Death in New Venice

"You really think people are imagining themselves dead?"

Writer: Guy Adams
Format: Short Story
Released: February 2016
Printed in: The Legends of River Song 04

Featuring: River Song

Synopsis

"Hello, sweetie!"

Melody Pond, Melody Malone, River Song... She has had many names. Whoever she really is, this archaeologist and time traveller has had more adventures (and got into more trouble) than most people in the universe.

And she's written a lot of it down. Well, when you're married to a Time Lord (or possibly not), you have to keep track of what you did and when. Especially as it may not actually have happened to both of you yet.

These are just a few of River Song's exploits, extracted from her journals. Sometimes, she is with the Doctor. Sometimes she's on her own. But wherever and whenever she may be, she is never far from danger and excitement.

This is just a tiny portion of her impossible life. But it will reveal more than you've ever known about the legend that is River Song.

Verdict

Death in New Venice was a very good continuation of The Legends of River Song! I thought it was good to get a solo outing for River Song and to be honest, that's what I was expecting the entirety of this collection of short stories to be. It's been quite a little surprise to have the Doctor appearing alongside River thus far (not that it is a bad thing!), but it was good to read more of what she gets up to on her own. I liked the idea of River being employed by DreamInc and it's just good to see that River Song still needed some credits to get by in life, even if she could time travel. Why not just place a few bets on guaranteed results and reap the rewards? Although, taking on a task as part of her employment is much more River Song. I thought the story blended between the diary entry and just pure prose quite well, although even River mentioned at one point that there was a bit too much dialogue on one occasion! That was very amusing. I thought the tone of the adventure was good and River's voice was pretty well captured on the pages. It definitely felt a bit raunchy and naughty which is perfect for River Song. I must admit that when I saw what the story's title was, I was expecting a trip to New Earth and built myself up for that a bit, so I couldn't help but be a tad disappointed when that didn't turn out to be the case! That's nothing against the story itself though. I liked the idea of River using her archaeological skills to become something of an architect and design a new range of malleable houses on a Venetian theme. The very concept of a house that could be turned into the owner's desires and shaped by mere thought was brilliant! Even River acknowledged early on though that it was bound to go wrong in some shape or form. It turned out to be quite the hidden killer! It was death that people were inadvertently bringing upon themselves which was an intriguing element and just refreshing to not have an actual enemy in the form of a monster or villain. It was just a big accident. Docherty was a good character for River to essentially mock and the moment at the end where he saw his trillions collapse before his eyes was excellent and alone raised the rating by a mark for me because it connected everything wonderfully. I wasn't overly fussed on the first person narration despite it being a diary collection as it just doesn't work consistently well for me and I just can't get on board as much. Deaths continuing to occur around New Venice was shocking given there had been thirty in such a short time with no sign of a killer. It seemed the perfect attack, but story's spread and people subconsciously were thinking the worst and that became realisation. A quick thought about flooding and the house was flooded. A quick thought about killing and a death occurred. It was a simple but very effective concept that I thought worked very well. The way River dealt with at the end by appealing to the systems behind New Venice and the abilities to shape based on one's thought was just magnificent. Despite shaping to thoughts, New Venice had to stay historically accurate and so River reminded it of what happened to the original Venice and how it sank. So, the only solution was for this New Venice to follow suit. I loved that! Gloriana served as a decent character throughout, although she could have stuck up for herself a bit! Maybe that was just things being told from River's perspective? Regardless, it was still a very fun story that had a wonderful ending.

Rating: 8/10