BASIC PLOT
1500BC - King Actaeus and his subjects live in mortal fear of the awesome gods who have come to visit their kingdom in ancient Greece. Except the Doctor, visiting with university student June, knows they're not gods at all.

DOCTOR
Tenth.

COMPANIONS
June, a new companion, who leaves with the Doctor at the end. Sadly, we never learn her surname.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 11 On the floor of the Acropolis, Athens, present day.

Pgs 28-29 The same location, only in 1500 BC.

Pg 219 Athens, many years later.

Pg 227 The Acropolis, present day, again.

PREPARATORY READING
A passing familiarity with the Slitheen is handy.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 49 "First time I met them they were going to blow up the world. And then there was Margaret, who wanted to blow up Cardiff. And then..." Aliens of London/World War Three, Boom Town and very likely The Monsters Inside.

Pg 54 "'Yeah,' said the Doctor, 'but I've got this thing with cats. Didn't to begin with, but we're on a wavelength now.'" New Earth, Fear Her.

Pg 58 The sonic screwdriver makes an appearance.

Pg 82 "But the boat is deadlock sealed." It's been restablished in the New Series that a deadlock seal is the only thing that foils the sonic screwdriver. Well, that and wood, so it's a bit of a mystery why the Doctor doesn't claim the latter as the problem, given they're on a wooden boat.

Pg 90 "It's the Cutty Sark!" Which appeared in Dimensions in Time.

Pg 104 "The Osirans made quite an impact on the continent just south of here." Pyramids of Mars.

Pg 124 Further reference to Osirans (Pyramids of Mars).

Pg 131 "A Navarino time-jump" Delta and the Bannermen.

Pg 133 Further reference to the Navarinos (Delta and the Bannermen).

Pgs 143-144 "But he didn't exactly want to let the Slitheen inside his own ship. He'd had problems with that sort of thing before." Boom Town.

Pgs 158-159 "'I'm not really supposed to tell you,' he said. 'Spoilers. You know how it is.'" River Song's catchphrase, although at the time this book was published she'd only appeared once, so this is a direct reference to Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
None.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Leeb, Cosmo, Mamps, Cecrops, Deukalion, Aglauros, Pondrosos, Herse, Polos.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS
None.

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

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pg 13 Blooby grey aliens a metre and a half tall, with oily rainbow skin.

Pg 92 Aliens with long scarlet tentacles; others glistening with dark spikes; still more belching clouds of dark blue gas.

Pg 94 The Slitheen.

Pg 98 One-eyed aliens; horse-like aliens; aliens with faces like lions and sprouting wings.

Pgs 102/124 Cecrops, from the Collective of Mulch, is a merman, with long grey slashes of skin on his neck and a big fishy tail instead of legs.

Pg 124 The Aru, creatures with multiple chins and mandibles.

Pg 125 A tall, lithe creature with dreadlocks.

Pg 177 Nalumin, pale blue creatures with long tentacles painted in lurid tattoos.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pgs 7/19 Athens, present day.

Pgs 25/28 Athens, 1500 BC.

Pg 129 Seventy miles north of Athens.

Pg 199 Aboard the Cutty Sark.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
Why is the ship disguised as the Cutty Sark? Why are none of the alien tourists given any identities or more than a cursory description, except for Cecrops? Especially when they play such a crucial role. Why does the Doctor get possessed when the TARDIS passes through a time storm? Why can he only say the word "Out" for the next half hour? You spend most of the novel wanting the answer to this, only for it never to be even addressed. Why is the year not specified when the TARDIS lands in Athens at the height of its powers? Why introduce a new companion? Why not tell us her surname or give us any description of her? There's so much here that's just sloppy. It's as though the author was only interested in the things he was directly interested in and the rest is irrelevant. Which rips you right out of the story and for no good reason. The ending is also a giant mess. It's a shame, because there's a lot here to like, but it just doesn't gel.