This was the first VNA I've read (actually, the first Classic Who novel I've read). There are parts of it that I like; a lot of the dialogue is great. But I felt that the Doctor and especially Ace were too mean. I don't know if that was how the characterization evolved over the previous VNAs, but it was jarring and unpleasant. The first half, in London, worked better for me than the second, in India and on Ry'leh. There is maybe a little too much going on with the plot, but the pacing is snappy.

I’m a sucker for 2 things when it comes to the NAs, interesting meta/narrative framing and character work, this story nails the first one, seeing the story from Watsons and Bernice’s perspectives from diary entries or just in general from the first person perspective is so much fun, this book is structured in the sense that it is an Andy lane Book wrapped around a Sherlock Holmes novel and while I have not read to deeply into the Sherlock Holmes canon I was quite happy seeing the cameos of moriarty and what not. Holmes and the doctors relationship in this book is brilliant, they mirror each other but getting to see Sherlock Holmes realize that the doctor is kind of … well not kind of but very much above his league is cool, seeing the doctor from Watsons perspective makes the character seem so much more mysterious, we’re used to seeing the doctor and his schemes from the perspectives of people like ace, and Benny who know the doctor well but seeing a total new comer in Watson notice things about the doctor, how alien he is was very fun…

this book combines lovecraftian and Indian Mythology with Sherlock Holmes and adds doctor who in there… what more can I say , it’s a fun read and definitely worth a check out if you have time!

27 - All-Consuming Fire

If you’re a big fan of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, stop reading this review and go read All-Consuming Fire.  I promise you’ll love it, and the less you know the better.

Twenty years before Mark Gatiss brought Robin Hood to life in “Robot of Sherwood,” Andy Lane did the same with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in All-Consuming Fire, a wonderful tribute to the work of Sir Doyle that left me with the biggest, dumbest grin on my face with every word.  The central conceit of this one is that, like the original Sherlock Holmes stories, it’s a retelling of events from Watson’s perspective.  Lane conceives Holmes and Watson as real people with unknown names, whose exploits were published under pseudonyms by a friend of theirs.  We read the story along with Ace and Bernice, a secret Holmes novel given to them by the Doctor appropriately titled All-Consuming Fire.  The first act takes place in Victorian London, before the book morphs into a pseudo-Indiana Jones narrative as the Doctor and his numerous companions travel to India to track down an interplanetary gateway.  Putting the Doctor and Holmes together is perhaps the most fanfiction the VNAs have gotten, but the result is absolutely glorious - Holmes is clearly out of his element, but still surprises the Doctor with his cleverness at times.  The audience is reminded that Sherlock Holmes is not a superhuman, but a man with immense knowledge and critical thinking skills; as he drifts to India and then to the planet Ry’leh, he becomes less and less sure of his deductions as the little bits of info he’s learned over the years fall out of relevance.

The title “All-Consuming Fire” has a double meaning - of course the mystery Holmes is trying to solve involves apparent spontaneous combustion, but “all-consuming fire” is also a metaphor for the horrors of 19th century British imperialism.  One of the major villains of the story, Baron Maupertuis, hopes to conquer Ry’leh for the British Empire, and it immediately becomes obvious why Lane chose to set this portion of the story in British-occupied India.  This is what Doctor Who does best: a wacky sci-fi story underpinned by some serious social commentary, and here it’s done masterfully.  All-Consuming Fire is truly a classic that all Doctor Who fans should have on their lists.