diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 5718fd22..a49ed06f 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ Changelog
 
 Changes in 0.6.X
 ================
+- Invalid data from the DB now raises a InvalidDocumentError
+- Cleaned up the Validation Error - docs and code
 - Added meta `auto_create_index` so you can disable index creation
 - Added write concern options to inserts
 - Fixed typo in meta for index options
@@ -281,5 +283,3 @@ Changes in v0.1.2
 
 
 Changes in v0.1.1
-=================
-- Documents may now use capped collections
diff --git a/mongoengine/base.py b/mongoengine/base.py
index 63d2a8f0..b4530c93 100644
--- a/mongoengine/base.py
+++ b/mongoengine/base.py
@@ -979,8 +979,8 @@ class BaseDocument(object):
         """
         # get the class name from the document, falling back to the given
         # class if unavailable
-        class_name = son.get(u'_cls', cls._class_name)
-        data = dict((str(key), value) for key, value in son.items())
+        class_name = son.get('_cls', cls._class_name)
+        data = dict(("%s" % key, value) for key, value in son.items())
 
         if '_types' in data:
             del data['_types']
@@ -993,11 +993,16 @@ class BaseDocument(object):
             cls = get_document(class_name)
 
         changed_fields = []
+        errors_dict = {}
+
         for field_name, field in cls._fields.items():
             if field.db_field in data:
                 value = data[field.db_field]
-                data[field_name] = (value if value is None
+                try:
+                    data[field_name] = (value if value is None
                                     else field.to_python(value))
+                except (AttributeError, ValueError), e:
+                    errors_dict[field_name] = e
             elif field.default:
                 default = field.default
                 if callable(default):
@@ -1005,7 +1010,13 @@ class BaseDocument(object):
                 if isinstance(default, BaseDocument):
                     changed_fields.append(field_name)
 
+        if errors_dict:
+            errors = "\n".join(["%s - %s" % (k, v) for k, v in errors_dict.items()])
+            raise InvalidDocumentError("""
+Invalid data to create a `%s` instance.\n%s""".strip() % (cls._class_name, errors))
+
         obj = cls(**data)
+
         obj._changed_fields = changed_fields
         obj._created = False
         return obj
diff --git a/tests/document.py b/tests/document.py
index 54b0b97a..68fb3a6c 100644
--- a/tests/document.py
+++ b/tests/document.py
@@ -2398,6 +2398,22 @@ class DocumentTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertRaises(InvalidDocumentError, throw_invalid_document_error)
 
+    def test_invalid_son(self):
+        """Raise an error if loading invalid data"""
+        class Occurrence(EmbeddedDocument):
+            number = IntField()
+
+        class Word(Document):
+            stem = StringField()
+            count = IntField(default=1)
+            forms = ListField(StringField(), default=list)
+            occurs = ListField(EmbeddedDocumentField(Occurrence), default=list)
+
+        def raise_invalid_document():
+            Word._from_son({'stem': [1,2,3], 'forms': 1, 'count': 'one', 'occurs': {"hello": None}})
+
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidDocumentError, raise_invalid_document)
+
     def test_reverse_delete_rule_cascade_and_nullify(self):
         """Ensure that a referenced document is also deleted upon deletion.
         """