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Pilot X

(Pilot X #1)

Tom Merritt (Goodreads Author)

3.68 · Rating details · 1,132 ratings · 182 reviews

What would happen if a time traveler lived in a world where time could not easily be changed and if it was changed, it might destroy everything but himself?

Pilot X just wants to fly a time ship. Specifically the Verity. But the Guardians of Alenda, rulers of his people, throw him in the middle of a time war. When he makes peace they don’t seem pleased. In fact, his own peo ...more

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ebook, 179 pages

Published March 14th 2017 by Inkshares

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· 1,132 ratings · 182 reviews

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Apr 02, 2017 Rob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, own, science-fiction, read-2017, author-male

Executive Summary: A fun, quick read that fans of Doctor Who or classic Science Fiction will probably enjoy.

Audiobook: I was unfamiliar with Kevin T. Collins prior to listening to this book, but I'll be keeping an eye out for him in the future. He reads clearly at good volume and does a few voices as well. Tom lucked out with a good narrator who added a little something extra to the book.

Full Review
For what it's worth, I've been a member of Tom's online book club Sword & Laser for nearly 5 Executive Summary: A fun, quick read that fans of Doctor Who or classic Science Fiction will probably enjoy.

Audiobook: I was unfamiliar with Kevin T. Collins prior to listening to this book, but I'll be keeping an eye out for him in the future. He reads clearly at good volume and does a few voices as well. Tom lucked out with a good narrator who added a little something extra to the book.

Full Review
For what it's worth, I've been a member of Tom's online book club Sword & Laser for nearly 5 years, and helping to moderate the group for the last 2.5 years.

Tom might be better known for his work as a tech blogger and podcaster, but to me he's always been someone whose opinions on Science Fiction I've come to value. I picked this book up once I saw that I could get it in audio because I wanted to support Tom, but I seem to have very little time to read lately.

I know Tom has dabbled in writing on and off, especially during Nanowrimo, and that shows here. I haven't read any of his previous works, but this book is well written. Tom does a good job of showing and not telling, which is especially important to me in a book this short.

There are some big ideas about Time Travel, and he is consistent within his own rules for how it works, without spending too much time getting into the "science". This is the kind of big idea, little detail story I tend to associate with older Science Fiction stories.

Oddly, I don't tend to enjoy much classic Science Fiction because I tend to prefer more detailed world building. However I felt this book does a good job in packing in world building as the story progresses. There is a lot of room for imagination, but you're provided enough detail for framing the story he's trying to tell.

The one place I felt was a bit lacking was the characters. There isn't a ton of character development with Pilot X, and apart from the ship Verity and maybe the Secretary, most of the characters feel thin/disposable. I would have liked to read more about the after math of Pilot X's decision than we got.

The book has a bit of a Doctor Who feel, which isn't surprising as Tom has discussed how his inspiration for this book stemmed from that show's own Time War. However Pilot X doesn't feel like the Doctor. Or at least not any of the Doctor's I'm familiar with.

This book does a good job at borrowing an idea from Doctor Who while being it's own thing. I'm glad that I picked it up, and figure that I'll be able to tell people I followed Tom Merritt before he became a successful writer. ...more

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Jul 11, 2017 J.-F. Dubeau rated it it was amazing

My initial reaction to Pilot X was that I loved it. However, something didn't sit well with me. I kept wanting to give it three or four stars instead of five.

The story lacks a lot of the modern mainstays of science fiction. There's no bickering crew on the Verity. No love triangle. Pilot X is a little sarcastic and a hint acerbic but he's not the worn out, wisecracking badass of every book. He's not a weathered idealist who's lost his way in a cold and uncaring universe.

The world of Pilot X isn' ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Sci-Fi & Scary rated it really liked it

Shelves: request-netgalley

If you liked Dr. Who, then you’ll like Pilot X. X is a time traveler with a fairly unique ship. He just wants to fly his ship and explore things. Suddenly, in a sort of ‘thrust to greatness’ move, he finds himself in a time war. X is an affable fellow with great empathy who really only wants to do the right thing. He adores his ship, likes helping fix people’s problems, and is very intelligent with a bit of a mouth on him. As I said, if you like Dr. Who, you’ll like X too.

