Doctor Who: Lungbarrow

Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures #60

by Marc Platt, Daryl Joyce (Illustrator)

All is not well on Gallifrey. The House of Lungbarrow, where the Doctor left his family 673 years ago, has disappeared. In the seventh Doctor's final New Adventure, he faces a threat that could uncover the greatest secret of them all.

Changes for this edition, as described by the author:
"I've taken the liberty of tinkering a bit, changing a few things around - things that seemed like a good idea at the time, but definitely don't now. I've surgically removed one section early on, swapped over a couple of chapters and added an extra sequence at the start of the final chapter. The actual story hasn't changed at all. It's modified and augmented, not regenerated. But maybe it flows a little better."

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Ebooks, Fantasy, Media Tie In

241 pages, ebook

First published April 20, 1997

About the author

Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.

After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC. He wrote the Doctor Who serial Ghost Light based on two proposals, one of which later became the novel Lungbarrow. That novel was greatly anticipated by fans as it was the culmination of the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan", revealing details of the Doctor's background and family.

After the original series' cancellation Platt wrote the script for the audio Doctor Who drama Spare Parts. The script was the inspiration for the 2006 Doctor Who television story "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel", for which Platt received a screen credit and a fee.

He lives in London.

Reviews

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who fans cannot seem to talk about Marc Platt's legendary novel "Lungbarrow" these days without a comparison to the 2020 Series 12 episode "The Timeless Children." I can understand why, and perhaps the TV showrunner Chris Chibnall had "Lungbarrow" partially in mind when writing his controversial retcon. So this review will also compare "Lungbarrow" to "The Timeless Children" and explore how "Lungbarrow" might fit in to the lore post-Timeless Child. So be warned--there may be some spoilers, and this will be quite a long and in-depth review. If you've got some time to spare, please buckle in and indulge me, dear readers, for Doctor Who is near and dear to my heart.

The novel came out as the last of a series of books continuing the adventures of the Seventh Doctor as played by Sylvester McCoy after his tenure on television was abruptly cut short when the show went on hiatus in 1989. It bridges the gap of continuity between when we last saw the Doctor in Season 26 to his return in the 1996 TV movie. "Lungbarrow" explains to us why The Doctor is traveling alone at the beginning of the movie, what happened to his companion Ace, why he is carrying the remains of The Master, and even why the TARDIS interior no loner appears as a sleek white honeycomb but as a steampunk cathedral never before seen by fans in the series. If you are curious about any of these answers, stop reading this review and go find the book right now. But if you are wanting to know more about my thoughts as to how "Lungbarrow" ties in to the recent developments of "The Timeless Children," then do continue by all means.

Like Series 12 of modern Who, the creative forces behind the last Sylvester McCoy season of the classic series tried to turn Doctor Who lore on it's head by revealing that the Doctor had not always been just an alien who got bored and went walkabout in a time machine. Though the climax of this arc was never filmed, the end result was this novel--a dark and unsettling adventure set on the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey that created ambivalence in the fanbase. So it is a pretty important entry in the history of the long-running sci-fi epic, and as such, copies of this story are coveted by their owners, making this a rare find on the internet for anything less than several hundred dollars or more. But is it worth reading? Let's take a look.

The first thing to mention is that this is one of the few examples of Doctor Who media, whether in novels, comics, audio recordings, or film, that felt truly unsettling and otherworldly. Reading this reminded me of when I had taken too much Benadryl when I had a fever as a kid, and fell asleep listening to old sci-fi shows while the voices on the television somehow invaded into my delirious dreams, reshaping themselves into something very disorienting and nightmarish.

Despite the unusual tone of this story, there are plenty of familiar faces to ground Doctor Who fans in the classic age. There's Leela, Romana, K-9 (both Mach I and II), Susan, and Ace/Dorothée. The classic characters are portrayed with love and skill by Platt, so that you can literally imagine them on screen as though this had been a real episode of the original series. Ace is particularly in fine form, having matured since the last TV episode into somewhat of a man-eater and a lone adventurer, and she is quite a delight. I couldn't help but chuckle aloud as we see her in 19th Century Paris getting harassed by the cops because of her motorcycle, as she displays the innocent contents of her bags of baguettes and protests, "See? Rien du crack!"

But The Doctor is the real draw--in particular, his mysterious origins. "Lungbarrow" treats us to the culmination of Andrew Cartmel's "Masterplan," which was a story arc that the Sylvester McCoy era had been building up towards before the untimely cancellation of the original show. McCoy and his chief script editor, Cartmel, wanted to remind audiences of the Doctor's dark and mysterious side established in the Hartnell days. McCoy's Doctor, like Hartnell before him and Eccleston after him, is a Doctor with secrets, secrets that we are dying to have revealed but we also hope to never know them. "Lungbarrow" introduces us to some of these secrets.

The Doctor was born to the great house of Lungbarrow--a sprawling mansion in the mountains that will remind readers of Hogwarts mixed with the cabin of "Evil Dead 2." The Doctor's previous home is certainly the stuff of horror stories. It is a place where the oversized articles of furniture have personalities of their own--where a table might just as soon trip you up as serve dinner, and a chair might not want you to leave it's comforting embrace. It is a place where light barely penetrates, where the vampiric inhabitants wander the vast and dusty halls by candlelight, play board games with wizened old crones, raise slug-like mushrooms, and scheme and gossip like the cast of a Southern Gothic novel. It is a place where you can always expect the unexpected, where you might see a pair of legs hanging out of the fireplace, or hear a voice calling to you from inside an old stove. It is where tall wooden statues creak about in the dark of their own volition, and ghosts from the past flit about in the shadows and get inside your head. It is in this bewildering atmosphere where we learn just how and why the Doctor is "far from just another Timelord."

I must say that the prose is quite well done. What drops this story down a star in my rating is that the writing is often very disorienting. Sure, there are a lot of references to already established world-building, and this alone will make it difficult for a casual Doctor Who fan to get their bearings. But even for a seasoned die-hard like me, I had a hard time understanding what was going on. Characters behave and respond to things in ways you do not expect, as though you are watching a David Lynch film, and the reader often has to backtrack and figure out if they missed something or if in fact the book is just becoming surreal.

I should also warn you that "Lungbarrow" is NOT your typical Target Doctor Who novelization. This is a Virgin "New Adventure." The Virgin stories were geared much more to adults than to kids and teens. Therefore, they contain elements that might be a little surprising to those who only know Doctor Who from their TV screens. Personally, I kind of like these more adult elements, as they ground the story in a little more gritty realism while still staying faithful to original vision of the program. Also, gone is the sing-song and simple prose that characterized the early novelizations. "Lungbarrow" is good literature, at times almost poetic in its voice, that tries to evoke feelings through the use of language rather than just telling a straight-forward adventure narrative.

That being said, this is not going to be a good entry point for anyone not already familiar with Doctor Who, nor is it necessarily going to be the favorite of already established Doctor Who fans. But here is where I must talk about the "Lungbarrow" controversy and how it differentiates from "The Timeless Children." SPOILERS AHEAD!

