There's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming uThere's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming up with a handsome spellcracker to save him from kidnap and being magicked into marriage. It's very fluffy, but a lot of fun. It's part of the magical Regency romance genre but very knowingly pokes fun at that genre.
I'm not sure I can take any book that's set in a place called the "Teacup Isles" seriously, but then the author doesn't really take it seriously either. Although despite it all, the book never mocks the genre but lovingly sends it up. I like that because it's in an alternate world, although it liberally borrows from the British Regency period, it isn't bound by it, and so things that don't fit in that period (for example, same-sex relationships) are present and don't feel out of place.
Great fun, with a protagonist I liked. A great antidote to 2021.
Merged review:
There's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming up with a handsome spellcracker to save him from kidnap and being magicked into marriage. It's very fluffy, but a lot of fun. It's part of the magical Regency romance genre but very knowingly pokes fun at that genre.
I'm not sure I can take any book that's set in a place called the "Teacup Isles" seriously, but then the author doesn't really take it seriously either. Although despite it all, the book never mocks the genre but lovingly sends it up. I like that because it's in an alternate world, although it liberally borrows from the British Regency period, it isn't bound by it, and so things that don't fit in that period (for example, same-sex relationships) are present and don't feel out of place.
Great fun, with a protagonist I liked. A great antidote to 2021....more
Gyen Jebi is an artist, living in an occupied land. To try and help out their sister, with whom they live, and contribute to the household, they take Gyen Jebi is an artist, living in an occupied land. To try and help out their sister, with whom they live, and contribute to the household, they take a job with the occupying government. But they find there's more to the automatons that roam the streets than meets the eye, and their horror at their creation leads them into a rebellion they never wanted.
I came to this through Lee's Machineries of Empire books, which I loved a lot. I wish I could say the same about this, but I was a bit meh about the whole thing. The idea of art to power the magic is an interesting one, especially the mechanism of that power, even if it seemed a bit vague. There didn't really seem to be a relationship between the art and the pigment, and it seemed a bit vague as to what would come out the other end of the process.
I liked Jebi, but found their sister, Bongsunga, more challenging. The book starts with her throwing Jebi out of their home for getting a certificate of a name in the invaders' language (to make it easier to work within their bureaucracy), and throughout, she seems much more focused on the resistance than on any sense of family. It feels to me that their reconciliation towards the end of the book was undeserved. We hadn't had any particular sense up until then that Bongsunga thought of Jebi as anything more than a burden, or a tool. On the other hand, the relationship between Jebi and the watcher that they're assigned - Vei, the duellist prime for the ministry, is all too real and believable. The other key relationship in the book is between Jebi and the automaton dragon Arazi. This feels underdeveloped to me, and I would have liked to see more of it, especially Arazi's delight in having others describe sensations like eating and smelling, that it can't do, and its insatiable curiosity at the world around it.
The book partially resolves its plot and it does end on a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, I don't really have any particular desire to look out for the sequel....more
I complained that the previous GSFWC book was really quite depressing. I'm pleased to say that this one is much less so, possibly thanks to the influeI complained that the previous GSFWC book was really quite depressing. I'm pleased to say that this one is much less so, possibly thanks to the influence of Brian Milton, one of the editors (and author of my favourite story of the previous collection) and his sense of whimsy.
There's a strong opening story in Out in the Sticks about a woman who moves to a Scottish village and the unique role she finds herself in. There's a nice story of resistance and fighting back in Gods of the Deepwood, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Sarry Heid Free Press, the story of a heist (or sorts) at a future Glasgow Worldcon, told in broad Scots. Occupy Midnight is a wonderfully uplifting story of a very different kind of convention in Glasgow and is a really great way to round off the collection.
It's a broad church of a book, with stories from all over the SFFH spectrum. I'm not a huge horror fan, but these were well told, and there weren't many stories that entirely missed the mark for me. There's some great writers in the GSFWC and this is an excellent showcase of their talents....more
Charmain has been raised to be Respectable, which means not knowing how to cook or clean. Something which is a problem when her aunt bullies her motheCharmain has been raised to be Respectable, which means not knowing how to cook or clean. Something which is a problem when her aunt bullies her mother into sending her to take care of her Great Uncle William's home while he's away being treated for an illness. Not helped by fact that her uncle is a wizard, and his house is much more complex than it initially seems. However, she finds help in unexpected places, including a small dog, and an unexpected apprentice.
