2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very unique aliens and lots of action, February 24, 1998
This review is from: Venusian Lullaby (Dr Who : the Missing Adventures) (Paperback)
This book really captures the first Doctor. I could just imagine him saying and acting the part in this book. The Venusians were some of the most enjoyable aliens I have read about in a long time. The only part of the novel that got a bit tedious was that Ian and Barbara seemed to get a bit too injured. Everytime they turned around they would get blown up or burned. All in all a wonderfully delightful tale.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderous adventure for the Dr., November 24, 2006
This review is from: Venusian Lullaby (Dr Who : the Missing Adventures) (Paperback)
I thought this book was tedious at first, but about 40 pages in, the story really took off. I thought it was an excellent look at a made up culture 3000 years ago. There were very memorable characters. Some that made you laugh, and some that were just good characters. The way that the venusian society was split into different factions that thought that they had the answer to save the planet was thought out very well. It was typical of any sentient beings in that they did not all agree on the same thing all the time....I didn't like the high amount of death in the story. I tend to forget how much death there is in these Dr Who stories sometimes. that was the reason I only gave it 4 stars. That's kinda childish I know, but after reading the story, that was left in my head as an afterthought, what a lot of death. After having said all that, I still am very glad I read the book, because it was a wonderful story, told in the Dr Who style where the Dr knows best, and his partners, (and the reader), are just along for the ride. It was well written. It did not jump around a lot. However, keeping the venusian names straight all the time was taxing at times. Moreso because they were dying so often. If you like Dr Who stories, then this book will not disappoint you.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
"Close your eyes, my darling. Well, three of them at least.", February 24, 2005
This review is from: Venusian Lullaby (Dr Who : the Missing Adventures) (Paperback)
I liked VENUSIAN LULLABY for the same reasons frequently stated elsewhere. That it depicted a uniquely alien culture and did so in a logical, believable manner. And, yet, I can't quite place it up there with the classics of the Doctor Who range, because other portions of it were rather pedestrian. It's good, it's a bold experiment (for Doctor Who), but it's not quite perfect.
Before I move into more whining passages, I need to give credit where it's due. Paul Leonard did a superb job of creating a valid, alien-seeming society. Given the ludicrous illustration on the cover, the average person could be forgiven for assuming this to be a one-dimensional story where the aliens do nothing but make beeping noises and shout, "Resistance is stupid!"
But that isn't at all what the aliens in this book are like. They look strange, they act different (though the Venusian children behave a little too much like human children for my liking) and their thinking does not closely resemble human thought. I loved every bit of the Venusian customs. I can only wonder if it was as much fun for Leonard to write this stuff as it was to read.
And I loved the decision to make this a First Doctor/Ian/Barbara story. The slower pace of this book really made it feel of that era. (The Doctor even goes missing for a sizable chuck of the middle, either an accidental or tongue-in-cheek reenactment of William Hartnell going on vacation during the season.) In fact, I always thought that period of the show was much more interested than later years in giving the alien or human cultures more interesting and detailed backgrounds. The show was still exploring and establishing its own boundaries in those days, and it seems appropriate that it would allow time to explore the environment of the current story.
The invocation of the regular characters is outstanding. Without rehashing dialog or situations verbatim from the second season, Leonard utterly captures what this reader imagined as their mindset during that time. Ian and Barbara's opinion of the Doctor, their desire to return home, their common-sense attitude to the strange wonders they encounter -- all perfectly accurate. I was especially impressed by how Leonard manages to express the Venusian culture through Barbara's "remembering" ritual at the funeral while still managing to be completely true to her character. The subtle trick of introducing the utterly unfamiliar through the eyes of one of the most familiar characters in Doctor Who history is nothing short of a triumph.
Where the book begins to falter is when it moves away from character moments and Venusian culture and instead becomes involved in the rather humdrum plot. I would much preferred the book padding its length with more of the Venusian world-building. I could happily spend all day reading more about the Venusian funeral customs. More scenes involving the Venusians' goofy plans to escape their dying planet? I'm there. But the unfortunate sequences of companions endlessly hiking all the way across the planet trying to find their lost friends just didn't do anything for me. The book clocks in at 316 pages, making it slightly longer than the average for a Doctor Who novel, and the storyline just isn't quite involved enough to justify that length.
In fact, I found the last hundred or so pages rather tedious. It's almost as if Leonard, figuring he had done enough with the background, could simply place his plot into that setting and run with it. Judging by other, extremely positive reviews, this method worked out all right for him, but it left me a little cold. If I reread this book, I'll have to manage my time better so that I'm not breaking it into little chunks. Given enough momentum from the excellent beginning and middle sections, it might have made the plot-oriented ending easier to digest.
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