Both were ambitious stories that dared to give us more than just a glimpse into the Doctor's past. However, "The Timeless Children," as well as the entire retcon of the rules of regeneration that led up to it, may have turned off many fans because of its approach. Before the last two seasons from former showrunner Peter Moffat, new Doctor Who was giving the old fans what they wanted out of respect for the people that kept the interest in the show alive through the Wilderness Years, while also managing to reinvigorate the show with a new energy that attracted a wider audience. When I was a kid, only serious geeks admitted they liked Doctor Who. But between 2005 and 2016, a magic formula had been found, and it was never a better time to be a fan of the show. Because of the demographics of where I have lived most of my life, my friends who enjoyed the show were equally black and white, gay and straight. On top of this, the vast majority of fans I knew were women, including my own mother, my younger sister, my friend from South Korea, my friend from Cyprus, and later my wife, sister-in-law, and stepdaughter. Never once in all those years had race or gender been at all problematic for my diverse sampling of American Whovians. That would be as silly as those of us who also are fans of Japanese kaiju cinema or manga, or who love German Expressionist silent films, or who listen to hip hop, complaining that the artforms don't have enough representation. But unfortunately, it was such focus that came packaged with everything leading up to Series 12's attempt to explore the Doctor's origins. Chris Chibnall and his team latched on to one very vague and brief feature of "The Brain of Morbius" to justify solving the "problem" that the Doctor had always been a white male. This "solution" included the writing of the Series 12 finale "The Timeless Children." In so doing, the writing team SEEMED to be ignoring years of solid continuity all establishing William Hartnell as the first incarnation of who we know as the "Doctor."

Now, I say "SEEMED" because I do think Chibnall was and is aware of the apparent continuity strain just as much as he has said. I think he has every intention of addressing some of this further in his last season and possibly leaving some aspects to future showrunners. I predict history will show that the "pre-Hartnell" incarnations will not the be the main problem with the show's direction--rather, it is the narrative choices which demystified and degraded the Doctor, the Timelords, the Cybermen, AND the Master that will be more difficult to correct. This is because "The Timeless Children" and the two seasons that led up to it was the product of a nihilistic approach. "Have you ever been limited by who you were before?" asks the BBC in a Doctor Who Twitter post in 2020. Jodie Whittaker's introduction as the Doctor was after an episode that portrayed the original Doctor as a sexist and politically-incorrect old fart, and there could not have been a more deliberate misrepresentation of Hartnell's Doctor to young fans. We were further geared up for Whittaker's first season with images of a glass ceiling being shattered. And to cap it all off, rather than ingratiating herself to fans, she goes on public record saying that the show had previously "celebrated the male gaze," a show which she admitted she knew nothing about and did not even bother to watch to prepare for the role. The caretakers of a show were sending the message to fans ONCE AGAIN that "Doctor Who" was a thing to be ashamed of, and this was the mindset the creative team brought with them when creating this new origin arc. Not so with "Lungbarrow," and if you read it, you will see all the difference in the universe.

So for those of you reading this who did not like the direction of the last few seasons, I would encourage you to think about the potential root causes of your dissatisfaction. For me, I have been turned off by the apparent mean-spirited mishandling of a show that had once been for everyone because of a misunderstanding by the BBC of their own product. But the actual attempts to shake up the formula or to provide something new to an almost 60-year-old franchise is, as I see it, a necessity to keep it viable for many more generations. "Lungbarrow" stands to remind us that exploring the Doctor's past is not an unforgivable sin in itself, the first story to canonize that the Doctor led a previous life of an unknown span of time and perhaps even of an indeterminate amount of incarnations before we came to know him as a guy hiding out in an Earth junkyard in 1963 London with his granddaughter. I think it works very well, but it is still largely pre-Chibnall Who. So does that mean that "Lungbarrow" can still be canon?

Absolutely! For example, while the show has only recently decided that Timelords can gender-swap during regeneration, "Lungbarrow" may partially explain how this may have been possible all along with its introduction of the concept of "the loom." At one point in time, separate male and female Timelords mated and bore baby Gallifreyans before a Pythian curse caused sterility that led to new Timelords having to be "woven" in a "loom" to replace the deceased. The book also makes it clear that though the Timelords are "barren," they still like to practice hanky-panky when given the chance, as in the case of Andred who has been keeping Leela as a "consort" all these years, even if they can't legally marry because she is from another planet. The idea of "looming" could work rather well with the new concept for the show. The Shoboguns, first mentioned in "The Deadly Assassin" from 1976, are the humanoid ancestors of the Timelords and may have adapted to their sterility via their new powers of regeneration by randomly reconfiguring into different sexes in order to maintain heterogony, since no new boys or girls could be born on Gallifrey. Just as there was a Gallifrey in "The Timeless Children" that existed before regeneration was discovered, so there was a Gallifrey before the looms. Both regeneration and the looms were pivotal points in Gallifreyan history that led them to be the asexual (or pansexual) beings that they have become. Also, the book makes it clear that the prototype for who we now know as The Doctor existed in some form BEFORE the curse and BEFORE the looms and had progeny, thus explaining the Susan lineage. There was some form of rebirth taking place after the looms, leading to the weaving of a new personality with 13 regenerations that became reunited with his granddaughter and escaped from the planet. I won't go into further detail than that, but trust me that this opens up all kinds of explorative possibilities that can be used to tie up loose continuity while still maintaining areas of sustained mystery. Finally, "Lungbarrow" ends with a hint that things are about to change for Gallifrey yet again, meaning that the Timelords who have had to adjust to being able to mix and match genders since "the curse" are in for another abrupt adjustment. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that if this ending were to be further explored in the TV series, we could be in store for some intelligent and complex sociopolitical and psychological themes the likes of which can only be explored through the lens of sci-fi and fantasy.

Another way that both stories can work together is in how they have elaborated on the semi-religious mythology of the epic. Both gave us a glimpse of our hero's life before he commandeered the old Type-40 time machine and became known as "The Doctor." Both stories reveal the Doctor to also have been a mythical figure involved in the founding of Timelord society, and who was later erased from history to be reborn as The Doctor we know as starting from the 1963 debut. So far, there is nothing to say that "The Timeless Child" and "The Other" from "Lungbarrow" are not synonymous. It is even possible that Tecteun, the Gallifreyan Shobogun that first discovered the Timeless Child and thus the secret of regeneration, could be "The Other," and hence later "The Doctor." Either way, "Lungbarrow" and "The Timeless Child" presents us with a Doctor with a past that had been erased and is now slowly being reclaimed, but in no way does this undermine the importance of William Hartnell's first Doctor or of the character we know as The Doctor. The general picture that has been painted by these stories is of a legendary being who was part of the founding of a powerful society, then had a "fall" of some kind--was exploited, shunned, and persecuted--and eventually took on a new identity and escaped. We as fans have been watching the growth of this person's soul and personality ever since, and that begins with our first incarnation of this "Doctor," originally portrayed by William Hartnell. What we have is essentially a King Lear tragedy mixed with a rebirth quest--Conan and Superman mixed with Mr. Bean, a fallen "angel" learning the true meaning of what it is like to live and love, an exiled prince who becomes just a "bloke," a wandering hobo, a madman in a box, and through his choices during these trials and tribulations truly becomes greater than his exalted origins. This is, in academic terms, one of the greatest Dostoevskian Christ-figure stories in all of fiction.

