This book is so insane. It's very bleak and horrifying but it's also very good. The author has described that he did not want it to be an "exercise in nostalgia" and that it doesn't really feel like a "doctor who book" which is accurate, it's very much its own original story, and that the doctor, jamie, and zoe are there doesn't affect much other than their roles in the story. it's hard to read because each of the tardis crew members go through a lot of traumatic experiences and are irreparably damaged, so i can't really see it as canon in doctor who just because it's far too damaging. However it's still an interesting experiment in how zoe, jamie, and the doctor would react and grow and adapt to situations as terrible as these, and overall I think the alien concept is interesting and the side characters are entertaining enough. again, it really is just torturing the main characters so I wouldn't recommend this for any light reading with your favorite characters. the writing is very good but it is very, very depressing overall. good story, makes me sick.