Doctor Who: Empire of Death

When a young man, claiming to be a medium to the spirits, steps up to the Queen's throne and gives her a message from her husband, all of England's nobility is thrown into a race to find an ancient entrance into the afterlife itself.Meanwhile, the recently deceased Adric appears in the TARDIS as a ghost. When the Doctor and Nyssa follow the ghost's trail, they are led into the race. As the Doctor finally understands what's really going on, it's a race of time to save the future. Or is it the past? That's the problem with time travel, I never can remember... :-)This is one of the finest 5th Doctor adventures I have read, only being beaten by "Divided Loyalties". It features a great characterization of the Doctor and Nyssa both, and remains accurate to the show's history and feeling. All characters are well written, keeping the pages flowing with emotion and fear.The only reason that this book gets 4 stars and not 5, is because it has a thundering cliche that I couldn't get past. One of the Queen's Generals goes mad, and uses his power to force all underneath him to help him find the entrance to the afterlife. The Ma Military-Man/Mad Scientist or what-have-you, is simply used far too often in Science Fiction in general, but even in the recent Doctor Who books (That half-human and half-cyborg dude from "Hope" and the crazed Russian General from "Emotional Chemistry" come to mind).If this cliche doesn't bother you, perhaps your review will give this book the extra star. Even if you don't like the cliche, I still recommend this book.