The Eighth Doctor and Sam turn up in Victorian London where they have an adventure which largely retraces The Talons of Weng-Chiang, complete with Litefoot (but not Jago) and with added Zygons. It actually would have worked rather better as a second novel in the sequence than Vampire Science did; here Sam is still trying to get to grips with the Doctor and with time travel, rather than behaving as if she’s been at it for years. Morris’ descriptive writing is generally good but he doesn’t have as firm a grasp of Victorian dialogue (there is a particularly irritating ruffian called Jack). The fundamentals are sound, if not hugely original.

I have already read the next in sequence, Genocide by Paul Leonard, so next up is War of the Daleks by John Peel.