It’s the beginning of a new year, and you know what that means? That’s right, another bimonthly release from the Thirteenth Doctor Adventures range.

Hoping to start the year on a high note, Rochana Patel’s Ride or Die is a pivotal instalment that finds The Doctor and Yaz hot on the heels of a mysterious being known as The Tourist.

The Doctor and Yaz have been sent a list of coordinates, each one pointing to a location in time and space where people are disappearing – but why? The trail leads to a war-torn world, where conscripted humans battle the terrifying Banshee.

Can the Doctor end this conflict before she loses her best friend?

Big Finish Synopsis

Having been sent a set of coordinates by persons unknown, the adventure begins with The Doctor and Yaz discovering that people are being kidnapped and taken to another dimension. While this setup is necessary for the sake of the plot, the constant jumping from place to place leaves little time for anything else, coming across as a bit of a tick-box exercise.  

Once the story is done with introductions, however, it begins to find its feet on the planet Rock. Rock is a war-torn world besieged by Banshees, and the attitude of its populace reflects this. It’s highly militarised, and there is mandatory conscription for all residents, which affects both The Doctor and Yaz’s character journeys.

Separated from The Doctor for a period, Yaz is particularly affected by this world’s stringent policies. Left at the planet’s mercy alongside her old friend Megan, we’re given a clear view into how Yaz’s life has changed by being with The Doctor.  

Given confidence and the ability to think critically, when she is forced to conscript in the efforts to fight the Banshees, she questions authority and makes clear that killing is a red line. Megan, meanwhile, without a journey with The Doctor, becomes a model cadet as a coping mechanism to survive the unknown.

As their story progresses, the themes surrounding their relationship morph (perhaps jarringly) when Megan is killed in action. Her sudden death becomes a vehicle for Yaz to question her future priorities. No longer wanting to neglect her life on earth, she decides that spending some more time at home in between travelling with The Doctor would be a good thing for when her time in the TARDIS comes to an end.

The Doctor has her own hang-ups about war, and they are also explored during this story. Forced through many terrifying battles herself, she uses her time on the planet to find a way towards a peaceful conclusion. The highlights of these scenes are not her efforts towards peace, but instead, the strong world-building created by Patel. In an unusual twist, the planet Rock isn’t home to recent kidnap victims, but rather, The Doctor arrives once generations have been and gone, setting a 41 million-strong civilisation. This type of world-building brings with it different stakes and forces the Doctor to make difficult decisions because she can’t just whisk them all away in the TARDIS.

Despite its strong character journeys, Ride or Die isn’t without fault. One problem that becomes apparent by the end of the story is its inclusion of too many different themes. War, morality, greed, and Yaz’s need for an anchor on Earth are all major themes that require time to develop. In this adventure, however, they’re all vying for the same amount of attention, and as a result, they lose some of their impact. The inclusion of the Banshees, too, leaves something to be desired. Although they are described with an interesting design, their motivations can be boiled down to “kill all humans”, with little subtlety for anything else.