saoki's review against another edition
4.0
Venusian Lullaby is very much a science fiction book, with a strong feel of new wave science fiction and its interest in other worlds and cultures (and some fun potshots at golden age style conflict resolutions). It starts with an unusual funeral practice and gets weirder from there. The Venusians are carefully described so to be more alien than any species usually is in the show, which in turn makes the Tardis team's humanity shine through.
I'd specially like to point out that the author seemingly refused to let Ian punch his problems away, going so far as to burning both his hands so he couldn't. I agree with this choice, Ian is better when he is thinking than when he is getting into gladiatorial fights in ancient Rome. But I digress.
This book spotlights very well the significant difference in feel and tone to the novels written when the show wasn't actually airing. There is so much tenderness towards the characters, a care for their feelings about each other (and Susan!) that could only come from being a few decades separate from the original stories and missing them, wondering about the private moments between one adventure and another. In short, it is written with a fan's heart. And then there is the daring alien setting, with its detailed culture and society, the different sects, the predator species. It is all wonderfully done and makes for a great book.
I'd specially like to point out that the author seemingly refused to let Ian punch his problems away, going so far as to burning both his hands so he couldn't. I agree with this choice, Ian is better when he is thinking than when he is getting into gladiatorial fights in ancient Rome. But I digress.
This book spotlights very well the significant difference in feel and tone to the novels written when the show wasn't actually airing. There is so much tenderness towards the characters, a care for their feelings about each other (and Susan!) that could only come from being a few decades separate from the original stories and missing them, wondering about the private moments between one adventure and another. In short, it is written with a fan's heart. And then there is the daring alien setting, with its detailed culture and society, the different sects, the predator species. It is all wonderfully done and makes for a great book.
philosopher_kj's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cannibalism
Spoiler
The cannibalism featured is not done out of sadistic pleasure or survival but as a funeral rite for the Venusians in order to be remembered.khourianya's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third book in the Doctor Who Missing Adventures books, published by Virgin Publishing
From GoodReads:
'You want me to help you eat your children?' Ian said.
Jellenhut's eye-stalks twitched. 'How else would we remember them?'
Venus is dying. When the Doctor, Barbara and Ian arrive they find an ancient and utterly alien civilization on the verge of oblivion. War is brewing between those who are determined to accept death, and those desperate for salvation whatever the cost.
Then a spacefaring race arrives, offering to rescue the Venusians by moving them all to Earth - three billion years before mankind is due to evolve. Are the newcomers’ motives as pure as they appear? And will the Doctor allow them to save his oldest friends by sacrificing the future of humanity?
This is the longest book so far and BY FAR the hardest to get into, while still being a very engaging story. I attribute this to the fact that the author actually did not try to humanize the aliens beyond a very rudimentary humanizing in the description of the anatomical features. Names and things are in the Venusian language and can be hard to wrap my english brain around. BUT eventually it begins to flow into a story about a planet becoming inhabitable and how other civilizations move in to gain/help as a result.
This story features the First Doctor, Barbara and Ian. Aside from the episode (available on Netflix) "The Three Doctors", this was my first experience with the Fist Doctor and I feel like I can't judge the book and how good of a fit it is without tracking down more episodes with William Hartnell and see. I may need to come back and edit this review later.
If you are needing a Doctor Who fix...this should do it just fine :)
From GoodReads:
'You want me to help you eat your children?' Ian said.
Jellenhut's eye-stalks twitched. 'How else would we remember them?'
Venus is dying. When the Doctor, Barbara and Ian arrive they find an ancient and utterly alien civilization on the verge of oblivion. War is brewing between those who are determined to accept death, and those desperate for salvation whatever the cost.
Then a spacefaring race arrives, offering to rescue the Venusians by moving them all to Earth - three billion years before mankind is due to evolve. Are the newcomers’ motives as pure as they appear? And will the Doctor allow them to save his oldest friends by sacrificing the future of humanity?
This is the longest book so far and BY FAR the hardest to get into, while still being a very engaging story. I attribute this to the fact that the author actually did not try to humanize the aliens beyond a very rudimentary humanizing in the description of the anatomical features. Names and things are in the Venusian language and can be hard to wrap my english brain around. BUT eventually it begins to flow into a story about a planet becoming inhabitable and how other civilizations move in to gain/help as a result.
