My expectations have been toyed with thoroughly! I thought that I had a firm idea of what this story was going for by the end of the first chapter, only to be taken through several twists in succession that completely upended my sense of what was going on. It was thoroughly enjoyable being so very wrong.
The initial impression of the "war" on Barclow makes it clear that the conflict is going to go hot in some way or another, but my assumptions about how it would went out the window pretty quickly. I was charmed by the Chelonians (but had a sense that I had obviously missed a couple of previous appearances that would have made me appreciate them more), and amused by the political satire inherent in the description of Metralubit's government, as well as Fritchoff's over-the-top Marxist jargon.
I didn't expect to be so floored by the concept behind the Darkness, a thoroughly chilling alien monster, and I expected the Black Guardian's role reveal even less. It's not really left field per se, since the details all match when you look back. I had to nod in admiration at how clever this particular twist was. I found this a nice callback to the conflict between the Fourth Doctor and the Guardian that we saw in Season Sixteen. (And which I know will be continued in some manner in a couple of seasons, but we're not thinking that far ahead yet.)
I greatly appreciated the "K9 for president" plotline, and the Femdroids (and their plan) were fascinating to me. But I have to say that by far the most interesting part of this story, despite its brevity, is its ending. The implicit meaning of this ending is kind of obvious on the face of it, because this story is both set in the gap between the Graham Williams and JNT eras, and was itself the last of the Virgin Missing Adventures before BBC Books took over. The delightfully ambiguous way that the story ends (complete with a cheeky fourth wall acknowledging remark from Romana that they'd be nothing more than fictional characters, if they ended up in the Land of Fiction as the Doctor predicts) leaves a strong impression.
All in all, a strong book, and a fitting coda to this particular era of the show. I'll rejoin you all for the Seventies roundup shortly.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 6 October 2021.)
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