A Review of Lungbarrow by Rob Langenderfer

          Marc Platt’s Lungbarrow is one of those New Adventures that has many compelling parts and yet it is also very confusing.   For a good part of the story there are two plotlines running in it.  Leela’s adventures on Gallifrey in which Andred, Romana and (later on) Ace also play a key role are very interesting and provide the book’s readers with a plot that they are able to follow easily.  However, the other plotline of the machinations of the Doctor’s family is complicated in the extreme, and this reader at least never felt as if he could truly sympathize with or understand any of the guest characters in that part of the story.  This damages the overall effect of the story.  This was a tale with a lot of potential.  It discusses the Doctor’s origins in some detail and if the writer had penned a more clear narrative it could have been much stronger.  I largely agree with Tom Beck when he comments that it is, “All but unreadable....I probably could have figured Lungbarrow out if I had re-read it three or four times but a) who has the time and b) you should never have to re-read a book to understand it.”  His assessment is possibly a bit harsher than I would make of it, but the gist is absolutely correct.  Platt had originally planned this as a TV story to air during season 26.  Perhaps it would have been made in a more clear fashion in that format.  Even “Ghost Light”, for all its complexity, did manage to retain some degree of comprehensibility.  This was a book whose great potential went unfulfilled.  Even its explanation of the origin of Susan was overly complex and disappointing.  Still, there have been New Adventures that were far worse than this one.  This book does set up the movie pretty effectively as Chris leaves at the story’s end, and the Doctor goes to pick up the Master from Skaro.  Even here though, more attention should be given to the TARDIS’s redecoration at the end since the way it appeared in the movie was so radically different from what had gone before.  At least with The Dying Days that followed Lungbarrow, Virgin’s New Adventures ended on a strong note.