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Doctor Who: Missing Adventures #17
Doctor Who: Lords of the Storm
'They've been fighting this war for longer than man has been walking upright, and they don’t take prisoners.'
The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans has been raging for millennia. Billions have died and whole star systems have been obliterated in the conflict. Now, finally, one side may have victory within its grasp.
The human colony world of Raghi is crucial to that victory. When the Fifth Doctor and Turlough arrive there, they find a seemingly stable society ruled by a strict caste system. But all is not as it seems. Members of the lower caste are being struck down by a mysterious illness. People are vanishing in their hundreds. And strange objects have been observed orbiting the sun.
Why is Raghi so important to the feuding alien empires? And how high a price will the galaxy pay if the conflict comes to an end?
The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans has been raging for millennia. Billions have died and whole star systems have been obliterated in the conflict. Now, finally, one side may have victory within its grasp.
The human colony world of Raghi is crucial to that victory. When the Fifth Doctor and Turlough arrive there, they find a seemingly stable society ruled by a strict caste system. But all is not as it seems. Members of the lower caste are being struck down by a mysterious illness. People are vanishing in their hundreds. And strange objects have been observed orbiting the sun.
Why is Raghi so important to the feuding alien empires? And how high a price will the galaxy pay if the conflict comes to an end?
281 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 1996
2 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
David A. McIntee
77 books30 followersDavid A. McIntee was a British author who specialised in writing spin-offs and nonfiction commentaries for Doctor Who and other British and American science-fiction franchises.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 21, 2025
David McIntee may be my favorite writer of Doctor Who novels, and in this one he doesn’t disappoint. Set in the Alpha Serpentis system in the late 24th century, it finds the Fifth Doctor and Turlough stumbling (as is so often the way of the Doctor and his companions) into a Sontaran plan to use an Earth colony on a terraformed moon and the technology of a dead civilization to gain a decisive advantage over their Rutan nemeses. Encountering an outbreak of a mysterious illness within the colony, the two begin an investigation that soon encounters with the kidnapping of hundreds of scientists and doctors, the quarantining of a vital outpost, and the appearance of a new astronomical object in the system with a trajectory that is far from natural.
These are all parts of the sorts of stories familiar to fans of Classic Who serials, expanded here to the scale of a space opera. And yet the space battle scenes are just one aspect of this book that differentiates it from your traditional franchise fare. Another is the setting of the novel, which McIntee places not amongst a group of transplanted Brits as was so often the case of serials from that time, but within a Hindu colony. While some readers may regard this as cultural expropriation, in addition to providing the basis for a relevant plot point it adds a welcome element of diversity that is usually lacking from that era of the franchise. Even more appreciated is McIntee’s depiction of the endless Sontaran-Rutan War, a conflict that only gets mentioned in passing throughout the series. The inclusion of Rutans into the tale is particularly refreshing given their absence from all but one serial of the classic series, as here we see them employed on a scale that the show’s writers can only dream about. Yet none of this would have worked had not McIntee mastered the most essential element, which is the characterization of the Doctor and Turlough in a way that is true to their portrayals in the original series. Not only does it catalyze the other elements into an entertaining tale, but it does so in a way that makes it a great Doctor Who story.
These are all parts of the sorts of stories familiar to fans of Classic Who serials, expanded here to the scale of a space opera. And yet the space battle scenes are just one aspect of this book that differentiates it from your traditional franchise fare. Another is the setting of the novel, which McIntee places not amongst a group of transplanted Brits as was so often the case of serials from that time, but within a Hindu colony. While some readers may regard this as cultural expropriation, in addition to providing the basis for a relevant plot point it adds a welcome element of diversity that is usually lacking from that era of the franchise. Even more appreciated is McIntee’s depiction of the endless Sontaran-Rutan War, a conflict that only gets mentioned in passing throughout the series. The inclusion of Rutans into the tale is particularly refreshing given their absence from all but one serial of the classic series, as here we see them employed on a scale that the show’s writers can only dream about. Yet none of this would have worked had not McIntee mastered the most essential element, which is the characterization of the Doctor and Turlough in a way that is true to their portrayals in the original series. Not only does it catalyze the other elements into an entertaining tale, but it does so in a way that makes it a great Doctor Who story.
