Reviewed: Sands of Time (WHO)...

It's Victorian London and the Tardis has arrived in the wrong place again, signalling the start of another adventure for the Fifth Doctor and his companions; the impulsive Australian, Tegan Jovanka and the more serene Nyssa, who hails from the more distant planet of Traken.

What follows is a complex plot (in both senses of the word) that covers thousands of years and millions of light years with the fate of the universe at stake. The dead will walk, pyramids will be raided and the Doctor will drink tea. More than once.

There's a lot to enjoy here, if you have at least a passing interest in Egyptian history (or at least, Egyptian mythology, as seen in popular culture like the Hammer or Universal films) and the author includes a scattering of appropriate references to other Doctor Who stories.

Where it falls down a bit is in favouring complexity over pace. The plot uses time travel liberally, mixing flashbacks and flash-forwards with actual journeys taken by the Doctor and company to various points in the unfolding scheme. However, the vast majority of the novel is setup, introducing people, places, props and ideas that don't really pay off until much, much later in the book. It's all quite interesting, but the author doesn't pick up the pace until three quarters of the way through.

The drawing together of all of these threads works fine - and our emotional attachment to the familiar characters is never in doubt - but others make less impact than they might've done. Perhaps a little more time with some of minor characters would have paid off equally well when they take their moments in the limelight.

Central to the story and the characters is the question of how far people will go for the things they really want and care about. This is an enormous and powerful question and I wish that the book had felt the emotion of it more, rather than simply using it as another strand in the Web of Time.

So what we have is a good book, but not a great one.

Epic in scope but limited in emotion. Clever yes, but lacking a little soul.

Published by BBC Books. Available Now. Price £7.99