This story features the First Doctor, Barbara and Ian. Aside from the episode (available on Netflix) "The Three Doctors", this was my first experience with the Fist Doctor and I feel like I can't judge the book and how good of a fit it is without tracking down more episodes with William Hartnell and see. I may need to come back and edit this review later.
If you are needing a Doctor Who fix...this should do it just fine :)
andystehr's review against another edition
3.0
The first Doctor has never been my favorite. This book had a bit going against at the onset, but I enjoyed it. I especially like the Venusians and I'm looking forward to the next first Doctor book.
frakalot's review
4.0
A delightfully absurd plot. The aliens are spectacularly alien and I enjoyed hanging with the first Doctor, Barbara and Ian on this adventure.
nwhyte's review
3.0
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1020322.html[return:][return:]I wasn't overwhelmed with the only other Paul Leonard DW book I'd read (Genocide), but I must say this one really grabbed me. Jon Pertwee's Doctor used to tell us that "Klokleda partha menin klatch" meant "Close your eyes, my darling - well, three of them at least". Here Paul Leonard has taken that throwaway line and constructed one of the best alien cultures I've ever read around it; reminiscent a little of both the pentagonal creatures of At the Mountains of Madness (though a lot less evil) and David Brin's Alvin the Hoon, but faced with an imminent world-destroying tragedy - this is Venus of several billion years ago, still habitable though steadily deteriorating. It's set immediately after The Dalek Invasion of Earth and before The Rescue, so the Doctor is here with Ian and Barbara but no younger female companion. Leonard, like most writers, cannot write Hartnell's Doctor especially well, but the story and the setting more than compensate. An unexpected pleasure.
nukirisame's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
markk's review
3.0
Having left Susan on Earth in the 22nd century, the Doctor's other companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, insist that the Doctor take them back to their own time. Instead the TARDIS lands on Venus three billion years in the past, a time when the planet was not only habitable but inhabited by sentient life forms. As the Venusians attempt to cope with the impending fate of their world, a massive spaceship arrives bearing aliens promising salvation by transporting them to a prehistoric Earth. But is the offer as genuine as it seems, or do these aliens possess a hidden motive that could lead to the Venusians' extinction?
As the third book published in the Virgin Missing Adventures line of Doctor Who novels, Paul Leonard's novel serves as a model for the series in a number of respects. Foremost among them are the Venusians themselves; with their large quadrupedal forms and multiple eye-stalks, there is no need for the reader to pretend that these aliens aren't just actors in elaborate makeup or cheap costumes as was all too often the case on the show back then. Leonard supplements this by portraying their practices and customs as fundamentally different from those of humans, all without sacrificing any sympathy for his characters. Yet in some respects Leonard succeeds a little too well, as when coupled with his writing style it can be difficult at times to understand exactly what is going on in the narrative. While a little more descriptiveness may have slowed the fast pace Leonard establishes in the book, it would have made for a more comprehensible examination of the truly different world he portrays, one that demonstrates the possibilities available when portraying a Doctor Who adventure on the printed page.
As the third book published in the Virgin Missing Adventures line of Doctor Who novels, Paul Leonard's novel serves as a model for the series in a number of respects. Foremost among them are the Venusians themselves; with their large quadrupedal forms and multiple eye-stalks, there is no need for the reader to pretend that these aliens aren't just actors in elaborate makeup or cheap costumes as was all too often the case on the show back then. Leonard supplements this by portraying their practices and customs as fundamentally different from those of humans, all without sacrificing any sympathy for his characters. Yet in some respects Leonard succeeds a little too well, as when coupled with his writing style it can be difficult at times to understand exactly what is going on in the narrative. While a little more descriptiveness may have slowed the fast pace Leonard establishes in the book, it would have made for a more comprehensible examination of the truly different world he portrays, one that demonstrates the possibilities available when portraying a Doctor Who adventure on the printed page.
hammard's review
2.0
I wanted to justify my 2 Stars a little. This book is wildly ambitious in creating a very different kind of alien society that also feels very familiar and, at the same time, dealing with the emotional aftermath of Dalek Invasion of Earth. This is very successful in doing this and should be applauded.
However, it was not enjoyable to read. It was like wading through treacle and almost relentlessly depressing. I cannot say I liked it even if I appreciate what it is doing
However, it was not enjoyable to read. It was like wading through treacle and almost relentlessly depressing. I cannot say I liked it even if I appreciate what it is doing
More...