Customer Reviews
Interesting and well thought-out - another solid title in the Doctor Who audio range - By: L. Green, 08 Jan 2009 
Barcode: 9781408406786
Having loved the first CDin this range - Pest Control - i was keen to get my hands on this story too. Catherine Tate makes for an excellent reader as the Doctor & Donna become trappedin the mysteries of a massive confusing puzzle of a building/space station known as the Edifice.
Playing on ideas of mind-tricks (the story itself referencing the work of Escher) it is an altogether more subtle story than the fast-paced action of Pest Control. The Forever Trap might not be as instant a story, but it make sup for thatin the gradually growing sense of menace that pervades the Edifice. The imagery & description conjured upin this story is fantastic, all stark modern design descending into chaos, as well as the imaginative descriptions of the various alien races caught int eh building too.
What with the Doctor & Donna being separated for a fair few bits of the TV series, it is really good to see them playing off each-other throughoutin this story & the dynamic between the two characters is brilliant. There's also a very touching line towards the end where the Doctor sums up his aimin his adventures 'We try to pick up the pieces Donna, but sometimes those pieces are broken'. It's a beautiful moment & perfectly captures the burden the Doctor has to bear.
The themes on display here play well into those establishedin the TV series too, the idea of a sinister 'spacestation' with mysterious goings on behind the scenes harking back to 'The Long Game' while the idea of a swarm of creatures eating awayin the dark brings to mind the Vashta Neradain the 'Silence In The Library' two-parter.
So, allin all, this is a great adventure - while admitedly not the most pacy or action-based, those that love the more creepy, subtle side of Doctor Who will love this & it's well worth a listen
Unlike anything I've heard before. Simply staggering - By: R. Wood, 31 Dec 2008 One of the main reasons why I loved the fourth series of Doctor Who so much was because of Catherine Tate. She made the character of Donna Noble such a fantastic one to love & cherish, which made her departure from the series all the more heartbreaking. Which is why I am so thankful for the recent audiobooks which feature more of Donna. However, The Forever Trap is truly special as it's narrated by Catherine Tate herself.
The story here is set sometime after TV episodes The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky. During the Doctor & Donna's travels, the TARDIS is invaded by a viral transmission, or rather, a holographic marketing scam that doesn't take `No!' for an answer. Despite their best efforts, the travellers find themselves trapped on the Edifice, a planet-sized complex of luxury apartmentsin space. Millions of beings across the Universe have been abducted, & where some really enjoy livingin the Edifice, others have been taken from their natural habitat & cannot survive. Some are also vicious creatures who live only for war & conquest, & others still are mindless predators who look only to feast. Long story short, the Edifice is not all it's cracked up to be & isin fact a nightmarish mismatch of emotions that condemns all inside to eternal hell & death. With seemingly NO - WAY - OUT.
Obviously, The Forever Trap has been compared a lot to Pest Control, the other audiobook set during Series 4. Like Pest Control, The Forever Trap is a tale that's been done exclusively for audio. But is it better than Pest Control? Absolutely.
Dan Abnett, the author, is a man who should need no introduction. He's written plenty of stuff for Marvel UK (such as Transformers & Doctor Who) & he's famous for writing 2000AD, X-Men, stories for DC & Wildstorm & many bestselling novels. He's one of the most famous science-fiction writersin all the UK. So that was another reason why I wanted this audiobook so much. And true to nature, Abnett doesn't disappoint. He has written a STAGGERING story here.
Whereas Pest Control was action-filled, thrilling, multi-layered & great fun, The Forever Trap is much deeper & more psychological. As the mysteries of the Edifice unravel, the story becomes more sinister & darker. Like all good Who tales, there are plenty of twists-and-turns & enough action to liven things up, but this audiobook's greatest strengths are all the different alien species encountered, the whole concept of the Edifice, all the dangers & horrors within, the faultless relationship & conversational exchanges between the Doctor & Donna, Donna's bravery & resoluteness & finally some brilliant nods to important parts of the Doctor's life. The Ood & the Sontarans get a mention here, as does the Doctor's lost homeworld of Gallifrey, which is very creative & really adds to the psychology of the story.
But it's the SOUND that truly makes The Forever Trap really tense & nail-biting. Catherine Tate provides a PERFECT narrative to Abnett's story. She reads excellently, gives each of the characters great distinctive voices, continues to make Donna special & also does a good impersonation of the Doctor. Of course, all this is a given. We all now how excellent Catherine is at doing voices.
Like Pest Control, the music & sound effects really add to the drama of the story, but what's different & better here is that it's more varied. The music is so much more creepier & eerie & the sound effects WILL keep you on edge & make you jump throughout, especially during the EPIC finale when our heroes discover the Edifice's sinister secret.
