fighting for.  Christmas is coming to town, and the end of civilisation is following close behind...

My Review: A very good book, although I suspect that much of it went over everyone's head, especially mine. So much characterisation and visual goodies and just the right amount of lack of plot make this an enjoyable read and it's enough that it is, without trying to get all rational about deconstructing it looking for hidden meanings and messages in every sentence. Art is the most irrational of things and yet they try to teach it in schools.

* Return of the Living Dad (Benny, Chris, Roz & Jason)

Bernice Summerfield was seven years old when her father disappeared. They said he turned and ran from the Daleks in battle. They said he was a coward.  They were wrong.  For years Benny has searched for her father. Now a clue snatches her from her honeymoon, back to the TARDIS, and on to England in the year 1983. There she at last discovers Admiral Isaac Summerfield, leading a motley crew of aliens, psychics and fan boys. Their mission: to save extra-terrestrials stranded on Earth.  But what is Benny's father doing five hundred years in his own past? And why has he been waiting for the Doctor to arrive? Can Benny really trust the man she's been looking for all her life?

My Review: An interesting story focusing on Benny's long lost dad, except it turns out the Doctor and Ace knew where he was all along and the Doctor knew he was up to no good either. The subtle wangling of the Daleks into the story ties in neatly with GodEngine and the Auton spatula is a laugh. The needless brutality gets boring very quickly and it's easy to ignore it after a couple of chapters, in fact I tend to reimagine it ala Monty Python with them hitting each other with fish. The hark back to Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark is rather crude and unnecessary as it only serves the function of a crude and obvious plot device, rather than anything remotely believable.

* Cold Fusion (Chris & Roz)

Features the 5th Doctor, Adric, Nyssa & Tegan

More than one TARDIS lands on a barren ice world. The fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan find a once ordered society on the verge of collapse, as rebels wage a dirty war with Scientifica, the ruling elite. All that stands between order and anarchy is the massed presence of an Adjudicator peacekeeping force.  But is peace the only reason for the Adjudicator garrison? What exactly has been discovered deep beneath the planet's surface? Who are the mysterious Ferutu? And why is telling a ghost story a criminal offence?  The fifth Doctor sides with the cause of justice and fairness as always. But, as a threat to the universe unfolds, he finds himself in conflict with his past ... and his future.

My Review: An interesting take on a double Doctor story. Being a MA it's the 5th Doctor that's the primary focus of the story, with Chris and Roz only appearing in cameo roles for the first half of the book. The 7th is barely in the story at all, but he's skilfully behind it all.  The basic crux of the story is a parallel reality created by the inadvertent destruction of Gallifrey and it's inhabitants slowly appearing in our reality as theirs gains strength over ours. There's even a nice nod to City of Death as the alt reality is revealed. The first half of the book is all character building; we get to know who they are, what they believe in and whether they're innies or outies. The second half of the book is the coming together of the Doctor's plan, relying on everyone doing what they do best in such a way as to make it look like the Doctor has done nothing at all until the end with the final twist and the alt reality is consigned to oblivion. I'd like to have seen a bit more of the 7th Doctor, even though it was a 5th Doctor story it just felt like there were a few times when the 7th Doctor should had been there but had been edited out.

* The Death of Art (Ace, Chris & Roz)

1880s France: the corrupt world of the Third Republic. A clandestine brotherhood is engaged in a desperate internal power struggle; a race of beings seeks to free itself from perpetual oppression; and a rip in time threatens an entire city. The future of Europe is at stake, in a war fought with minds and bodies altered to the limits of human evolution.  Chris finds himself working undercover with a suspicious French gendarme; Roz follows a psychic artist whose talents are attracting the attention of mysterious forces; and the Doctor befriends a shape-shifting member of a terrifying family. And, at the heart of it all, a dark and disturbing injustice is being perpetrated. Only an end to the secret war, and the salvation of an entire race, can prevent Paris from being utterly destroyed.

My Review: A mildly diverting tale of life in France, well Paris to be exact, the rest of the country is a much better place to live with a better quality of people (but that's just me projecting my experiences) The story itself is quite endearing with the necessary sympathetic characters in all the right places and the evil baddie (tm) doing what's needed. The only gripe I have is that it feels too artificial, it doesn't have any grounding in any sense of reality leaving me cold and uncaring towards any of the characters and by the end I was glad to finish the story and invest my time in something more substantial.

