Edit, 2021: Was I in a bad mood when I wrote this review in 2012? I actually had no recollection of reading this book; I read it today thinking I hadn't read it before (and didn't even remember once I'd started reading, which is unusual for me). I really enjoyed it, came on here to log it, and... apparently when I was 17 I didn't think much of it. I've adjusted my rating to reflect my most current reading.

I've given this such a low rating because the writing was surprisingly poor. Although I expect poor writing from books like these, that have been written as spin offs from TV shows, I do expect them to be able to hook me in. In this case, the story, which should have been gripping, was mediocre and not very interesting. However, the doctor was written well, and that made it worth reading. ( )

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 land the TARDIS at two ships at once--two spaceships jumped out of hyperspace at the same point, and are now dangerously tangled together. While they try to solve this problem, another pops up--someone or something viciously attacks crew members. Romana is suspicious of an exploration team that takes extensive samples of the planets they visit.
She has reason to be. As in many other Doctor Who stories, interfering with "primitive" planets has unforseen, violent consequences. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1051656.html#cutid4

This story had some of the least convincing monsters and effects ever, compounded by very few of the actors appearing to take it at all seriously. Rather surprisingly, Dicks has turned into his most memorable novel from this period of the show's history, a fairly impassioned parable of drugs and altered realities which comes over much better on the page than on the screen. The best Dicks novel of the second Romana. ( )