With Doctor Who currently away from our screens, it’s great to have new adventures with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby to enjoy while we eagerly await this year’s Christmas Special. Eden Rebellion is the third novel in the current series, following on from Ruby Red and Caged (although it’s worth noting that each story is a standalone piece).

Written by Abi Falase, Eden Rebellion is set between the on-screen events of Rogue and The Legend of Ruby Sunday, and sees the Doctor and Ruby travel to the crystalline planet of Yewa for a much-needed holiday. Unsurprisingly, despite being the most peaceful destination in the universe, the time travellers are quickly caught up in an ancient rivalry between Yewa and its sister world Bia. As tensions rise, the Doctor and Ruby must save the planet from total destruction…

There is a lot of interesting world-building baked into the story of Eden Rebellion, with various factions of Yewa and Bia, not to mention the shared history between the two worlds and the conflicting cultures. Free from the confines of a TV budget, Yewa is allowed to be truly alien in readers’ imaginations. It’s disappointing then that the novel struggles to fully develop the characters and world-building that have clearly been devised in great detail. With only 188 pages, it often feels like the story is too big for a book this short. It doesn’t help that the plot can feel a bit convoluted at times.

Eden Rebellion‘s mystery box plotting makes for an engaging initial hook, but there’s little development until everything is explained at the very end of the story. There are so many different factions in the narrative — the Doctor and Ruby; the Bia High Court; Fala and the Firebrand; the Bia Vigilantes; Mya and Nazari; and the Wraiths — that it can be difficult to keep track of who’s who and who wants what. When the resolution arrives, it does bring all of these different plot strands together, although it can’t help but feel like a simplification of what starts off as a very complex narrative. Even the Doctor and Ruby are confused by what’s going on for most of the novel, suggesting that Falase is aware of how complicated the plot is.

That being said, Eden Rebellion tackles some very human themes: the importance of different cultures, the risks that tourism brings, and the dangers of civil war. It’s a novel with a lot on its mind, which suggests perhaps that a longer page-count could have expanded on these ideas to develop them further. There’s a lot to love here though, and if you’re looking for a standalone Doctor Who adventure to dive into, it’s well worth checking out.

Eden Rebellion is available to order here!