I'm still wondering about the whole Iris-is-stealing-the-Doctor's-adventures concept. Has she retraced his steps, and relived his experiences, or has she just written down what he did, and is pretending it happened to her?
I have a problem with the Doctor forgetting large chunks of his previous lives, even if he is over 1000 years old, since so much has happened to him in what could be termed his 'recent past', i.e., his time from 'An Unearthly Child' onwards. The authors seem to be implying that he could visit anyone from his past, and not recall them, which I find hard to believe, considering the guy's a genius.

I always assumed that Iris was just making it up
to drive the Doctor insane, but actually in Blue
Angel it seems that she has real memories of
taking part in the
meet-her-other-selves-in-the-Death-Zone adventure,
at least.

I don't remember anything in Scarlet Empress about
the Doctor forgetting chunks of previous lives,
but in Timewyrm: Genesys, it does mention him
wiping his mind of loads of memories and storing
them in the TARDIS data banks.

Somewhere around the two-thirds area of the book, Iris prods the Doctor's memory by saying he met this person and that person, he thinks and then eventually recalls meeting them. A paragraph, somewhere around there, mentioned he has difficulty remembering everything that happens to him. Sorry, don't know what page it is.

Great book! I couldn't put it down.

Yep, the Doctor does admit that he doesn't remember a lot of his past. If Iris has been co-opting parts of it, it's no wonder. Or do I sense the hand of Faction Paradox at work again?

So many Who in-jokes, it's hard to know where to start. I love Iris' comment that her TARDIS is actually smaller on the inside, not larger.

If you love the in-jokes, you've got to read Verdigris - it's got even more, if possible. Actually I found the poking-fun-at-Who stuff a bit close to the bone - I can't remember exactly what the Doctor said to the birds about mixing and matching plots, but I do remember being a bit hurt.

Near the start Sam is mentioned as being from South London. Perhaps Shoreditch is in a different location with regards to the river in the Doctor Who world.

Why didn't _I_ notice that! You are obviously a true Londoner and should return here immediately.

Then you'd have even less reason for responding to emails. *HINT*

Apart from a small piece in 'The Room With No Doors' this is the only book I can recall which has parts narrated from the Doctor's point of view.

Magrs is excellent in the use of verbs and adjectives which allows the language to flow and enhance the story. It's one of the things noticeable when experienced non-genre authors write for the series.

You forgot "Eye of Heaven", Graham. The 4th Doctor narrates part of that.

I try to forget as many Jim Mortimore books as I can

Ah. On the vanishingly rare occasions one actually ENJOYS a Doctor Who novel, it's probably not a good idea to reread it. Ever. (Unless it's by Lawrence Miles, obviously.) Cos this magical book turned out to be completely hollow and slightly dull, second time round.

I mean, there isn't any plot and, worse, there isn't even any internal logic for spending 300 pages rushing round this weird world. So the Empress wants granny-in-a-jar back! And she knows where it is, so send the Scarlet Guard after Major Angela and her bald bears already! Don't blackmail a Time Lady into re-establishing an Angela-included vigilante group for no reason whatsoever (other than to result in her own overthrow, obviously).

There are Spiridons in purple furs on Hyspero? Why? I had the impression that they prefer to wander around invisibly unless the Daleks force them to do otherwise...(quite where I got this impression I'm not sure, would make it difficult for them to socialise) and anyway, if they were politely wearing clothes, why choose those godawful purple furs voluntarily?

'In a sense, [the Doctor] had nothing. No real home, no proper role. Nothing to anchor him to life.' Have you ever heard such rubbish in your LIFE? In what way is 'saving planets, mostly' not a proper role????

The Doctor chides Sam for swearing after HE knocks her over? He might at least have apologised first.

If the Doctor's a frequent visitor to Hyspero and the Empress's tyranny is so blatant, why doesn't he do something about it a lot earlier?

'We roasted rabbits' - an unusual activity for a vegetarian.

The excuses for the bus driving all over the planet instead of materialising are somewhat thin. Sure, it's not 100% reliable but the Doc's TARDIS is way worse and that's never stopped him materialising. And while of course Iris wants to spend more time with the Doctor (despite the fact that every wasted day brings her closer to DEATH), he, Gila, and Sam are hardly the sort of people to humour her unrequited love. But it only gets totally ridiculous when they waste four hours almost crippling themselves trying and utterly failing to push the bus up a hill. And even THEN do they think about dematerialising? Of course not. They do a deal with an insect Djinn instead.

The DOCTOR carries a DALEK GUN-STICK around with him?! No self-respecting Doctor would do anything of the sort! (A sink plunger (Alien Bodies) is an entirely different matter, of course...)

Why does Sam shut Gila up ('Don't bother telling us. We'll find out for ourselves') when he tries to tell 'em about the inhabitants of the village they're about to visit? And - given that said villagers have a tradition of KILLING ALL STRANGERS - why does Gila LET himself be shut up?

