The EDAs-All out or let slide?

Having only now just seen this, I can safely say that it's probably better to cherry pick whichever stories you'd prefer rather than take them in one enormous job lot. There's a lot of varying quality throughout the EDAs and given that it's built in such a way that you can start at the midway point with no ramifications whatsoever, I think you'll be better off for it. The individual stories prior to The Ancestor Cell tend to be rather pulpy and a lot of what is built up in Alien Bodies won't pay off unless you transfer over into the Faction Paradox range, whereas the Stranded on Earth arc offers a great deal to get excited about and a real sense of revivification for the Eighth Doctor who finally steps out of his ineffectual TVM "hyperactive squirrel" persona into something closer to his audio and comic appearances. Unless you're really, really curious about the War and the Faction, I think you'd actually benefit from starting with The Burning and working forwards from there.

If you're not too squeamish about spoilers or jumping straight into the middle of timelines then I'd recommend Father Time and The Year of Intelligent Tigers as two very strong entries into this period of the Doctor's life.

Hmm... That's a good point. Starting out, I made choices based upon previous works I'd heard under their names through either Big Finish or library copies of the novels. Reviews on places like The Cloister Library and The Discontinuity Guide also helped out for the most part. Something also to remember is that the EDAs are nothing like the NAs in terms of style or tone, they're often closer to fantasy than they are science fiction (with a few exceptions), which is something to remember. Otherwise, I'd do a query on the forums here and see if people remember it and whether or not it was a good story for them.

@toaau means the BBC novels, not the audios. Although yes, the audios are a must, especially the first and fourth seasons.

I'm kinda with you. I don't think they're all good at all but there are relatively few clunkers compared to other ranges. The end is....well..very wilderness years. Relentlessly grim for the sake of it. Felt more like a VNA to me than anything else. 

Are we talking about The Gallifrey Chronicles? Huh. I came away thinking it was a neat little celebration of all they'd made up until that point. Everything was tied up in a bow and the stories stepped out of the Eighth Doctor's life into his immediate successor's through NuWho. It was a grim and dramatic post-9/11 "Who the hell wants a traditional hero?" story sure, but that's forgetting things like the evil monocrat Mondova who is toppled in the first couple pages who feels like he's been taken right out from TV Comics and Ulysses being exiled to his mother-in-law's. It's not a book wholly without humour or a sense of self-awareness (after all, this is the Eighth Doctor we're talking about), but considering it dealt with [Redacted for the viewing pleasure of newcomers], and [Well, that's not important right now], it had to be handled with a sense of gravitas and self-reflection.

Although I've enjoyed almost every one I've come across so far, I have to admit that unlike some NAs the forbidding atmosphere in this story has a very valid purpose. People can, have and inevitably will die and there's nothing that can be done to bring them back. The Doctor's heading into some pretty dark places at this point in his life with what's quietly looming on the horizon. One day he will fall, but today is not that day.

I don't think we're helping toaau with resisting the buyer's urge one bit...