BASIC PLOT

DOCTOR
Eighth.

COMPANIONS
None.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 36 In or near Andhra Pradesh, India, c 1925 (although we don't witness it).

Pg 28 In space, near a black hole, a million and a half years in the future and two thousand light years from Earth.

Pg 36 On an island inside a terraformed spinning asteroid travelling at near-light speed around the black hole.

PREPARATORY READING
None.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 22 "Do you know Blake, William Blake? A countryman of yours. I met him once. [...] He saw angels and devils - that's what he called them. Although as it turned out they weren't really angels and devils at all, but creatures like your Tyger -" The Pit.

Pg 24 "...as time goes by, the singer sang with soft regret, and there was a crackling as the needle slipped into the playout groove." It's not really a continuity reference as such, but the TARDIS interior is gloriously recreated from the Telemovie, complete with record playing.

Pg 39 "I found a pair of twill trousers that, held up by red braces, didn't fit too badly, and a russet jacket with wide lapels and leather patches on the elbows." The former might be the seventh Doctor's trousers. The latter is the fourth Doctor's coat, complete with jelly babies.

Pg 47 "Humans built a space-ark to save their science and art, and as many plant and animal species as possible, and the best of their race were chosen to go into hibernation until it was safe to return to Earth. They slept far too long, as it turned out, but that's another story." The Ark in Space.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
None.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Edward Fyne, Casimir, Tx, Captain Sha.

The avatars.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS
None.

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

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pg 14 A bright red lizard that lives inside the TARDIS (though it may not be an alien).

Pgs 15-16 A Tyger, half man, half tiger, walking upright with the head of a tiger. In reality an avatar, a chameleon alien assuming the form (pg 20), with an inertial shield (pg 22). When they bite humans, they transform them into tygers. We see an avatar's true form on page 81. They look like people made of molten glass. They are servants of the Conservers, who we never meet, but who are descendents of humans living inside black holes in the distant future (pg 27).

Pg 46 A half lion, with a broad black face, a wide mouth, flat nose, close-set golden eyes with cross-shaped pupils and an abundance of untamed white-blonde hair.

Pg 51 A deer the size of a rabbit.

Pg 57 Rats who wear leather harnesses, carry leaf-wrapped packages on their backs and pull tiny carts.

Pg 59 A robot recycler. It resembles a streamlined suit of armour.

Pg 60 A monstrous tunnel-dwelling squid.

Pg 69 A dwarf kangaroo.

Dogs (though they may not be alien).

Pg 80 A rockhopper.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 14 Gloucestershire, England, 1914 (in flashback).

Pg 16 Andhra Pradesh, India, c 1925.

Pg 37 Inside a terraformed spinning asteroid travelling at near-light speed around a black hole, a million and a half years in the future and two thousand light years from Earth (pg 28).

Pg 83 A jungle world inside the black hole.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
One of the shortest Telos novellas, but by no means poor. Neil Gaiman's introduction is the best thing about it and probably worth the cover price alone, but the story within is still very snappy and readable. The sections set in India are very nicely written and there's a pleasant plot that unfolds once the action relocates in the colony ship. It's deceptively clever, as everything turns out to be a lot less arbitrary than it seemed and Fyne is a great viewpoint character, especially as his actions aren't always on the Doctor's side. All in all, a nice little novella.