The book is quite good fun, as Charmain has to learn to get on in the world, and we explore the house and the help that her great uncle left her. I must say, I'd love to just be able to walk into my living room and say "afternoon tea, please" into the air and have one just appear. Hmm, on second thoughts, that may be a terrible idea for my waistline.
This is set in the same world as Howl's Moving Castle and although Sophie and Howl do appear, they're very much secondary characters (although fire demon Calcifer does play an important role) and you could probably get away without really having read the other books, although you'd miss some of the fun of Howl's disguise.
My favourite character was probably the elderly king of the country that Charmain lives in, who answers her letter offering to help in the palace library and who turns out to be quite the librarian himself. While it's not as good as Howl's Moving Castle this is still an entertaining and fun book whose characters I enjoyed quite a lot....more
This is a collection of short stories featuring our favourite Lumberjanes in a variety of adventures. There's one involving a party for Midsummer, oneThis is a collection of short stories featuring our favourite Lumberjanes in a variety of adventures. There's one involving a party for Midsummer, one involving green kittens, one with a ghost chef and, most intriguingly, one showing Rosie's time at the camp as a kid, when bear-lady Nellie is in charge.
There's a variety of artists drawing the stories, but all work within the context of both these stories, and of the series as a whole. The stories don't progress the overall plot, but they're not supposed to - they're just short stories within the universe of the Lumberjanes. And it was just lovely to spend some time with the residents of Roanoke cabin again.
Probably not a good jumping on point for newbies who don't know the characters, but recommended for existing fans....more
A friend suggested I watch Jill Bearup's Fantasy Heroine series on YouTube, which I enjoyed a lot, and when I found out about the book that she was wrA friend suggested I watch Jill Bearup's Fantasy Heroine series on YouTube, which I enjoyed a lot, and when I found out about the book that she was writing based on that, I was excited. And then I ran into Bearup in person at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon and as well a chat (she's really nice!) I was able to buy her book from her as well. The book fleshed out the short videos, extended the PoV chapters beyond just our Fantasy Heroine™ and added in some of writer Caroline's real-world problems and her own love interest in her Hot Editor™ Henry.
The book was a lot of fun, very easy to read and delightfully meta. It was also surprisingly tender at times, with Rosamund's grief over the loss of her husband still very real and very raw. Caroline's characters very much get away from her and absolutely refuse to have any truck with well-worn tropes such as Enemies To Lovers or There's Only One Bed, and instead prefer to communicate clearly and sensibly. Who'd have thunk it! If you have any fondness for romance at all, I suspect you'll enjoy this book....more
It's been many years since I read The Fall of the House of Usher (so much so that I read the Wikipedia plot summary before starting this as a reminderIt's been many years since I read The Fall of the House of Usher (so much so that I read the Wikipedia plot summary before starting this as a reminder) but this was a great retelling. I'm not really a fan of horror, so had initially avoided this, but a friend whose taste I trust recommended it, and I'm glad I gave it a go. I nearly stopped after the first page, to be honest, with its tone of dark menace, and mycological threat, but then Miss Potter stepped on to the page and she just makes everything better. An English lady of a Certain Age, mycologist and (fictional) aunt of Beatrix Potter, she stops our narrator, Alex Easton, from poking the wrong sort of mushroom.
Easton is also interesting, being a "sworn soldier", from a country with an abundance of pronouns, there's one specifically for soldiers (the country that Alex is from being very fond of their soldiers, even if they aren't very good at fighting) and this causes some embarrassment for those from uncouth places like America that don't have such pronouns. Although to be fair, the American doctor, Denton, gets used to it pretty quickly. Easton is summoned by their old friend Madeline as she says she's dying (hence Denton's presence in the house). There is all the tension and horror that comes from that, and from the gothic house set beside a disquieting lake beset by various kinds of horrific fungus. Oh the fungus.
This is Easton's story as they tell of the last of the Ushers, but it's the redoubtable Miss Potter who's the heart of it for me. She might not drive the plot, but she's very sensible and English about things, while vibrating with a righteous anger at not being allowed to join the learned society for mycologists just because she's a woman.
