Completionists Unite! 
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I finished Alien Bodies last week, and personally really enjoyed it, but I can absolutely see why someone might have the opposite reaction and dislike it. It’s a story which I think lives and dies on the strength of the sci-fi concepts it presents, and the moment to moment plot is quite up and down. I really enjoyed the setting, found the side characters to be sufficiently engaging, and was fascinated by some of the lore additions (Mr Shift/the Celestis were very cool, and everything related to Future Gallifrey/the War in Heaven was suitably ominous). I also enjoyed the callbacks to Classic Who - I wasn’t expecting the Krotons to show up, let alone actually be somewhat threatening. It was similarly cool to discover when checking TARDIS wiki afterwards that Trask was a character who appeared on screen in The Smugglers. I enjoyed the setpieces, such as the vault security measures, the Kroton fleet attack and the visits to the Celestis city, too.
Having said all that, I was rather sick of seeing the word “biodata” by the end of the whole thing - the story is definitely a bit too in love with some of its own ideas. And, Sam doesn’t really do anything (which is pretty par for the course for Sam novels I’ve read, but still).
One thing I will say is that I found it to be pretty similar tone- and plot-wise to most of the other EDAs I have read. I’m not even close to having read all of them, but if you’re finding it difficult now, I’m not sure if things will get that much better for you (more knowledgeable EDA-enjoyers, please feel free to tell me how wrong I am at this point, I’m no expert )
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It’s The Highlanders not The Smugglers that Trask is in but, you know, I completely forgot/missed that he was the same guy!
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Plus Alien Bodies is a drama, so while I can see why “all the characters do is argue” can be seen as a downside, it’s one of its strenghts for me. I’m invested in those characters, them fighting for two hundred pages is more than enough.
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Thanks for the correction - I’ve never experienced either story, so I’m not sure how I managed to mix up one for the other 
To be fair, they are both set in similar places with similar characters.
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I’d be interested to hear whether other people had the same thought here - is Mr Qixotl supposed to be Drax from The Armageddon Factor? I don’t think the novel confirmed his identity, but given what we know about him and his relationship to the Doctor, he’s the only character I can think of from Classic that would fit. I’ve not seen The Armageddon Factor, but I am aware of Drax - I might be completely barking up the wrong tree here!
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Yes, he was definitely suggested as being Drax at the time of the book’s release.
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Eventually I’ll get around to reading all these, will be some time in the far future
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I DID! The wiki says he is not Drax, but he sure feels like Drax
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Yeah, as I finished it I was wondering if I’d missed a confirmation somewhere - the fact he knows the Doctor strongly suggests to me that he is Drax, but he doesn’t seem to be a Time Lord, so my read was that you could take it either way in the end 
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I prefer to treat him as a new character, but that’s just because I generally prefer introducing new characters over bringing back old ones
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Just finished reading ‘Beltempest’ and ehh, I am very confused how I feel about it. It did inspire me to write another EDA Review again where I tried to articulate some of my Thoughts:
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Finished Seeing I, another really strong Orman and Blum book. While I’ve found her characterization inconsistent Sam was really great in this book, basically grows up in this book and I also love how she finally confronts and resolves her feelings about the doctor
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Finished Scarlet Empress, really enjoyed but it does lose a few points for not really feeling like theres a plot and more events just happening. Really fun events tho and I love Iris and her interactions with 8 and Sam so still like a 8
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Finished “Option Lock” today!
I liked it, very fun, spooky to some extent and interesting.
Onward to “Longest Day” !
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Finished reading ‘Unnatural History’, while not as good as the previous two Blum/Orman Outings, it’s still an excellent Read and I especially enjoyed the great Beginning. What a Book and what a ride, since I am pretty sure outside a Telos Novellas this Duo hasn’t written another Eighth Doctor Book again (Orman at least did a few more, I am pretty sure!)
Anyhow, going to jump back soon with “The Bodysnatchers” to finish the first 6 Books of this Range and will probably also pick up “Option Lock” soon!
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Finished Demontage last night and realise I never commented on The Taint either!
The Taint: well… it’s a book. The plot isn’t really good. The characters left something to be desire. Poor Sam gets the short end of the stick. Again. It started okay but really, all I can say about this is it introduces Fitz and I get why everyone loves him now. Somehow in one book he has more personality than Sam had in what, 14? If only she could be a good character too 
Demontage: will someone PLEASE get Fitz a cig… but for real, this one was so much fun!! I enjoyed it a great deal, especially the second half. Fitz is ridiculous, the Doctor is ridiculous, this whole casino complex is fun. And again poor Sam is just kind of there I guess. I want to love her but by god do these books make it hard when she has the personality of a cardboard tube
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So far my thoughts on her are she’s great whenever Orman and Blum or Leonard write her but written by anyone else she becomes really basic
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Agreed, the Blorman take on Sam is, of course, brilliant. I wish she was always like that, though. I am trying to love her, and I would definitely defend her against haters, but something makes me so sad that she’s got so little and yet we have this male companion for two seconds and already he’s miles better.
I doubt it’s intentional in majority of cases, but literally why are so many DW writers afraid of writing women well
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