Some thoughts on David Troughton's reading of the novelisation of this story:

* The novelisation also makes more out of the Doctor and Jo escaping the TARDIS before it topples down the mountain with Jo getting down on her hands and knees and crawling out of the doors. And the climb up is described a bit differently too.

* I always dismiss reading/listening to the novelisations because I forget how fascinating the little changes here and there are. I should do this more often.

* David Troughton’s Izlyr is an odd choice - it’s very deep and rumbling and more akin to Ssorg than Alan Bennion’s lighter tones as Izlyr.

* Troughton has Geoffrey Toone’s (Hepesh) delivery down pat.

* The chapters based on Episode 2 don't add much to the story beyond what is seen on screen - although the mentions of an alliance between Earth and Peladon through the possibility of KIng Peladon marrying the Earth princess Josephine get a tiny bit more attention in the scene after Arcturus’s fake attack.

* The book gives Peladon’s mother a name - Allua (not sure of the spelling). It’s a tiny detail but a nice touch. I’m also not sure about the emphasis put on Peladon thinking about how much Jo reminds him of his mother, particularly when thinking about marrying her!

* The lead up to the fight between the Doctor and Grun is given a number of scenes rather than just jumping straight to it (as in the TV story).

• First, Jo and Grun have a scene together when Jo sees the armour that Grun will wear for the fight.
• Then the Doctor and Ssorg have a scene where Ssorg worries about the Doctor’s chances.
• And then, most intriguingly, is a scene where King Peladon goes to the temple of Aggedor and promises Aggedor’s spirit (which he confesses to not really believing in) that if the Doctor dies, he will remove all images of Aggedor from the palace, renouncing all worship of him; whereas if the Doctor lives - even at the cost of Grun’s life - he will celebrate and worship Aggedor. All this is overheard by Hepesh. It really adds another dimension to the cliffhanger of the episode where the traitors are revealed - almost as if Peladon’s declaration, forces their hand.

Overall, it was quite enjoyable.  I tend to dismiss the novelisations nowadays, despite them being my meat and drink in my burgeoning fandom when every single story being available at the touch of a button was a sci-fi marvel worthy of the show itself. The ending is a bit different and even skips the kiss between Jo and Peladon.

This is just not the best book for a story that’s also kinda mediocre