Those on restricted budgets might be permitted a cynical groan. Yet more Doctor Who to keep up with... it's shorter than the other books... and it's much more expensive? One step beyond saturation point, surely?

Apparently not and, it has to be said, Time and Relative seems as likely to revitalise the franchise as anything BBC Books will produce over the next year. It's about the length of a Target novelisation - but, importantly, it's of greater depth, and it's a nice change to read what one might call the literary equivalent of the TV two-part story, especially when it's of the quality of, say, The Awakening rather than The King's Demons.

Bringing writers unfamiliar with Doctor Who into the franchise is not without dangers, though - however accomplished they may be. One can't expect even many of those devoted to the TV show to be familiar with all the novels already produced. This might introduce problems not so much of continuity - effectively dismissable as unimportant, few will care that Time and Relative breaks a tacit taboo about setting stories prior to An Unearthly Child - as of repetition; it becomes more difficult to come up with a truly original idea. The pre-TV series setting allows Kim Newman to, basically, do as he pleases; and what he pleases to do is a neat little tale, told in diary form, of Susan's reactions to alienation - both physically from her own society, and socially within her adopted one. There is a light science fiction story here too, but essentially Time and Relative focuses on the relationships formed in the face of the adversity the SF threat imposes, and it does so very well. It's not the best Doctor Who story ever told but, rather crucially, it is the best launch book for a literary Doctor Who range since ...in an exciting adventure with the Daleks over 30 years ago, and Telos Publishing can be quietly proud of that. I just hope they can maintain this standard with future releases.

Whether it's worth the added expense is a different issue...