I am a fan of non-linear narrative, and I think the telling worked mostly well. It adds weight to the story at the end upon finding out how the chain of events links together. Nicholas Briggs can be a mixed bag for me, but this was one of his better ones. But that could be mostly due to the non-linear narrative, which does need closer paying attention than if the story was told linearly. Briggs does over-emphasize mentions of beauty and ugliness in his script, and some of his characters seem unnecessarily overbearing. But The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are overall enjoyable in this tale.