It's a great gothic horror story, and a very Kingfisher twist on the original story. Avoid if you're mycophobic, but for everyone else it's a cracking read....more
Temerity is sixteen and helps her mother run an inn in a small town, while her father and brothers have gone into the Dragon's Game - a series of dungTemerity is sixteen and helps her mother run an inn in a small town, while her father and brothers have gone into the Dragon's Game - a series of dungeons where you have to acquire magical items, level up and generally dungeon crawl, in the hopes of a great prize at the end. Temerity decides to follow them into the Game, her only companion being the hobgoblin, Half-Pint, who has helped her family for generations.
I'm not really that familiar with the litRPG genre. I picked this up as it was in the free section of books at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon, not really knowing what to expect. But it turned out to be an awful lot of fun. There were a lot of tropes that I could identify, both from my own experience of tabletop roleplaying, and cultural osmosis from video games, which I never really got into. It's pretty lightweight and there's not a huge amount of character depth. We get the usual sorts of quests that you'd expect for inexperienced adventurers and get to see Temerity become a pretty good melee warrior. Like video games, there's no real death in the world of the Dragon's Game - if you die, you're just chucked out, back to the start of the level, so although the first time she "kills" someone, Temerity is pretty shaken up, by the time we get to the end of the level, she's hacking and slashing with the best of them.
This is popcorn reading, easy to consume without much substance to it. I'd certainly be happy to go on and read the next one, once it's out (and it seems like the author has planned quite a lot of them) but I could also put it down and not think about the series again. Definitely fun though, especially if you have any RPG experience....more
I had thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of this Scottish-themed anthology which had been written for the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon, so was excited when I had thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of this Scottish-themed anthology which had been written for the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon, so was excited when I heard about volume 2, written for the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon. In order to showcase how the Scottish SF scene has changed over the last two decades or so, the editors made a conscious decision not to include any contributors from vol 1 (except themselves [editors' privilege], and Ken Macleod, who was a guest of honour at Glasgow 2024).
There were some great stories here and it was a strong collection overall. Like the first volume, the editors were very broad about what they counted as "Scottish" SF. This could be writers who were born here, those who have made Scotland their home, or stories with a strong sense of the country running through them. The collection gets of to a cracking start with Ken Macloed's Weak Gods of Mars about a folk singer who was reincarnated on Mars, followed up with Eliza Chan's excellent When You Are The Hammer, Strike.
Morag Edwards' Shoals is hauntingly beautiful and packs an awful lot into its short length. Andrew J. Wilson's paragraph long story about an alternate history version of the Robert the Bruce parable with the spider had me laughing in surprised delight at the last line, excellent work!
Not every story hit the mark for me. For example, I found Grant Morrison's Peter's Thoughts a bit impenetrable, but then I have a troubled relationship with Morrison at the best of times, and the tone of a few doesn't work (especially those that lean towards the horror end of the spectrum). But these are few and far between; this is a remarkably strong collection. EM Fauld's Love, Scotland is a story of refugees finding shelter in Scotland, but not shying away from the bigotry that they can still face.
So a great collection. Now we need another Glasgow worldcon in a decade or two for volume 3!...more
Gen is a thief who'd boasted that he could steal anything, proved it by stealing the king's Seal, and then got caught when he was boasting about havinGen is a thief who'd boasted that he could steal anything, proved it by stealing the king's Seal, and then got caught when he was boasting about having stolen the king's Seal. Now the king's closest advisor gets him out because he needs him to steal something. But Gen has plans of his own.
This has been sitting on my Kindle for a while and I picked it up because the other book I was reading kept making me cry and I didn't really feel in the mood that day. It was a good book to read while travelling, since the first half is mostly just Gen and his comrades travelling. Unusually for a book like this, the senior advisor (magus) who ordered him to steal this item also comes with them, along with two of his apprentices, who are scholars and the obligatory silent hunk of muscle there to keep Gen in line. This feels like it was really just world building for future volumes, since we got a lot about the political situation in our secondary world as well as the gods.
And this is a secondary world fantasy, but one that was very light on the magic. Apart from crossing paths with some gods there's no other fantastical element, so bear that in mind if you're going in expecting a magical heist story. The heist itself is pretty straightforward, just dealing with a dungeon with traps, but no monsters, and then they have to flee (for Reasons).
