Warchild, 1996, Andrew Cartmel
The conclusion to Cartmel’s “War” trilogy suffers a bit from the same problem the previous books had: they’re not quite really “Doctor Who” stories. They’re sci-fi stories…that the Doctor happens to cameo in. The TARDIS crew have a stronger presence here, but much of the book is dedicated to making Cartmel’s characters as miserable and spite-filled as possible, which makes you feel a bit unclean after reading it.

Just War, 1996, Lance Parkin
A fairly strong and gripping book, if you can get through the long, long passages of Benny being tortured by Nazis and Roz being condescended to by racists. The strength of the book is the core idea, though, that for all the times the Doctor goes around saving worlds, he occasionally has to deal with problems of his own making. Here, he has to stop the Germans from developing stealth bomber technology that would have allowed them to win the second World War, technology that they only almost develop because he had the wrong conversation with the wrong person years earlier. It’s the Doctor as fallible, something that was frequently missing from the “New Adventures” period.

Shakedown, 1995, Terrance Dicks
In this book, Terrance Dicks adapts his script for a direct-to-video Doctor Who spin-off into a novel featuring the characters currently appearing in the “New Adventures” line. Characters who didn’t appear in the video. Which means that the middle half of the book is a straight adaptation of the video, while the rest of it is the regular cast being more or less sidelined by the need to fit in this great big whopping other story that they’re not actually involved in. It’s not quite successful, but I’ve got a soft spot for Sontarans, so I kind of liked it in the end. That it’s really very fanwanky about the Sontaran/Rutan war, and is, as far as I’m aware, the only time that Sontarans and Rutans actually appear in the same story, is somewhat charming.

The Also People, 1995, Ben Aaronovitch
One of the better Who novels, and one of the few that really feels like it lives up to that promise of using the novels to tell stories too “big” for television. You’ve got a fully realized and engaging alien culture, all the companions getting along instead of squabbling or angsting for dramatic purposes, and a well-crafted central story, involving the possible murder of a sentient computer.
There is also Dalek poetry.

Head Games, 1995, Steve Lyons
A follow-up to his earlier New Adventure, the Master of the Land of Fiction returns, this time in the company of Dr. Who, a renegade Time Lord who travels the universe with his companion, righting wrongs and having adventures. And, naturally, the biggest threat to peace in the universe is his evil doppelganger, the Doctor. And everyone who ever traveled with the seventh Doctor is caught in the middle of this conflict.
Yes, it’s a bit of a meta-commentary on fans who insist that only their vision of the Doctor is the right one. Imagine the material Lyons would have to work with if he’d written it now…

Toy Soldiers, 1995, Paul Leonard
A companion heavy story about children being abducted by aliens and turned into soldiers for a war on another planet. It’s not bad, but it harks back to both The War Games and Revelation of the Daleks a bit in its subject matter, which gives it a slightly too familiar feel.

Zamper, 1995, Gareth Roberts
The return of the militaristic space-turtles, the Chelonians, in a story linking corporate espionage, arms-dealing, and slave labor. One of the “just okay” books in the “New Adventures” line. It’s a decent Doctor Who story with the requisite pile of corpses at the end and the glimmer of a good sci-fi idea linking it all together, with maybe a tilt your head and squint bit of post-Colonial critique regarding exploited natives adopting the bad habits of those doing the exploiting.

Sky Pirates!, 1995, Dave Stone
Otherwise known as “the one with the Roger Langridge illustrations.” Or “that really weird one.” The TARDIS crew find themselves in a logically impossible star system in which everything seems to run on bad jokes and insane improbabilities.
It’s Doctor Who as filtered through Robert Rankin, maybe with a side order of Terry Pratchett, which means you think it’s either brilliant or the worst thing ever.
I rather like it, myself.

Carmen Miranda’s Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three, 1990, edited by Don Sakers
Yes, it’s an entire anthology based on the title of a filk-song. Horrifying.

Original Sin, 1995, Andy Lane
The second batch of novel-created companions comes along here, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Lane’s novel is actually quite good, combining mystery and politics in a sci-fi setting, and most of the 30th century Earth Empire plot line that later books return to is worth reading as well. But while Roz Forrester, a middle-aged, hard-bitten, cynical black female cop who just straddles the line between cliche and not is a well rounded and interesting character, her junior partner, Chris Cwej is, well…
I suppose the book line needed a bit of a himbo to balance things out.