BASIC PLOT
In the year leading up to the funeral of Henrietta Street's most famous adventuress, something raw and primal ate its way through human society, against which the only line of defence was a bordello in Covent Garden - and the two-hearted elemental champion known only as the Doctor.

DOCTOR
Eighth.

COMPANIONS
Fitz and Anji.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Henrietta St, St Belique Island.

PREPARATORY READING
Nothing essential, although a working knowledge of the major events of The Ancestor Cell helps.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 40 "After all, the Service had been founded in the Elizabethan era by John Dee" John Dee was one of Jared Khan's aliases in Birthright. Another was Count Cagliostro (Birthright, page 92), who is also mentioned here.

Pg 102 "The prisoner was known only as 'monseir le 6'." The Marquis de Sade (identified as such on pg 115) appeared with this title in a copy of the Doctor Who universe, in The Man in the Velvet Mask.

Pg 103 "Terrible to imagine the consequences of such a race being suddenly removed from that universe." The Ancestor Cell.

Pg 104 "To re-birth themselves in any number of new forms, 'from great three headed things to bodies made of pure heat'." We see the Time Lords doing something similar in The Taking of Planet 5.

Pg 128 "Two most remarkable worlds... one called Ceresalpha, where the children were as ghosts, and another where faerie-tales came true" Dark Progeny and Grimm Reality.

Pg 156 "Indeed nearly two hundred years later, one would occupy the very site of Scarlette's House on Henrietta Street." This is Lady Diamond's shop from Dead Romance.

Pg 165 "The world [i.e. universe] had undergone a degree of change." The Ancestor Cell.

Pg 174 "On the Doctor's homeworld there was indeed a great 'eye' which watched the Doctor and his kind wherever they went" The Eye of Harmony.

Pg 184 "The Doctor was unconscious in a room of brilliant white" The Zero Room, from Castrovalva.

Pg 214 "From somewhere in the pleasure-gardens of the TARDIS, Fitz recovered a 'contraption' [...] very much suggesting a modern wheelchair." We saw the TARDIS wheelchair in Castrovalva.

Pg 231 "There are only four of us left now, you know." It's not clear who the four are intended to be, but the Doctor, the Master, Iris and Romana (a future version of whom appears in the final chapter of Tomb of Valdemar) are the most likely candidates. This is also a reference to the "four names" in The Infinity Doctors.

Pg 246 "The statues were dressed in colourless stone robes, their empty necks hung with the huge chains of office, wide collars at their necks and books of law in their hands." This building is likely a respresentation of the Capitol on Gallifrey, with statues of the Time Lords (and Fitz recognises their language). There's also an eye in the centre of the great hall (Panopticon) which is said to destroy the world if it is ever opened (The Deadly Assassin).

Pgs 265/267 The Doctor decapitates the King of the Apes with the sonic screwdriver. (Fury From the Deep et al.)

Pg 278 "A visionary artist, in contact with angels and monsters of various descriptions" William Blake also featured in The Pit.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
Sabbath, who although introduced here, was also seen (unnamed) in a vision in The Slow Empire. This is his first full appearance and he goes on to appear in a great many Eighth Doctor adventures.

The Master (see pages 88, 130, 205 and 230).

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Scarlette, Rebecca Macardle, Lisa-Beth Lachlan, Katya Nakhova, Dr Nie Who.

Juliette, the apes.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• Pg 155 Australia is described as 'newly settled' in 1782, but while Captain Cook had landed there in 1777, the first fleet did not arrive until 1788.

PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]

• A side-effect of the removal of the Time Lords from the universe might be altered Earth history.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
The apes, a primal mirror of humanity who are driven to destroy technology and innovation.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Henrietta St, Manchester, Paris, Calais, India, Hispaniola (West Indies), Vienna, Soho, St Belique island, the Realm of Apes, Port Royal (Jamaica), 1781-1782.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
There's a lot to be had from this book and the idea of presenting it as a history text is quite clever. Unfortunately, it leaves the characters and events too far removed from the reader to have the desired impact. The events themselves try hard to surprise the reader and Miles's skill is such that he almost pulls it off, but ultimately a plot synopsis is never going to substitute for a living, breathing story. It's a clever, intellectual work, certainly, but it has no soul.