The travel isn't hugely exciting, we just get to follow Gen and his companions bickering at each other. Gen can be stubborn and sometimes just petulant which isn't exactly endearing. The magus is pompus but surprisingly fair, while there's a Nice Apprentice and a Naughty Apprentice and the guard has no personality other than to loom.
There's a nice reveal right at the end which I should really have seen coming, but didn't and it's a nice closed ending, so it's perfectly fine to read standalone, although there's another five books in the series, which I haven't decided yet if I'm going to pick up or not....more
Pell is a tinkerer and digger for her village. When a stranger shows up from the nearby (impenetrable) tower asking for help in rebuilding a set of daPell is a tinkerer and digger for her village. When a stranger shows up from the nearby (impenetrable) tower asking for help in rebuilding a set of damaged machines, she can't resist. But what do the machines do, and what secrets to the tower's keepers hide, and why is Pell drawn so much to one of them?
I struggled to engage with large chunks of this, since so much of the book just consisted of Pell working on the machines in the tower. There's lots of descriptions of widgets and how they fit together, but I don't have a terribly good visual imagination, so struggled to visualise this. And I didn't really find that part of the story hugely exciting either. There's a mystery element to what's going on, as the clues dropped in the narrative suggest that this is a very different world to our own, and one that's practically empty, since, as far as Pell knows, her village is all there is.
The pace of the story picks up about three quarters the way through and we get a number of answers, as well as a romance that's been signposted from fairly early on, but I didn't find it as satisfying as I might have hoped. Holmberg is a consistent writer, but while this is decent, I don't think it's one of her stronger works....more
All Ekata wants to do is leave her murderous family behind and go and study at the University. She's a middle child of a duke in a frozen duchy that eAll Ekata wants to do is leave her murderous family behind and go and study at the University. She's a middle child of a duke in a frozen duchy that exists only because of the magic of the city Below, that they have sole control over and trade with. When something causes her entire family to fall into comas they can't be awoken from, she finds herself Grand Duke, hastily choosing a wife from the Bride Show that was meant to be for her brother, the heir apparent, and fighting to keep her throne, and her country, safe from threats within and without.
There's a lot going on here, world building that's good in bits, although the magic was frustratingly ill-defined. I found Ekata to be quite childish and difficult at times, and it wasn't until more than half way through that I realised that she was a child, or a teenager at least: she's just sixteen, which explains a lot. The whole book takes place in just under a week, something that explains the hectic pace and the feeling of Ekata always being off-balance. She's never given a chance to stop and think, but lurches from crisis to crisis, all while realising that she might actually have feelings for the wife she chose for political expediency.
The book makes a big thing about Ekata being intelligent, and her goal is go leave her family to become a scholar. I would have liked to see her showing that intelligence to solve the problems around her. As it was, she mostly just tried to copy her father's (awful) example and inspire fear in those around her. It works about as well as you'd expect.
It's a popcorn book, which I mostly blasted through in a day. Entertaining and, thankfully, in a world drowning in long fantasy series', it's standalone. It's got some issues, but it's still a fun read....more
I first encountered Ann Leckie as editor of audio fantasy magazine Podcastle and then read her Ancillary trilogy. That blew me away so much that she wI first encountered Ann Leckie as editor of audio fantasy magazine Podcastle and then read her Ancillary trilogy. That blew me away so much that she was added to the "automatic buy" group, with this collection being the latest book from that policy, and it's a cracking collection! There's an incredibly strong start with the title story that interconnects the lives of a pre-contact species with an anthropologist, who awakes in orbit to find the rest of the crew killed and the shuttle missing. It's one that stuck with me for ages after finishing it. Subsequent stories involve dinosaurs colonising Mars, cross-cultural tension and communication and an immortal planet-wide tyrant and her coterie. There's also a handful of Radch stories, although they all put their focus outwith the Imperial Radch itself, with the other human groups that the Radch as well as a couple of what appear to be myths from that universe.
Fully half the book consists of stories from the Raven Tower universe. I've read that book, but not in quite some time, and so approached these stories with some trepidation. Trepidation that was unwarranted, as the stories themselves remind you of the basic facts of the universe: what gods say must be true, either true already, or they must expend power to make it true, hence they're very careful what they say. There's a lot of ways to play with this basic idea and Leckie has fun with exploring many of them.