So if anything, fans who either hated the direction of the "Timeless Children" or who appreciated it will both have something to think and talk about in "Lungbarrow." I still believe that "Lungbarrow" can remain canon with the "Timeless Children." It would be great to see future showrunners even bring back folks like Marc Platt and Andrew Cartmel to personally incorporate their ideas with those of modern Who for fans of any persuasion. Of course, I know you can't please everyone all of the time, but getting "Lungbarrow" in some capacity onto the screen as it was originally intended would be a step in right direction of uniting and increasing viewership, at least in my humble opinion.

Or just have the whole Other/Timeless Child thing written off because the Master lies and so does the Doctor. Whatever works. That's not likely to happen, but hopefully someone at the BBC will at least acknowledge that Timelord Cybermen and the total destruction of Gallifrey by the Master is really damned silly so we can all move on with some piece of make-believe that we CAN all get behind. I mean, life is hard enough for us nerds without us getting the vapors over our favorite piece of escapism.

In summary, there is a lot of value in "Lungbarrow," and I highly encourage all Whovians who haven't read it to give it a try. And just between us, as of the time of this writing, you do NOT have to spend tons of your hard-earned cash to read it. A very legible PDF version of the second print is available under "Documents" in Scribd. So pour yourself a handful of Jelly Babies and experience the "Cartmel Masterplan" in action!

SCORE: 4 Ace's!

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lungbarrow is the unofficial 'forbidden text' of Doctor Who. This is due to the fact that it is a wild continuity-fest that explains the Doctor's history and background. The fact that you cannot get hold of a copy for love nor money helps too.

[Mae R · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book popped up on my radar when it was mentioned in a video from tgwtg.com producer Nash entitled "The Cartmel Masterplan" which detailed how, towards the end of the classic series, there was this crazy idea to make the doctor be some kind of time lord God in an attempt to inject a little more mystery into Gallifrey. As the series was canceled, this idea never made it to TV, but was instead realized in this book.

Ok, so basically, way back in the day Gallifrey was founded by these three dudes, Rassilon (of new series super-spitty guy fame), Omega (of classic series "The three doctors" fame, and the Other (of no fame, because apparently he wrote himself out of history?). So somewhere along the line these dudes pissed off some Pythian witches who were all, "haha, we curse you! No more babies for you!!" and thus all of Gallifrey was barren. To stop their species from extinction, they came up with this rather esoteric idea of having the dead be absorbed into Looms which would then weave the next generation by recombining the genes. New Gallifreyans are born fully grown up, and are educated in one of the Houses until they're ready to be unleashed onto the world. Also, each House's Loom can only produce a predetermined amount of extant Cousins (as they're called, instead of siblings) or else it's super duper illegal and they get a fine or something. Confused yet? Bored yet? Me too, let's do what the book does and jump to some TV characters!!

Romana II's decided that she's done playing with the furrys in E-Space, returned to Normal space and somehow been elected president of Gallifrey. As you do.

Leela is also hanging out on Gallifrey for reasons which never become clear. Her current hobbies include being bored and getting knocked up by some minor gallifreyan official (but wait! you gasp, I thought the gallireyans were sterile!! Well, yes but I guess Romnana goes glamping or something with the Real Housewives of Pythia and the curse is reversed. Or something).

K-9 is being an awesome. So is K-9 II. They hang out. Trade stories, blow some things up, pick up some chicks, the usual tin dog stuff.

Ace/Dorothee is running around Paris and gets dragged to Gallifrey where she sits in a room and fights with her evil twin for awhile before rejoining the group on Gallifrey and doing...not much of anything. Blows up a mountain, eventually, but othesrise nothing of import.

Ok, back to the weird stuff. So the Doctor's House was the House of Lungbarrow, and for the past 600+ years all his cousins have been trapped in the house underground eating gross mushrooms because...the house was annoyed and sentient and decided that was a good idea? Also, there's a dead guy and some creepy servant robots and omg the mushrooms are pretty terrible. You know what else is pretty terrible? The Doctor's cousins! They're all really awful people and I don't really care that they've been stuck underground being creepy and never cutting their hair (ok, that's just one cousin, and she wears it all coiled up on her back and I couldn't stop thinking about how much bacteria the damn thing must have been housing!). So you get to hear them complain and complain and complain about their various and sundry issues and the gross sentient mushrooms get everywhere. So all the cousins keep kind of dying...but not regenerating...except for one who was stuck in a chimney? I have no idea, but they all come back zombie style later.

Did that make any sense? No? Is this review frustrating you? Good! Cause that's how Lungbarrow will make you feel!!

In the end the zombies and the Doctor chat and the Doctor mildly possess some other companion who is only the books and I knew nothing about. Oh, and Romana gets briefly deposed. And I guess the doctor is secretly a God, as he's actually The Other from timelord history!! Who got bored with being in power and swanned off and threw himself into a loom! The lungbarrow loom! Which absorbed him, then eventually spat him back out as the Doctor. So the Doctor is eventually disowned by the family (still not sure why...) and ends up swanning off himself, stealing a TARDIS in the meantime. The TARDIS takes him back in time where he meets Susan, aka the Other's granddaughter, who immediately glomps him recognizing her reincarnated grandfather. The doctor is all, no really, who the hell are you?? But eventually decides that every Lone Ranger needs a Tonto and agrees to take her along.

And the rest, as they say, is rock'n'roll history.

Look, if the original characters had been a little more endearing, or the plot been less ploddingly random, I might have liked this one. I honestly enjoyed having Romana and Leela (two of my old favorites) back and running around. I understand that they had this cool plan to try to make the doctor's background/Gallifrey less silly. And in general, the idea of the looms...ok, maybe it could have been more compelling if the execution had been there. But it wasn't. Oh, it wasn't.

And honestly, this entire plotline has essentially been ret-conned out of existence with the new series so in the end, it doesn't much matter anyway. Read this book if you're bored, it's not *that* bad, but don't expect too much.

[Oleg X · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kinda expected it to be weirder by the reputation. Maybe that says something about me. I like the idea of Doctor's family being boring self-important assholes. The "secret origin" extremely doesn't work after the whole Timeless Child thing did it at full extreme of badness.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mish-mash of gothic creepiness, Hieronymous Bosch-inspired terror, expertly handled fanwank, and authentic, emotional closure. Marc Platt's conclusion to the 7th Doctor "New Adventures" line is a wonderful odyssey that lurches between completely bats...and completely sublime.

[Alex Sarll]

A story revealing secrets of Gallifrey's past, and the Doctor's – including bringing that notorious Brain of Morbius scene back to the fore – “How far, Doctor? How long have you lived?” An 'everything you know is a lie' story, to some extent, and those are always risky. But compared to the recent season finale, one which has the advantage of being written by one of Who's best, as opposed to a dull hack who has only once, with adult supervision, exceeded the dizzy heights of 'workmanlike', and most of the time can't even manage that. The first sentence here - "Time's roses are scented with memory" – has more poetry and weight than everything Chris Chibnall has ever written, combined, and the gap just gets more pronounced from there. You know that meme where there's a beautiful animal captioned with the name of something the poster likes, then a child's inept drawing or model of same captioned as something they consider a piss-poor imitation? To be honest, by not just posting that with the proud beast as Lungbarrow and the scrawl as The Timeless Children, I'm bloviating.

Not that this means I'm going to stop.

