BASIC PLOT

DOCTOR
Eleventh. Pg 182 Cameo appearance by the fourth Doctor.

COMPANIONS
Pg 182 Cameo appearances by Leela and K9.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 11 On a stony shore, Scotland, during the dark ages (exact time unknown).

Pg 115 On the surface of the ocean.

Pg 159 The TARDIS dematerialises from underwater and then immediately rematerialises in the same place.

Pg 161 On the bottom of the ocean floor.

Pg 184 Inside a sandy cave.

PREPARATORY READING
None.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 20 The sonic screwdriver makes an appearance (Fury From the Deep et al).

Pg 38 "He took out the psychic paper. He looked at it for a long time, but it remained frustratingly blank. 'Runic society. Gah!' he said to himself." The End of the World et al. The Doctor encountered a similar problem with the psychic paper in The King's Dragon. But see Continuity Cock-Ups

Pg 139 "As he said it, the entire room rang to the sound of the TARDIS's cloister bell tolling." Logopolis.

Pg 151 The Consciousness of Arill briefly manifests as the Doctor's previous regenerations.

Pg 160 "He didn't have to breathe yet - as Martha Jones had once discovered his lung capacity was extraordinary,but a respiratory bypass system could only work for so long." Martha was the tenth Doctor's companion (Smith and Jones et al), while the respiratory bypass system appeared in Pyramids of Mars.

Pg 169 "Back in the TARDIS, Henrik stumbled over an enormous crinoline - which he did not recognise - and was on the point of giving up in despair when he spied a huge orange suit - a spacesuit, although hecould never have known it." This is the style of spacesuit the Doctor wears in The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and The Waters of Mars.

Pg 172 "Yet somehow he managed to override them, as he noticed behind the light the figure of an astronaut. No. He thought. Not here. Not again. Astronauts coming from the sea he hardly dared remember." The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon.

Pg 179 "I thought the swiming pool was leaking again." The Invasion of Time et al.

Pg 185 "He took a deep breath, then hung a perception filter on the TARDIS's external phone." This is very similar to what he does to himself, Martha and Jack in The Sound of Drums.

Pg 300 "Now, look to the side. But very slowly and in a relaxed fashion." The reveal of the perception filter is very similar to that in The Sound of Drums.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
None.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Henrik, Freydis, Luag, Corc, Braan.

Also Eoric and Brogan, who have been transformed into particles in the Aurora Borealis.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• Pg 38 "He took out the psychic paper. He looked at it for a long time, but it remained frustratingly blank. 'Runic society. Gah!' he said to himself." The Doctor encountered a similar problem with the psychic paper in The King's Dragon. Yet it worked just fine on someone who couldn't read in The Krillitane Storm.

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

• It worked in The Krillitane Storm because the Doctor explained it to the guard. He didn't try either here or in The King's Dragon. Clearly, he needs to up his game.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pgs 150-151 The Consciousness of Arill. It exists as tiny light particles that can come together to form shapes or hijack electrical systems, but they burst into flame upon contact with air.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 8 A Viking longship.

Pg 25 A Scottish island.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
For a 300 page novel, this zooms by. You'd think that a tale of Vikings and islanders would be dullness itself, but this book manages to keep it lively. There are some richly drawn characters and some genuinely touching moments that wouldn't have nearly the power they do without some serious character work that's gone into them. Henrik being more impressed with the outside of the TARDIS than the interior is laugh-out-loud hilarious. The aliens are refreshingly different. There's some genuinely impressive writing, such as the sequence in the cave, with the fourth Doctor, Leela and K9 cameo. And the Doctor is very well done too, being a mix of gabbling idiot, lonely god, ineffectual and powerful. But what year does this take place in? The book never bothers to tell us.