Meh, this is a serviceable adaptation I suppose. I find the cover art super creepy and don’t like that the Doctor Who logo is absent. It makes the story look pulpy (which it is, but shhh). This is one of those Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane ones where they get captured about four times and Sarah Jane nearly gets killed twice (not through anything she did, just the fact that she’s travelling with the Doctor). It’s a quick read and probably better if you’ve watched and enjoyed the TV version. ( )

Another entertaining Doctor Who story, this time in the Italian renaissance, but unfortunately not the best one. After a while I`ve lost count how many times the Doctor was hit on his head or how many times Sarah was kidnapped to be sacrificed. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1046178.html#cutid7

As with Hinchcliffe's treatment of The Seeds of Doom, we have a much less clownish, dark Doctor, and much more horrific elements in the story - horrible frazzling of the Helix's victims, also the Doctor casually slaying Count Federico's guards. But the other thing that struck me was Sarah's relationship with the Prince - much more romantically presented here than it was on screen, and basically her closest approach to romance in the entire canon, I think. Not an outstanding novelisation but not bad either. ( )

Doctor Who and the Italian Renaissance! ( )