4/5 - a well-written book in a style I enjoyed, with some notable points that knocked this down for me.

Firstly, there was a lot of gore and violence that was really offputting in a way that felt unnecessary/pointless - I was not surprised to learn that the writer, Mark Morris, went on to become a horror writer. The Doctor accidentally committing genocide, and the grotesque descriptions of the Zygons' decaying bodies and the destruction of the Skarasen, was truly horrifying. However, it was supremely well-written, and there was no part of this book that I felt was a slog. Well paced, and fely like it simultaneously fit well with classic who serials, whilst being clearly written for this medium, which is a difficult balance to acheive. There were some slightly, shall we say, odd ideas about gender with the Zygons especially, but this was written in the 90's, so I wasn't all that surprised - and, he did play around with gender a little, made it interesting at least.

I have to admit, I'm a little bored of the whole "aliens try and take over the Earth and destroy humanity and can't be reasoned with" plotline combined with such incredible levels of violence. It rarely interests me. This is more of a personal gripe though; it often feels shallow and isn't really my thing. However, this was at least somewhat balanced out well with a member of that invading force joining with our heroes, and helping them save the Earth from their own invasion, though I'm not sure that it really made sense after the Doctor killed the rest of the invasion force. Even if you disagree with what someone is doing, seeing them and all the rest of your people violently killed is probably not going to keep you on the good side of the murderer.

Fun seeing Litefoot again! He was integrated well into the plot, so it didn't just feel like we were pointing back at an old episode for nostalgia points. There were also a lot of little elements that I didn't know came from pre-NuWho, so were really fun to see in an extended universe book. I won't mention them by name - if you haven't read it, you'll just have to wait and see! They were fun surprises for sure. However, there was one big issue that really made this harder to enjoy - Sam. She didn't feel distinguished from other companions in her personality (I kept reading her lines in Ace's voice) despite this clearly being a bit intent of the book. Morris somehow managed to put Sam in focus, have the story told mostly though her, without making her active. We were told what she wasn't doing, rather than what she was doing instead, and most of her actions (or lack thereof) seemed to be driven by a complex that she didn't really have in the previous book, and so came off as a mischaracterisation, despite her being relatively new and therefore not having much established character to miss! Then again, perhaps I am judging this too harshly - Vampire Science is a tough act to follow.

So, a very well-written novel (that's just a bit too violent for my tastes). I know a lot of people skip the early EDAs to get to Faction Paradox quicker, and reading this has made me feel glad that I didn't do the same, because while this wasn't entirely my cup of tea, it was a very well made book that I think a lot of people will enjoy, and it would be a shame to miss out on the chance to find out. 4/5