My favourite story involves a bumbling, not overly bright chap trying to get out of getting married while dealing with an overbearing aunt. Remind you of anyone? It's a pitch-perfect, and quite hilarious, pastiche, a delightful contrast to the majority of the stories in the book, which are serious and thoughtful in tone.
If you're already a Leckie fan then dive in, the stories are wonderful; and if you're not, this is a perfect taster of the wide variety of her work....more
Charley's parents are away on an archaeological dig on a sinking island, so to distract herself, she and her two cousins hold a seance. They get more Charley's parents are away on an archaeological dig on a sinking island, so to distract herself, she and her two cousins hold a seance. They get more than they bargained for when they find the big mirror in the study turns into a doorway that lets Charley through to a world where she finds a boy (Charles) almost identical to her, and the two of them start on an adventure through multiple worlds, while being chased by a power-crazed wizard and his minions.
This was a bit slow to get going, but was a lot of fun once it did. It took a while before I figured out that Charley's world is both set in the 1930s and that it was an alternate world. We then get to see various other worlds, in different stages of development, from Charles' world, similar to ours in the Victorian age to a futuristic world where technology and magic are both rather advanced.
It's an episodic book, appropriate for the audience, although like McPherson's previous book, Mystery at Movie Manor, it feels rather old-fashioned. That works a bit better here, since the characters are from historical periods, but it still reminds me more of the children's books of my own now dim and distant childhood than those of today. That gives it a sort of nostalgia for me, but I don't know how modern kids would react to it.
But it's still fun, with lots of derring-do, magical mirror portals and a talking cat. What's not to like?
Note: I know the author and was given an ARC of the book....more
I really dislike not finishing books, but I was a hundred pages into this and really not enjoying it. And life's too short, there are more books to reI really dislike not finishing books, but I was a hundred pages into this and really not enjoying it. And life's too short, there are more books to read. I disliked every character I encountered, except Niamh. They all felt self-centred and felt like they were one venti latte away from clutching their pearls (is it coincidence that the one character I liked was the Irish one... actually, yes, it probably was).
I've also got much less time these days for urban fantasy where magic is hidden from unmagical people, and this one especially rubbed me somewhat the wrong way. I disliked the pejorative "mundane" that was used for the unmagical and the unthinking contempt that every magical character seemed to have for them.
And this might be unfair, but it also felt somewhat negative in its portrayal of men. Yes, this is a book about (specifically female) witches, but the way that almost everyone talked about men was either completely contemptuous or on a pedestal because they were dead. According to some other reviews, at least one of the dead men was also abusive, but I didn't get that far.
Oh, and finally, the name of the organisation. How can any British person take a magical organisation whose acronym is HMRC seriously?...more
This was a fun multiverse-hopping story where Charlie is sent through a portal in desperation, as they are ripping her universe apart. She manages to This was a fun multiverse-hopping story where Charlie is sent through a portal in desperation, as they are ripping her universe apart. She manages to close the portal, but then has no way home. She ends up teaming up with this universe's version of her mentor, Vera, and they start hopping across universes trying to find the source of the portals, and why that darned biomechanical Hound keeps following them.
This was fun, but a bit too hectic, I think. It barely had time to establish what was going on in one world before they were off again. I wanted to spend a bit more time in the magic world, or the pirate world, or even the dystopian world. Just to build a sense of place and what was at risk. Some things never entirely seemed to make sense (the Hound, for example), and what was the deal with the fact that Charlie never bumped into another Charlie on their hops?
But mostly it's zipping along quickly enough that you don't actually care. You're on a multiversal road trip and get two see two people start to learn to trust and respect each other and it's great fun....more
The final book in this trilogy brings us back to Britain and the attempt to prevent the pieces of the Last Contract being brought together for nefarioThe final book in this trilogy brings us back to Britain and the attempt to prevent the pieces of the Last Contract being brought together for nefarious purposes. This one highlights Lord (Jack) Hawthorn and journalist and class warrior Alan Ross, who made an appearance in the last book, and who turns out to be someone who can "perturb" or disrupt magic.
I didn't care as much as about the Hawthorn/Ross pairing as I did about either Edwin/Robin or Maud/Violet from the previous books, although at least part of that is because their combative relationship includes some "power play" around their class dynamic which is not really my thing. It was at least satisfying to find Alan so stumped by Jack's liberal tendencies after he'd built him up as something else entirely.
