This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Jupiter Conjunction

I think Doctor Who is one of the only franchises that can pull off making a story that is both a sequel and a prequel to another story at the same time. The story that this adventure is both a sequel and a prequel to is The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Luckily this has none of the bad bits and all of the good bits. For starters, I love the exploration this audio brings to the events mentioned in Talons. In the original serial it was just throwaway references to things that supposedly happen in the future but this story has turned all that into a living, breathing world. I will say, even though most of this was established in Talons, it still feels weird having countries like Iceland be major powers.

The plot of this is just really fascinating, it helps that Magnus Greel is a criminally appealing villain. Angus Wright is great as the time-travelling warlord and I really love the depth that his character is given here. He's still definitely a villain but I do like how this story humanises him, something that is very rare for villains-of-the-week on Doctor Who. Nyssa plays a key role in this story, being married to Greel which is an absolutely bonkers concept that I think is similarly done exceptionally.

The rest of the cast are great, Mark Strickson and Janet Fielding specifically stand out. Besides that, I think this an adventure that really adds to the throwaway lines mentioned in Talons in a way that only Big Finish could do. It's a much better usage of the concepts from the 70s serial and as a major bonus, it's not steeped in racist ideals and imagery.

Next Story: Eldrad Must Die!