* Damaged Goods (Chris & Roz)

The Doctor, Chris and Roz arrive at the Quadrant, a troubled council block in Thatcher's Britain. There's a new drug on the streets, a drug that's killing to a plan. Somehow, the very ordinary people of the Quadrant are involved. And so, amidst the growing chaos, a bizarre trio moves into number 43.  The year is 1987: a dead drug dealer has risen from the grave, and an ancient weapon is concealed beneath human tragedy. But the Doctor soon discovers that the things people do for their children can be every bit as deadly as any alien menace - as he uncovers the link between a special child, an obsessive woman, and a desperate bargain made one dark Christmas Eve.

My Review: The plot's rubbish and uninteresting but the characters are gloriously detailed and well worth investing time in reading about their lives. For me their lives are beautifully detailed and they achieve a level of 'aliveness' that most other books just simply cannot reach. That said there does seem to be a few of the stock NA archetypes but they have enough detail to put a new spin on them.

* So Vile A Sin (Benny, Chris, Roz & Jason)

The Earth Empire - the Imperium Humanum, upon which a thousand suns never set - is dying.  The Great Houses of the Empire manoeuvre and scheme for advantage; alliances are made; and knives flash in the shadows. Out among the moons of Jupiter, another battle is just beginning, as an ancient brotherhood seeks limitless power and long-overdue revenge.  The Doctor returns to the thirtieth century, searching for the source of a terrifying weapon. He fears a nightmare from his own past may be about to destroy the future. Nothing must be allowed to get in his way.  But the Doctor has reckoned without the power of history - which has its own plans for the wayward daughter of the House of Forrester.

My Review: An interesting book but one that dances around the actual 'main and shocking event' (tm) of the book. Having built up the book so much it's a shame that it actually fails to deliver on such a build up and so it reduces the emotional impact of Roz's death tremendously. Having been with the Doctor some time we've found out a lot about her and who she was and then to just throw it all away is a terrible waste of potential imho.

* Ascension (Chris)

The Doctor and Chris visit the temple of In'sav'aar to grieve Roz's death, but as Chris explores the monastery he discovers what appears to be a parasite growing on the neck of a sleeping monk. The Doctor analyses the "parasite", and discovers that the monks are in fact psychic vampires, feeding on the souls of the pilgrims who seek spiritual cleansing in their temple. The Doctor destroys the crystal through which the monks focus their powers, finally releasing the trapped gestalt created from the remains of their victims. Chris, who had nearly fallen victim to the monks, now accepts that he does not have to sacrifice himself to atone for Roz's death. He and the Doctor depart, while the monks, their secret exposed, allow the sunlight of their world to incinerate them.

My Review: Almost a coda to the PSI powers arc this short story attempts to do what SVAS didn't, it attempts to give Roz's life and death some real meaning, although her departure will continue to echo through the rest of the 7th Doctor's literary adventures.

* Bad Therapy (Peri & Chris)

Seeking respite after the traumatic events in the thirtieth century, the Doctor and Chris travel to 1950s London. But all is not well in bohemian Soho: racist attacks shatter the peace; gangs struggle for territory; and a bloodthirsty driverless cab stalks the night.  While Chris enjoys himself at the mysterious and exclusive Tropics club, the Doctor investigates a series of ritualistic murders with an uncommon link - the victims all have no past. Meanwhile, a West End gangster is planning to clean up the town, apparently with the help of the Devil himself. And, in the quiet corridors of an abandoned mental hospital, an enigmatic psychiatrist is conducting some very bad therapy indeed.  As the stakes are raised, healing turns to killing, old friends appear in the strangest places - and even toys can have a sinister purpose.

My Review: An interesting tale that brings back Peri and briefly explores the culture of Thoros Alpha. If they were really this powerful then how come they were nearly conquered and enslaved by the Mentors of Thoros Beta? The rest of the book is a mildly diverting examination of projectionism and subconscious desire.

* Eternity Weeps (Liz, Benny, Chris & Jason)

Turkey, 2003: Bernice and Jason join two rival expeditions attempting to find Noah's Ark. While one team follows the Bible and its own beliefs, the other relies on a more exact science - but both paths lead to the same revelation. And, as the region moves ever closer to war, they uncover the key to a timeless mystery and a terrible secret.  The Doctor and Chris are called in to a situation fast getting out of control, as countless numbers flee a biological terror. The world is about to undergo a new genesis. While Chris gets himself a job with NASA, the Doctor must unravel the ties between Mount Ararat, the moon, and an ancient exodus.  Mankind faces apocalypse. But can the aid of a far older race, alongside companions past and present, prevent the planet being twisted into the image of a long-dead world?