An engaging read, Pilot If you liked Dr. Who, then you’ll like Pilot X. X is a time traveler with a fairly unique ship. He just wants to fly his ship and explore things. Suddenly, in a sort of ‘thrust to greatness’ move, he finds himself in a time war. X is an affable fellow with great empathy who really only wants to do the right thing. He adores his ship, likes helping fix people’s problems, and is very intelligent with a bit of a mouth on him. As I said, if you like Dr. Who, you’ll like X too.

An engaging read, Pilot X pulls you easily into the story. Though it couldn’t be called a thriller by any stretch of the imagination, the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey and all that. X is a fellow that you root for almost instinctively, and his ship, Verity, is an almost perfect illustration of believable AI. There are hints of personality here and there as the story goes on, but you never think of her as an individual character. She’s an awesome ship, but just a ship nonetheless.

This is mystery and drama in a science fiction setting. X pops in and out of timelines often, but it’s not a problem to keep track of what’s going on. This is because we only ever know what X knows. With Pilot X, Tom Merritt examines the perception of reality as filtered through the lens of controlled information.

My favorite line from the book was:

“It didn’t make him good or evil. It just made him responsible.”

I think that sometimes we get too fixated on assigning labels to people and forget that it doesn’t really matter. This one line in Pilot X cuts right to the heart of the matter. If what this person did is good or evil is in the eyes of the beholder. For example: Some people think a homophobic racist bigot will make a great president. It’s all in the lens you view things through.

Pilot X has great pacing, solid dialogue, and an interesting plot. It’s an easy read from a talented author, and well worth checking out.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley for review consideration. ...more

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Jun 26, 2017 Enzo rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, war, mystery

First I am a fan of "Sword and Laser" so seeing Tom Merritt had written a book I was more then curious.
"Pilot X" is more like classic Sci-Fi, I see a lot of people mentioning Dr. Who, and I can see that comparing at least two races to other races we have come to know through Dr. Who.
Where it diverts is with Verity the Ship that Pilot X is assigned to.
But lets go back to the book. "X" is a member to the Alenda a race that has reached its pinnacle and seems to be coasting now in the Universe. T ...more

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Jul 02, 2017 Jamie rated it it was ok

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Sarcastic main character tools around the cosmos in his time machine (that's bigger on the inside) and is, thanks to a universe-spanning war, the last of an alien race of time travelers. A charitable view would be that Tom Merritt takes inspiration from Doctor Who. A less charitable view would be that Tom Merritt should probably be expecting a cease and desist letter from the BBC any day now.

Ultimately, this is a okay book that's short enough not to overs Stop me if you've heard this one before: Sarcastic main character tools around the cosmos in his time machine (that's bigger on the inside) and is, thanks to a universe-spanning war, the last of an alien race of time travelers. A charitable view would be that Tom Merritt takes inspiration from Doctor Who. A less charitable view would be that Tom Merritt should probably be expecting a cease and desist letter from the BBC any day now.

Ultimately, this is a okay book that's short enough not to overstay its welcome, but is clearly the effort of a new author.

The plot starts with Pilot X already the last of his kind and popping into another race's space station to tell the story of his people. This structure does the book a real disservice as it robs the entire thing of any stakes - it immediately gives away the ending and throws cold water on any confrontations.

What follows is the rise of Pilot X, an omnicompetent protagonist that has a series of timey-whimey adventures to try and help bring peace between his species, a hive-mind of not-Borg, and a race of machine people. The aliens he encounters are interesting in a transitory way, but there are no characters that are even given a two-dimensional treatment. Pilot X is no exception to this as he has no personal life, no relationships and no real motivations beyond wanting to tool around the cosmos in his talking time machine. Uninteresting characters, combined with the drama-robbing plot structure, lead to very little emotional impact.

The stakes ratchet down even further once a certain device is mentioned. At this point, the entirety of the plot is laid bare and the whole book just becomes a mechanical exercise of trudging to the inevitable finale. On the one hand, I don't want to spoil the book by saying more. But on the other, the book does a pretty effective job of spoiling itself at every opportunity.

Some of the time travel bits are interesting, but they're just not enough to support an entire plot. In looking back, the plot just doesn't seem to hang together, and could've used another editing pass and maybe some additional connecting tissue between events.
...more

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Mar 17, 2017 Dara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, scifi, read-2017

Pilot X is a time traveler. This is the story about his journey that ends up with him as the last surviving Alendan in the universe.

