This is simply hilarious, a highly entertaining and brilliantly executed riff on the film noir genre. There's a wealth of funny commentary, comic one-liners and a number of curious plot twists, so the tale never gets boring or predictable. The Doctor's presence in the story is slightly different from what I would have expected, but somehow it works really well and just adds to the fun of it all. Colin Baker sounds like he's having a whale of a time and Robert Jezek is of course absolutely perfect as Frobisher.

Oh dear. How to ruin a brilliant book. I guess this audio wouldnt be dreadful if i didnt know the book so well so i have tried to be objective with my rating but i am stunned that the adaptation is so poor. Ace and jans relationship is dealt with so badly that it makes no sense at all and Benny comes across as if she pretty much sits around doing nothing. The direction also seems to lack any real sense of drama - the great climax should be quite epic but failed to make any impression on me whatsoever.
I was really looking forward to this and still hope Big Finish adapt more of the Virgin range but hopefully do a better job next time

Though not without its moments (most notably, Sophie Aldred's final scenes - for now - as Ace, which strike a resonant emotional tone) LOVE AND WAR is not as strong as this particular fan had hoped for.

The audio adventure suffers from condensing the book's events: Ace's relationship with Jan in particular feels rushed, and their kisses never sound like real kisses, which detracts from the adventure's verisimilitude.

The most significant problem, however, is the miscasting of James Redmond as Jan Rydd - he never really convinces as Jan Rydd, the pyrokinetic traveller, sounding more nerdish than roguish - which makes it even harder to believe the blossoming romance between him and Ace.

That said, pacing of the adventure is excellent, and Sylvester McCoy and Lisa Bowerman give fine performances.

Enjoyable, but not as strong as perhaps could be expected given the significance and strengths of the novel it's based on.