BASIC PLOT
Witches have infiltrated both the Roman army and the forces controlled by Attila the Hun. But will the Doctor's attempt to help make things worse?

DOCTOR
Thirteenth.

COMPANIONS
Graham, Yaz and Ryan.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 8 Gaul, 451AD.

PREPARATORY READING
None.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pgs 3-4 "The crack in the console widened, and she pushed her hand inside, teeth gritted as she groped at the space inside." Similar to what happens in Listen.

Pg 11 "He saw that in her right hand she held a sort of metal wand." The sonic screwdriver (Fury From the Deep et al).

Pg 12 "Three millennia from now, you'll be able to buy it over the counter in any pharmacy. On Titan, anyway." The Invisible Enemy.

Pg 48 "He imagined the look on Grace's face, if she were here, if she knew." The Woman Who Fell to Earth.

Pg 87 "'You're not telling me it's another -' '- fixed point in time, yes.'" The Fires of Pompeii et al.

Pg 95 "Hundreds of years ago, when Nero was emperor, a blue casket marked with strange writing was found at the bottom of a cliff some distance from Rome." The Romans.

Pg 96 "A member of the Legion saw it some years later, investigating supernatural elements in Pompeii, just before Mount Vesuvius erupted." The Fires of Pompeii.

"Then, a further thirty years later - this time as a statue in a house in Rome, a temple named as TARDIS. The effigies of household gods, a man and a woman, stood beside it." The Fires of Pomeii (and The Girl Who Died).

Pg 97 "The story goes back to the Sibylline books." The Fires of Pompeii.

Pg 181 "Well, I happen to be fluent in several equine dialects..." As we saw in A Town Called Mercy.

Pg 210 "Mind that Arcturan grenade, by the way" The Curse of Peladon.

Pg 218 "There's that Arcturan grenade, for a start" The Curse of Peladon.

Pg 221 "You don't let off an Arcturan grenade without people noticing" The Curse of Peladon.

Pg 224 "Ryan had already learned the hard way that when guns were around, things could go south fast." Ghost Monument.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
None.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Attila the Hun, Aetius, Liss, Thorismund.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• Pg 77 Liss is human and can't time travel (Pg 76), so... how exactly? She has advanced technology, speaks in modern dialect and yet it's frustratingly never explained whether she's meant to be visiting Earth or a human who's been highly educated.

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

• She's a human who's been highly educated... by someone. We'll wait for the explanation. Waiting. Still waiting. Crickets...

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pg 236 The Tenctrama. In their natural form, they look like giant glistening grubs with bony wings and many-jointed legs and multiple tongues. They can appear as human-like hideous witches.

Pgs 90/170-171 The Strava are animals the size of rhinos but with wolfskin and tusks. They're spiky and furry, with thorn-like claws on their limbs.

Pg 254 The Tenctrama become hybrids that are part plant by the story's end.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 3 Gaul, 451AD.

Pg 144 The Tenctrama spaceship.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
This is a deeply odd book. Visiting Attila the Hun and the Roman army works well enough, as does the presence of alien witches. But the various effects are quite odd, with a lit-up sky that's barely commented on and an explanation of "the Pit" that's all pun and makes no sense. A huge deal is made of how important animals are, except for all those times the zombies entirely ignore the animals. Characters keep having shock revelations about every 30 seconds about which new way the plot is going to artificially unfold this minute... wait, no it's the opposite! Wait, of course, a pun! Wait, no, something entirely arbitrary! On the other hand, the dialogue for all the main characters is spot-on, and it is at least different. Wait, is that bad? Wait, of course - it's good! Wait...