Enjoyable read!

The story overall was interesting. Alien ship feel to Earth ages ago and the consciousness of the aliens, the Khamerians, kind of lodged itself into the minds of 6 people. Due to this influence, these people's descendants over the years sought positions of power around the world. Their goal was to somehow get energy to power the "Philosopher's Stone" (actually a Khamerian artifact) to free their consciousness and revive them. The Doctor and Sam land close to the manor that's at center of all this, unknowingly powering up the stone with TARDIS energy which 1) leaves them stranded there until the TARDIS recharges and 2) speeds up the Khamerian's plan and set their final steps into motion. The plan? Trick Russians into launching a nuclear attack on the US so that the US reveals the existence of Station Nine, an orbital nuclear station. Once the Station is revealed, they arrange for one of their men to become its new commander. Then they trick everyone again into thinking the Chinese are attacking the US, so that they release the nuke codes to their guy on Station Nine so that their guy can bomb the manor in the UK, actually. The explosion would power up the Khamerians and they'd win. And most people in England would die.

It was pretty entertaining seeing the Doctor and Sam put these pieces together. And Sam has a proper subplot going on! I really liked her in this book! She gets to do stuff!!! Her relationship with Pickering (who was a good side character!) was nice to follow, and I was pretty sad with the way it ended. Between this and 'Kursaal', I'm finally getting the vibe of Sam and the Doctor's relationship and believing they are friends. The Doctor is delightful as always and gets to drive a car and a motorbike. Once again I profess my love for the Doctor's very capable but also unhinged driving skills. And once again suck it, psychic paper! He doesn't need you, he can use good old combination of lies, deception, knowledge and charisma to convince these people he and Sam are researchers that are very interested in this old manor. The Doctor does not get seriously injured this time. Good for him! But Sam gets brainwashed :( Doesn't last long, though.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The whole running away/trying to get to the TARDIS/being captured/escaping again going on in the middle of the book was a bit convoluted, though. I also felt this book was longer than it needed to be. A bit bloated, at points. But fun anyways!