A major step down from Vampire Science, but overall not terrible. I can't say I really liked it; there's something with this author's writing style that I just couldn't get behind.

Spending a considerable amount of time right at the start of the book without the Doctor or Sam, and instead focusing on a few unlikeable characters which have very little to do with the rest of the plot seems like an odd choice. It really set the tone for the rest of the novel.

There was so much filler. Halfway through the book I expected it to be wrapping up any moment now, but it just kept going, twist after twist that all felt stuck in at the last minute to bump up the word count. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't already feel like the book was dragging.

Killing all the Zygons should have been impactful. Instead, it felt like a devil ex machina. It didn't help that no one really lingered on it. Shouldn't the Doctor have felt more about it?

That's not to say there's nothing to like in this book, but many of the things I want to praise are tainted with things I feel the need to complain about.

The descriptions are wonderfully vivid; but every male character is described exclusively by their facial hair, and the gorey descriptions at the end feel gratuitous, more for shock value than anything.

I'm happy to see Litefoot again, but he's given very little to do. It doesn't help that Sam is also mostly just being dragged around, as are most other side characters.

There's a good bit of misogynistic writing in this, though most of it is vibes-based. We only really see Emmeline through Sam's jealousy and feelings of inadequacy; the only women in the book are mothers, housekeepers, or teens, and none of them get things to do; the only characters to have their bodies described are women, while men are described by their hair and clothes. It's a lot of little things that make me hmm about it.

I like how film-like the Doctor is for most of this book, appearing cheery and young, knowing the future of individuals, all things that I feel are lost in his audios and apparently get lost the further you go with this series, as well. I can appreciate a bit of whimsy.

All in all, I'd say this book is pretty skipable. Unfortunately, I do want to read them all.