Deep Time

"The Glamour feeds off the emotions it provokes. It soaks up desire and revels in jealousy. But it's very hard to find - and that's part of its deadly allure."

Writer: Trevor Baxendale

Format: Novel

Released: 10th September 2015

Series: NSA 

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

"I do hope you're all ready to be terrified!"

The Phaeron travelled among the stars using roads made from time and space, but left only relics behind when they disappeared over a million years ago. But what actually happened to the Phaeron?

In the far future, humans discover the last Phaeron road - and the Doctor and Clara join the mission to see where it leads. Each member of the team knows exactly what they're looking for - but only the Doctor knows exactly what they'll find. 

Because only the Doctor knows the true secret of the Phaeron: a secret so terrible and powerful that it must be buried in the deepest grave imaginable...

Verdict 

Deep Time was a simply tremendous novel adventure and after a forced break from reading a full novel due to a mass of work from university, I have finally completed the Glamour Chronicles trilogy! I must say that all three books have been superb but this one really was the standout of the three and my favourite of the set. I'm not quite sure it eclipses Silhouette as my favourite Twelfth Doctor novel but it certainly was very close! I immediately got a good feel from the novel when I opened and read the first page on a brand new train ride from Bath to mid-Wales as I have come to my second home for the weekend. I thought it was about time I read a novel and with university work on a downhill slide with Christmas looming, and the memory of the two previous Glamour Chronicles fresh in my mind, this novel seemed the obvious choice. I thought it was excellent from start to finish and a great tying up of the Glamour arc over the past three novels, something I am

a big fan of I must say. I do hope the next batch of novels we get, presumably around the time of Series 10, are connected in some way as was the case with these. I was quite surprised by how little the Glamour was actually mentioned in this book but the revelation that went with the plot of this was superb. The arrival of the Doctor to Clara was very good and comedic and I like how this seems to be set some time after Series 8. It had a distinctly different feel which was good but at the same time it had a feel not of Series 9, which I liked with the release date before the broadcast of The Magician's Apprentice. The assembled characters to help tell the story in this novel were magnificent and Trevor Baxendale wasn't shy in killing them off! I really liked Jem as the astrogator, a concept I thought very intriguing. She would help guide the Alexandria into the last Phaeron road wormhole. I loved how the Doctor knew how dangerous the voyage would be yet he was more than eager to help the crew. Raymond Balfour was good and I liked how clueless he was at times when it came to the scientific matters as he was just the funder. He and Tibby ending up together was a really nice moment at the finish of the novel, despite how oblivious the Doctor was to what them holding hands meant. The deaths of Mitch, Tanya and Laker were unexpected when they came I must say, with the first two being very gruesome! I loved the concept of a planet that experienced time fluxes as was the case here. At any time, you could be thrown back millennia into the planet's past. It was sublime and worked so well! Bravo to Baxendale for making timey-wimey work so well, as well as tying up two other novels! I really liked the references we got in this book with Royal Blood an expected mention with the return of Clara to the novels after Bernice's unexpected return in Big Bang Generation. I thought the mentions of Time Heist, Kill the Moon and Mummy on the Orient Express were all wonderful and I also liked the name droppings of the Draconians and Ogrons. The slow and subtle reveals of just what was happening on this hidden planet was superb and I loved how the Doctor reacted to those. Mitch was interesting but his whole desire to find his mother still alive on the long lost Carthage didn't help him at all. His death wasn't too dissimilar to Sara's in The Daleks' Master Plan. Jem communicating with the Phaeron was interesting and I loved how they were comprised of dark matter. Their communication was most interesting but then along with them, Jem

made a sacrifice. The Phaeron's disappearance was revealed to be a suicide mission to rid the universe of the Glamour. With it now in the form of Laker, she helped them contain the Glamour. The Phaeron desired it be buried deep in time, and that's what they got. Overall, an outstanding novel! The best characterisation yet of the Twelfth Doctor and Clara together. It's just a long wait until the next new batch now! 

Rating: 10/10