Author:Ian Marter,John Leeson
Reluctantly cancelling his well-earned holiday, the Doctor sets off in the TARDIS to trace and re-assemble the six segments of the Key to Time on which the stability of the entire Universe depends. Assisted by the argumentative Romanadvoratrelundar and K9, he lands on the planet Ribos in search of the first segment and finds himself entangled in the machinations of two sinister strangers, Garron and the Graff Vynda Ka. Who are they? Is Garron simply a shady confidence-trickster dealing in interplanetary real estate? Is the Graff Vynda Ka just a power-crazed exile bent on revenge? Or are they both really agents of the Black Guardian, intent upon seizing the precious Key in order to throw the Universe into eternal chaos? Risking his life within the monster-infested catacombs of Ribos, the Doctor has to use all his wit and ingenuity to find out... John Leeson, who provided the voice of K9 in the original 1978 TV serial, reads Ian Marter’s complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1979.
Smith’s performance is exactly as I’ve come to expect from him – flawless and exuberant when playing the Doctor, and inventive when it comes to breathing life into new characters
—— http://www.doctorwhoreviews.co.ukSmith and Corbett prove an excellent match when it comes to reading the narrative and portraying the various protagonists... writer James Goss has succeeded in creating... one of the strongest audio stories in the range
—— http://www.huntspost.co.ukStephen Fry is one of the great originals ... This autobiography of his first twenty years is a pleasure to read, mixing outrageous acts with sensible opinions in bewildering confusion ... That so much outward charm, self-awareness and intellect should exist alongside behaviour that threatened to ruin the lives of innocent victims, noble parents and Fry himself, gives the book a tragic grandeur and lifts it to classic status
—— Financial TimesHe writes superbly about his family, about his homosexuality, about the agonies of childhood ... some of his bursts of simile take the breath away ... his most satisfying and appealing book so far
—— ObserverThis is one of the most extraordinary and affecting biographies I have read . . . Stephen is . . . painfully honest when trying to grapple with his ever-present demons, and often, as you might expect, very funny
—— Daily MailThe writing is rhapsodic, intoxicated and very touching
—— Mail on Sunday[A] wonderful, self-lacerating autobiography
—— Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday TimesHe has produced a remarkable autobiography . . . It makes gripping, sometimes unbearably sad, sometimes confusing reading . . . exhilarating, humane, zany, literary
—— SpectatorNo one can make you feel quite like Stephen Fry can . . . Funny and tormentedly frank
—— Time OutHugely enjoyable . . . compulsively readable . . . Fry is excellent on the details of memory, too, and always able to embellish them with effortless erudition . . . this engaging, engrossing read is as honest a portrait of a young liar as one could hope to read
—— ScotsmanHe is bubbly, funny and charming, and he gives his fans plenty of material if they want to speculate on why he is both so gifted and so wayward
—— The TimesThe jokes . . . transcend the complexes of the joker, turning the Stephenesque into a national as well as a family treasure
—— GuardianNot so much an autobiography, more a way of life; discursive, funny, sometimes almost unbelievably sad, opinionated, nostalgic and very infectious
—— Claire Rayner, New StatesmanFry can be funny about anything
—— Good Book GuideSo charming and so acute that one cannot help forgiving him
—— Daily ExpressYou need to read this - period
—— Fact