December 3, 2018
In Lords of the Storm, David A. McIntee gave Doctor Who fans a rather interesting story. It’s the unusual pairing of the Fifth Doctor and Turlough (which, like an earlier reviewer, I’ve only ever encountered elsewhere in the Big Finish audios) up against the Sontarans. McIntee has a gift for characterizations as evidenced by Master novels like The Dark Path and Face Of The Enemy and that shines through here as well. How he handles the Sontarans is also quite effective and the novel offers neat insights into the race that has influenced them both on audio and in New Who.
That said, it is a novel with a few issues. One is that it feels stretched out, as if it was some lost six parter from the Davison era. Part of which is down the amount of world building McIntee gets up to though a colony world based on Indian culture feels quite ahead of its time. Doing so throws the pace off which, given how much is going on, does lead to a muddled plot in places.
Lords of the Storm wound make a heck of a Big Finish story or even a New Who two-parter (with changes, of course) but as a novel, it’s too long for its own good.
That said, it is a novel with a few issues. One is that it feels stretched out, as if it was some lost six parter from the Davison era. Part of which is down the amount of world building McIntee gets up to though a colony world based on Indian culture feels quite ahead of its time. Doing so throws the pace off which, given how much is going on, does lead to a muddled plot in places.
Lords of the Storm wound make a heck of a Big Finish story or even a New Who two-parter (with changes, of course) but as a novel, it’s too long for its own good.
March 11, 2020
It's more of a 3.5 stars I want to give it 4 but it's not quite there. Though I loved visiting the Sontarans and Rutan again so soon after The Infinity Doctors and while this comes near the end of the 5th doctors era it is my first 5th doctor story and so my appreciation for this incarnation has grown considerably. I enjoyed the Space Opera/Star Wars aesthetic of this entire story and found it quite fun and a little more gritty than some adventures.
March 15, 2024
The Virgin Missing Adventures is a series of novels I wish had lasted a little longer than they did, but due to the BBC taking back the license so they could produce their own Doctor Who books, it was doomed to a very brief lifespan. Since I'm nearing Shakedown in my Virgin New Adventures marathon I decided to finally pick up its prequel Lords of The Storm to get myself excited and ready for Terrence Dicks' supposed masterpiece when it comes to the Virgin New Adventures.
The war between the Sontarans and the Rutan Host has been raging across the universe for over a millennia. Billions have died, planets have been obliterated and entire galaxies have been obliterated. But now one side might finally have a solution to ending the war. The human colony of Raghi is instrumental in the Sontarans' plan to reach a stalemate in the conflict. The Doctor and Turlough discover that people across the colony are falling to a mysterious illness, brainwashed individuals working for a higher power and a moon infiltrated and taken over by a squadron of Sontarans. But what are The Sontarans up to and with The Rutans on the way can The Doctor prevent a terrible catastrophe that could result in the lives of innocent humans being wiped from this sector of space? Time is running out but a spy in hiding might very well be the answer to The Doctor's problems.
David A. McIntee has written a terrific blockbuster of a novel that makes for a fantastic prequel to Shakedown. It's an epic space opera of a story with plenty of action-packed scenes, a great grasp of characterization, a superb sense of world-building, and a twist that will become very important to its successor. The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are characterized beautifully here, Turlough is a little sidelined through this story but McIntee does show a fine understanding of his character all the same, including his cowardly nature.
I love how McIntee took this human colony in an interesting direction focusing on it being a descending colony from India, implementing cultural beliefs and terminology into establishing its world-building. I think it's great seeing writers doing something different when it comes to human colonies throughout the expanded media because in the show they very easily blend in with one another as being very similar and playing it safe, so seeing a more fascinating and cultural difference in such a setting makes for such a nice sense of pace.
Stories on the Sontaran and Rutan conflict is such an obvious idea and setting to write for a Doctor Who story. So to see only Big Finish and the novels using it to its full advantage and not the show is depressing, to say the least. I hope we get to see a story in the future of the Sontarans and Rutans fully at one another's throats, but I honestly don't see this happening anytime soon.