Case in point: let's consider the whole issue of spoilers. I like going into stories not knowing what's going to happen, but if it's got substance, it should still be good even when you do know. As a friend points out, Planet Of The Apes and The Wicker Man have the ending on the cover these days, but people still watch them. Equally, the fact that I went into Lungbarrow knowing the basic outline of the big reveals didn't stop it from being a good read, even if it wasn't quite as WHOA! as it would have been back when it first came out. Likewise, when people guessed the whole War Doctor business ahead of the anniversary special, well, that was a bit of a shame, but it wasn't fatal to the story. As against Fugitive Of The Judoon, which I couldn't watch until two days later because I had prior engagements (man, socialising was fun, wasn't it, back in our own Old Time?), by which point I'd been spoiled on both of its reveals. Without those surprises up its sleeve, it was just an exercise in clockwatching as I waited for the shoes to drop. Lungbarrow manages to hint at stories not yet conceived when it was written - President Romana's diplomatic high-wire act with other races consciously sets up the TV movie, but also unknowingly feeds into the Time War; there's also a hint at "an old man called the Curator". Conversely, Timeless Children can't even properly explain how it fits around stories that preceded it, it just scribbles heedlessly across them. Lungbarrow riffs on everything from Shakespeare, Poe and Peake to Sondheim and Cold Comfort Farm; it's not mentioned in the notes, but I think I even detect hints of Malpertuis. Meanwhile, Chibnall would probably think Malpertuis was a relative of Jon, and can only wank into the continuity void. Lungbarrow recalls Platt's earlier work on one of the best TV Who stories of them all, Ghost Light, likewise revolving around old sins coming to light in a cursed house; Timeless Children recalls Chibnall's earlier work on Camelot, and how he can make even the most resonant myths dull and confusing. Literally the only thing where the comparison is in Chibnall's favour is the greater diversity of his Gallifrey, and even that is more something Moffat snookered him into. And it's not like Platt is blind to the notion – Gallifrey's insularity and nativist tendencies are a big driver of the plot. It's just that he was writing 25 years ago, without modern understanding of representation on which to draw.

There are other imperfections too, of course. The big revelations are woven around two plots; the original one is a murder mystery of sorts, whose resolution manages to be at once obvious and cheating; the strand of Gallifreyan politicking wasn't in the original script at all, and sometimes it shows as it drops out for long stretches at a time. Not to mention, the repeated use of long-form Gallifreyan names like Romanadvoratrelundar is every bit as entertaining as all those TV mentions of the sesquipedalian Slitheen homeworld, which is to say, not remotely. Like The Timeless Children, it can be a very static and talky story, but that works better on the page than the screen; it finds better ways to go about it than a bloody paralysis cone or whatever it was called; and at least here it's enlivened with occasional scenes of table-surfing and high-jeopardy board games. Not to mention the Hand of Omega acting like a large but boisterous puppy! Three of the best companions to that point teaming up! K9 and K9 – together at last!

And of course, since I started it, all those deserted Gallifreyan streets, not to mention the Cousins going slowly insane trapped for centuries in their buried House, have made it feel weirdly topical to boot. On top of which you have the constant telepathic hum of life on Gallifrey before the Intuitive Revelation, which even the writer's notes (long postdating the novel, which itself was pubished years after its first incarnation as a TV script) can only compare to messageboards, but which now feels like a perfect prognostication of social media at its most anxiety-inducing, especially in times like these. In short, a story intended to serve as a capstone to the Seventh Doctor's era, but which still has something to say to a wider world after as many incarnations again. As against The Timeless Children, where such viewers as were still awake by the end seemed already to be working on ways to pretend the whole thing never happened.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lungbarrow: The last of Virgin's New Adventures to feature the seventh Doctor that is perhaps the rarest Doctor Who novel ever and deservedly so! Lungbarrow is an epic conclusion not only to the New Adventures of the 90's but to the seventh Doctor era in general. It is an epic journey into the question at the heart of the series: just who is the Doctor?

Like Marc Platt's TV story Ghost Light which was an alien invasion story wrapped up in a ghost story, Lungbarrow is a "who is the Doctor really?" wrapped up in a murder mystery / conspiracy thriller. In fact Ghost Light evolved from what would have been the TV version of this story which is interesting to note because of some of the similarities between the two. Both stories find a central character (Ace in Ghost Light, the Doctor here) to a house that hides of the darker aspects of their past. Here though the Doctor is accused of not only causing the house of Lungbarrow to fall into chaos but accused of killing its leader as well in his first incarnation (the Hartnell one). While it is a murder mystery with the Doctor and his companion Chris seeking to prove the Doctor's innocence, there is also a conspiracy story unfolding on Gallifrey with Romama, Leela, and Ace as the Celestial Intervention Agency puts some plans into motion of their own which also include the Doctor's past. Yet while all this is going on there is a running question throughout: who is Doctor and where did he really come from? By the end of the novel there are plenty of answers and a few more questions raised as well. It's a complex story that means that unless you have a very good knowledge of the series (or a good reference work like Ahistory near by) you may get a little lost But don't let that deter you.

Platt seamlessly, and epically, brings together elements from the entire history of the series up to that point. There are appearances or references to companions from throughout the New Adventures run plus plenty of references to the books and TV stories as well. Here we finally get to see the background of the first Doctor's "granddaughter" Susan and discover how she fits into the entire equation of the series as well. Platt is dead on in his characterization of each of the TV characters which helps to make Lungbarrow one of the truest to screen Doctor Who novels of all time.

One of the true highlights of Lungbarrow is Platt also gives some much needed back story to the Time Lords, their home world Gallifrey and to the Doctor himself. Platt takes back to the founding of Time Lord society to reveal few surprises. We get to see the much fabled "dark times" of Gallifrey's past and finally meet the mysterious co-founder of Time Lord society known simply as the Other. The Other in fact has a strong connection to the Doctor's past which is only revealed as the novel is coming to its climax in one of the best pieces of Doctor Who writing ever. Plus Lungbarrow makes a nice intro for the 1996 TV movie as well making this the last true story for the seventh Doctor. While it is loaded with enough connately references to make any new fan scratch their heads this is novel that any serious Doctor Who fan should enjoy

It is the broad range of things brought together that makes Lungbarrow is the true epic that it is. It is the culmination of the (nearly) first thirty-fve years of the series in all its forms. With its answers to some of the show's fundamental questions, to the reappearance of old characters, to the "dark times", the revealing of the Other and the lead in into the TV movie Lungbarrow covers a lot of ground and covers it brilliantly. Lungbarrow is an epic story that only a handful of other Doctor Who stories can come close to matching its scope, characters, and (for lack of a better word) brilliantness.

Sadly it is (and almost certainly will remain) out of print, a hard copy of this will cost you a chunk of money. Is it worth that chunk of your money? Well worth the price of buying it in my opinion because if you love the series then this is a must-have.

[Tom Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

When we talk about classic Doctor Who books. Everyone knows about Lungbarrow.
If you love it or hate it. It's got a huge reputation and a real rarity as every Doctor Who Book collector wants to get it in their collection.

I love Lungbarrow because of its huge risk taken storyline and its controversial subject matter because some writers would never go into this area. It basically goes against the meaning of the show. "Doctor Wh0" We see the Doctor's family, why he left Gallifrey in the first place, why he ran and stole a tardis and also the Doctor's origins.

