The Doctor and Ace arrive on the idyllic world of Heaven, which in the 26th century is used as a funeral planet by both Earth and the Draconian Empire. Here they encounter the archaeologist Bernice Summerfield, the sinister Church of Vacuum, and a group of Travellers led by the charming yet haunted bad boy Jan Rydd.
Love And War is notable for being the first of the New Adventures to make major changes to the status quo, with Ace leaving the TARDIS (she would later return in Deceit) and new companion Benny taking her place as the Doctor's companion. It was written by Paul Cornell (his second entry in the New Adventures) and released in October 1992. The audio adaptation was released in October 2012, to mark Benny's 20th anniversary as part of the Whoniverse.
This novel contains examples of:
- Adventure Archaeologist: Not only is Benny present, but this is one of the few stories in which she's actually focussing on the "archaeologist" part, instead of the "adventure" part — she's running a dig, with a team of students working under her.
- Battle Trophy: Maire wears several Dalek eye stalks on her belt. Since there's currently a large bounty on dead Daleks, these serve as both a mark of her badassery and a handy form of portable currency.
- Bury Your Gays: The book opens with a flashback to Ace's friendship with a gay older brother figure named Julian, back in Perivale; it then immediately jumps to his funeral.
- Call-Back: The Hoothi were previously referenced, very briefly, in The Brain of Morbius; Paul Cornell built on a single mention to create one of the most loathsome enemies the Doctor has ever faced.
- Creator Thumbprint: A pair of owls appear several times over the course of the story.
- Cyberspace: Or 'puterspace, as they call it.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted. The Doctor expects Ace to move on from Jan's death; instead she quits the TARDIS, and doesn't forgive him for years — and then only after she's paid him back a couple of times over.
- Evil Is Visceral: The Hoothi are one of the most disgusting monsters the Doctor's faced. Between the spaceships built from billions of rotting corpses and people exploding into hideous amalgams of flesh and mushrooms, it's a safe bet they won't be appearing on the TV show anytime soon.
- Festering Fungus: The Hoothi are a fungal-based Hive Mind with a penchant for Body Horror.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: How Ace is finally able to defeat the last Hoothi — she calls out to her long-dead friend Julian, and the creature explodes.
- Kill It with Fire: Jan's pyrokinesis plus the gasses from billions of rotting corpses equals very, very big BOOM.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Maire is forced to shoot Roisa.
- Machine Worship: Well, kind of — the Travellers don't worship the machines; rather, they believe their gods live inside virtual reality, and can be communed with cybernetically.
- The Needs of the Many: The Doctor's justification for the ending, when he chooses to sacrifice Jan to stop the Hoothi. Ace doesn't buy it, and turns her back on him.
- Night of the Living Mooks: The vast burial grounds of Heaven make perfect fodder for the Hoothi.
Nightmare Fuel ensues.
- People Farms: The world of Heaven is revealed to have been one of these in its ancient past; the Hoothi finally got bored of keeping the Heavenites, and consumed them all. Now the Hoothi have returned, and they want to do the same thing to the human and Draconian inhabitants.
- Playing with Fire: Jan gained pyrokinetic powers after being experimented on by the military.
- Polyamory: Roisa is in an open relationship with both Jan and Maire.
- Religion of Evil: The Church of Vacuum, which preaches a nihilistic outlook that encourages ritual suicide, while planning to sacrifice everyone on Heaven to the Hoothi.
- Technopath: Christopher gained the ability to control 'puterspace after being experimented on by the military.
- Virtual Ghost: Christopher's ghost becomes stuck in virtual reality after he dies while inside it. He later manages to reanimate his own corpse.
- The Worm That Walks: The Hoothi are a fungal version of this. An individual Hoothi can divide its intelligence between numerous bodies, can infect people with maggot-like spores, and can convert them into horrifying mushroom creatures at will.
