Of the four Decades Collection books I've read ('70s, '80s, '90s, and this), this is definitely the weakest both in terms of overall story and relevance to the purported timeframe it's meant to represent. Sure, there were a few throwaway lines about fashions of the time, but it's set in a house from the 1800s. The most 2000s thing about the book was the Ninth Doctor, and unfortunately, Nine didn't come off very well here -- he often feels uncaring or apathetic. That may be due to the narrator, a twelve-year-old girl who has just seen her mom and brother get kidnapped by lightning creatures, taking against him, but there are times when it seems he doesn't care about anyone but Rose.

The monsters are fairly uninspired, the plot is plodding, and at the end of the day, I really didn't care about it all that much.