Overall: A terrific novel that made for a very fast-paced and exciting read. 9/10
The war between the Sontarans and the Rutan Host has been raging across the universe for over a millennia. Billions have died, planets have been obliterated and entire galaxies have been obliterated. But now one side might finally have a solution to ending the war. The human colony of Raghi is instrumental in the Sontarans' plan to reach a stalemate in the conflict. The Doctor and Turlough discover that people across the colony are falling to a mysterious illness, brainwashed individuals working for a higher power and a moon infiltrated and taken over by a squadron of Sontarans. But what are The Sontarans up to and with The Rutans on the way can The Doctor prevent a terrible catastrophe that could result in the lives of innocent humans being wiped from this sector of space? Time is running out but a spy in hiding might very well be the answer to The Doctor's problems.
David A. McIntee has written a terrific blockbuster of a novel that makes for a fantastic prequel to Shakedown. It's an epic space opera of a story with plenty of action-packed scenes, a great grasp of characterization, a superb sense of world-building, and a twist that will become very important to its successor. The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are characterized beautifully here, Turlough is a little sidelined through this story but McIntee does show a fine understanding of his character all the same, including his cowardly nature.
I love how McIntee took this human colony in an interesting direction focusing on it being a descending colony from India, implementing cultural beliefs and terminology into establishing its world-building. I think it's great seeing writers doing something different when it comes to human colonies throughout the expanded media because in the show they very easily blend in with one another as being very similar and playing it safe, so seeing a more fascinating and cultural difference in such a setting makes for such a nice sense of pace.
Stories on the Sontaran and Rutan conflict is such an obvious idea and setting to write for a Doctor Who story. So to see only Big Finish and the novels using it to its full advantage and not the show is depressing, to say the least. I hope we get to see a story in the future of the Sontarans and Rutans fully at one another's throats, but I honestly don't see this happening anytime soon.
Overall: A terrific novel that made for a very fast-paced and exciting read. 9/10
December 3, 2019
This book isn't badly written, but the story is told in a such a meticulous manner that the result is actually soporific. I honestly slept 4 times while reading this book, only waking up when it hit my head. Yet, it's not a bad story. The science and the action are well executed, the setting is very interesting, the solution is marvelously non-violent for something so steeped in war, there is a nice thematic correspondence between the Sontarans and the hindi-like human colony and the Doctor feels like the 5th Doctor.
But I still don't really like it.
So, nope, sorry, no coherent review for this one. This author made the a 5th Doctor adventure boring, and that is a crime in my book.
Also, you could possibly switch Turlough with a fancy lamp and it would have the same impact on the plot.
But I still don't really like it.
So, nope, sorry, no coherent review for this one. This author made the a 5th Doctor adventure boring, and that is a crime in my book.
Also, you could possibly switch Turlough with a fancy lamp and it would have the same impact on the plot.
September 3, 2021
This was the first VMA I've read, and I solely chose it because I wanted to read a fifth doctor and turlough book and the synopsis on the dw wiki looked decent. And it was good! Good female guest lead, interesting characters, a twist that may have been obvious to some but that knocked me for six honestly. The worldbuilding was amazing, and I enjoyed the sontarans and rutans. The author describes it as a standard space opera, and it is. My personal bar for wilderness years stories is quite low, so if it doesn't have sexualisation or torture of women, has semi-decent prose, and has a plot that makes sense, I'll like it, and I liked this.
March 7, 2025
It gets a bit too Star Wars toward the end with its big climactic space battle, and the Raghi colony, with its Indian aesthetic and Hindu influenced culture, has more potential than it's mined for here, but it's nice to see the atypical pairing of the Fifth Doctor and Turlough explored in literary form, and David A. McIntee writes the Sontarans well for the most part.
July 24, 2025
Fairly standard stuff, with a side order of McIntee sticking his oar in about caste politics in India which doesn't stick the landing. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
February 13, 2022
A disappointing novel. Little interesting is done with the ideas, the prose is dull and it feels more like orientalism in the setting than anything else. A real let down.
October 16, 2015
The Lords of the Storm is a original novel in the Doctor Who the Missing Adventures series, featuring the unusual combination of the Fifth Doctor as played by Peter Davison on the BBC television series, and his companion, Turlough. I enjoyed seeing Turlough and just Turlough as the Doctor's companion in this book - it's an unusual combination (one I've only seen in one Big Finish audio adventure and no other novels), it also means there's less of the "the companions and the Doctor get separated and spend half the story looking for each other" running around. Not that I don't enjoy that too!
This story is set on a pair of Indian colony moons (Indian as in the country of India) that circle a gas giant planet in the far future. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the moons, their star system is about to be caught in the crossfire of the long-running Sontaran/Rutan War.
