"What's the panic?" asked Ryan. "Who's Attila the Hun?"The two best episodes of last year's Doctor Who series were the two historical settings which are up for the Hugo this year; here, Steve Cole takes the Tardis crew to a less well known historical moment, the conflict between Attila the Hun and the Roman general Flavius Ætius which culminated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451, near what is now Troyes in France. As it turns out, there are aliens involved as well as human factions; the Tardis crew get split up four ways - to facilitate the plot of course, but it also gives Cole a chance to show off his grasp of detail in the setting and the characterisation. Cole is one of the most prolific Who writers, and I felt he was well on form. You can get the book here.
