The BBC shows no sign of stopping its relentless saturation of all possible channels for Doctor Who products. They are releasing a trilogy of Twelfth Doctor and Clara books under the banner The Glamour Chronicles, and these are Big Bang Generation (by Gary Russell), Royal Blood (by Una McCormack) and this title, Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale.

The basic plot is mysterious ancient power (the Phaeron), once known to the Time Lords, vanished into history. They left behind a few relics and travelled the stars through hyperspace byways known as Phaeron roads. A spaceship is about to explore the last Phaeron road, and the Doctor and Clara have joined the expedition.

Of course, things take a turn for the worse and would be simple if only they hadn’t all become separated from the TARDIS. The Doctor and Clara also get split up (for a change) and they pursue and ancient mystery on a world full of threats that holds the answer to the disappearance of the Phaeron themselves and also clues as to the nature of the Glamour.

If the plot seems somewhat familiar, Trevor Baxendale shows his experience of writing for Doctor Who with both the science and action. His twelfth Doctor captures Capaldi to a T. The story has a lot of characters and Trevor wisely takes his time to introduce them and flesh out their characters. As is the way of things, many characters take the role normally reserved for Star Trek red shirts and die in a range of unpleasant ways. The main story (without spoilers) is about sacrifice and ends convincingly after giving the reader several memorable moments.

Deep Time and the rest of the Glamour Trilogy are released on 10 September 2015. Are they essential reading? Maybe not, but on the strength of this book you could do worse.

DEEP TIME (DOCTOR WHO) / AUTHOR: TREVOR BAXENDALE / PUBLISHER: BBC BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW