Checkmate is a great continuation of the Kaldor City story. While there is a lot of talking in rooms in this release, it does tie up a lot of threads in the series so far. There were enough twists and turns in the story to keep me interested, and the dialogue was as snappy as it has always been.

There's that prick Landerchild cashing in again, the bastard.

Checkmate, a tale of subterfuge and revelation.

Taren Capel's legacy is unleashed, and death stalks the streets. As Uvanov, fights for his career and life, Paullus contacts a force that could be the salvation of the people of Kaldor -- or their destruction. With Carnell gone, Iago is the only one who can save the city from its fate — but to do that, he must sacrifice everything...

Checkmate picks up shortly after the events of Taren Capel. The Voc Robots have begun killing again in the name of Taren Capel, but there's something much more sinister on the way. Somehow, the voice of Taren Capel is emanating from his skull, contact has been made... Writer Alan Stevens brings back, and in great force, writer Chris Boucher's other major contribution to the Doctor Who universe, the Fendahl. What follows is an all-out action fest that the range had been slowly building towards as the citizens of Kaldor start fighting back against the rogue Robots but the Fendahl has seemingly planned for this the entire time with a contingency for every occasion. It's another fabulous piece of writing from this range, I'm seriously amazed it's managed to maintain such a high consistency throughout, and yet there's still the finale left to go. It even manages to sneak in a full Doctor Who twist by the end. Roll on the finale, please.

Cause and effect. It applies to everything.