Pilot X reminds me of classic sci-fi stories. A lot of great ideas and an interesting plot but rather thin characters (reminiscent of Philip K. Dick. It also thankfully lacks the sexism and racism). Tom Merritt was inspired to write this book because of Doctor Who and the influence is clearly felt throughout. I generally enjoyed Pilot X as a character, even though h ...more

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May 21, 2018 Don rated it did not like it

This is just terrible. I really wanted to like it as I have followed Tom for many years on CNET, TWit, Daily Tech News, etc as well as his excellent (Hugo nominated) Sword and Laser podcast with Veronica Belmont. But I had to Lem it. S&L fans know what that means. Didn't quite get half way. My stomach was tightening up with each stupid twist. Literally tightening up and not the literally that means figuratively.
Pilot X is a time travel space opera with plenty of ideas but lacking the skill to ex ...more

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Sep 28, 2017 AndrewP rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, read-in-2017, audio-books

A time hopping adventure that is an obvious homage to Dr Who. Surprisingly the story manages to skirt all the usual tropes associated with time paradoxes but manages include quite a bit of humor that only works with time travel novels. The "go and complete this one year mission and meet me back here in 20 minutes" type.

There is an underlying story that is foreshadowed right at the beginning so you know where it's going right from the start. I was half expecting that to turn into a red herring.

D ...more

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Jul 21, 2017 Bryan Ewert rated it did not like it

Shelves: sci-fi

Consider someone relating a long story to you, perhaps one being fabricated on the spot. At various points, they spend an inordinate amount of time embellishing minutiae that has little relevance. Then they rush ahead, leaving wide gaps in the story. Dialog is colloquial, bordering on droll, yet weak and stilted. Character names change minute to minute. And finally, it's a story about time travel, where past, present and future swap places constantly, never once settling. It's a disorienting and ...more

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Dec 05, 2016 Charlie - A Reading Machine rated it really liked it

A playground for lovers of Time Travel

Review to come on Fantasy Faction.

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Sep 20, 2017 Kim rated it really liked it

The Alendans are the only race that has truly mastered time travel. Pilot X is happy that he gets to pilot one of the Alendan time traveling ships, and is particularly happy with the artificial intelligence assigned on that ship. However, one of the most senior ambassadors has asked Pilot X to become Ambassador X (Alendans use a title and single name, those with no position are simply called Citizen [given name]) and to try to negotiate a peace between two other races. These are the Progons, a r The Alendans are the only race that has truly mastered time travel. Pilot X is happy that he gets to pilot one of the Alendan time traveling ships, and is particularly happy with the artificial intelligence assigned on that ship. However, one of the most senior ambassadors has asked Pilot X to become Ambassador X (Alendans use a title and single name, those with no position are simply called Citizen [given name]) and to try to negotiate a peace between two other races. These are the Progons, a race of machines who can communicate with the past, and Sensaurians, a kind of jelly-like entity able to communicate within their hive mind to any time in the past or future.

Ambassador X is told that these two races are determined to destroy a fixed time point, which would create a disturbance through the entire universe. What follows is a pleasantly bizarre series of time traveling events to serve the goal of stopping the two races before they can act. Merritt manages some mind boggling time sequences, such as Pilot X landing on a planet in a primitive point in its development to train with a retired Ambassador who lives like a hermit. While his companion waits in the ship X is detained for three cycles of twelve years, each new cycle introducing another instance of himself, until he can fully absorb the languages and skills he'll need for his mission. He finally goes back to his companion in what seems like a short time for her but in which he's aged a dozen years.

Merritt's time manipulations generally work well (despite the paradoxes) as X travels through time, sometimes returning back to nearly the same time, to try to save the universe. Sometimes the shifts are a bit hard to follow. Meanwhile, as he travels, he begins falling in love with the ship's AI, which is slowly developing a sense of humor. He also learns that he's actually been drawn into a sinister conspiracy with the expectation that what he will really accomplish is the opposite of what he thought he was doing.

It's a universe of interesting and unique aliens written with humor and quite a bit of action. The most human-like race, the Alendans, have a complex culture, including a group that refuses to travel through time in order to keep watch on the universe in its natural sequence of events.

