The fifth Doctor strand of Doctor Who: The Lost Stories comes to a close with The Children of Seth, written by Marc Platt from a story by Christopher Bailey. Bailey of course wrote Kinda and Snakedance, the former of which is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories. So the promise of a Bailey Lost Story, written by one of Big Finish's best writers, was one I couldn't resist.

The Children of Seth delivers. While this isn't as good as Kinda, it's better than Snakedance. More importantly, it has the same kind of feel as both-- that the Doctor and company have stepped into a large and complex adventure close to the end. There's a whole world in place here already, built up through tiny mentions and a series of excellent performances, not to mention some brilliantly atmospheric sound design/music by the always-reliable Richard Fox and Lauren Yason. (Once again I'm bummed that The Lost Stories use interviews as extras on both CDs, and no music.) I loved almost every guest character. David Warner puts in an unusually subdued performance as Siris, Autarch of the Sirius Archipelago. Honor Blackman is brilliant as Anahita, his wily wife. My favorite of all, however, was Vernon Dobtcheff's Shamur, an old soldier forgotten by the empire who goes back into battle to save it despite itself.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.