The novel “Transit” by Ben Aaronovitch was published for the first time in 1992. It’s No. 10 in the “New Adventures” range by Virgin Publishing and follows “Love and War“.
The Tardis materializes in King’s Cross Station, where an unknown entity has killed several people. Kadiatu is saved by the arrival of the Seventh Doctor, and the two of them, along with Bernice Summerfield, end up in another station.
Kadiatu is conducting experiments in time travel and becomes interested in the Doctor and his intervention. She decides to take him to a veteran of the war with the Ice Warriors. Bernice ends up on Pluto, where she uses the people who live in the slums for unfathomable purposes.
Ben Aaronovitch worked on the classic “Doctor Who” series, writing two screenplays during the Seventh Doctor’s era. “Transit” depicts a year 2109 in which Earth and its colonies around the solar system are connected by what can be considered a railway system composed of tunnels that carry trains from one place to another in a short time.
In this novel, the author incorporates some cyberpunk elements with a style that at times seems to be a direct homage to William Gibson. For this reason, in the opening section, the reader is thrown into a series of seemingly unconnected situations in various parts of the solar system. This offers a glimpse into the early 22nd century, when the solar system is connected by a kind of railway system. However, something emerges to create chaos.
Cyberpunk is only one element of this novel. It often seems more of a stylistic choice than a thematic one, in the sense that the story is set in a fairly distant future, with characteristics that are in many ways different from those of cyberpunk stories. This also applies to the characters, as most of them are not typical of this literary movement.
Bernice Summerfield made her debut in the previous novel in this range of books. It makes sense that Ben Aaronovitch had little information about the Doctor’s new companion, but he still manages to offer something about her past. Actually, for the most part, her behavior is quite different from that seen in her debut, and this becomes fully understandable only as the reading progresses.
Kadiatu ends up being a sort of temporary companion for the Doctor, meeting him at the beginning of the novel and having an adventure with him. Initially, the reader knows that Kadiatu is conducting time travel experiments, but as the story progresses, much more about her and her family emerges. It’s a progressive discovery full of surprises and revelations, but for this very reason, this novel should be read before researching online to avoid major spoilers!
This range of books was targeted at adult fans, and “Transit” confirms this, with its use of profanity and parts of the story featuring violence and sexual content. At the same time, it has typical characteristics of the Seventh Doctor’s adventures, as he once again finds himself intervening in the history of humanity. Ben Aaronovitch adds his own twist to the Doctor’s actions, with decisions that have been highly controversial among “Doctor Who” fans.
All of this makes “Transit” a rather unique novel, on which opinions vary greatly. It’s the product of the experimentalism that marked this range of books, and today, more than ever, it can be interesting for fans curious to read stories that were slowly expanding the “Doctor Who” fictional universe. You might find it on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