It's a true dark gothic horror read with so much imagination put into it. Obviously not a book I recommend to people just getting into the Doctor Who classic books. Nice to see Leela as it's her only appearance in the Virgin Books. Shame she never popped up in the Missing Adventures series of books.

The best way to go into Lungbarrow is to know nothing about it. Stay away from spoiler reviews and either try to find the book for a good price, get the 2015 reproduction copy or download the PDF as The Doctors origins, some of the stuff involving Susan, The Grandfather Paradox which was in Christmas on a Rational Planet and as fans of the EDA range will know is connected to the Faction Paradox arc and the looms is stuff you should find out by reading the book and not reading a review.

Every Doctor Who fan someday needs to experience Lungbarrow. Even though I haven't said much content or story wise. It's a very controversial book but its legacy makes everyone want to track it down. I personally love Lungbarrow and like Marc Platt did this experimental, original and risk taken book. One of my favourite reading experiences.
10/10

[Mary JL · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the hardest to find books for Doctor Who; the paperback copy was at one time $70 or more. (It's now coming out as a e-book).

Perhaps the high price has something to do with the fact that fans want to read it. It must be good if its worth that much, right?

Well,as a Dr. Who fan for 30-plus years, I was disappointed. Trying to indicate the zombie-like existence of the Doctor's cousins in his home--the ancinet House of Lungbarrow--Marc Platt presents a story of weird decadence.
Its meant to be eerie and atmospheric, but it was overdone.

Imho, Mr. Platt read the Gormenghasttoo often. It does not fit with Gallifrey. I sure in person I would enjoy this author but this book is too arty; too pretentious for me.

Okay, I liked a few things. A few neat quotes. the Lady Romana has become Lord President. Leela and Romana have become friends. A particularly enjoy scene is Leela jousting with a member of the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency.) A few nice peeks into Gallifrey's past, and so on.

Worth reading once, but unless your are loaded with cash, don't pay a huge price for this book. Try to borrow or download the e-book.

Recommended for patient Dr. Who fans.

[William Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, the Doctor Who book that answers so many questions and raises so many more.
After the series was canceled, there was quite a gap before any new Who surfaced. the only thing still going was Doctor Who Magazine (and I think it went BiMonthly for awhile?). But eventually there were THE NEW ADVENTURES. New Adventures (see what I did there? sorry...) that picked up right after Survival (the last aired episode). the 7th Doctor and Ace, in more full length 'adult' stories than could be done on TV.
Some AMAZING stuff, considering before that all we had was the TARGET NOVELISATIONS (quick adoptions of tv episodes - well the last few were greatly expanded - which partially lead to this). Each book followed on from the last (more or less) and they were given some pretty wide leway to delve into the shows mythology (and the infamous Andrew Cartmel Master Plan).
And here, we have the Doctor return to his home on Gallifrey to confront his Family, His House and the complicated reasons he left, and the oddities of his lives.
I'm a total Who fanboy, when stuff like this is done well, its amazing, and this book is amazing. One of the great things the new adventures did well was dip into the fan mythology of the show and expand it in cool ways. If you can find it, check it out. this is probably the second of three or four New Adventure books that polarized the fandom at the time.

[Michael Towers · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book but doesn't really deliver on the promise.

Sure there are some minor revelations in the book but nothing of any great interest and by the end of the 300 pages, I couldn't help feeling ripped off. Without giving away a major plot point, the resolution is ridiculous and makes you wonder why or how it took them over 600 years to get out.

The Romana, Leela storyline, which was added for the book, was glorified filler material and added nothing at all to the book.

Now to the house, I'm not denying the author has an incredible imagination, but the descriptions are something that really don't make any sense to a reader. If my ebook version didn't have a few pictures, I would have been lost completely.

The characters weren't described at all and for much of the book I found myself back-reading to remember who was who and the scene changes and flashbacks/dreams happened without knowing when they start and finish.

Overall, the book was good though, lots of thrills, and a good page turner, just don't expect anything amazing or easy to read.

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right Lungbarrow is easily one of the most fascinating but controversial Doctor Who stories of all time and one that could have easily fallen right onto its face if it was written poorly but thankfully
Marc Platt one of the best writers of Doctor Who ever, came up with this fascinating idea
and wrote a truly atmospheric, imaginative story with some nice twists and turns and character returns like Romana, Ace, Leela, the two K9s, and Andred who appeared in The Invasion of Time.

This book does make some controversial decisions now and then with the whole Other and looms stuff which divides the fandom into two with some of them loving the idea but some of them absolutely disliking it. Obviously, I won't go into too much into this book because this is simply one of those books you just have to experience for yourself, but Lungbarrow personally for me is one of the best Doctor Who stories ever written.

10/10

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great end to the New Adventures, as the Doctor returns to Gallifrey, revealing numerous secrets of his past. Platt is a strong writer, and he offers another nicely spooky offering here. However, it's the backstory that really shines, because it connects up so much from the previous decade or so of storytelling.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally written as a script for Doctor Who's 26th season, this tells the story of the Doctor returning home to the planet Galifrey and visiting the house he grew up in. At the core of the story is a murder mystery. Did the Doctor kill the head of his family before he went on the run from the planet with his granddaughter many centuries earlier. The novel adaptation brings back such companions as Leela, Romana, and K9. It's also styled as the last adventure of the 7th doctor, with the ending leading into the events of the TV movie starring Paul McGann. Like other Marc Platt adventures it takes some thought to follow. At first glance, it may seem to be at odds with the Doctor's origin as presented recently in the series, but there's enough room in the narrative that there may be truth to both versions. After all, the series' title is also its central question: Doctor Who?

[Reni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hab doch tatsächlich noch ein altes Review dazu von mir gefunden und etwas ausgebessert. Noch mal lesen werd ich es nämlich eher nicht:

Das Buch ist mir zu esoterisch.
Nachdem ich mich aber mal gezwungen hatte mehr als 20 Seiten am Stück zu lesen, kam ich aber auch sogar in sowas wie einen Lesefluss rein, nachdem ich zu Beginn ja so Probleme hatte über weiter als ein paar Seiten pro Tag zu kommen. Ich hab mich durch das Buch wirklich durchgequält. Ich bin kein langsamer Leser, und Lungbarrow ist beileibe kein langes Buch, aber es hat mich über mehrere Wochen beschäftigt!

Dazu muss ich aber auch sagen, dass mir da gerade am Anfang zu viel zwischen den einzelnen Perspektiv-Charakteren umhergesprungen wurde. Vor allem, ohne dass das wirklich nötig war, oder auch nur im Ansatz ne Art von Spannung aufgebaut hätte. Das ist einer der Schreibfehler, der mich am Meisten davon abhält ein Buch gut zu bewerten. Es ist einfach dem Lesefluss abträglich.

Davon ab, waren es IMO grundsätzlich zu viele POV Charaktere. Was hat Chris denn bitte schön zum Plot beigetragen, außer den Träumen? Was für einen Zweck hatte es Leela, Ace und Romana zu vereinen, außer für einen kleinen Fan-Boy Moment?
Der Doktor beschreibt es ja an einer Stelle hier ganz treffend: "Was soll das werden? A Wake for the dead?".
Für den Abgesang des Siebten Doktors wollten sie anscheinend noch mal schön viele Companions zu haben.

