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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Transitional,
This review is from: Transit (The New Adventures of Doctor Who) (Paperback)
Travelling with new companion Bernice Summerfield, the Doctor's TARDIS arrives in a Solar Transit System, an interplanetary travel system in operation in the solar system. But an error rips a hole in the space-time continuum, and there is something on the other side...Written by the scripter of the popular 'Remembrance of the Daleks', this book wears its cyberpunk roots plainly on its sleeve. Unfortunately, it may take these influences too far - the jump cuts, the deliberate obfuscation, the subplots that go nowhere... This makes it a somewhat difficult read. Having said that, the novel introduces Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart, a popular continuing character in the series. While Kadiatu's presence is welcome, the portrayal of Benny is problematic: this is her second story, and she spends most of it possessed by an alien intelligence. Between the non-portrayal of Benny and the very dense text, this book is something of a challenge, and probably best left to Doctor Who enthusiasts.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit of a muddled mess,
By Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Transit (The New Adventures of Doctor Who) (Paperback)
TRANSIT has divided fandom since its publication. At the time, a lot of fuss was made because of the supposed adult elements and mature themes. Some fans decried what was to become the wave of the future by screaming that Doctor Who had never been like this before. Still others reveled in it, saying fairly similar things as the detractors had, but loving it for those very same reasons.With the benefit of hindsight, it's not easy to see what all the excitement was about. The books have moved far beyond what was achieved in TRANSIT, and the so-called shocking elements seem neither outrageous to this jaded reviewer nor do they seem unjustly gratuitous. The supposed over-the-top adultness slips into the story so effortlessly, that is easy to forget that these mature elements are often accused of being unnatural to the way in which Doctor Who works. Only the swearing and the slang still stand out as being different and extreme. But for all the talk about what effect the novel had or didn't have on the books that followed, TRANSIT still must stand or fall based on its own merits. The future culture that Ben Aaronovitch creates is fairly detailed and quite fascinating. There are bucketfuls of great little references to life in the future. From the Kwik-Kurry fast food restaurants to the Transit system itself, everything one learns about this society leaves one wanting to learn more. This story contains simply some of the best settings that we've ever seen in a Doctor Who story. It's realistic and gritty but completely enthralling. The story itself is fairly interesting, and there's quite a lot of detail that one needs to keep track of. It's by no means a simple tale, and I found myself needing to go back to previous chapters and reread certain pages after finding revelations further ahead in the story. This is not an easy book and it requires the reader to pay a lot of attention. Yet despite all the obvious positive points that the book has in its favor, I couldn't honestly say that I thought it was a very good book. There's a lot of overt machismo present that really doesn't do anything for me. There are fairly large chunks that are neither enjoyable, nor do they add anything to the plot. There's red herring chase sequences, long action scenes, gunfights, air battles and all manner of military hardware. It would look fantastic on television, if the budget was twenty times what Doctor Who got per season. In short, there are vast portions of the book that are just plain boring to read. The plot is a bit murky. For the most part it makes sense and is fairly coherent, but it's never really engaging. It's a bit too slow in places and at times it completely stops. The bits of characterization and cultural references that surround it are really quite good, but they can't make up for the weaknesses elsewhere. A portion of the ending, in particular, is shockingly poor and comes as a let-down after the amount of complexity that there had been in the lead up to it. All in all, TRANSIT ranks as a fairly well put together story but one hampered by several major weaknesses. While it's now notable for the much-needed shock that it put fandom through at its publication, the story itself is not quite strong enough for the book to stand on its own two feet. There is a ironic sense of humor drifting through that will amuse even the most offended of readers, and there are loads of fabulous lines sprinkled throughout the text. Unfortunately, the strong points aren't enough to save this book from being a bit of a mess, albeit a well intended and potentially wonderful one. Definitely a story in need of an extra few drafts.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"A flock of updates wheeled overhead",
By Larry Bridges "thebachelor" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Transit (The New Adventures of Doctor Who) (Paperback)
There are many "Doctor Who" fans who will hate "Transit," assuming they haven't already read and hated it. It seems that almost no one considers this book mediocre; nearly every "Who" fan who has ever read it would include it among the ten best or worst "Who" books ever written. "Transit" is my favorite of all the "Doctor Who" novels I have read. However, if you shudder at the very thought of a "Who" book containing the "F" word, or of the Doctor getting drunk, you should refrain from treating yourself to the mind-blowingly excellent "Doctor Who" book that is "Transit."Some fans have accused "Transit" of being a science-fiction novel that is only set in the "Who" universe because Ben Aaronovitch couldn't have gotten it published otherwise. This is untrue. The backstories of the Thousand-Day War between the humans and the Ice Warriors and of Kadiatu's interesting ancestry are both fascinating new creations that are strongly rooted in "Doctor Who"'s past, and both are essential to the resonance of "Transit." Fans have also claimed that Aaronovitch must have had Benny possessed for much of the book because she had been introduced only in the previous book ("Love and War") and Aaronovitch didn't really know who she was. This may be true, but Benny's storyline adds to the dramatic effectiveness of the novel and gives us an interesting new understanding of Professor Summerfield at this early stage in her development. By showing us how Benny behaves when she isn't herself, Aaronovitch gives us further insight into who she really is. Fans have also alleged that the reader is never moved to care about "Transit"'s characters. I dare you to read "Transit" and not care deeply about Ming the Merciless, Francine, Blondie, Kadiatu and many others. Indeed, "Transit" is the only "Who" book that has ever made me cry, and it did so three times. I don't want to give too much away, but look out for a certain four-word sentence in the book ending with the word "monster." "Transit" is not flawless. The scene in which the Doctor gets drunk is more easily understood if one has also read "Love and War" and can appreciate the cumulative effect on the Doctor of events in the two books, but this scene still wasn't a very good idea. The Doctor himself acknowledges later in the book that he really shouldn't have done it. The book's climactic sequence fails to live up to everything that has preceded it and is followed by a series of "wrapping-up" scenes, some of which are important but others of which seem unnecessary and/or silly. Relatively unimportant plot threads are tied up while others which seem more important are left dangling. (Still, one of the three passages that made me cry occurs in this part of the book.) Finally, the whole premise on which the plot is based -- the interplanetary Transit system -- seems a bit more pseudo-scientific (i.e., unscientific) than is usual even in "Doctor Who." This can be forgiven, however, because once Aaronovitch has made the one bizarre assumption of the existence of a Transit system he extrapolates the society to which it would give rise in a fascinating and entirely believable fashion. Moreover, the idea of what amounts to a subway network running between the planets and moons of the Solar System does have a great imaginative and poetic appeal. For anyone who is not completely turned off by the controversial elements described above, "Transit" has my very highest recommendation as a superb example of 90's "Doctor Who."
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