Although the novel is an enjoyable read, and it is nice to see the three Doctors interacting, the plot here is extremely convoluted and is not a very satisfactory end to the Time Lord Victorious story arc.

All this had been building towards the Tenth Doctor changing the future and challenging death because of his misplaced ego, and the first novel was very effective in continuing that narrative. The main plot point was that killing the Kotturuh would change reality as we know it, granting infinite lifespans to races who should have died - but then, the Kotturuh all die.... and nothing happens? And then there is a last Kotturuh, whose death might open the gates of death... but it doesn't? 10 vaguely says sorry and everyone goes home? What was the point, really? The doctors team up to defeat the Daleks, but the act of actually committing genocide on the Kotturuh has absolutely no consequences. The cliffhanger of the previous novel is rendered null.

I did enjoy the Ninth and Tenth Doctor seeing Gallifrey one last time, and all the schemings of the Daleks - which somewhat make sense, although why they would ever accept this Vampire/Dalek hybrid I'm not sure.

I'll keep on listening to and reading the last few TLV stories, but this is clearly meant as the big conclusion, and it does not make the myriad stories before it feel earned of worthwhile.

P.S.: there being no common characters between Monstrous Beauty and this novel is a shame; the fact that Rose is written off as recovering on a far-off planet is a cop-out; the Eighth Doctor being written and described as his movie incarnation but depicted on the cover(s) as his NotD incarnation is very strange; the Kotturuh barely mattering in the end is also very strange... All in all, although I understand the will to have every story stand on its own, what happens when you read and listen to them all is that nothing fully makes sense and plot ploints/side characters are dropped left and right.

This story felt like something we've all seen before, just as recently as Master of the Daleks in Dark Eyes 4. An evil renegade Time Lord has a planet of human slaves and they also plan on blowing up the Earth to get revenge on the Doctor. Although the Eleven claims at the end that this is actually not about the Doctor, it all feels like a scheme the Master has cooked up time and time again. A pretty unmemorable to end to this boxset, I think these boxsets are suffering from New Series-itis where every set feels like it needs to have a big finale. It doesn't! Hopefully things start to improve from here.

A great way to introduce the Ninth Doctor and River, who have a better (and more interesting) dynamic than you'd expect. Somewhat hokey/campy narrative premise, but that's also par for the course with Who sometimes – just feels a bit out of place with Eccleston's grittier Doctor. That said, it also gives him a chance to show a different, warmer side and is an interesting story to place pre-Rose.

Well worth a listen!

This was an extremely frustrating story.

This story started off with a fair amount of potential. Then, about 12 minutes or so in Iris Wildthyme shows up and everything interesting in the story evaporates leaving a poor rehash of the original Marco Polo story.

When writing a sequel to a story, two of the biggest things to try for are first to say something new and transformative to make it stand out, and to avoid having the listener wish they had just watched the original.

Magrs hits several of the notes from the original Marco Polo, but frankly they left me feeling that I should have just popped that story in the cd player instead of this one.

On the positive side, Colin Baker and Katy Manning play very well off each other, it’s just a shame that Manning plays a character so obnoxious that it taints the entire story.

This story drags the whole set down and mwould be better off not being recorded.

This had vesuvius from Iron legion in it for 1 panel 5/5

My favourite from series 1. The main highlight is the sensorites themselves. I just kind of love how slightly pathetic they are compared to most aliens given a full costume. Its just fun for me to watch them bicker in soft-spoken voices and give a bunch of information about their world. Their designs and alien city sets are also just a lot of fun. It's definitely more of a dialogue heavy episode, but I'm fine with that. The twist villain should probably have been revealed earlier also, but I don't find it too bad as it currently is since I just enjoy watching the sensorites.

I absolutely adore the concepts of bio-mechanical spaceships and a mushroom infestation, they're such cool sci-fi ideas. The setting is eerie and unnerving which adds to the vibe that something isn't quite right on the planet. My only real complaint is how generic the 15th doctor comes across at certain points. Whilst Belinda is characterised reasonably well, the 15th doctor feels like he could be any of the doctors and the story wouldn't change at all.