My Review: Very well written and very daring for it's time, alas reading it nearly 4 years after the date it's set does heavily reduce the impact of the climatic near-destruction of the Earth and all it's inhabitants. The linking theme with the metaphorical story of Noah's Ark is very interesting, but romantics aside it's completely nonsense. The death of Liz Shaw comes across as needless brutality as she could have been anyone and with such little build up or involvement in the story being a former companion of the 3rd Doctor actually makes it less plausible rather than more. The separation and divorce of Benny and Jason comes across as mean and meaningless and not at all in character with their other appearances. Never the less it's bloody great and well worth reading.

* The Room With No Doors (Chris)

Swordplay, samurai, demons, magic, aliens, adventure, excitement ... Who needs them?  The Doctor and Chris travel to sixteenth-century Japan, a country gripped by civil war as feudal lords vie for control. Anything could tip the balance of power. So when a god falls out of the sky, everyone wants it.  As villagers are healed and crops grow far too fast, the Doctor and Chris try to find the secret of the miracles - before two rival armies can start a war over who owns the god.  Chris soon finds himself alone - except for an alien slaver, a time-travelling Victorian inventor, a gang of demons, and old friend with suspicious motives, a village full of innocent bystanders, and several thousand samurai.

My Review: A pause before the 7th Doctor's finale and a time to re-examine who he was, is and will be. Making the 7th Doctor aware of his impending regeneration comes across as needless fangurl romanticism, and the author's inclusion of herself as a one dimensional creature who's only function is to try and torture the Doctor for no reason other than she wants to is a nice touch. Trying to push Chris more to the fore also hints at Chris's coming necessary departure so as to fit in with the events of the 8th Doctor movie. Personally I'd have liked things just a little more open, a little more mysterious/ambiguous, and much more Shogun. However the events all feel relatively realistic, although the Victorian adventuress does seem a little too Jules Verne and not enough Kate Orman to feel like she belongs in the book.

* BBC Novel: Bullet Time (Sarah)

(Set during The Room with No Doors)

Hong Kong 1997: the handover to Chinese rule is imminent, and investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith is on the trail of corruption in the Far East.  Street gangsters lurk around every corner. And when one decides to confide in Sarah, she is thrown headlong into danger. What are UNIT doing in Hong Kong, and why are they following missing backpackers? What is causing a spate of strange and unnatural deaths? And how is Sarah's old and trusted friend the Doctor involved? More importantly, whose side is he on?  The truth can now be told, and the outcome of Sarah's investigations revealed. But will her world ever be the same again?

* Lungbarrow (Leela, Romana, Ace & Chris)

All is not well on Gallifrey. Chris Cwej is having someone else's nightmares. Ace is talking to herself. So is K-9. Leela has stumbled on a murderous family conspiracy. And the beleaguered Lord President, Romanadvoratrelundar, foresees one of the most tumultuous events in her planet's history.  At the root of all is an ancient and terrible place, the House of Lungbarrow in the southern mountains of Gallifrey. Something momentous is happening there. But the House has inexplicably gone missing.  673 years ago the Doctor left his family in that forgotten House. Abandoned, disgraced and resentful, they have waited. And now he's home at last.  In this, the seventh Doctor's final New Adventure, he faces a threat that could uncover the greatest secret of them all.

My Review: Well written, well paced, well researched, it left me cold and uninterested. This is not my Gallifrey and never will be. The simple plot, the Doctor returns home to be given a message, is padded out wonderfully with many sub plots and interesting characters. Alas none of them succeed in engaging me. Leela is written more like Xena, while Ace is somehow transformed into Sarah B'Stard and Romana seems to be channelling Kathy Janeway! Despite this however the Doctor and Chris are pretty much spot on and the new characters are at least somewhat differentiated in the way they all hate the Doctor. There's also a nice nod to Genesis of the Daleks (my least favourite TV story) so I guess all in all I am not the intended target reader of this book, but many others seem to be so that's nice. As the final 7th Doctor NA it doesn't quite seem to sum up the series in the same way that The Gallifrey Chronicles summoned up the 8DA's, but I suppose that wasn't the intention, rather the pedestrian revelation that the Doctor is somewhat more than just a Time Lord, something we already knew in Remembrance of the Daleks, so we're no further forward. Had he been Krusty the Clown it would have had more impact I think.

