'And you'd be right to think so,' said the Doctor. 'Myths tend to be one part truth, two parts metaphor and five parts corruption, and patriarchy had always been a particularly vulgar form of corruption. The actual truth of it would have been something far different, probably, if truth there actually was. I'd concentrate on the central metaphor if I were you - and particularly how it relates to limits and aspects, and how the mind must react to the truly horrifying if it wants to survive.' He smiled, reminiscently. 'Zeus had the unfortunate habit of blowing everybody's head off wherever he went, but Dionysus had few problems getting on with everybody, as I recall.'
One of my favorite Doctor Who novels of all time. Also possibly one of the best Doctor Who novels of all time, though this is more debatable. The tale of a fetch quest across a dimension of sheer comedy and tragedy reveals a sublime genius at its center. The ending is one of the best within Who.

spent much of my time reading this alternate wildly between "hey this is a cool idea" and "i cant take much more of this". still couldnt put it down. Stone thanks Fritz Leiber in the first pages of this book and man, you don't have to tell ME twice. feels a lot like the later Lankhmar books, in that it lavishes in the completely off-the-wall worldbuilding, the prose is totally self-indulgent, and it often leans into the realm of self-parody, and in much the same way and for many of the same reasons you may or may not be able to stomach this book.

i did have fun! at first i was worried this book was going to fall into certain characterizations of the Doctor that i find interesting enough, but tedious, but in the final act it pulls a couple reveals that totally turned all of that around. i think the lean into cosmic horror that happens here is a lot of fun and very well executed. it could have easily gotten overcooked and over explained, but i think Stone knows right where to stop in this respect. although maybe not in many other respects.