The Doctor and Turlough arrive, almost by mistake, and quickly become involved in events - but coming at them sideways, not head on, which made for an interesting story.
This book also gives a lot of information about the Sontarans and the Rutan, with whole chapters written from Sontaran or Rutan point of view. I enjoyed learning more about the Rutan, their collective mind, and their interesting method of reproduction (they spontaneously divide into exact copies), and their space ships were fascinating. The Sontarans, being a clone race, had considerably less individuality than the humans and were in a sense less interesting. I did find it interesting though that lower-level Sontaran combat troops, basically the cannon fodder, had their brains literally bred out of them. They were bred to follow orders blindly, without question, and even without regard for their own lives. The officers were slightly more intelligent, but not much. And the Sontarans totally felt that their society was better than that of humans with their individuality. The Rutan, as literally a single group organism that was split into many parts didn't even seem to understand human individuality.
And all of this is set against a pair of terraformed moons (well one terraformed and the other partially terraformed) settled by India and still using the Caste system. I actually learned something about India and Indian culture reading this book, which was interesting to note. And I really liked the main guest character, Nur, a pilot who's father was randomly appointed the governor of the terraformed moon, which means he's in charge and since Nur is female, she's expected to be a good-will ambassador (touring hospitals, etc.). Nur who is fiercely independent despite her background, despises the fluffy work she has to do - and points out she's not good at it. However, the hospital tour she takes at the beginning of the story does provide information that's important later.
The Sontarans basically have a plot to trap the Rutan Host, but it's not a very good one - and besides causing a lot of death, it's success would destroy the gas giant, not to mention the moons orbiting it. The Doctor, Turlough, Nur, and Shama Nur's fiance (arranged) have to figure out and then stop the Sontarans' plan.
Although the book was slow in places, I liked the setting, I liked the featured guest characters, it was fun to learn more about the Rutan (a frequently mentioned but seldom seen Doctor Who monster), and I enjoyed learning a bit about the culture of India. The glossary in the back of the book was very useful. But I did find it harder to get through the chapters about the Sontarans.
Chronologically, this Missing Adventure novel precedes the New Adventure Shakedown.
This story is set on a pair of Indian colony moons (Indian as in the country of India) that circle a gas giant planet in the far future. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the moons, their star system is about to be caught in the crossfire of the long-running Sontaran/Rutan War.
The Doctor and Turlough arrive, almost by mistake, and quickly become involved in events - but coming at them sideways, not head on, which made for an interesting story.
This book also gives a lot of information about the Sontarans and the Rutan, with whole chapters written from Sontaran or Rutan point of view. I enjoyed learning more about the Rutan, their collective mind, and their interesting method of reproduction (they spontaneously divide into exact copies), and their space ships were fascinating. The Sontarans, being a clone race, had considerably less individuality than the humans and were in a sense less interesting. I did find it interesting though that lower-level Sontaran combat troops, basically the cannon fodder, had their brains literally bred out of them. They were bred to follow orders blindly, without question, and even without regard for their own lives. The officers were slightly more intelligent, but not much. And the Sontarans totally felt that their society was better than that of humans with their individuality. The Rutan, as literally a single group organism that was split into many parts didn't even seem to understand human individuality.
And all of this is set against a pair of terraformed moons (well one terraformed and the other partially terraformed) settled by India and still using the Caste system. I actually learned something about India and Indian culture reading this book, which was interesting to note. And I really liked the main guest character, Nur, a pilot who's father was randomly appointed the governor of the terraformed moon, which means he's in charge and since Nur is female, she's expected to be a good-will ambassador (touring hospitals, etc.). Nur who is fiercely independent despite her background, despises the fluffy work she has to do - and points out she's not good at it. However, the hospital tour she takes at the beginning of the story does provide information that's important later.
The Sontarans basically have a plot to trap the Rutan Host, but it's not a very good one - and besides causing a lot of death, it's success would destroy the gas giant, not to mention the moons orbiting it. The Doctor, Turlough, Nur, and Shama Nur's fiance (arranged) have to figure out and then stop the Sontarans' plan.