* Death Comes to Time (Ace) (178' 20")

When a dissident Time Lord group inadvertently caused the destruction of an entire civilisation through interference, its members vowed to repent by serving the Universe not as gods of Time but as mere men. Many years later, this peaceful resolve is severely tested when two of their number are killed -- and the Doctor’s seventh incarnation becomes embroiled in the struggle against the apparently unstoppable General Tannis.  Plagued by ominous portents, the Doctor and his companion Antimony must race across the Universe, taking in the Santine Republic, the Great Orion Nebula and the frozen heart of the Canisian Empire. Meanwhile, the mysterious Minister of Chance battles his own inner demons, and former TARDIS traveller Ace finds herself in training for a destiny she never dreamed possible. Matters reach a terrible climax when Tannis’ next target for subjugation is identified. Exactly how much is the Doctor prepared to sacrifice in order to save Earth?

* Telos Novellas: Companion Piece (Cat)

Escaping from one battle and straight into another, the Doctor and his companion Catherine find themselves on a far flung world where time travellers are persecuted as witches and warlocks by the Papal Inquisition. The Doctor is arrested, his only hope of escape being Cat, but she has demons of her own to face. As the Doctor starts to realise exactly what is happening, so time rapidly starts to slip away for both him and Cat.

* The Sirens of Time (69' 14")

The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, together for the first time!  Gallifrey is in a state of crisis, facing destruction at the hands of an overwhelming enemy. And the Doctor is involved, in three different incarnations -- each caught up in a deadly adventure, scattered across time and space. The web of time is threatened, and someone wants the Doctor dead.  The three incarnations of the Doctor must join together to set time back on the right track -- but in doing so, will they unleash a still greater threat?

* Last of the Titans (31' 35")

Once again, the TARDIS displays its preference for the grimy, the odious and the dangerous - and, finding himself lost and alone in the dark heart of a gigantic spacecraft, the Doctor has no way of knowing that a cosmic catastrophe is waiting to happen...

* Excelis Decays (73' 28")

When the Doctor last visited the city of Excelis, its citizens were about to enter an age of enlightenment and reason. But some centuries later, he discovers a vicious totalitarian regime at war with the rest of Artaris, living off the efforts of a drugged and broken underclass.  Who is the mysterious Lord Sutton, and what hold does he have over the ruling classes? What are the Meat Puppets, and what role do they play in the eternal war? And why is the Doctor's arrival the final piece in a plan that has been centuries in the making?  Throughout his lives, the Doctor has fought legends. But some legends refuse to die.

* Project: Lazarus (50' 59")

"I'll survive Doctor. I always do."  Unfinished business.  A frightened girl is stalked in a land of eternal night.  A hunter longs for recognition and power.  A traveller in time returns to correct the mistakes of the past and faces a danger that could rob him of his future. Unless his future intervenes.  And in the shadows stands Nimrod. Waiting...  Welcome to the Forge.

* Return of the Daleks (61' 09")

No one could ever know. We had to erase the past. Change everything. Start again.  But even though it's been centuries now… In our hearts, none of us feels truly… Safe. I think, even if our people were to survive until the end of time itself, we would still fear… The return of the Daleks.

* Valhalla (??' ??")

Welcome to Valhalla, Capital of Callisto, Jupiter's premier moon, where anything and everything is up for sale. But Valhalla isn't quite what it says in the brochures – not since Earth granted independence and cut off the supplies.  The former Doctor (FOR SALE. EXCELLENT CONDITION) visits the Job Centre and finds power cuts, barcoded citizens and monthly riots (ALL BOOKABLE.)   And then there's the problem with the termites…

* Frozen Time (??' ??")

In 1929, Lord Barset's expedition to the Antarctic is lost without trace. Or so it seems… Nearly a century later, his grandson funds a much-publicized return to the icy wastes. His mission: to discover what happened to the original expedition. But what he finds instead is an enigma – a battered London police box frozen in ice millennia old.  But something else lies in wait in this awful place, something from an era before humankind set foot on the continent's cold soil. A menace frozen in time.  Until now.

* The Death Collector's (??' ??")

'There is only death.'  A virulent disease that killed millions. A missing scientist. An ancient race of salvagers who collect and preserve the dead. The quarantined planet Antikon connects them all.  When the Doctor arrives on a sky station above Antikon, a single accident has already set in motion a chain of events that will mean the death of every living thing.  And the only way he can stop it is to die. Again.