Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane is a very interesting novel in the larger Who context. It's a tale of gothic horror full of supernatural elements like werewolves, witches and dryads, all played straight without any of the expected sci-fi coat of paint. While this is a bit jarring in comparison to the surrounding books, it accomplishes what it tries to do very well, with the Doctor and companions fitting in better than one would expect. Of course, in this case it's more accurate to say Doctors, since a big draw of the book is the presence of the Eighth Doctor, alongside the Fourth. I'd heard about that before reading, but was only expecting a cameo or a brief guest appearance, so I was very surprised to see 8 being there for basically the entire story. The split focus (with 8 and Harry being separated from 4 and Sarah by a couple weeks) makes for a unique take on a multi-Doctor story, which is made it more so by the fact that it takes place during a time when 8 has amnesia, and is thus even more clueless than his younger self. It leads to some interesting scenarios where the actions of one Doctor affect the other one. My favorite and most heartbreaking example is the imprisonment and rescue of Emmeline, which happens in reverse order for the Doctor, who's left none the wiser that he'll be the one who causes her pain eventually. While knowing the outcome of Harry's adventure beforehand does perhaps spoil some of the twists, reading it as a tragedy with a foregone conclusion is special in its own way. I only wish the split was more balanced, as the Eighth Doctor part seems to take most of the book. I haven't done a page count so I could be wrong, but that's how it felt at least. It is the most interesting one though - the Fourth Doctor and Sarah mainly spend their time trying to figure out what happened and tying up lose ends, so 8 and Harry get most of the action. Regardless, since the EDAs are still a looooong way away for me, it was really nice to get an early glimpse at what they're like. I expect most of the cryptic loose ends, including the trippy ending where contradictory outcomes of the adventure are presented in succession, will be explained there. Anyway, a very unusual one, but also very good.