Not the most enjoyable of reads. As others have mentioned how women are written is abhorrent, they're continuingly objectified in this novel and the worst part is how the Doctor casually brushes off the sexual assault of his teenage companion. None of this has any place in a Doctor Who novel.<br><br>As others have mentioned the aforementioned incident far more eloquently than I, I will turn my attention to the rest of the novel. It's not the worst written, there is at least innovation in having the story set in a time and place we are not used to seeing in Doctor Who. I would say too it is a functionally sound novel in terms of introducing a general audience to the idea of Doctor Who and explaining who the characters are.<br><br>However, I do feel that John Peel clearly has no interest in the Seventh Doctor era. He twice writes about different Doctors and in one instance had the Seventh Doctor explicitly state that the Third Doctor is the best and most competent one. Moreover I feel Peel fails to understand Ace and the Doctor's relationship. Most of their dialogue involves them bickering and Seven criticising Ace for being a naive child. There isn't much warmth between them until the end. Yes their dynamic involves a lot of manipulation on the Doctor's part, but he clearly loved Ace and felt protective of her. I did not want to spend time with this Doctor and Ace.<br><br>I also feel there wasn't a sufficient set up of the Timewyrm. It felt tacked on at the start and end. Its presence is so light in the story that in theory it is possible to skip to future books.<br><br>All in all, functionally acceptable but morally not. It isn't representative of the show's characters nor their morality. Worth avoiding, you aren't missing out on much.
