Venusian
Lullaby
OCTOBER 1994
Paul Leonard’s first Doctor Who novel
is one that I didn’t enjoy very much all,
though it does look like I’m firmly in the minority on this one.
So why didn’t I like it? Well, Leonard has succeeded in writing a 1990s
novel in the exact style of a 1960s television serial. This is perhaps the
book’s greatest strength; perhaps even the reason that it has proven so
popular, but unfortunately it is also its greatest weakness as for all the
atmosphere and mood that Leonard’s writing evokes, it is long, slow and -
in my view at least - really rather turgid.
Venusian Lullaby
starts off reasonably well. The Venusians are conceived as completely
alien creatures, not only in their gigantic hexapodic appearance but also
in the way that they think; the way that they act; and the things that
they value. Admittedly this makes for some breathtaking science fiction,
but, as I found with Mark Gatiss’s New Adventure, St Anthony’s
Fire, it also makes the aliens incredibly difficult to sympathise
with. And with only two human characters and one humanoid to enjoy the
story through, I really found myself flagging around the book’s halfway
point.
This is a great pity because I love the novel’s mischievous premise – long
before life ever evolved on our world, a society thrived on Venus.
However, as time wore on, the planet became too hot and the Venusians
found themselves on the edge of extinction - until an alien race came
along to save the day, offering to move the Venusians to the third,
uninhabited planet of their solar system: Earth! It’s a bit of a pickle
for the Doctor, to say the least. Sadly, the threads of this plot don’t
even start to come together until well over a hundred pages in, by which
time I’d completely lost interest in the Venusians and their distinct lack
of martial arts proficiency.
However, Leonard does at least handle the regulars beautifully. Bludgeoned
into the tight gap between The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The
Rescue, this novel deals with Susan’s sudden departure at the end of
the previous story in a much more satisfying way than The Rescue
ever did. There are some particularly poignant passages where the Doctor
reflects on what will happen to Susan when David gets old and dies,
written as if the Doctor knows from experience what his
granddaughter is going to go through.
”I
am not Susan! Nor am I a
piece of her,
whatever you’ve told the Venusians. Neither is Ian.
We’re
people - people who are travelling with you,
and through no choice of our
own.
You have a responsibility to us.
If you can’t get us home, very well.
But at least you can look after us in the meantime.
Or if you won’t - if
you’re too busy with your ‘mysteries’
- then we’ll just have to look after
ourselves.“
Ian
and Barbara (when they aren’t convinced that they’re Venusians) are also
afforded a little more depth than they ever were on television - Ian in
particular is forced to confront his feelings about his travels in the
TARDIS, which I found very interesting indeed.
Altogether though Venusian Lullaby is a long, slow grind. It’s
jam-packed full of proper aliens, each described in
immense detail, but sadly it just couldn’t hold my attention over the
three hundred plus pages. I can see that it’s exceedingly well written and
I can see why other readers regard it with such esteem, but it just isn’t
my cup of tea.
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