The Diary of River Song, Series 3

Having met the Eighth, Seventh, and Sixth Doctors (in that order) it's naturally time for River to encounter the Fifth Doctor in this, the third collection in the series. It's essentially a single story, although the first episode, while linked to the others, is comparatively standalone. Although it does tie in to events in the TV series, however, it does not require knowledge of the prior volumes in its own series.

• The Lady in the Lake – River visits a euthanasia clinic where the clients can choose to die while living out a fantasy. The story is not told in strict chronological order, with a number of flashbacks, and a flash-forward as the opening teaser, but it isn't really hard to follow, despite a bit of timey-wimeyness here and there. This helps to build the suspense as we slowly uncover what brought River to this world. That turns out to have a connection to her backstory and involves an interesting depiction of a religious leader driven more by cowardice than faith. 4.5 stars.

• A Requiem for the Doctor – And then we're off to 18th century Vienna where River and the Doctor try to unravel the mystery of why Mozart appears to have completed his Requiem in D Minor when historically, he didn't. They are soon diverted by a locked-room murder mystery that forms the main core of the story. There's also an effective subplot involving the Doctor's teenage companion resenting River's rapport with the Doctor, which leads to a suitably dramatic conclusion leading directly into the next story. 4 stars.

• My Dinner with Andrew – River and the Doctor visit an extra-dimensional restaurant in an effort to resolve the fallout of the previous episode. At which point, they run into an old enemy and things get complicated fast. There's a lot of jumping backward and forward in time, while River struggles to keep the overall timeline consistent, meaning that it's probably not one to listen to casually. There's plenty of humour in amongst the time travel shenanigans, helping to keep this fun, even if the Doctor isn't in it much. 5 stars.

• The Furies – The final part is what really makes this a sequel to the TV story A Good Man Goes to War. After the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode, River returns to her childhood home to see what Madame Kovarian has been up to since. There's even a surprise return for an actor from another episode of Eleven's run, playing a clone of her original character. Oddly, however, I found this one harder to follow than the previous episode, despite its linear narrative, with the motivations of some of the characters a little unclear. But it works as a big dramatic conclusion and does wrap it all up. 3.5 stars.