Mother Russia, the first of the new set of Companion Chronicles takes us to almost the same time as the first of the previous set - 1812 rather than 1814, Russia rather than London, and Dodo rather than Vicki as the companion accompanying Steven and the Doctor. Again, it is by Marc Platt, and again it is the best of the four. The comparison in my mind, however, is not with Frostfire but with Martin Day's novel Bunker Soldiers, which also features One, Steven and Dodo (though in Ukraine rather than Russia and a few centuries earlier) and indeed is also largely told from Steven's point of view in the first person. Mother Russia is certainly better. Partly it's that Platt has yet again gone for a fascinating plot of identity-switching complexity, partly also that Peter Purves is very good - he does a fantastic Hartnell, but also seems generally well engaged in the story. ( )