An absolute treat of a story worth every one of those four stars I've given - and perhaps a little more. I could really hear the characters' voices through the page - the witty banter definitely helped create this strong characterisation! I really felt like I could relate to the everyman Martin Flint too; it was very important, I think, that it was just some ordinary bloke who saved the universe. Steve Lyons makes excellent use of the diary format throughout, and both the emotional and time-loop aspects of the plot work fantastically! Flint's noble sacrifice was an excellent ending for an enjoyable story, because anyone could have done it. Any random, ordinary human can save the world. That's the story Doctor Who has always been to me, and that's the story I read in 'A Gamble with Time'.

However, there were some minor isses - one personal gripe is with the slug monster, Gharjax. I have no problem with the good ol' Bug Eyed Monsters, really, I just feel like this maybe wasn't the right story for such a species. However, I was a fan of his motives - always love a story with a classic capitalist villain, me! The universe imperiled because of some greedy corporate slug? Now, that's a story written with me in mind!

Though, one thing I appreciate less about the story is what seems to be a bit of a plot hole in the ending. It's not too major, but it does bug me enough to knock my rating down to a 4. The whole story follows Flint's day stuck in a time loop, trying to work out how he got there, and then this interesting paradox is created, and he has to choose to sacrifice himself to save the Doctor, and the Universe - it's all very convoluted and rather delicious, but with something so complex, I suppose there was always the risk that one would tie onself up into knots - such as the knot of why the rift in time closed after Flint fell into it. The rift/tear wasn't caused by Flint, so, how did his sacrifice close the tear, saving the universe? It's otherwise a very clever use of the time loop, and the emotional punch of the sacrifice lands so well that it rather negates the need for the technical time loop-y stuff to work out perfectly, and yet this still really bugs me.

An wonderful story about how one good choice from anyone can save the universe (with only a small, rather nitpicky fly to spoil the ointment) from Steve Lyons that earns itself 4/5 stars!