Although the book was slow in places, I liked the setting, I liked the featured guest characters, it was fun to learn more about the Rutan (a frequently mentioned but seldom seen Doctor Who monster), and I enjoyed learning a bit about the culture of India. The glossary in the back of the book was very useful. But I did find it harder to get through the chapters about the Sontarans.
Chronologically, this Missing Adventure novel precedes the New Adventure Shakedown.
February 10, 2011
Missing Adventure with the fifth Doctor and Turlough. A slog for me. I itched to edit out all the unnecessary words that adulterate the action. Too often wording is too obscure to be understood; none that's important to the plot, but it's annoying to not be able to figure out what the author is indicating. It is transparent that the characters' inexperienced and panic-inspired actions against superior forces always get the best results. Rather a lot of Star Trek tech. All the human guest characters are so childlike you keep wondering how they could possibly be a functioning society, never mind a thriving colony. Turlough is mostly tiresome and overdone, but does have a couple of better half-pages. The Doctor jarringly veers between cool confidence and timidity.
September 13, 2025
December 2021
3.5/5
Wasn't super into the action and the Sontaran plot was something I zoned out of a bit, but I really enjoyed both the human side characters and the Doctor + Turlough characterisation, something I especially appreciate in these books where there's no actor there to smooth over any discrepancies. I think when the book wasn't focused on those elements my interest waned a bit.
July 2025
Bumping my rating down half a star - I'm still not a big fan of the action/generally when it switches into epic space battle mode, and that takes up more of this than I remember, losing sight of the social elements of the setting and the way they intersect with the Sontarans, which I do actually find compelling.
3.5/5
Wasn't super into the action and the Sontaran plot was something I zoned out of a bit, but I really enjoyed both the human side characters and the Doctor + Turlough characterisation, something I especially appreciate in these books where there's no actor there to smooth over any discrepancies. I think when the book wasn't focused on those elements my interest waned a bit.
July 2025
Bumping my rating down half a star - I'm still not a big fan of the action/generally when it switches into epic space battle mode, and that takes up more of this than I remember, losing sight of the social elements of the setting and the way they intersect with the Sontarans, which I do actually find compelling.
January 4, 2016
Conventional, but entertaining. That summarizes most of McIntee's Who novels. McIntee, I think, has written more Who novels than anyone else. The reason for this may be that his books are always safe. One knows what one will get - plenty of action, not too excessive violence, a believalbe plot (the one exception is "Mission:Impractical"). The Sontarans are returned to status as credible menaces after their deplorable characterization in "Invasion Of Time," and weak characterization in "The Two Doctors." McIntee has been working through the history of his own alien race, the Chinese-inspired Tzun, whose fate as a race gets explained here.
February 18, 2009
Great bit of space opera, set smack dab in the middle of the Sontarion/Rutan war. Connected to events in the New Adventure 'Shakedown', but you can enjoy both books if you've only read one.
Fun to see just the Doctor and Turlough in action. Though, as usual, Kamelion got a raw deal and almost no screen time.
Fun to see just the Doctor and Turlough in action. Though, as usual, Kamelion got a raw deal and almost no screen time.
January 5, 2012
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1795619...
Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Sontarans, on a human colony with an Indian cultural background, and the Rutans make an appearance as well. Lots of good continuity for both Turlough and the Sontarans, and lots of good world-building, combined with a decent plot; one to look out for.
Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Sontarans, on a human colony with an Indian cultural background, and the Rutans make an appearance as well. Lots of good continuity for both Turlough and the Sontarans, and lots of good world-building, combined with a decent plot; one to look out for.
September 1, 2013
A very "Star Trek/Star Wars" heavy influence permeates this novel, with added futuristic multicultural world building goodness. It's not the pinnacle of David McIntee's "Doctor Who" writing, but it's a solid action-adventure, with a nasty surprise in the Sontaran ranks that actually took me by surprise. Comic strip "Doctor Who" as its most comforting.
August 25, 2009
Starts off slow, but the second half is big-time space opera. Can't go wrong when the Sontarans and Rutan start going at it, with the Doctor and friends caught in the middle. The best part of the story had to be Turlough's sarcastic little asides to himself. His character was captured perfectly.
April 23, 2011
This was a very fun book to read :). I love the connection to 'shakedown' and once again the Sontarans do not fail to entertain. Must read.
April 4, 2013
A mediocre and plodding book that's saved only by its interesting expansion of the background for the Sontarans and the Rutans.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews