BASIC PLOT
In the city-state of Hokesh, time plays tricks; the present is unreliable, the future impossible to intimate. A derelict street child, Joey Quine, finds himself subject to horrifying visions and fugues. His only friend in this, the only one to whom he can turn for help, is a mysterious stranger who calls herself Ace. And in an unknowable future the Doctor is busily inciting a state of bloody unrest, on the basis that one must be cruel to be kind - simultaneously, for preference.

DOCTOR
Seventh

COMPANIONS
Ace

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
An alleyway leading off the Plaza of Spinning Lights, Hokesh City, later timezone (page 20).

Inside No. 57 Pauper's Gate, earlier timezone (at least it looks like it's the TARDIS on page 46, it's a little unclear).

The bedchamber of Magnus Solaris, later timezone (page 85).

Near the statues of the Dead Gods, earlier timezone (page 90).

PREPARATORY READING
None.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 67 "I mean, I've been around, but that was mostly knocking around in spaceport bars and stuff." Dragonfire, presumably.

Pg 78 "She waggled the smooth, metallic club she held and grinned. It was used for playing a ball game, she had explained" This is the baseball bat from Remembrance of the Daleks (meaning this adventure must take place before then, as it was destroyed in that story).

Pg 95 "A patron deity - rather like those of a city with which I was once, I seem to recall, quite familiar. A pair of giants named Gog and Magog." These are two Great Old Ones, who have appeared in the comic strip. In Divided Loyalties, it's mentioned that the Time Lords have files on them.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
None.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Joey Quine.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• The Doctor definitely has a umbrella on page 21 (that he carries like a cane), but "Smith" (who admittedly may not be the Doctor) is carrying a cane on page 38.

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

• Either Smith isn't the Doctor after all, or he's swapped the umbrella for a cane at some point. Or Joey doesn't know what an umbrella is.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Dracori, the original inhabitants of the planet, with several hundred eyes and tentacles.

Sloater, when transformed, has a thousand temporary mouths and orifices on the surface of his flesh.

The City itself is a living creature.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Hokesh City, in a variety of timezones, all in the distant future.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
Citadel of Dreams is an excellent novella, perfectly suited to the format. Dave Stone's distinctive voice is used well, but not overdone and the shorter page length helps enormously. The fact that there's only one additional character doesn't hurt the book at all, even when the Doctor and Ace are absent from large parts of the book. It gets a little confusing in places (I'm still not sure if "Smith" is the Doctor or not), but it's eminently readable. Highly recommended.