"And Put Away Childish Things" by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Our main character, Harry, scratches the dark underbelly of a fairy tale children's book series - one that definitely did not have a furniture based portal. A beautifully twisted and somewhat dark take on back-of-the-wardrobe fantasy worlds.

Harry Bodie has a famous grandmother, who wrote beloved children’s books set in the delightful world of Underhill. What if Underhill is real? What if it has been waiting decades for a promised child to visit? What if it isn’t delightful at all? And what if its denizens have run out of patience and are taking matters into their own hands?

Adrian Tchaikovsky really seems at home in a dark novella, and this doesn’t disappoint. As with the other books in this series, there is dubious morality, selfish desires, and half-hearted ethical choices - in this case it’s in a fantasy-world-gone-bad in a knowing parody of the Narnia books.

“really flicking the noses of their lawyers now Magdo!”

Harry is a nicely drawn mediocre antihero, and Tchaikovsky does a great job in dragging him through the plot with lacklustre motivation powered by the flickering flame of a sense of duty. He is so very human - with unremarkable levels of luck, behaviour, achievement, and inspiration. This is nicely balanced by Seitchman the (dare I say “plucky”?) sidekick, and together they get embroiled with the fairy tale sized villain of Underhill.

One ongoing minor quibble with Tchaikovsky is that he tends to have little unexplained nuggets that aren’t important to the plot, but can feel slightly like smug inside knowledge. For example, not every reader will know who Dee and Crowley are (apparently historical English occultists), nor why mention of Barnard Castle is funny (a political incident in the UK during COVID). And the half-explained context of COVID lockdown is likely to age. But these are minor niggles.

The plot is meticulously constructed, and at the culmination of the story I really enjoyed the callbacks to the compulsive behaviour of some of the fantasy characters that were developed earlier in the narrative.

A very fitting conclusion to the “Terrible Worlds: Destinations” series of novellas.

My rating: ★★★★☆

"Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells

Our favourite neurodivergeant construct is back, and is heading to the mining colony where this run-of-the-mill Security Unit became Murderbot. This is a fitting sequel to All Systems Red, exploring a little more of the back-story of Murderbot. There is also the introduction of ART, as an all-powerful sidekick.

For me, some of the changes introduced in this story diluted the essential Murderbotness that we were introduced to in the first book. Murderbot’s attitude to, and integration with, the humans in the story softens, which is a departure from the extreme awkwardness shown in the first book. Also, the introduction of ART as an all-powerful sidekick is a slightly over-convenient way to get through situations that would otherwise be exceptionally tricky for Murderbot alone - and it does give it a bit of a Deus ex Machina vibe.

Giving Murderbot a companion in ART also makes it a bit more of a buddy story, again softening the isolation of Murderbot that we saw in the first book. But I guess all of these things are necessary in order to provide room for more complex plot and character development to occur, which isn’t a bad thing.

So these two powerful buddies engage set out to uncover some of Murderbot’s back story, and grumpily right some wrongs along the way, deftly covering their tracks lest their true nature be discovered. It’s fun, the plot is fast and snappy, and I did really enjoy Murderbot’s development and the interactions with ART. And I’m looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.

My rating: ★★★★☆

"No One Noticed the Cat" by Anne McCaffrey

A cute little fairy tale featuring a cat, which Anne McCaffrey apparently wrote for her granddaughter. It’s a fairy tale. With a cat. And it’s cute. I’m a sucker for a story with a cat. It has an evil stepmother, and royalty and nobility, and they all get into a bit of trouble, but it works out in the end, and nothing particularly surprising happens. Oh, and it’s very short, so I read it while I was waiting for a delayed flight - and I’m glad that I did. It’s a fairy tale. Did I mention that it has a cat?

My rating: ★★★☆☆

"Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett

An amiable and, at times, quite rich story of average people doing the best that they can. But with dragons. Captain Vimes of the Night Watch leads a very small rag-tag team of men, who do their best to keep out of trouble while pretending to keep the residents of Ankh-Morpork safe during the night.

Into this mix comes Carrot - an earnest new recruit brought up by dwarves - and the summoning of a dragon by someone in the city who would rather have more power for themselves.

The result is a very well constructed and engaging plot, with Pratchett’s trademark irreverent humour, and not an insubstantial set popular culture references. There’s plenty of peril (fire breathing dragons will do that), some extension of Discworld lore, and a few new characters entering the mix. I particularly like the extra depth given to the Patrician, even with the very small part he plays in this story - and the librarian (a firm favourite of mine anyway) shows a surprising command of multi-dimensional travel.

Vimes is world-weary but seems to want to do a good job - and he is one of the more real characters in the story. The rest of the members of the Night Watch are largely interchangeable (I genuinely couldn’t really remember who was who, and it didn’t seem to matter). The introduction of Lady Ramkin is very welcome as one of the old moneyed establishment figures of Ankh-Morpork, albeit in a somewhat clichéd down-to-earth “old money” homey way.

The story is fun, but ultimately doesn’t have much to say (there’s a slightly heavy handed attempt to compare the brutality of dragons towards people to the worse brutality that people show to each other), and the resolution of the dragon-related plot is quite weak. I am, however, quite interested in the ongoing story of the Night Watch in future books, and will welcome any development of the Patrician (although I wonder whether, much like the character of Death in the Discworld books, that less may be more).

Competent but unremarkable.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

"All Systems Red" by Martha Wells

This was brilliant. Half machine and half human (at least, cloned human parts), this particular ‘security unit’ has a chequered past, has hacked its own governor module, and has privately dubbed itself “Murderbot”. Now on contract to a research team assessing a planet, Murderbot has a well defined job to do, but unexpectedly gets attached to the team and goes beyond the job at hand to help them.

It’s a short novella, so there’s not a lot to say that wouldn’t spoil some part or other of it, but I loved the character of Murderbot - the combination of competence and dedication for the job at hand, self knowledge of limitations, and the deep desire to just be left alone to secretly watch as many episodes of the soap opera Sanctuary Moon as possible.

I’m so happy that there are 6 more books…

My rating: ★★★★★

"The Devil You Know" by Gwen Adshead

A powerful book and a difficult one to read. I can’t do better than the blurb for summarising it:

"Dr Gwen Adshead is one of Britain's leading forensic psychologists. She has spent over thirty years providing therapy inside secure hospitals and prisons for violent offenders. Whatever her patient's crime - serial homicide, stalking, arson - she helps them to better know their minds. Case by case, she takes the reader into the treatment room and reveals the complex and vulnerable humans behind these acts of terrible violence. These are stories of cruelty and despair, but also change and hope. The Devil You Know speaks to our shared humanity and makes the case for compassion over condemnation, empathy over fear."

And it does exactly that. There is no attempt to lessen the awfulness of the things that these people have done, nor provide excuses or justifications, or attempt to explain away or diminish any of the crimes. It is easy to cast people as monsters who are guilty of these things, but there is a rich vein of humanity running through these stories that provide an additional perspective.

There is also a lot of background about the criminal justice system, and the role that mental health issues, and mental health support and treatment play in it - including the irony that it is often only in prison that many of these people have access to the mental health support that would have benefited them prior to committing their crime.

The author’s accounts of the interviews and discussions with each offender provide a fascinating insight into the depth of training that a forensic psychologist brings to this work. Each story has glimpses of the author’s adept skills at navigating a narrow pathway that will encourage the offender to talk openly about often troubling and emotional times in their lives, from their childhood to the time of the offence itself. The stories are also personal and candid, as the author recounts times when she has misstepped or made decisions or drawn conclusions that in retrospect could have been better.

The awakening of insight and self-knowledge in people who have committed the most heinous of crimes is movingly told. And this has had an emotional impact on me as I examine my own reactions to these stories. By far the most difficult to read was of a man who had sexually abused his two sons - and the fact that the broad mix of emotions of horror and disgust that I had when reading that story also included some compassion for the perpetrator is difficult for me to process. This will stay with me for a long time.

My rating: ★★★★★

"Eversion" by Alastair Reynolds

I can count on the fingers of one finger the number of nautical themed gothic sci-fi novels that have made me cry at the end. (clue: this one).

Ultimately, this becomes a moving story about friendship and humanity, but it’s wrapped in an intriguing mystery in a nautical setting. The characters are distinct and real; the plot is engaging and well place; the mystery is very satisfying.

I’m not going to say any more. Ideally, read this book blind. Read the blurb if you must, but read other reviews with caution - there’s far too much danger that someone will inadvertently give something away. As it happens, a throw-away remark in a review I read gave me a hint of something I would rather have found out on my own.

My rating: ★★★★★