Aus welchem Grund sonst haben wir diese Ace vs. Dorothee Szene? Weil's die letzte Gelegenheit ist zu zeigen, wie der Charakter sich abseits der TV-Serie entwickelt hat. Trägt nur leider nichts zur Handlung bei und ist vollkommen unnütz (und dabei als Stilmittel auch IMO so subtil wie ein Vorschlaghammer. Die Leute, die die Bücherreihe verfolgt haben, werden das schon von sich aus gemerkt haben, und die, die die Bücherreihe nicht so kennen, sind vermutlich mehr verwirrt als beeindruckt). Wenn sie da wenigstens noch nen Plotpoint rausgemacht hätten!

Lungbarrow ist also keinesfalls ein Buch, das man Leuten empfehlen sollte, die mit der Klassikserie nicht vertraut sind, und ein bisschen trifft das auch zu auf Leute, die ebenso wenig mit der Buchreihe vertraut sind, und dabei ist es egal wie wichtig der Infodump in diesem Buch für irgendeinen Kanon ist. Dazu erstickt das Buch einfach zu sehr am eigenen Rattenschwanz.


Des Weiteren: Wirklich wissen, wer der Other war, tun wir ja nun nicht. Ich weiß nach Lungbarrow noch nicht einmal, was der Typ überhaupt gemacht hat. Rassilon is klar, Omega is klar. Aber der Other?
Das einzige was das Buch getan hat, ist ja zu sagen, dass der Doktor mal der Other war. Das war's. Was das jetzt bedeutet und wer der Other ist, dazu erfahren wir nüschts.

Gröbere Probleme hatte ich auch mit dem Setting, genauer gesagt mit dem lebenden Haus. Ich mochte es nicht. Ist einfach so. Für mich passt das nicht nach Gallifrey. Und da beschwert man sich heutzutage, die TARDIS sei zu stark personalisiert.

Ich mag es nicht, dass das Haus lebt, dass alles daran zu groß ist, ich mochte das Konzept dieser Diener nicht und am allerwenigsten das des Housekeepers, der mit dem Haus verheiratet ist. Oder dass sich das Ding einfach mal in den Berg eingräbt. Und dass die Cousins da seit knapp 700 Jahren unter der Erde rumsitzen und vor sich hin vegetieren. Kein Wunder, dass der Doctor weg wollte: Timelords sind echt öde.

Tut mir Leid, das ist mir einfach alles zu mystisch.

Apropos Doktors Familie: Die Sache mit Susan?
Find ich nicht gut. Nach den Geschichten, die ich bisher mit dem ersten Doctor geschaut habe, bin ich einfach davon ausgegangen, dass sie seine Enkelin ist, und zwar nicht über irgendwelche Ecken, sondern leiblich. Das war IMO unnötig von Platt uns die Blutsbande so ausreden zu wollen.

Die Looms. Gegen die Looms an sich hab ich nichts, aber es wär irgendwie nett gewesen mal zu rekapitulieren, wie dieser Curse der Pythia funktioniert und mal eben die Timelords sterilisieren kann. Looms an sich sind ne coole Sci-Fi Idee, aber dazu hätte ich gerne ein paar ausführlichere Hintergründe gehabt.


Dinge die mich glücklich gemacht haben (denn die gab es auch, oh ja):

Erstens: Leela und Andred sind ein tolles Paar. Eigentlich sollte man ja annehmen, dass Leela in der Beziehung die Hosen anhat, aber dadurch, dass ihr die Time Lord Gesellschaft so fremd ist, hat ihr Mann auch noch was zu sagen. Und jetzt kriegen sie auch noch ein Baby. Wie gerne hätte ich gelesen, wie der Vater auf diese Nachricht reagiert.

Zwotens: Der Doktor.
Er gefiel mir gut. Ich mochte das Gefühl von Melancholie, die Resignation. Das gibt dem Buch die Stimmung, die es mit dem Haus vielleicht erreichen wollte, aber so meilenweit verfehlt hat. Überhaupt, sobald der Doktor endlich ne Rolle in der inne Handlung hatte, wurde es schon viel, viel besser.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fascinatingly weird book, the culmination of a series of adventures that the Seventh Doctor continued to have after the classic run of Doctor Who was canceled as a television program in 1989. When that version of the Time Lord hero was officially succeeded by the Eighth Doctor in a 1996 TV movie, the New Adventures series drew to a close by filling in the final stories of the earlier incarnation. Lungbarrow, the last of these novels, also attempted to answer long-lingering questions about the Doctor's origins and properly canonize the so-called Cartmel Masterplan that script editor Andrew Cartmel had been building towards when the show went off the air.

It's subsequently famous in fan circles, but understandably a bit of a mess. The main plot revolves around the Doctor's titular family home, a Gormenghast-inspired gothic manor of eccentric relations, indoor swamps, and giant living furniture. We learn that Time Lords are created in the "looms" of such houses, a technological process made necessary after the species stopped giving birth countless eons ago. We are also given strong evidence that irregularities in the Doctor's own looming link back to the Other, a shadowy figure of power from the dawn of Gallifreyan history. Around all this there's some good old-fashioned Gallifrey politics, the return of TV companions Leela, Romana, and Ace, two versions of the robot dog K-9, and a ton of surreal madness as Lungbarrow comes to life.

All in all, it's not a very good story. This book is simply trying to do too much, and for a purported conclusion, there's a lot that is left ambiguous, understated, and unresolved at the end. It's still a worthwhile read for a dedicated Whovian looking for a snapshot of the era's mythology, but as an actual reading experience it's more frustrating than enjoyable.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I can say I have finally read the famous Lungbarrow! I first heard about this novel in 2013 and since then I’ve been wanting to read it and in 2018 it became possible after I had bought a copy from eBay. Majority of Doctor Who fans will have heard of this novel in some way or another and it’s a book that everyone wants to try and get hold of and for good reason.

As a huge fan of the VNA range (probably my favourite range) Lungbarrow sure is one it’s gems. Controversial is definitely one word to describe it. Marc Platt is a genius with incredible imagination and has a real talent when it comes to world building. The House of Lungbarrow feels like it could actually exist in the Doctor Who universe. It was really interesting to read about the Doctors family and why he feels so much dread returning to his ‘home’.

Sylvester McCoy is my second favourite doctor and the Marc Platt’s characterisation of McCoy’s Doctor is spot on. The same can also be said for Ace, Leela and Romana. As for the family memembers they are all interesting characters with despite their weird names. I think my favourite supporting character would have to be Badger as there are quite a few funny moments with him in the book. There’s also a great scene where Mark 1 and Mark 2 K9 meet which I also found amusing.

There are some genuinely great moments within the book but I won’t say too much about them as they could be classed as potential spoilers. Many moments had me gripped which is one of Lungbarrow‘s many merits. The story itself was brilliant and kept me interested through out. Overall, I think Lungbarrow is just an incredible book. Definitely one to track down if you have the money for it and definitely recommended if you’re a lover of 7!

[Xanxa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't reviewed all the books I've read in this series, but I'm doing this one because it's the final book in the series. (As far as I know. If anyone knows different, they're welcome to correct me).

