NA1 Love and War (Spoilers)

Great introduction to the character.I really enjoyed the NA series.

Brilliant story and an equally brilliant adaptation that captures the original almost twenty years(!) on. Much like Remembrance of the Daleks, there's so much here that just sets the stage for future stories to come. The increased focus on the 26th century Earth Empire from Frontier in Space is mixed together with whole cloth of anarchists who use VR instead of narcotics to get high, the Doctor's dance with Death (figurative, this time), Heaven's place as a mausoleum for all dead, the genuinely unpleasant nihilism of the Church of the Vacuum (coming from a frighteningly real place) and the Summerfield archaeological expedition. The amount of worldbuilding Cornell is able to do with just a throwaway line from The Brain of Morbius -- their "gas dirigibles" -- in regards to the Hoothi is equally just as marvellous.

It's so tightly packed with preexisting lore, and yet none of the continuity feels like a cheat. It's a springboard that says "Yes, and," to all that's come before, using it to bolster rather than replace its original content. Speaking of original content... This is the moment where the New Adventures cut the moorings with a hatchet and kicked off its boat to other shores. Nightshade put everything back in the box (gently and quietly with delicate care), Love and War set it back on the shelf (a bit of rough handling because the space is a little smaller now) and Transit will set fire to the cupboard for good measure (so swiftly and artfully you don't even see the firelighter).

It's a tragedy tale that does as tragedies do and doesn't pull its punches. The Doctor's seemingly callous manipulations are uncomfortably sympathetic (choose: your friend or a stranger), Ace's romance and subsequent alienation is believable even without the buildup, Benny is fully formed from her first scene and the tone -- almost a blend of the Cartmel and Holmes eras that manages to be both and neither at the same time -- will carry on in various forms throughout later stories. Big Finish could not have picked better for their first foray (since the Benny series) into Novel Adaptations.

This was one for which I listened to the audio story first and only read the book later. It's an interesting story in the way it details how Ace moved away from the Doctor and how Benny came into the story and got to know everyone.