Overall a pretty solid monster of the week plot line. I adore the setting being the Battle of Lake Peipus as it's a more obscure part of history but i feel the novel didn't really focus on the historical context as much as it maybe should have instead treating it as just a backdrop for the characters.

This one really just fails as a historical in a way most others don't. The French revolution makes sense as the Doctors favourite period, but here it's just completely stripped of anything interesting and just made into good Vs bad; the revolutionaries being evil and bloodthirsty for no reason whilst the counter-revolutionaries and British are orderly and friendly. Just does a complete disservice to an interesting and always relevant period of history. The actual plot isn't that interesting either, feels like various characters going to and from prison endlessly.

It does have a great TARDIS team though and enough to enjoy from them to stop it being truly awful.

The novel version of 73 Yards is very interesting! If you liked the creepy, supernatural, unexplained time twist nature of the TV episode, then this is that plus much more of the inside of Ruby’s head as she lives through an entire life on what the book emphasizes is a version of the earth “suspended along” Ruby’s event. There is more here about how the world is cut off from reality in some way, no more extraterrestrial visitors or supernatural threats, the TARDIS is just a shell, some link to itself in the “real world.”

There is a little bit more but still not enough about Roger ap Gwilliam, who we are told is very very bad but who doesn’t do anything and is despatched very easily. One wonders why, with The Doctor’s words about Roger ringing in her ears “the most dangerous Prime Minister in history,” she decides to work really hard to elect him and then undermine him, a strange course of events.

One wonders why people react so differently (as the narrative requires) to the same thing being said by Old Ruby. Some cut her out of their lives, some run away in fear, some resign as Prime Minister. The book here does postulate what Old Ruby must be saying to them, more or less, since her gestures and message never change, but also covers itself by describing Actual Ruby finally hearing it as being like syllables tumbling together to describe secrets that should never be shared, which is lovely, so we can treat it as if those syllables meant something different to each of them who heard it, but each of them definitely knew it was a different older Ruby saying it, and whatever was happening was WRONG. It’s mysterious!

It’s also complicated by the people in the Welsh pub (a great scene in the show and the book, perhaps the whole story should have stayed there with those characters), they are messing with Ruby, so we can’t really use anything they’re saying about Mad Jack or the Fairy Circles to help us understand what’s happening. The Doctor at least confirms it IS a Fairy Circle when he reappears, and knows not to read the messages, so maybe some of what they said was real?

Why Mad Jack there and then Roger saying he was once called Mad Jack later? Are we meant to interpret that they are the same? Linked? Breaking the circle released him or some spirit inhabiting him? Or is it just another mysterious implication? One thing is clear, the old Ruby is not there until they break the Circle, really until The Doctor has vanished, but she’s there already the second time and is able to help Ruby break the cycle instead of the circle; whatever happens here, by whoever’s hand, we can only infer that this was all some kind of punishment for breaking the Fairy Circle.

But we know from Empire Of Death that Roger is still elected anyway, and does become Prime Minister, and does make everybody log their DNA, but he has yet to be mentioned again, so…much as I adore the vibe, the creepy tone, the writing in this book as well as the way it was shot for TV, one does wonder what it was all for. Ruby does gain, from this experience, the ability to later tell when reality has been altered, even more than The Doctor can, which is cool. But the Roger character is sort of just jammed into these events and does confuse me slightly.

The main thing we do gain here is time with Ruby Sunday, and I really do like her on her own. Not every companion gets a Doctor-lite episode focused on them, and Ruby gets two! And they are both pretty good! This one confuses me at its core, it feels like a clumsier Turn Left, or even RTD attempting to write his own Listen, which I would say is not his natural metier, but it does have strange ideas, it is vibey, and it’s an hour of TV and thus a novel that just wouldn’t exist in almost any other franchise.

4/5, I’ll take mysterious and unexplained vibes over lots of other DW modes!