This story is gloriously zany. The reader is plunged into a chaotic mess of threads which don't seem to make any sense. Given that there are around 20 books I've missed out which lead up to this one, I was reading it from the point of view of someone who's not holding all the cards. Events have happened in the continuity of the series that I've had to extrapolate for myself. That's fine. As a reader, I love challenges.

The story is fascinating and complex. The world-building is amazing. A lot of that doesn't feature in the TV show, but I honestly wish it could be used at some point.

The characters are multi-layered and intriguing. This is the first time I've met the Doctor's family, which was a big draw for me and no doubt other readers. To call them dysfunctional would be a massive understatement.

I love the way the author made the actual House seem like another character. Its brooding presence overshadows the Gallifreyan, human and mechanical characters in many aspects.

A brilliant book, though it left me sad at the end, knowing that there would be no more. (Again, jump in with amendments if you know of any New Adventures later than this one).

[Ellen Mellor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first 'New Adventures' novel and, as far as I can tell, the last one before the 1996 TV movie. I have been led to believe that the NA stories got more intelligent and more 'adult' as they went on and this is certainly the case here. With questions about identity, family and racism, the Lungbarrow is surprisingly complex. It also manages to tie, very tightly, into Doctor Who continuity and the TV companions (Ace, Leela, Romand and K9) characters that appear in the story are very recognisable as the characters from the television.

This was available from the BBC website as an ebook - which is a good thing considering that the paperback is going for silly money on Amazon - but has been taken down in one of the Beebs redesigns. It is, however, still floating around out there and Google search* should turn it up in an e-readable form fairly easily.

(*As this book is ostensibly a BBC production, I feel obliged to mention that other search engines are available.)

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy reading this book but I gave this book 2 stars because the plot has a good concept... However, the writing is very disjointed, with several separate story lines placed piecemeal side by side. My other concerns were the extremely slow pace and the oddly uninvolved attitude of the Doctor. When I read that copies of the book were selling for huge prices I wanted to let everyone know that it is available online as a PDF for free download, including illustrations. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. You can find it here: http://marblebun.com/Books/Doctor7-Ne...

[Michael Mills]

'There are at least a dozen different versions of the story, but their interpretations depend on the social and spiritual needs of the times in which they were written.'

A rather beautiful elegy to the New Adventures, one bursting with fairy tale imagery, dark secrets and bittersweet characters (I love Innocet). Now so much of the background it lays out for the Doctor has been thoroughly contradicted, you can enjoy it for the masterful piece of writing it is, rather than as a controversial retcon of Doctor Who's entire mythology. Marc Platt is a fine, fine writer who understands families and who understands Doctor Who.

[Andrew Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes more sense than the Jodie Whittaker origin story...

[Mownon Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I just finished reading Lungbarrow a few moments ago.



Lungbarrow is a classic science fiction set in the universe of Dr. Who. The very first episode of Dr. Who aired on BBC in the '60s. This Christmas the show will air its 60th anniversary special. 60 years not just in terms of TV shows, it includes audio stories, mini episodes, radio programs and countless stories and novels, all set in the same universe.

The Dr. Who universe is a rabbit hole within a rabbit hole and it goes on. If you're a Marvel/DC fan, then you wouldn't like the universe, probably because this universe has no concept of head cannon. Since the Doctor is a time traveller, he messes up his own and the universe's timeline quite too often, often committing atrocities like crossing his own timeline on countless occasions. The result is beautiful. You get layers upon layers of the characters and the more you watch/read/listen, the more new ways open up on your path which directs you to think everything again, and see the entire universe in a new perspective.

That being said, I'll just say what I thought about Lungbarrow. Lungbarrow is the one of the oldest living beings, a house, a living house to be more precise where the Doctor grew up. Before he escaped from Gallifrey with a stolen TARDIS, he grew up at the cursed house with his 44 cousins. The story is amazing, put out in a butterfly storytelling style, and builds up the thrill incrementally with every passing chapter. No, let me put that correctly, it builds up thrill and suspense and anxiety every time you turn the page to read the next sentence.

I won't go deep into the plot, but this novel sorts out a lot of so-called "canonical" loopholes, and introduces more complexity to the timeline of the Doctor. In a way, you can say that this novel paved the way for the most recent additions to the lore and mythology of the Dr. Who universe.

The Doctor is capable of many things, he has walked in blood through all of time and space, but this is the book that suggests, he might have committed murder as well. Even his friends believe so in the beginning. Whether he did so or not, well, just read the book. I'll just say that his friends rose up to the occasion and went to help him despite knowing the dangers and implications. The cursed house of Lungbarrow, doesn't accept intruders very well, not even the ex-President of Gallifreyan high council itself. The book twists and turns the psyche of the Doctor, his companions, both present and former ones and drives them to their limits. And every moment of it is savoury enough for a reader to delight upon.

The most interesting characters in this book are definitely Ace a.k.a Dorothee, how she has matured over the years is truly unbelievable. Her character was given a definitive journey at the end of this book. Next up are the cousins of the Doctor. How a dysfunctional family can behave and interact among themselves has been portrayed magnificently. Lastly, this book gives a happy ending to the Gallifreyans who were living under a curse for over ten million years, ever since the intuitive revelation began.

I would give this book a 10 on 10.

Reading the Faction Paradox novel was a delightful experience, reading the Book of War was informative and mostly involved more research to know more about the events. Reading Dharmayudh, and War in Heaven was intriguing since those books explored and mixed a lot of elements from our mythology. But Lungbarrow is very different. I am so hooked to the Virgin New Adventure series that I downloaded all previous and next books in the series. All 60 of them. So you can guess how I'll spend my new year.

TLDR: If you are a Sci-Fi lover or just love books in general, just go and explore this universe.

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels slightly surreal writing a review for this. It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally reached the end of the Seventh Doctor’s tenure of the New Adventures. And what a wild story to go out on!

It’s got a lot of stuff to juggle with here - the blurb promises quite a lot, including a return to Gallifrey and more specifically the Doctor’s ancestral home. Meanwhile, old friends from across the Doctor’s lives make their appearance as events unfold, in a story six hundred and seventy three years in the making.

The plot in itself isn’t too heavy - it’s mainly dealing with the Doctor returning to the House of Lungbarrow and facing the aftermath of events from centuries ago, oh, and some murder. As opposed to the usual style that a Who story goes about investigating this, things unfold at their own pace, with Platt instilling a ton of atmosphere and intrigue as the Doctor and Chris explore the House and meet several of its residents - the Doctor’s Cousins.

Character-wise here, some work better than others. Quences is an imposing figure, looming (no pun intended) over events. Satthralope, the ancient Housekeeper, is in a similar vein - keeping secrets to protect the House and its residents. She poses an interesting opposing force to the Doctor, and comes across a bit more interesting in that role than Glospin, who feels a teeny bit generic in an antagonistic role. Innocet is probably the best Cousin of the lot, with her conflicting feelings about the Doctor forming some of the most interesting moments as we see her dynamic with 7 explored.

As for the Doctor himself, he actually takes a bit of a background role here, surprisingly. For a story that explores the Doctor so much, he doesn’t really feel like a big player for the most part. He’s a bit more mysterious and distant here in a way that he hasn’t really been for a long while. Being back amongst his family shows us another side of him too, as we see him up against them in various ways. There’s some nice moments towards the end with him that kind of make it hit home that this is his last appearance in the New Adventures, and it’s a bit bittersweet as the final page approaches.

