As of now, this is one of my favorite ever Doctor Who stories. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this book, except that it sadly ends. Wanted to re-read it immediately.

Sam reached the planet Ha'olam after being forced to leave the Doctor behind at the end of 'Dreamstone Moon'. Feeling massively guilty about both about leaving him and about kissing him when he was near dead, and still more than a bit in love with him, she just wants to move on with her life and is resigned to never seeing him again. And so she does. With nothing on her name and only the clothes on her back, she builds herself up and grows up in the three years she ends up spending on Ha'olam. She gets a job, finds out what matters to her and who she wants to be, works towards it. Gets a few boyfriends, lets the Doctor move into her past as a sort of inspiration. Matures. It was a joy to see. Sam's characterization hasn't been consistent on the EDAs, but here, this Sam, that's who she's supposed to be, and she shines. At the end of this story, she's a 21yo who knows who she is, and I adore her.

The Doctor follows her to Ha'olam and does his utmost to find her. He's not sure what happened, why she left, so he wants to make sure she's leaving because that was her decision. He wants to know what happened, and he's worried about her. When he ends up in jail after getting caught stealing information from INC, a big corporation that has some very sus eye tech, we the readers smirk. 'Right. Jail,' we think. 'He'll be out in days'. 'I'll be out in days', the Doctor says, also smirking at us. But his escape plan fails. The desperation that sets in when they keep failing, one after the other, builds up inside of us just as much as they do inside of him. It's a nice jail, a humane jail, they are treating him well, but he's trapped and bored out of his mind and so, so incredibly frustrated it's painful to see. He's there for 3 years. The parasite thing the I (the aliens behind it all) put in his eye, spying on his every movement, reading some of his thoughts was icing on the cake of misery. Very nice to see something like this being treated seriously, having consequences. These 3 years break Eight, as they should! He’s impeccably characterized all throughout this book. He is movie!Eight through and through, in the best way possible.

I whooped out loud when Sam finds out he's imprisoned and decides to get friends together to break him out. The scenes in the TARDIS immediately afterwards were fantastic. She and her friends, incredibly uncomfortable in the console room, hearing his distant, echoing screams as he somehow gets the parasite spy out of his eye, Sam frustrated that they don't see who he is, what he is, how amazing he is, actually, trust her. Her conversation with the Doctor in the butterfly room afterwards is just beautiful.

So, Sam's feelings for him. Let's talk about that. As she puts it, it “was not some moony little teenage crush. This is a real life want to throw him on the floor and shag him till bits break off kind of problem. All right?”, and “Because I love him but not just because of his beautiful eyes. Because I love him because he’s a hero”. Like, damn, girl. So, she’s definitely sexually attracted, and definitely loves him. And yeah, you know, I 100% buy it. If the beautiful Eighth Doctor took me away to see the stars when I was 17 and repeatedly saved whole planets and also my life, yeah, it’d do a number on me too. I love the way her feelings are described throughout the book. It was in turns funny and heartfelt, which was a nice combination. Sam has been repressing those feelings for a long time now, but thanks to her growth, she manages, by the end of the book, to sort them out somewhat by finally, finally kissing him. The Doctor, of course, also loves her… but not in a sexual and/or romantic way, at least not in human terms, and at least not right now. He’s thrilled to have her back, and at this moment he really needs her to bring him back together. I really liked all of these developments, all these types of love that coexist in their relationship.

A couple of last things: I loved DOCTOR! What a cool idea. I hope it has fun in cyberspace! And the thread connecting their past adventures involving other evil corporations (TCC, DMMC) with INC was a very nice touch.

The Doctor goes through it in this one, so:

• Memory Loss:1 (in 'The Eight Doctors')
• Serious Injuries/Near Death Experience:5 (gets vampired 'Vampire Science', nearly drowns in the Thames in 'The Bodysnatchers', bomb+fingers broken in 'Kursaal', electrocuted in 'Longest Day', gets shot + severe blood loss 'Legacy of the Daleks')
• Torture:2 (in 'Genocide', 3 years in boring jail + evil eye implant must count as torture, right?)

Everybody say thank you Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman