strange and random happenstance

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: March 16th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 232 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Abigail Kamara should not be left to her own devices. She's not like her brother Paul who is terminally ill and needs looking after. She's just very good at getting into trouble. Just ask her cousin, DC Peter Grant. The second Peter's mom started bragging about her son doing magic Abigail demanded that he teach her. In an attempt to fob her off he said she'd need to get a GCSE A level in Latin. More fool him if he thinks she's not going to hold him to that, she's already in Latin club. She used to imagine her life out there, away from home, on some lonely road, but now she knows about magic, now she imagines seeing in the dark and running with foxes. Now she imagines finding a cure for Paul. When not being the bane of her teachers existence she's always on the lookout for the uncanny as a way to pass the time and impress Peter. There have been a recent spate of disappearances around Hampstead Heath and Abigail thinks they're rather sus. The entire nation is gripped by two white girls missing in Herefordshire and yet in London they can't be bothered with children missing on their own manor. This needs to be looked into, especially something Abigail thinks is extra sus, an old classmate of hers she hadn't seen for years invites her to a "happening" on the Heath. She's stood up but she meets Simon, who was also invited by someone he barely knew who also didn't show. At loose ends Simon and Abigail start to hang out. As Abigail comes to the realization that she's stuck with Simon she lets him help with her investigation. One that gets even stranger when it's revealed the the missing kids have all returned home with no memory of where they were. The most important piece of information is where are the kids going, thankfully Abigail has a skulk of talking foxes who have labeled her as a "person of interest" and are willing to help her with her operation; they're very big on the spy speak. And she needs each and every one of them to monitor the perimeter of the Heath. Which is how she gets her big break. The kids are all going into a house. But when Abigail enters, unlike the other kids, the house doesn't want to let her go. This conundrum is up to her to solve, without the help of the Folly, but oddly with the help of Simon's mom. Simon's mom is well connected, the foxes would be impressed.

While this is a standalone novella it is also technically a companion book to Foxglove Summer. Here we see Abigail in a similar situation to what Peter was dealing with in Herefordshire, missing children. While there are probably millions of stories about missing children what's interesting is seeing how one author handles the same subject in two very different ways. One was successful, the other was not. This book is damn near perfection. The bones of the story are a solid haunting of a house. The inside of the house is different pockets of time and it forces those whom it's lured inside to replay moments from it's past. It's not the most original of concepts, even Angel did a similar story in the season three episode "Waiting in the Wings," which I think was predominately written so that Angel and Cordelia could make out thus acting on years of pent up sexual frustration without them actually becoming an item. Yet Ben Aaronovitch writes his story so cleverly, so perfectly, that you feel like it's the first time you've head a haunted house story like it. What's more, the way that Abigail is trying to dissect the pockets of time while being forced to be a participate is fascinating. She actually appreciates these memories she is being shown while at the same time trying to find the source of the haunting. Abigail is just an amazing character with so much depth. What I personally connected to was the melancholy that is at the heart of her life, the fact that one day her brother Paul is going to die. Since the age of five his world has been getting smaller and smaller and I think that's why she pushes herself beyond her comfort zone. She wants to experience everything, even if it's the ghostly memories that a house gives her. Ben Aaronovitch understands the kind of suffering that a family with chronic illness endures. The hope that is almost worse than the bone deep pain of lifelong trauma. He wrote this book at the beginning of the pandemic and I think it influenced the story in an elegiac way. If you doubt me just read the section wherein Abigail is reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man to her brother. As she makes passing reference to that book's conclusion, if you know and love that book like I do, your heart will break anew.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angel, Ben Aaronovitch, Foxen, Foxglove Summer, Grief, Hampstead Heath, Haunted House, London Calling, Missing Children, Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett, Trauma, Waiting in the Wings, What Abigail Did That Summer

Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Publication Date: November 17th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 238 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The world surrounding the Folly and it's denizens grows every time Peter and Nightingale investigate a crime or meet a strange new creature or practitioner. Peter has his own share of adventures. There's an old French wizard whose guilt over the death of his master during the last London Olympics has caused him to return to the scene of the crime and attempt suicide by Nightingale. Then there's the domestic disturbance which is much more disturbed than the little old lady's neighbors could ever guess. There's a ghost. But is it the ghost of her supposedly dead husband or something else? Peter doesn't trust her one bit. Also when a bookstore appears to develop a poltergeist it's dangerous when it likes to hang out in the section containing the art books because some of those Taschen books are huge. Plus, what's a man to do when his girl, who happens to be an all powerful goddess, decides to adopt a granny? The answer is agree and do whatever your goddess asks of you. And what would happen if a genius loci wasn't human but just possibly an ape... Also, what happens when you investigate a magical book when your colleague will try to make off with anything mystical for "research purposes" of course. You don't want to alienate the British Library, but you also don't want to endanger their collection. Who knew that Professor Postmartin was known as "Pirate" Postmartin? Then there are the stories that happened before Peter was even born. There was a drug dealer in London in the sixties. He had a love for fashion and in order to cover his loses bought the most beautful fabric and stored it in the basement of a house he and his friends were living in. Only there was a flood from the canal. The room sealed itself tight. There was no way in or out. But then beuatiful fabric threads started to come through the door. Soon there were flowers made of the most amazing silks. Then, one day, when the thugs came to collect their payment in blood, the door opened and there was a baby instead a cocoon of fabric. A baby who would captivate all the men and become their lives work. And babies seem to be the order of the day as two years after Dominic and Victor got married they receive a rather elaborate congratulatory speech from the foxes. But what is it the foxes know that they don't? They're sure to find out when three river goddesses show up the next day.

I'm not really a fan of short stories. They're an art form in and of itself that many authors who write full length novels aren't able to transition to. But Aaronovitch, more than any other writer, has created a large universe for his characters to play in. From the novels to the novellas, the comics to the short stories to the moments, his characters weave in and out of all these different mediums, and if you're not following all the disparate threads, you might find yourself scratching your head. Because he will reference it. It doesn't matter what it is, Abigail talking to a fox or Guleed helping Peter with mould or the River Lugg finally being born again, Aaronovitch will at some point reference it and if you're not au courant you will feel like you've missed a step. Therefore I've read the comics, for my sins, and everything else I can get my hands on. I'm still not sure how I'll ever get my hands on ROBOT100. Povídky, but one day I will. I might have to learn Czech... Therefore it was a forgone conclusion that I would read Tales from the Folly. And occasionally Aaronovitch knocks it out of the park. In particular "Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby" was just perfection. Getting to see Dominic and Victor from Foxglove Summer get their happily ever after with a bit of a twist was wonderful. Plus it neatly tied up the one loose end that Peter and Bev left in Herefordshire. But Aaronovitch displays time and time again the number one reason I dislike short stories, he ends them too abruptly. This is why I like television shows over movies and doorstop books over novellas, I really want to be fully immersed in the world I'm reading about. I want to know everything, not be left feeling dissatisfied. Which is why the short story is an art form. To tell all you want to tell and tell it perfectly in a limited capacity is hard. Looking over my notes from Tales from the Folly for "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny" I wrote "3 Stars, ended abruptly" for "King of Rats" "2 Stars, NO ending!" and "A Rare Book of Cunning Device" as "3 Stars, would have been four but again abrupt ending." The "non-endings" really took their toll. And trust me, it wasn't just these three, there were others. Yet that isn't the only problem here, the other is this sense of déjà vu. Aaaronovitch was occasionally lifting his plotlines from his own material. The most obvious is "A Dedicated Follower of Fashion" which used plot points from both The Furthest Station and Rivers of London Volume 2: Night Witch. I mean, another author whose work isn't so entwined might have been able to get away with this... but not Aaronovitch. We fans are hardcore. I read the comics for him! And I don't like them. At all.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ben Aaronovitch, Comics, Foxglove Summer, London Calling, Moments, Novella, Peter Grant, Rivers of London, Rivers of London Volume 2: Night Witch, Short Stories, Tales from the Folly, The Furthest Station

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: March 16th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 232 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Abigail Kamara should not be left to her own devices. She's not like her brother Paul who is terminally ill and needs looking after. She's just very good at getting into trouble. Just ask her cousin, DC Peter Grant. The second Peter's mom started bragging about her son doing magic Abigail demanded that he teach her. In an attempt to fob her off he said she'd need to get a GCSE A level in Latin. More fool him if he thinks she's not going to hold him to that, she's already in Latin club. She used to imagine her life out there, away from home, on some lonely road, but now she knows about magic, now she imagines seeing in the dark and running with foxes. Now she imagines finding a cure for Paul. When not being the bane of her teachers existence she's always on the lookout for the uncanny as a way to pass the time and impress Peter. There have been a recent spate of disappearances around Hampstead Heath and Abigail thinks they're rather sus. The entire nation is gripped by two white girls missing in Herefordshire and yet in London they can't be bothered with children missing on their own manor. This needs to be looked into, especially something Abigail thinks is extra sus, an old classmate of hers she hadn't seen for years invites her to a "happening" on the Heath. She's stood up but she meets Simon, who was also invited by someone he barely knew who also didn't show. At loose ends Simon and Abigail start to hang out. As Abigail comes to the realization that she's stuck with Simon she lets him help with her investigation. One that gets even stranger when it's revealed the the missing kids have all returned home with no memory of where they were. The most important piece of information is where are the kids going, thankfully Abigail has a skulk of talking foxes who have labeled her as a "person of interest" and are willing to help her with her operation; they're very big on the spy speak. And she needs each and every one of them to monitor the perimeter of the Heath. Which is how she gets her big break. The kids are all going into a house. But when Abigail enters, unlike the other kids, the house doesn't want to let her go. This conundrum is up to her to solve, without the help of the Folly, but oddly with the help of Simon's mom. Simon's mom is well connected, the foxes would be impressed.

While this is a standalone novella it is also technically a companion book to Foxglove Summer. Here we see Abigail in a similar situation to what Peter was dealing with in Herefordshire, missing children. While there are probably millions of stories about missing children what's interesting is seeing how one author handles the same subject in two very different ways. One was successful, the other was not. This book is damn near perfection. The bones of the story are a solid haunting of a house. The inside of the house is different pockets of time and it forces those whom it's lured inside to replay moments from it's past. It's not the most original of concepts, even Angel did a similar story in the season three episode "Waiting in the Wings," which I think was predominately written so that Angel and Cordelia could make out thus acting on years of pent up sexual frustration without them actually becoming an item. Yet Ben Aaronovitch writes his story so cleverly, so perfectly, that you feel like it's the first time you've head a haunted house story like it. What's more, the way that Abigail is trying to dissect the pockets of time while being forced to be a participate is fascinating. She actually appreciates these memories she is being shown while at the same time trying to find the source of the haunting. Abigail is just an amazing character with so much depth. What I personally connected to was the melancholy that is at the heart of her life, the fact that one day her brother Paul is going to die. Since the age of five his world has been getting smaller and smaller and I think that's why she pushes herself beyond her comfort zone. She wants to experience everything, even if it's the ghostly memories that a house gives her. Ben Aaronovitch understands the kind of suffering that a family with chronic illness endures. The hope that is almost worse than the bone deep pain of lifelong trauma. He wrote this book at the beginning of the pandemic and I think it influenced the story in an elegiac way. If you doubt me just read the section wherein Abigail is reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man to her brother. As she makes passing reference to that book's conclusion, if you know and love that book like I do, your heart will break anew.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angel, Ben Aaronovitch, Foxen, Foxglove Summer, Grief, Hampstead Heath, Haunted House, London Calling, Missing Children, Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett, Trauma, Waiting in the Wings, What Abigail Did That Summer

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The disappearance of children has traditionally fallen to the Folly for two reasons, the Fae and dark magic. The Fae and changelings are actually real, and well, dark magic, it's dark for a reason. Which is why Peter is off to Herefordshire. Two eleven-year-old girls, Nicole Lacey and Hannah Marstowe, just walked out of there respective homes one night and didn't return. Nightingale would like Peter to check in on an old colleague in that area, Hugh Oswald, to make sure Hugh can be ruled out as a suspect. The idea that the sleepy old wizard could have kidnapped two rambunctious preteens is laughable to Peter, so one possible theory eliminated, Peter makes himself known to the local investigation team and offers up his help to see if this case might be designated "falcon." With the rise of magic and the police's desire to never use that word supernatural cases are now earmarked as "falcon" to help everyone's delicate sensibilities and to stop the public at large knowing about magic. The country is gripped by the case and the press frenzy is fierce which means that Peter has to step carefully. And for awhile it looks like he will be nothing more than another body on the ground, aiding the police with their inquiries until the girls' cellphones are found. The batteries have been fried. But fried in a very specific way that Peter recognizes as he's lost so many phones in the same manner. Magic fried the phones. But they weren't fried where they were found. So that means there might be a crime scene with vestigia, an imprint of the magic used, and this is the first concrete lead the police have had. Peter is hesitant to declare the case as falcon, he thinks it might be more falcon adjacent, until more and more evidence piles up proving that he is indeed the one man for the job. It would be helpful if Nightingale could come and lend a hand but with Lesley's betrayal the Folly cannot be left unattended, due to that mysterious door in the basement that Peter still hasn't uncovered the secret to. But cavalry arrives in the from of Beverley Brook, a genius loci, who might have ulterior motives for helping, and they involve Peter and getting him to admit there's something between the two of them. Finding the missing girls might be easier than finding out what being Beverley's boyfriend would be like.

Foxglove Summer is a hot mess, with neither word bearing more weight than the other. First, would it kill England to have air conditioners? I mean, how do they survive? Do any cars have cooling features? Because seriously, I thought the majority of the characters might just drop dead due to heat exhaustion. And reading this on a suspiciously hot week did add some verisimilitude, which I could have done with a little less of if I'm honest. Yet one can't really complain about a book that successfully drags you into it to such an extent that you're complaining about fictional weather, so therefore the mess becomes the important part. I just don't know what was going on here. You expect some sort of Broadchurchian mess with the disappearance of children with all the town being suspects and Peter arriving late and playing catch-up, but this was a hot mess, and I'm no longer talking about the weather. Instead of the plot shoring up as the investigation progressed it got more convoluted. That's not how it's supposed to go! I even had a hard time distinguishing between the Lacey and Marstowe families, not surprising giving some of the later obvious reveals, but I should have at least been able to keep the two girls straight and who had the magical unicorn friend and who didn't. But it all merged together in a giant ball of confusion. And here's the thing, Ben Aaronovitch could have saved it in the end and he obviously chose not to. I'm now going to spoil some things, so if you have delicate sensibilities, much like those who don't like to speak the word magic, look away now. So at the end it's revealed that it is the Fae, that there is a changeling involved, and Peter does a hostage swap using himself as collateral assuming that Nightingale will rescue him. Firstly, Peter's naivete that the Fae live on another plain of existence is sheer stupidity for someone so smart, but I will forgive him, he's been through a lot. But after Peter is rescued, the book just ends. Which leaves SO MANY questions unanswered. Why did the Fae take the children in the first place? I mean, yes, it could have been the whole changeling angle, but then why didn't they keep Hannah? What are they going to do with the original Nicole? How did the original Nicole get magical powers? Why did the "gates" to fairy cause the ground to be acidic and grow foxglove? Was the Fae's kidnappings related to the felling of the trees? If not, how can they make sure this doesn't happen again? And would it have killed them to have included a map? I mean, I think the only question I felt was answered at the end of this book was why it was dedicated to Terry Pratchett. Which means The Hanging Tree better start out with some answers.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ben Aaronovitch, Beverly Brook, Broadchurch, Changling, Fae, Falcon, Foxglove Summer, Heat, Herefordshire, Kidnapping, Lesley May, London Calling, Magic, Nightingale, Peter Grant, Spoilers, The Folly, The Hanging Tree