Author: Abi Falase

Originally published: November 2024

Read: April 2025

Context: New who book time, and the third of this first ‘trilogy’ of 15th Doctor novels. I enjoyed the previous two, so was looking forward to this one. I have a general feeling with new Who novels that is that as they are not as complex, deep or ‘arc’ as the EDA and VA’s etc (which is fine) I expect not to like them as much. Maybe I am therefore a little more critical of them. I suppose it’s my own interest in these bigger, darker stories that contrast with the lighter tone of these new series adventures…but in fairness the New Who novels are not the same thing and never intend to be. I need to remind myself of this fact more when embarking on this strand of my Whoniverse readings!

THE REVIEW

What I thought:

I started it and was mostly enjoying it, the Doctor and Ruby arriving on this colourful and psychologically crazy holiday type world (Yewa) and them getting involved in shenanigans straight away. There is a twin world, rebels and rebellion, lots of running around and confusion on the part of all the protagonists. And me as the reader to be honest, I lost the plot with this one and as a result I found the middle section somewhat hard going. I struggled to visualise the Yewa and the Bia people, and it wasn’t until the end I realised what the motivations of the various groups were/what the hell was going on. The idea of a creature, ‘Empire’, feeding psychically on bad will, anger etc is not new but well used here. I enjoyed the final quarter of the book and it all came together for me at that point, maybe I was a little too distracted whilst reading this one?

What I felt? Good to be back in the 15th Doctors company, not completely in love with Ruby to be honest. As series 2 is currently rolling on TV this team is maybe not as engaging as what is going on on the telly (I am LOVING Belinda Chandra!).

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Daleks: solid, good interpretation of 15 in particular I would say, story is interesting but I struggled to follow the prose at times and I did feel pretty lost at times.

What am I left thinking?

• Will we get any more 15 and Ruby novels considering the next announced trilogy of 15th Doc novels seems to have Belinda as the companion?
• Was there a Susan twist in here? If so I missed it.

Memorable bits

• The conclusion is strong, and I enjoyed the emotional themes linked to the finale.
• The tattoos changing based on how the Yewa are feeling is really cool