http://nhw.livejournal.com/548403.htm...

I felt very much in sympathy with Finn Clark's review, collected by the Doctor Who Reader's Guide: "Love the scenery, shame about the plot." (Downloaded from here.)

The scenery is indeed fantastic. I love the two K9s coming together as a team - and it occurred to me that the Fourth Doctor left a K9 to all three of his departing female companions, as we will be reminded next year. I liked Leela and Romana, I liked the Seventh and First Doctors, and I very much liked the back-plot of conservatives trying to launch a coup against the new progressive presidency. (Having missed most of Ace's appearances, and all the previous books with Chris, I wasn't so excited about them. And I thought that, especially in comparison with Bernice in Human Nature, Chris' reaction to losing his partner seemed rather minimal.) I even liked the Gormenghastly setting of the House of Lungbarrow itself, though from the architectural engineering point of view it was a bit over the top. (But the Doctor's robot companion was a bit too much.)

But the plot? Resolution? Meh, not really. If the Time Lords are being woven out of Looms these days (thanks to what sounds like a non-scientific magical curse), how come Andred has retained enough plumbing to reverse the curse and impregnate Leela? I felt none the wiser about where Susan came from; perhaps I missed the crucial passage. Fairly clear that the Doctor is the Other reincarnated; but, in a very real sense, so what? I didn't like the Hand of Omega in Remembrance of the Daleks, and didn't much like it here either. Anyway, entertaining enough. ( )