This novel is quite a fun little adventure with Fifteen and Ruby. I adore the non-humanoid cast especially the ROBOT ARMADILLOS!!! the world building is pretty solid with the novel delving deep into the slow process of two very different cultures accepting each other. For the most part this novel is quite fluffy with the themes cropping up more subtly compared to other novels in Fifteen"s run.

Oh man, this is such a fantastic second part. All of The Family of Blood is uniquely creepy and Harry Lloyd is excellently unnerving as Son of Mine. The core of what truly makes the story is John Smith battling between knowing his own humanity and wanting that for himself while also realizing that he can’t continue to exist if he wants to save everyone. The montage of a life never lived is just suitably heartbreaking. Joan is also at her peak here, especially in realizing that what Martha is saying is true and, however much it hurts, pushing for John to make the right decision. Her rejection of the Doctor at the end displays the staunchness of her character and what makes me appreciate her. Martha assumes a lot of Doctor-like qualities as well here which is such an interesting dynamic to see with John Smith, foreshadowing the independence she shows later on and what aids in her in ultimately leaving the Doctor. And I would be remiss if I did not mention Thomas Brodie Sangster doing an excellent job, whose character Timothy gets a nice heartfelt ending. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this episode but I have most certainly been reminded how strong it is.

Really great story. The vibes are excellent; it wonderfully captures that spooky, small village feeling that is just so captivating. The characters all fit so so well and have great chemistry.

A+.

Good book. Recommend. It's not got any sci-fi and is historical, so do not go in expecting any big hidden aliens. The ending is a bit Vincent and The Doctor, but I like the way they did it. I like the characters and would like more of them. Full disclaimer, this is my first Erimem and I have not heard any of her audios yet and this fully convinced me to hear them.

This is an engaging book that I didn't want to stop when reading and would love to discuss with people. Memory has been overtaken by other things due to the lack of an outlet, however.

You can tell much research was put into the book and I enjoyed the historical accuracy, to the point that many people assumed I was reading an actual history book about a real pharaoh. () I think this book would have had a mass effect as such on the general (un-pharaoh-knowledge having) public, if handled by a larger publisher and / or in less specialist cover, like Sweeney Todd's 1993 book, which was by another Doctor Who writer, or those Da Vinci Code books, or that other book series that's currently escaping my mind.

I also plan to read the further books in her series as I look forward to seeing more of these characters, no matter their fate in later audios. (Also, when the time is right, I hope to hear The Veiled Leopard as that sounds interesting and is free.)

Luckily, the story that happens soon* after this one is The Eye of The Scorpion, which is free on Spotify. During my reading of this I started to it see as more of a Doctor Who crossover than source material.
*Soon is of course, relative.

Spoiler section: Also, disappointing that we don't get to see her as Pharaoh for long in the book; I'd like to find out her internal monologue and how she was as Pharaoh but I assume that's in the Doctor Who crossover or saved for her solo series. Please do not tell me otherwise, I prefer to remain unspoiled. I hope Antranak lives. And Hanek. And I can fully envisage The Doctor bluffing their way into the courts by accident, despite me still not being convinced at the efficacy of adding Doctor Who to this book's universe. Also, the twists in the book were expertly done. I would greatly enjoy more "false historicals" ala Empress of Mars and this book convinced me that Doctor Who should do them in the main show and commit, much like I assume Big Finish has, and the wider EU has acquiesced.

Queen Nefertiti in Dinosaurs on A Spaceship surely helps with this, as does the fact that the order and linage of Pharaoh is never mentioned in the show or anywhere else. As indeed, why would it be? All in all, reference Erimem in the show. It's not even that hard; it could even be a dual reference. I don't see it happening in RTD2 however. Maybe a Faction Paradox. And if any Who writers are reading this, please do not take this as an opportunity to invalidate her by doing an "Order of the Pharaohs" segment in your next Who work that's set after the prologue/epilogue of this book, which is to say all New Who companions should have at least heard something about Erimem, or there being a "missing Pharaoh" for the worldbuilding of the show to work. Oh, and if you do read this, please mention me in the acknowledgments. I'd like that. Closest I'll get to writing for a Doctor Who. Even an Obverse. I'd love to do an Obverse. How do you get to write for Obverse?

