The World Beyond The Trees (Big Finish Short Trips Audio).

Audio Sometimes an audio book is simply lifted by a performance. Nicola Walker's level of commitment and performance makes this essential in and of itself. Often, even the first person pieces can sound like exactly what they are, someone reading from a script. But now and then, as here, we're gifted a proper character piece, properly played, with a thought process and the sense of something being told by the character, in character, the only way that character could tell it, like a Doctor Who version of a Talking Heads monologue.  Liv Chenka is writing a letter to her late father, about a mini-adventure she's experienced as 1970s London falls prey to weaponised listlessness (ahem).  Unlike some writers, Jonathan Barnes is able to completely orientate the listener in the action without having Liv describe details she wouldn't otherwise mention.  Nothing is here just for pure expositional benefit, everything has emotional intent (if you see what I mean).  The lethargic London is perfectly evoked, the sense of silence, peacefulness, but with a growing sense of dread.  Placement:  The first missing adventure set during the "Dark Eyes era" it should probably take place during Eyes of the Master, but I've put it just before.  Just in case.

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