A pretty solid story, and thank heavens, after the slogfest that was 'Legacy of the Daleks'.

Quite a few characters in this one, but all of them have a purpose in the story, are well used, and well characterized. The mystery of Dreamstone Moon (I kept forgetting in what order the words 'dream', 'stone', and 'moon' were supposed to go) was well done as well, meaning we can figure things out along with the characters, not be told what they have understood. The environmental message was nothing groundbreaking, a classic 'the moon's alive!', but it explored the politics behind protesting against mining corporations in a compelling way, specially through Aloisse (very good character) and Daniel. Xenophobia and (alien) racism were also big points explored mostly through Cleomides' interactions with Aloisse and the Doctor. It was a bit more clumsily done, not woven into the plot as well as the political discussion, but still interesting.

In terms of the general structure of the book, my only complaints were that 1) things are a bit too fast and confusing in the final act, when they go from the moon to the planet, 2) some descriptions of locations are kind of hard to follow (could be just a me problem, though), and 3) Sam almost dies way too many times. Seriously, I think she has 5 or 6 near death experiences, being saved at the last possible second.

I am happy to say Sam Jones is a proper character in this book! She has a good characterization, makes decisions, fights for what she believes in, tries to save people, screws up, gets saved, all of it! I spent the whole book on the edge of my proverbial seat waiting for her and the Doctor to reunite, as the writer no doubt intended. A bit frustrating how many times they find each other, but get immediately separated again. Sam is incredibly guilty for abandoning the Doctor for dead in 'Longest Day', even though it was absolutely not her fault. It was not even her decision to do so: she was in shock, Anstaar put her in a ship and sent her away. Similarly, Cleomides is the one that forces her to abandon him in Mu Camelopides VI. But now Sam thinks the Doctor must believe she's abandoning him on purpose. And yeah, he kinda does. It was very strange of him to consider not going to look for her in 'Legacy of the Daleks', as it was obvious he should at least make sure she was alright. He finds her here, but they only have two direct interactions in this story: when they see each other across the crowd in the moonbase, him yelling her name, her begging the soldiers not to shoot him; and through the shuttle radio at the final act, when she doesn't say a word to him because she's overwhelmed by emotions (guilt and love, mainly). So yeah, he has assured she's alright, but he doesn't know if this means he should scram. I would be mad if this wasn't so in character for Mr. Abandonment Issues. Paraphrasing Aloisse, 'Just go talk to the girl, mate, ffs'.

The list of bodily and mental harm remains unchanged. The Doctor does get shot in the leg, but this makes 0 difference during the story, so I'm not counting it. If this was Sam's list it would be 1382 points on Near Death Experience, though.

Hyped for 'Seeing I' next!