Lay away book special: Further notes on the reconstruction

The most interesting thing about Gareth Roberts' Shada is its frequently short chapters.

Such two to three page chapters, sometimes referred to as attention span-sized, give a sense of a plot in motion. It's a style choice that makes the novel's TV script origins clear. It also makes the book feel like it has Douglas Adams' own sense of wackiness, the sense that he got across with his breaks for entries from the Hitchhiker's Guide itself.

So far, none of this takes away from the story, or the way it's told. In fact, heading into the book's second third, the novelization continues to be a strong imitation of Adams' style, and a compelling reconstruction of a Doctor Who serial that almost wasn't.