The book as a whole is a fun read with a bitter-sweet ending which, appropriately, is hinted at in the opening of the book. It's the most "Dr. Who-ish" book I've run into without actually involving The Doctor. ...more

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Mar 16, 2017 Dave Packard rated it it was amazing

Fun romp through time and space... I am not a Dr Who aficionado, but I guess that is not required to thoroughly enjoy Pilot X. Imaginative, thoughtful, and fast moving.

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Jan 21, 2017 Kate (Looking Glass Reads) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, review-copy

Pilot X is a new science fiction novel by Tom Merritt being released today, March 14, 2017. This is a fun, fast read, perfect for a lazy weekend. Which, incidentally, is exactly when I read this book.

So what did I think of it?

Well, first, it’s fun.

In this book we follow our main character, Pilot X, as he flies through space and time in his ship Verity while rising through the ranks of his home planet. Pilot X is an Alendan, a race of humanoid beings who have mastered the art of time travel who h ...more

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Oct 21, 2017 Lara rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017, science-fiction, abandoned, audiobooks

Eh, I'm not going to finish this one. I got the audiobook for like $3.00 awhile back and figured, "why not?" but I'm probably going ask for my $3.00 back because the narrator is completely killing it for me with his inexplicable use of a cheesy Transylvanian accent for one of the alien races, not to mention the fact that at the beginning he was spelling out everyone's names (who cares?), but then just completely stopped doing that after the first chapter or so.

I would switch to the print versio ...more

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Mar 01, 2017 Tyler rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

This is a hard book to review, and not only because I have a lot of respect for Tom Merritt from years listening to Sword and Laser.

First off, I love the premise of the story. A Time Lord-type race struggling in a shadowy, dimensional war with two other races whose influence spans the length and breadth of time and space. We experience this war through the eyes of Pilot/Ambassador/instructor X, who we are told throughout the novel is an important figure in the war. Merritt somehow manages to wri This is a hard book to review, and not only because I have a lot of respect for Tom Merritt from years listening to Sword and Laser.

First off, I love the premise of the story. A Time Lord-type race struggling in a shadowy, dimensional war with two other races whose influence spans the length and breadth of time and space. We experience this war through the eyes of Pilot/Ambassador/instructor X, who we are told throughout the novel is an important figure in the war. Merritt somehow manages to write the story of a civilization that experiences time non-linearly in a way that makes sense to the viewer. I've read a few time travel stories that made me hate the genre, so I'm glad I got a much better impression in this novel.

My main issue with the book, however, is there's a lot of telling of the importance of this Pilot X, but I never really saw evidence of his importance and prestige until the very end. Now, I'm the first person to tell you that I read very fast, sometimes at the expense of the pacing that the author intends, so it might have been my fault as much as Merritt's, but much of the book seemed like an extended montage of the life and time of Pilot X's life. I couldn't get immersed into the story and none of the significant moments had the weight that I wanted them to. I only knew they were important because, again, someone told me after the fact.

Merritt is obviously an expert at worldbuilding, there's so much that I feel could have been done with the worlds and characters. Just reading through the glossary, I know that there are entire civilizations hiding in Merritt's head, fully fleshed out. I can easily imagine whole chapters of worldbuilding and explanation being cut out for the sake of brevity and clarity of the story (which in fairness, clarity is difficult with a time-travel story, and Pilot X accomplished that). If my suspicions are correct, I would have loved to read a larger story in this universe, maybe one that was left on the cutting room floor.(view spoiler)

I did like the book though, and I will always support one of my favorite podcasters and general nerd culture celebrity.

4/5 stars, it's a short book that integrates time travel in a way that doesn't leave me with a migraine. Recommended. ...more

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Dec 23, 2019 Joyce rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks-jgravino21-audible, sci-fi, time-travel, alternate-history, kindle-books, technology, own, no-sex, flying, stand-alone-books

I really enjoyed this book. Pilot X has to try right wrongs in space and time. It just seems the more he does it the more he needs to do it. He is tasked with saving the universe or risk it imploding completely. Which is the right path to go?

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Mar 30, 2017 Jen rated it really liked it

Fun, interesting time travel book.