Another reason to purchase The Forever Trap is because it's very much a `Doctor & Donna' story. All the other characters have minor roles & don't really have that big an impact on the course of events as the supporting characters didin Pest Control, & that's what makes the audiobook so refreshing. The Doctor & Donna's friendship is what made the fourth series so brilliant & this is a reminder of how true it was & how many great moments it provided for, such as the constant insistence to everyone that they WEREN'T a couple, & how much they were there for one another.
Doctor Who: The Forever Trap has everything it needs to satisfy die-hard fans. I put it on my iPod & was really glad I did. It will have you absolutely hooked from start-to-finish because of everything that's on it. Psychological, deep, gripping, tense, & will send plenty of chills down your spine. Utterly worth having.
All Round Success - By: J. Neal, 10 Dec 2008 First things first, Catherine Tate, what a reader. The range her voice has, has always astounded me. From watching The Catherine Tate show to hearing her speak naturallyin interviews then as Donnain Doctor Who, she has a voice for every occasion, each with its own unique traits. The second thing you notice is the way she portrays the Doctor. As with every audiobook, the main characters are always the funniest ones to hear. Having had David Tennant portray Rose & Donnain a comical masculine-female way, to having Catherine Tate voice him with that know-it-all tone, is really the clincher for these products.
Ignore the story for a second, if they can't get the voices right it's not worth it. And Tate really does it justice.
Hats off to Abnett for yet another satisfying storyin the world of Doctor Who & Torchwood. When you read his written words the images he creates are always wonderful, from the action packed sequences to those more tender moments, & as ever, Abnett manages thisin audio form. I've foundin the past that some stories can dry horribly when transferred from the page onto the waves, but this is something The Forever Trap does not do. The sound effects that litter the background add to the depth of the story & are well placed. They add tension when it is needed, excitement when the Doctor & Donna are facing certain doom.
Allin all the effects are well crafted & excellently placed, & add an entire new dimension to the story. Would it have had the same effect without them? Who knows, but its so perfect the way it is, I don't want to find out.
When listening to audiobooks, I'm normally doing something else at the same time, like trying to sleep or drawing & painting a set for a drama production, like I was this time. With most audiobooks I can tend to switch off from them & continue with what I'm doing having the story as a background noise, The Forever Trap, on the other hand was the other way around.
I found myself stopping what I was doingin order to listen to what was happening. I was so engaged with the story I had to know what happened next & I couldn't stop listening. I put down my paint brush & I listened to every word, every sound effect until it was over. I was impressed.
Any niggles? No, not that I recall. Catherine Tate was an excellent reader with such a well crafted story. Like all Doctor Who storylines it had multiple strands, twists & turns & things you wouldn't expect. Everything I love about the showin one. Nothing ignored. The characters were spot on, the voices were great & overall, I left wanting more.
lost in escher - By: Paul Tapner, 22 Oct 2008 
following on from the talking book doctor who: pest control, which had david tennant reading an original doctor who story & doing lots of different character voices, it's now catherine tate's turn to do one.
like pest control, this is spread over two discs, each running for roughly one hour & ten minutes. there are no episode breaksin the middle of these discs, although there are chapters for ease of access, so essentially this isin two long episodes. the first does end on a cliffhanger.
the story involves the doctor & donna getting stuckin the edifice, a huge apartment block come space station. the place has dissolved into chaos as all the other residents, including some highly unusual aliens, are fighting amongst each other. can the doctor & donna find who runs the place & save the day?
catherine tate has an excellent reading voice & is good to listen to. she does a very good impression of david tennant as the doctor, & there was one point early on when I forgot it wasn't him speaking. she also does voices for many other characters. some of the male ones are a bit obvious but some of the alien ones are very imaginatives & work very well.
the story scores over pest controlin that it's a bit more imaginative, bothin the unique setting & the highly unusual aliens the doctor & donna meet on their way.
this possibly would be even stronger a piece of work if it was shorter, but that's a minor complaint as it's both an entertaining doctor who story & an enjoyable listen, thanks to the writer & the reader
Pitch-perfect characterisation of the Tenth Doctor and Donna partnership - By: Michele Fry, 10 Oct 2008 "Doctor Who": The Forever Trap: No. 2 (Dr Who Audio Original 2)
I know some folks have been less than impressed with Abnett's work for the Whoniverse thus far, but he has crafted a pitch-perfect story for the Tenth Doctor & Donna, & Catherine Tate clearly relishes reading it - on occasion she does a near-perfect impersonation of David Tennant's manic Tenth Doctor, & all her other character voices are easily distinguished from each other, & many really managed to convey aurally the charaters that I couldn't see. This audio novel is far superior to Peter Anghelides "Pest Control". I felt that Abnett created some interesting, original alien creatures & the story was well paced. Donna was incredibly Donna-ish - & I loved her to bitsin this story. I cannot recommend it highly enough as it was a very satisfying story.
