good good honey honey honey dancing good good dancing honey dancing to be sweet to be dancing the code dancing the code dancing the code

The Doctor builds a device that uses probability to project the most likely future, and it shows the Brigadier shooting him and Jo dead. This leads to an internal crisis in UNIT, which coincides with an external crisis - a civil war happening in the north-african country of Kebiria. Jo is sent there in a mission as a UN envoy to keep her apart from the Brig and help prevent that foreseen tragedy, but she gets caught up in a lot of trouble of her own, both due to the state of affairs as well as a menace by alien creatures called the Xarax.

Dancing the Code has some very strong elements. The main one is the characterization of Kebiria, which is established as a former french colony that fell into conflict as two ethnic factions struggle for control. The war is shown with a fair amount of nuance, not fully condemning either side and introducing characters that act with a grey morality in these dire circumstances. A lot of focus is given to innocent victims caught in the crossfire, and I appreciate how the ending doesn't wrap everything up, implying the struggles will continue. It's a depressing reminder of how conflicts like this were happening at the time the book is set, at the time it was published and continue to happen now. As an aside, UNIT doing some actual United Nations work like they do here really should be shown more imo.

The Xarax are another highlight, being shape-shifting bug-like creatures that act in a hivemind and can basically become anything that's used to attack them, as well as disguising themselves as people. A scene where the Doctor argues that using nukes to destroy them might lead to the end of the world shows just how powerful they could potentially be. Another interesting aspect is that they're not evil, instead being highly suggestible and exploited by a single person who directs them to replicate and replace humanity to achieve world peace.

Despite these qualities, the story also has a bunch of flaws. That initial hook of the Brigadier shooting the Doctor and Jo doesn't get as much focus as it should, and is resolved pretty easily. I do appreciate the fakeout where it seems the prophecy is fulfilled a bit earlier than it actually is, though. The desctruction the Xarax cause in Kebiria is also basically overlooked, as at this point the story largely switches focus to their infiltration of England, while the deaths of what seems to be most of the Kebirian population happens off-page. It's a pretty bizarre choice, given how well the country is characterized up until this point.

The ending is also very anticlimactic, with the whole final conflict (Kebiria about to be nuked by the USA) being resolved by the Doctor basically pulling a few wires out of a wall and getting lucky. I've heard criticisms that this is common in novels by this author, but since I've only read one before (Venusian Lullaby), I can't really comment on that.

All in all, Dancing the Code was a very pleasant read that stumbles in places and doesn't stick the landing, but still manages to maintain an exciting sense of adventure with some creative concepts and a good setting.  It gets a modest recommendation from me.