It was nice to see characters from both previous books come back and play major roles here and the resolution to the Last Contract satisfying, although a few words about what happened to Lady Phyllis would have been nice. And after only seeing Jack from the outside for so long, it was good to get into his head just at the same time as he's finally having to start to deal with and process grief that he's hidden for so long as well as make friends and find love.
The opposition, in the form of Edwin's brother and Jack's cousin, was so odious throughout that I spent a lot of time imagining how their magic would cope with modern weaponry being brought to bear against them, and that their fear of the many should be justified. In the end, though, they got their just desserts.
In the end, the story as a whole was about promises and what happens when they're broken, dealing with grief, and found family. While the romance in this one didn't work as well as the others, I enjoyed this book, and the series as a whole....more
This is a warm-hearted little novella about burnout, being trapped in a job you hate and just the daily grind of being a small cog in a big machine. IThis is a warm-hearted little novella about burnout, being trapped in a job you hate and just the daily grind of being a small cog in a big machine. It's also told in the second person which I dislike by default, unless something interesting is being done with the format, which I don't really think this one was.
Our protagonist is a journeyman wizard, but throw away any preconceptions you might have about what that looks like - their life is basically first line customer service/tech support. They jump at a call that could get them out of the office for day but find a demon sharing the body of the teenager who made the call, and he doesn't want to leave any time soon!
The burgeoning friendship between Shine/Wang Ran and our protagonist is sweet, as they try their best to help, and find a new joy in life. At a new friendship, along with their colleague Nathaniel, and new possibilities when you've been stuck so long at the same thing that you don't see any way out.
Honestly, it packs a lot of depth (and sweetness) into its short length. I picked this up on the back of Liu being on the Astounding shortlist for the year. If this is anything to judge by, they're definitely someone to look out for....more
It's Abeni's twelfth birthday when her whole village is stolen away by forces she can barely imagine. She's protected by the old woman the villagers cIt's Abeni's twelfth birthday when her whole village is stolen away by forces she can barely imagine. She's protected by the old woman the villagers called a witch and taken away to safety, where she starts to learn the old woman's magic in the hope of going after her friends and family.
Tending towards the younger end of the YA spectrum, this book nonetheless manages to pack a lot in. It's a bildungsroman, a travel journey, a hero's quest and an allegory for the Atlantic slave trade and child soldiers being forced to fight and commit terrible crimes for warlords. And still manages to have light moments where Abeni and the friends she makes along the way can just have fun for a bit.
I'm really fond of Clark's Dead Djinn Universe and was excited to read more by him (doubly so when it popped up on the Lodestar shortlist, and was in the Hugo packet). The worldbuilding is great, with a secondary world that has a distinctly African feel about it. I became really fond of the spirits that Abeni found and who came with her, the wider war having torn them from their families as well. And Abeni feels like a character who starts as a child and then has to grow very quickly.
I enjoyed this a lot and I'll definitely be looking out for the sequel....more
I loved this book as a child, getting it out from the library multiple times to read it, and then I completely forgot about it, until the good folks oI loved this book as a child, getting it out from the library multiple times to read it, and then I completely forgot about it, until the good folks on the Octothorpe podcast talked about it a while ago. As soon as a copy was available at a reasonable price, I jumped at it. It's a short book, in which the eponymous Rebecca wishes herself to another world, after being bored during the school holidays. There she finds a treeless planet filled with ghosts (sorry, GHOSTS) and a walking metaphor for the evils of capitalism.
I hadn't actually realised that this was written by that Terry Nation until the Octothorpe discussion (although I've been a Doctor Who fan since childhood, I didn't know who Nation was until much later). This is a fun, episodic story, as Rebecca makes friends, learns about the world and goes on a quest. The companions she makes are simply drawn but good people. Oh, and speaking of drawing, Larry Learmonth's illustrations are very evocative. The lines maybe feel a little old fashioned, but nonetheless are great.
A lovely little nostalgia hit, but I think it holds up in its own right too. It's still a book that I'm happily going to lend to my nephlings (even if some things don't entirely stand up to modern sensibilities, for example Rebecca being the only female character means it doesn't get a look in at the Bechdel test)....more
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