'Her current incarnation had outlasted and seen out five of the Doctors. Or should that be "five of the Doctor's" with an apostrophe? What a difference a single apostrophe could make, she thought. That tiny fleck of punctuation denoted the exact difference between regarding the Doctor as separate, though mysteriously interconnected, beings, and seeing them as manifestations of one core, essentially unchanging being. That apostrophe expressed the precise ontological quandary of these lives that she and the Doctor endured' - VERY interesting stuff, and sadly I'm in the 'Doctors' camp. I just CAN'T think of 'em all as one being (and it's not entirely Colin Baker's fault) even though it would certainly make me feel like less of a slut for being in love with THREE of 'em.

Sure, Iris is understandably obsessed by her forthcoming demise. (Not enough to prevent her wasting the aforementioned days driving, however.) But that's hardly a sufficient excuse for ABANDONING Sam and Gila in that killer-village - especially with him being vital to the success of the mission that'll save her life. AND we've just been told how she and her Companions looked after each other, too.

Still, Iris's behaviour is almost forgivable compared to the Doctor's. I wasn't expecting HIM to betray n'abandon his Companion (despite spending the last three years watching Eccy and Tennant do little else...but McGann's the NICE one). He needn't think that having a blazing row with Iris over it and then sulking for a week in any way cancels out the fact that they spent said week driving as fast as possible in the opposite direction to their friends.

'If this disease continued at its present rate and ended up annihilating every cell of Iris's current body, then there wouldn't be anything left of her to regenerate' - so why the hell does she do dodgy deals with genocidal maniacs instead of just banging her head on the TARDIS console or something to hasten the regeneration into a gorgeous blonde before it's too late?

Iris is DISAPPOINTED that no-one is locked up with her? Surely her friends'll be in a better position to rescue her if they're free?

'"You know," I said, "I'm probably one of the few people who knew you when you were in that very first incarnation of yours. [Sadly not the case, as Divided Loyalties proves.] Newly on the run from Gallifrey. So young. So impetuous. Your hair not even white yet"' - how long WAS Hartnell running round the universe before the BBC finally caught up with him? Was Susan with him all that time, and if so, what does that say about her ageing process?

When floating down an unknown and undoubtedly dangerous alien river on a flimsy homemade raft...is it really sensible of Sam AND Gila to go to sleep?

'Not every new experience was painful and not every novelty deadly' - er, except that this particular one IS. How has Sam actually managed to FORGET that she's DROWNING at the time?

'"He was woven from genetic broth, a Loom, on a Patriarchal world without mothers - though sometimes he believes he was birthed of a more Earthly mother. He doesn't know"' - I thought the EDAs were steering strictly clear of any mention of that half-human nonsense!

Though not that even THAT is as much of a crime as...canonising Kroton the Happy Cyberman!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why can't Iris believe that the Doctor is cold - when we've just been told how cold SHE is despite being Gallifreyan to the core?

'On the Kristeva' - Some idiot has underlined the ship's name in the chapter heading, despite it being italicised everywhere else.

Not much point in NODDING to a blind woman, Sam!

How come the Doctor's (infinitely superior) TARDIS never crosses planets to find and save HIM, all on its own?

What happens to the noble blown-to-pieces-in-their-defence Spider Duchess, who the Doctor and co promised to come back for? Nothing. They just forgot all about her, for all we know.

What's with that pointless Doctor-disappears-for-a-month-collecting-magic-honey-before-inexplicably-reappearing ending? Why didn't Iris ask him (rather than the untrustworthy Empress) to get the honey as soon as they met? Or just fetch it herself in the first place?

And what's with time rewinding, for heaven's sake? What is this, that stupid Divergent Universe?

'Sam has a dream which might have been a telepathic link to herself at the end of The Bodysnatchers' - DWM's 'Everything you ever needed to know about Scarlet Empress'. Sorry, WHAT? And, more to the point, WHY?

Newly on the run from Gallifrey. So young. So impetuous. Your hair not even white yet

Excuse me! NAME OF THE DOCTOR! YES IT WAS!

Iris' compulsive videotaping of her life

I don't remember a compulsion to videotape herself in any of Iris's other (tragically numerous) novel and audio adventures. Though she did keep a handwritten diary...

I have a problem with the Doctor forgetting large chunks of his previous lives

Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet..

'In a sense, [the Doctor] had nothing. No real home, no proper role. Nothing to anchor him to life.' Have you ever heard such rubbish in your LIFE? In what way is 'saving planets, mostly' not a proper role????

Though to be fair, it's a pile of rubbish canonised by the New Series Itself: Martha in Doctor's Daughter: 'All those things you've been ready to die for. I thought for a moment there you'd finally found something worth living for.'

The DOCTOR carries a DALEK GUN-STICK around with him?! No self-respecting Doctor would do anything of the sort!

Yeah, even when Matt's waving around bits of Daleks as 'proof of courage and comradeship' in Time of the Doctor, it's an EYE-STALK not gun-stick...

'"You know," I said, "I'm probably one of the few people who knew you when you were in that very first incarnation of yours."

Iris of all people should have spotted the whole Timeless Children thing, since has a different relationship with the universe, Gallifrey, canonicity, etc etc to any other Time Lord, and she's as totally obsessed by the Doctor's adventures as, well, ME.