I seem to be one of the few people who don't care much for this story. It's solid enough as far as companion introductions go, and is enjoyable for the most part, but it doesn't wow me.

First, and most noticeable, there's the clankiness of the characters describing out loud what they're seeing and doing. It's nicely lampshaded early on with the Doctor saying, "[Talking to yourself] is the first sign of madness," but considering it continues beyond that point it's still fairly distracting.

There are plenty of things to enjoy, however; Charlie has a fantastic introduction, crossdressing and then immediately getting into trouble, running into the Doctor, and hitting it off immediately. Safe to say, she's an instant favourite. India Fisher has a fantastic historical voice.

The Doctor is likewise spectacular in his first audio outing. He's energetic and lively, and I can practically seen him running and jumping around the sets. He's just plain fun.

There are a few too many male characters with silly names and accents for me to keep track of. Even on my third listen, I still got confused as to who's who and who's doing what. That probably took quite a bit away from my enjoyment of this story.

The passenger is an interesting concept. I like the description we got and the mix of pronouns used for them. Unfortunately, their reveal is when things started going downhill for me. I was glad Engineers and Uncreators weren't just a gender-essentialism metaphor, but I didn't care for the Froidian id/ego/super ego metaphor either. The concept is somewhat overdone, especially seeing as the theory has been repeatedly disputed.

It doesn't help that every moment on the alien ship is dull and confusing. It's made all the worse for coming after such a compelling build-up.

The solution was pretty fun. Hearing everyone roar always puts a smile on my face. I love the Vortasaur and every scene with it. Most of all, however, I like the self sacrifice; a man that had up to that point been trying to secure a weapon of mass destruction for his country agreeing that he was wrong and hoping to teach that lesson to an alien species.

I also love that the thing that brought the R101 down was, in the end, human error and lack of foresight, and not anything alien or supernatural. We rarely get stories like that, which makes this all the more impactful, all the more tragic.

All in all, enjoyable enough, but I would generally pick other things to listen to over this one.