Big complaint about this is people going "No aliens, bad." and I go "No aliens, woo! This is good." Twists were good and I wish the show took more from this. Or at least had the gumption to do a consistent fake historical every so often and stick with it. There's a lot that could come from sticking to chronology. Ahem, RTD2 side-eye. Maybe Doctor Who could even do a historical with, gasp, no aliens. Or, get this, Empress of Mars 2. 

Sorry for not commenting much on the state of the Erimem franchise and instead going on about this niche science-fiction show called Doctor Who and their books. Also, sorry for my hard stance on spoilers. To be fair, you don't know what'll completely tip someone off to a reveal, or an event. Back to the book now. Read it. Worth the money. If you want sci-fi, maybe don't bother, though. Background historical knowledge optional, you can guess at who is a real historical character if you want/don't know. You might be surprised at who shows up.

Anyway. This book is good. I don't want to give much away. The blurb is accurate. In everything except calling it a science fiction book. Come on, kayfabe, people. Penguin would never break the kayfabe like that. Anyway, bye. I will maybe do more of these in future.

The middle third is a bit of a slog although my friend did point out that this book came out the year after the first Harry Potter book and that explain an awful lot of the choices made there. Shame Millennia never got to do... well, anything, really. She felt like an inanimate object long before she got turned into a puppet.

I think the Toymaker sections of this were fun although at times I did get the sense I could have just been reading Alice in Wonderland instead and not miss out on much. Possibly the best part was Tegan's characterisation - the joy of these books is that you can give characters internal monologues in a way the TV show never allowed for, and it felt like Gary Russell wrote her with a sense of compassion that few of the TV writers afforded her

Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Vampire Weekend

(13 and Yaz)

😭 Ian and Barbara

7th Doctor reference

Ooo blood Lords?

Ooo we are so getting Ian Barbara and 13 😭

Sarah 😭

oh my god the sonic 😭😭 I've missed it

I FUCKING KNEW IT

Holy s**t peak

9/10

This was brillaint.
Really enjoyed it,
Such a fun first outing for 13 and Yaz in Big Finish

Jodie and Mandip slip back into their roles with ease.

Another excellent story penned by the brilliant Tim Foley

This was a really lovely opener to the 13th Doctor BF era with Yaz. As someone who only recently found an appreciation for this era I've been eagerly anticipating this. I love Flux and I really like Dan, but I hoped for just the Doctor and Yaz together to flesh out their dynamic more and also have an female-led TARDIS team. Here we are !

Vampire Weekend is a really fun start to this series, it balances the tones and themes really quite nicely with a lot of fun humour thrown in. The situation itself is just really great with the Doctor gatecrashing the hen-do. There are some lovely little callbacks to classic who from the Doctor, which are just a joy to hear her say! Yaz is really the focus of this story, as we are introduced to her friends and the dynamics between them are fractured and interesting to say the least. There's one particular scene with Yaz and her friend regarding gender identity and its subtle but so lovely.

There is a tease towards the series arc which have left me very intrigued, and I really can't wait to hear what's going on with that even if its just a very brief tease thus far.

Doctor Who meets The Thing meets Perfect Strangers.

Loved it!

Welcome back, Jodie! I missed you so much!

Weird fun but weird

I had a lot of fun listening to this. It is really noticeable how much love went into this and it is really sweet how much they tried to make sure that would do justice to the fans.
My best friend an I were guessing along who the vampire might be and went back and forth on who it might be till the end. But honestly the heart of the story were all the interactions not only between Yaz and the Doctor (which hit right in the feels), but also between Yaz and her friends.

What an excellent Big Finish debut for Thirteen, possibly the strongest debut for any Doctor at Big Finish. This is a strong solid story, filled with humour and great character moments and heralds an exciting new era and exploration of this wonderful Doctor. The guest characters are great and the mystery keeps you guessing until the reveal. Would thoroughly recommend this!

Amazing start to the 13DAs honestly can’t wait to see where this range takes yaz and 13