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Dec 26, 2019 Jordan rated it it was ok

Shelves: sci-fi, time-travel, audible

This is a weird sketchy bootleg Doctor Who knockoff. Complete with an obvious plot, no character depth, and a boring main character.

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Sep 17, 2017 Jeff Miller rated it it was amazing

Thoroughly enjoyable read. Time travel yarn that felt more like Golden Age SF. Plus the light sense of humor added to it.

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Feb 14, 2018 Eva rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Lord. Where do I even start?

I mean, there’s the obvious. Bizarro wise-cracking man travels through space and time in a female spaceship that he loves and which is bigger on the inside, fighting robots and malevolent organic flesh blobs in metal wastebaskets, ultimately must destroy both his own people and their enemies. (And he talks like the worst of the Eleventh Doctor, and I HATE the Eleventh Doctor. I’m honestly confused as to how this got past legal.)

That’s not even a damn spoiler because i Lord. Where do I even start?

I mean, there’s the obvious. Bizarro wise-cracking man travels through space and time in a female spaceship that he loves and which is bigger on the inside, fighting robots and malevolent organic flesh blobs in metal wastebaskets, ultimately must destroy both his own people and their enemies. (And he talks like the worst of the Eleventh Doctor, and I HATE the Eleventh Doctor. I’m honestly confused as to how this got past legal.)

That’s not even a damn spoiler because it’s right there at the start of the book. Which could be done cleverly by an author with any talent for narrative, but dear reader, this is NOT that author. There are no surprises in this book, nothing to ever make me wonder how he’d come to such a turn, or feel at all engaged with experiencing the process along the way. Every single step was utterly predictable, sometimes so much so that I became briefly confused when a character had to state it out loud. Yes, we know that. That is obvious. Why are you repeating it?

Speaking of characters, our hero is depicted as uniquely brilliant and talented, but he may actually be the dimmest character in the book. Not that he has much competition. The only intelligent character in it is his ship. Of course, a character doesn’t have to be intelligent to be worthwhile. A character could have all sorts of interesting and compelling traits, be so fully fleshed out they feel like a friend from some other lifetime.

This character is not that. None of them are. None of the characters have any interiority whatsoever. Their emotions are shallow and obvious, described in some of the most superficial and leaden prose I’ve ever had the misfortune to read. The author has no sense of the flow of language, speaking of. Characters perform actions as if they were demonstrating a technical manual; they speak in chunks of text with no indication of their body language, gestures, or what is happening around them. It is impossible to sink into the book’s fictional world because the author hasn’t even created one.

SPEAKING OF TECHNOLOGY, I can’t believe this guy is a tech writer, because the technology is bizarrely vague, bad, and unimaginative. I mean, just to start out with, pretty much every interior space comes off as some variation on “contemporary American hotel room.” He has an entire UNIVERSE stretching through all of time to explore, and everything looks...pretty much exactly like it does here on Earth in the Western world right now. The foods are just fake words dropped in front of American foods. Alendaller burger, for instance. Whatever that pie was. Beer. And the tech...like, the big universe ending device? It’s just suddenly brought into existence 5/6 of the way through and the only explanation for how is *five minutes of hand-waving*.

Oh! Oh oh oh! And exactly one female character is ever described in terms of appearance. She has flowing blonde hair. That’s her main characteristic. Would you like to know how many sentences before our hero decides he’s into her? ONE. They have all of three scenes and we’re meant to buy into a meaningful romance between them. How is this person married??

In conclusion: NO. Please go back to watching Doctor Who instead of cosplaying an even more emotionally tone deaf Steven Moffat. ...more

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Feb 13, 2018 John rated it liked it

Time travel is a tricky genre. It’s an equally tricky concept in general. While we’re all familiar with the idea of time travel, it can be difficult to wrap your head around it sometimes – especially when it’s integral to a particular story. Sometimes time travel is merely a frame through which to tell a story and the creator is perfectly happy just letting it happen without much explanation. Others develop convoluted rules to keep themselves and the story in check. Pilot X is something of the l Time travel is a tricky genre. It’s an equally tricky concept in general. While we’re all familiar with the idea of time travel, it can be difficult to wrap your head around it sometimes – especially when it’s integral to a particular story. Sometimes time travel is merely a frame through which to tell a story and the creator is perfectly happy just letting it happen without much explanation. Others develop convoluted rules to keep themselves and the story in check. Pilot X is something of the latter.