Chris is along for the ride too, of course, and this is where things slightly drag down for me. It’s not too long after the events of The Room With No Doors - Chris mentions the monastery - but suddenly having his head filled with people’s thoughts (including the Doctor’s) mostly goes ignored beyond a throwaway line, which feels a little off. The events that lead to him leaving (not really a spoiler, it’s not like he’s in the TV Movie), also feel a little hurried, and his actual farewell from the Doctor feels like a moment that could have been shown better. Still, things end nicely to hint at future events for what Chris will do next, and at the end of the day as far as departures go it’s still 100 times better than the likes of Dodo (and cough cough Leela).

All in all, it’s a bittersweet closing chapter for this era. It’s nice to see some of the threads of the New Adventures, and indeed, the Seventh Doctor’s era as a whole, come together for this, with some familiar faces along for the ride.

[Jason Arbuckle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 353 - Marc Platt - Lungbarrow

The year was 1997 and the Paul McGann Doctor Who movie was a year in the past. The BBC were about to take the novel rights back ‘in-house’ and Virgin Books were bringing their tales to a climax. Marc Platt had already written some wonderful stories and this one was originally set up to reveal more secrets of our favourite Time
Lord as well as push the series in a whole new direction. Where did the Doctor come from ? how did Time Lords procreate ? What really is the structure of Time Lord society ?

The producer of the TV Series, John Nathan- Turner, decided against revealing all these potential secrets and so this novel was the great reveal. It is so deep and different that it is clear why it couldn’t have been made for television.

Instead of births, there are looms, families are made up of misshapen people… a two metre tall woman, a strange conglomeration of cousins and in the midst the Doctor… and it is slowly revealed why the House of Lungbarrow no longer, technically, exists and why he doesn’t really want to go home again.

It has fabulous nods to the TV series… Leela, K9, Andred and Romana… to name but a few… it is twisted and disturbing… more Terry Pratchett than Doctor Who. If I was asked to describe the plot… I would struggle… we get to ‘know’ the Doctor’s family… but the real mystery is what happened to Quences. The theme of decay and change is always there in the undercurrent of the story…especially with the upcoming regeneration… and this leads pretty seamlessly towards the debut of the Eighth Doctor.

Controversial ? Yes. Twisted ? Very much so. Essential reading ? Absolutely.

I would have loved to have seen what would have happened next on TV if this had been made. Wonderfully weird.

[Olga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, this book is such a mixed package.

Is there a great deal of bold, revolutionary ideas that reimagine the canon? Yes, there is. Do I want to consider them canon now that I've read about them? Nah, not really - at least, most of them I don't.

Is the story good? Well, all in all... yes, it is. But it's too overloaded with lengthy bits of nothing and way too many POVs in the first half of the book, more than a half of them being original characters - and, I'm so sorry, not that interesting to me to want to spend so much time with them. Even Leela, one of my absolute favourite companions in the series, felt rather boring here to me... I liked Chris a lot, though, and spent a lot of time waiting for the chapters when he and the Doctor would come back.

I'd say that the way this book is written is somehow ironically reflected in the afterword where the author gives super lengthy and too detailed notes on every chapter in the book. Sometimes, they are interesting - for example, when he tells us that this certain song first appeared in the book by another author. Most of the time - at least, to me - they felt tediously unnecessary. Like, surely you don't have to explain to the reader that the sunny day of the protagonist's childhood should bring back the memories of suchlike scenes in the works by classic authors if you've done your job well?

I don't know, I guess these notes may be precious to someone who likes this book more than I do. To me, even the ending of the story itself took to many pages to actually end.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this when it came out and I was following the New Adventures. This year, I've got into reading the books along with the Oncoming Storm podcast (sadly soon to finish).

This time, I read the updated version that appeared on the BBC website in 2003, which was updated by the author and includes author's notes.

I knew what the "secrets" were this time, and it was very interesting to reread the book with that knowledge. It meant I could see what earlier scenes were implying that I might have missed the first time around. I don't remember, so I have no idea if I did or not. I think I found it less confusing this time, and this might be why, but it could also be that while I've been thoroughly enjoying the read, I'm not as invested in the "solution" as I was in 1997.

I like this book and I like the possible origin story it presents for the Doctor and Gallifrey. I don't need it to be exclusively true - I can happily hold multiple possibilities in my head and accept the contradictions - but it is a version that works for me.

Only one more New Adventure to go. As a huge fan of the Eighth Doctor, I remember really liking The Dying Days. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

[Eli Seibert · Rating 4 out of 5]

After 60 novels, I’m sure it was quite the ask to,
1: tie up a number of things leading to this novel
2: lead into the Doctor Who TV movie that came out a year prior
And 3: answer the definitive question: Doctor Who?
This is a fun and inventive bit of lore and world building for the doctor’s early life on Gallifrey, as well as answering secrets about himself that even he was unaware of. It’s easy to see where Chris Chibnall got the idea for the timeless child. I’m kind of lukewarm about both that and “The other”, though.
On the one hand, it’s an interesting idea to have this legendary figure with so much power and influence choose a life of self exile as a “pawn on the board instead of a player”.
But on the other hand, I kinda don’t like the doctor being important just by the nature of their existence. I enjoy the tale of someone who never fit in with his peers just choosing to sail off into the universe and helping others where his own people refuse to.
But I enjoy the story for what it is. The house of Lungbarrow is creepy and interesting, and impressively claustrophobic while being a world in and upon itself. And even though I really think delving into the doctors past before he left gallifrey is a moot proposition, I think it is done well enough here.

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lungbarrow and the Thirteenth Doctor TV episode "The Power of The Doctor" are definitely in conversation with each other, which I enjoy a whole lot. This is some DEEPLY NERDY LORE (affectionate). Is this the book to recommend to a casual fan just getting into the extended media of Doctor Who? Absolutely not! Did I —a person who has spent entirely too much money on audio adventures at Big Finish— enjoy this? Absolutely yes.

We've got everything: Political intrigue! Gossipy family drama! Ace riding a motorcycle in the time vortex, somehow! Excuses to play with the "canon" that are absolutely bonkers, but they don't not work, and actually, now that you mention it, there was that time... Anyway!

Who is this Chris companion? WhyTF do we keep using the phrase "the young Adjudicator" ? Who knows! Don't need to know. I'll find out eventually.

To be very clear, I got my mitts on the book via The Internet Archive, but this updated 2003 edition was originally released as a free ebook by the BBC. I'm sure you can track it down somewhere, which is more than can be said for the very expensive print '90s copies.

[John Parungao · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's difficult to describe this book, or to understand the reputation it has with some Doctor Who fans. Supposedly this was the original basis for what eventually became the televised story Ghostlight. Ghostlight itself is sometimes impossible to understand, but knowing it has roots in Lungbarrow and having read Lungbarrow now, I can see the similarities. A creepy haunted house, creepy servants, scheming household. All those elements eventually made it into Ghostlight.
Lungbarrow however is the more complex better version of Ghostlight. The questions about the Doctor's origins are answered, new beginnings take place and everything leads to the events of what was then the upcoming TV movie.
This book is epic, complicated and sometimes difficult to follow, but by the end I felt satisfied with the ending.