markk

Even though I finished Topping's novel, I'm still wrestling with some conflicting feelings about it. In the end it proved to be an exciting adventure set in a Byzantium wracked with religious and ethnic tensions. Separated by a riot, the Doctor and his companions each find themselves with a different group, thinking that the others are dead. From there, the adventure unfolds to a satisfying conclusion.

Yet the continuity issue persists. The novel ends with the Doctor and his companions traveling to Rome, where presumably the actions from the serial will continue. Topping might have gotten away with this had he paid just a little more attention to the chronology. Because unless the cart they're riding in can also travel in time they're a year late from the events in the episodes. It's just too glaring an issue for me to overlook, and it's left me with a more jaundiced opinion of the book than it would otherwise deserve.