It’s a story that would not exist without time travel. But instead of focusing on just the time travel itself, author Tom Merritt creates a universe where time travel is simply a part of life. The titular character, Pilot X (who later takes on other titles besides just Pilot), is a member of a race that has mastered time. The Alendans can move freely across both time and space in specially engineered ships and Merritt creates a whole universe where this is seen as normal.

There is some really serious political/societal upheaval going on throughout this book and poor Pilot X finds himself wrapped up in all of it – like it or not. And, to be fair, he does at first. When he starts to realize that people from the future are regarding him with more credit than he’s due at a particular time, he gets excited. We all do. We want to know what comes next.

But what comes next isn’t all that simple. Nor is it always that easy to follow. Pilot X gets wrapped up in all kinds of crazy, secretive things going on behind the curtains. He makes discoveries about his own people and is forced to make difficult decisions that change the face of the universe and time as it’s known forever. The journey there is filled with training, diplomatic missions, betrayal, and more. And while it’s an entertaining ride it’s also a challenging one.

It doesn’t help that besides Pilot X and his ship, Verity, it’s hard to really connect with or care about the characters. Still, Pilot X has a very unique voice and perspective. He’s grown up in a world so unlike our own and while he’s seems mostly familiar, at times it’s very obvious how different his perspective on this can be. Pilot X is what made this book so memorable for me. His journey – from ambitious pilot until the end when he’s a man faced with some very difficult, universe-shattering choices – is engaging regardless of how complex and complicated it might be at a certain point.

Fans of time travel and science fiction who don’t mind a few complex twists are going to really enjoy this book. Casual readers might struggle with it a bit and the less interesting parts may cause them to run out early. But for those who stick it out, Pilot X is an entertaining, at times thought provoking read!
...more

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May 17, 2017 Diego S added it

Time travel is something that mankind only dreams of. The book Pilot X, by Tom Merrit, looks at three races that can achieve this. The book perfectly combines sci-fi and mystery, creating a great and entertaining story.

All that Pilot X wants to do, is fly his ship, the Verity, through time. Pilot X is a member of the Alendan race, a civilization that has mastered the technology to travel through time. As a Pilot, it is his job to take orders from officials and complete them without messing with Time travel is something that mankind only dreams of. The book Pilot X, by Tom Merrit, looks at three races that can achieve this. The book perfectly combines sci-fi and mystery, creating a great and entertaining story.

All that Pilot X wants to do, is fly his ship, the Verity, through time. Pilot X is a member of the Alendan race, a civilization that has mastered the technology to travel through time. As a Pilot, it is his job to take orders from officials and complete them without messing with the timeline. Pilot X doesn’t think much of his job, until one day, when he’s chauffeuring an important member of the Alendan government, he encounters the Alendan race’s worst enemies, The Progons, a race of pure electricity that inhabit mechanical bodies and can send signals through time, and the Sensaurians, a large hive mind that can send its thoughts to itself throughout time. The three civilizations have been fighting each other for as long as Pilot X can remember, and this time, he finds the two fighting over a planet with valuable resources and secrets. Before Pilot X can do anything, he finds himself face-to-face with Sensaurian soldiers. Pilot X’s quick thinking and tactical skill leads to him creating a peace between the three civilizations. When he returns to his home planet he is seen as a hero for creating a peace, and is given a promotion to Ambassador, a high rank in the Alendan government. As an Ambassador, he feels his life is finally complete. However, that feeling is quickly destroyed when the Secretary, a higher rank, informs him of a secret time war that has been raging on between Sensaurians, Progons and Alendans. The war has destroyed civilizations and left planets in ruins. Soon, everything Pilot X knows is torn apart, and he’s faced with the hardest decision in his life.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and was interested from start to finish. The story was great and the characters were perfect. However, the book can be confusing because of the way it describes time travel while keeping suspense. The author has a unique writing style, where he writes in very short phrases and sentences. There are very few long sentences, which makes the book interesting to read. I would highly recommend this book to others, due to its entertaining nature. I would definitely want to read more from this author, due to his unique writing style and the stories he creates. ...more

