The House of Winter [AUDIO/2015.10.15]

★★★☆☆

  A definite improvement over The Gods of Winter, but not quite up to the level I wanted it to be, The House of Winter is a horror story with shades of Gothic and a surprising mention of an element of The Web Planet (trust me, it's essential to understanding the story). David Schofield is a much more comfortable narrator for the Twelfth Doctor and Clara, really capturing the aloof nature of early-days Twelve. The narrative feels like it moves along in a snail's pace (which is a minor miracle, considering it's an hour-long audiobook), which is saved by some heavy lifting on Schofield's part and a sound, if cliched, concept of George Mann's acting as the backbone of the story. I'm getting less and less excited about visiting these BBC Audio releases, and it's sad; these Doctors and companions deserve better, and listening to the most recent multi-Doctor range that the company produces, I'm glad to say I'll be more excited to revisit them for my reviews. House of Winter has blood butterflies, a monster, and a Winter's deadly secret coming to light. It's a good enough hour to spend, but I'm not in a rush to revisit it anytime soon.