Story: The Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive in 1920s London on a important mission: to return some overdue library books. This simple task, however, is to be inturrupted by yet another adventure. You see, there is an ancient time corridor running from the far future to this simpler age, and it is being used by a certain group of people who are using it as their means of retirement. They escape the hustle and bustle of the future, and take the trip (which is a one way trip, mind you) back to an era of piano sing-alongs, gramaphone records, and hours of fun staring at your stereoscope. But this time corridor has sucked something nasty into it. Something which has arrived in London and desires to totally destroy the Earth…The Will Of Zodaal!
Review: Something odd is happening. The Doctor Who books I’m reading of late have (almost) all been really good! Either my extremely critical ways are being softened with age, or the stories are actually getting better! This book is no exception.
Does it get any better than this?! It can, but not by much.
This was, as I stated earlier, another good ‘un! And considering the fact that I get absolutely no e-mails telling me that I’m right, or that I’m full of crap, I’ll take that as proof that I, Jeremy Benner, can do no wrong! My reviews are gospel truth, and I have free reign to do or say whatever I want! (And we thought the Will of Zodaal was immense? – Ed.) But anyway, this story fits into its era perfectly, and the characterization of pretty well everybody, is superb. Zodaal (!) is a typical baddie, and his motives are very un-involved and simple, once again fitting into this period of the 4th Doctor’s run perfectly. And, there are even some neat illustrations at the beginning of each part, to illuminate the flow of the story. All in all, I have looked, and I saw, that it was pretty good! 8 out of 10.
Year: 1996
Author: Gareth Roberts
Publisher: Virgin