If we're being honest, I think this book fails at most of the things it attempts to do. the ebook edition foreword has parkin saying he wanted the dying days to be Bond-inspired, and to split the difference between a celebration of the VNAs and an accessible introduction to Eight in prose. it barely acknowledges the previous books and devotes barely any of its word count to the last 50 books of the Benny/Seven dynamic (aside from a couple really nice paragraphs). Benny here feels like she's getting dangerously close to a misogynistic filler-companion in places, and is uncharacteristically down with the military -- which is sort of insulting to see applied to Bernice "I'm not a soldier, I don't kill people" Summerfield herself. The villain, while initially semi-sympathetic, ends up as a pretty standard Big Crazy Evil Alien Warlord, which is particularly disappointing coming off the likes of So Vile A Sin, Original Sin, Legacy, and all the other VNAs that try to make Doctor Who's alien races rich and complex cultures, rather than just flatly evil monsters and innocent natives.

It's not much of an introduction to the Eighth Doctor either, on account of him being written as a rather dull, formal, humorless Generic Doctor-type, as well as literally not being present for about a third of the page count. 

The big adventure set pieces can be fun. It's well written. Benny sitting down for tea with a Martian warlord is really beautiful, and a fantastic use of her character and her own Doctorishness. This really isn't a Bond novel though -- on account of the aforementioned total lack of a singular impressive, clever protagonist for a large chunk of the story. Benny could serve as such, she's pretty much designed to, but she's given little opportunity to do so more than once or twice. Between that, and the bland "placeholder" writing of Eight, it sort of feels like a story with no star much of the time, which is decidedly not very James Bond.

Eve spends too long as a misogynistic caricature (which is at least a bit more Bond-like), the Brigadier has a wonderful introduction at least, and Bambera and Ancelyn were lovely to visit again.

It should also be noted that I'm setting aside my deep boredom with the nuanceless "evil alien soldiers vs human soldiers" military genre that Doctor Who slips into so often, in an attempt to be more objective. There have been instances of it I found interesting! This is not one of them.

It would've been really, really lovely to get more out of the complicated feelings surrounding Seven's death, Eight's arrival, and Bernice's deep, long, complex relationship with the Doctor. A little more closure would've been nice...

Overall a big disappointment with a few really fun scenes scattered throughout. Looking forward to the rest of Benny's solo adventures, and to Vampire Science after this.

I still rate it above a Zamper.

So, here we are. Yes, this is technically a step back in 8's EU timeline, but quite frankly, I'm not starting again. This was my first full foray into the VNAs, and I have to admit that I enjoyed it, even if it was a definite departure from the BBC Books. The 8th Doctor was enjoyable in this, and his "death" was definitely surprising. I have to admit, I enjoyed Bernice, even if she did differ somewhat from my prior experience of her (I've only listened to the Big Finish freebies with her in it, and their version of Theater of War) But I found the side characters enjoyable. The Ice Warriors was a new game for me, as I've only really seen them in Cold War. I also loved the Brigadier and the love he has for his wife, it's so adorable. Not to mention, Bambera was an interesting force, and it was nice seeing the differences between the two Brigadiers. I found Eve and Alan to be interesting side characters, even if I was hit with a bit of a surprise when Eve slept with Greyhaven. How have I gone this whole time without mentioning another of the main antagonists? I found Greyhaven to be an interesting antagonist, considering he wasn't truly evil. When it came down to it, I was more dissapointed that Staines took over. I think it would've been more interesting if if Staines was just an unfortunate party, caught up in Greyhaven's schemes. I think that's all I have to say on this book, but it was fast enough to keep my attention, even if the lack of Doctor made some parts drag a bit. I'll finish this review by stating my sheer surprise that it's implied that Benny f**ks the Doctor at the end. Overall, a definite read that I found interesting. Next stop: The Radio Times Comics with Stacy and Ssard.