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Jan 13, 2018 Michael Ben Silva III rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a strange one. I *did* really enjoy the book, and I picked it up on Audible because the premise sounded good on its own, but this story is so strongly tied to Doctor Who, I don't know how to talk about it. The author explicitly has said he set out to write this book after wanting to know more about the Time War and the Doctor having to choose to destroy both Gallifrey and its enemies to save the rest of the universe. He says also that there aren't Daleks or a Tardis etc. in his novel, bu ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Britney rated it really liked it

Pilot X is an engaging read! I enjoyed the story. The book has a lot of big ideas about time travel, alien races, and morality. The book starts off at the end of the story before taking the reader through the circumstances that led Pilot X to that moment. Although it is a story about time travel, the rest of the book follows Pilot X through his own subjective timeline. Through Pilot X's eyes, we see a vast and interesting universe.

While I loved the big picture in this book, stronger world build ...more

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Sep 26, 2017 Stev Paulson rated it really liked it

I had been meaning to pick this up for a long time, but as I do most my reading through Audible, my credits kept going in other directions (usually for more expensive books). Not long ago, however, this was on a ridiculous sale, and I was able to pick it up for just a couple bucks.

I had a very hard time getting into this book. I found out the problem was not necessarily with the content or the narrator (who eventually I was ok with - I didn't appreciate his performance very much). The problem I ...more

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Oct 13, 2017 Suncerae rated it it was ok

Pilot X is of the time-traveling species of Alendans, but all he wants to do is fly his ship, the Verify. But his people throw him in the middle of a time war anyway, so he makes peace. When he realizes too late that peace is not what the Alendans want, Pilot X must make a choice, and both outcomes have universe-wide implications.

First, let's get this out of the way. A lone man, the last of his own race of time travelers, traverses time and space in his spaceship (that's bigger on the inside) wi ...more

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May 20, 2018 Francis Fernandez rated it liked it

A quick and fun sci-fi read that stars an alien from a race of time travelers who happen to use box that's bigger on the inside. So if you've heard this one before, you'll know what to kind of expect.

Up front, I really enjoyed this book. I had a good time, for the most part, reading this adventure of a secret dimensional war, where only one Alendan can stop it. There were some quippy dialog, some frolicking through space and time, and some interesting alien races. But unfortunately, there wasn't ...more

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Dec 26, 2020 Caanan Grall rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels

When you get to the end of a book and you have to read the first chapter again, I'd say you've got a pretty good time travel novel on your hands!

I love all things time travel, and this book has some unique ways of looking at it that other movies just never touch. Could you pull it apart and find all its holes? Probably. But from where I'm sitting, no-one's done time travel quite like this, using alternate timelines as just a regular ol' occurrence rather than the usual crutch of a Terminator/Bac ...more

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Jun 21, 2017 Matthew Sargent rated it liked it

Shelves: novels

Pilot X is a fun, humorous, quick adventure across time and space that I would think began its life as Doctor Who fan fiction if I thought Tom Merritt were the type of author to write fan fiction (which I don't). Merritt definitely deviated from the source of his inspiration to create a universe with plenty of interesting aliens and worlds. I just wish he had given the readers more time with them; many were there for a handful of pages, and then Pilot X was off to his next stop. I suppose that's ...more

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Nov 06, 2017 Karen rated it it was ok

Shelves: f-not-good, z-audio

First, do yourself a favor and skip the audible version. I had to listen at 1.2x speed just to get a normal cadence. Every sentence is read like it is VERY IMPORTANT, and it's just exhausting to listen to.

Second, while the story arc had some interest, the execution was amateur. There was *so much* exposition. There was a lot of "this person/thing is Unique and Special... because we say so." There was a lot of detail in the unimportant parts, and a lot of handwaving in the important parts. The t ...more

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The Sword and Laser: Win a signed copy of Pilot X	1	48	Apr 12, 2017 06:47AM
The Sword and Laser: Pilot X author (I forget his name) graces The Once & Future Podcast with his voice box	2	23	Mar 28, 2017 04:28PM
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About Tom Merritt

Tom Merritt

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Tom Merritt is a technology journalist and broadcaster. Tom has previously worked at TechTV, CNET and TWiT. He currently hosts the Sword and Laser book club podcast, Daily Tech News Show, Current Geek and Cordkillers among others.

photo by Andrew Mager