And Put Away Childish Things


And Put Away Childish Things

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

4 out of 5

Synopsis
Harry Bodie’s been called into the delightful fantasy world of his grandmother’s beloved children’s books. It’s not delightful here at all.

All roads lead to Underhill, where it’s always winter, and never nice.

Harry Bodie has a famous grandmother, who wrote beloved children’s books set in the delightful world of Underhill. Harry himself is a failing kids’ TV presenter whose every attempt to advance his career ends in self-sabotage. His family history seems to be nothing but an impediment.

An impediment... or worse. 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?


Review
Harry is an out-of-work TV presenter, who has lived his whole life in the shadow of his late-grandmother's popular children's books. Strange things start to happen, and Harry starts to realise that the fantasy world is very much real.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The narrative follows Harry Bodie, a 40-year-old TV presenter, who is relatively well-known, but has never cracked real fame, fortune, or success of any kind in his life. And after a popular genealogy show looked into his family's history and share to the whole world that his great-grandmother was sent to an asylum, Harry feels like success has been pushed even further away.
In contrast, his grandmother's Underhill book series (very Narnianesque) has been popular for decades, and has spawned cartoons, TV shows, and a slew of passionate fans.
One very normal day, Harry is forced to accept that Underhill is a real world.

I really liked this story, and the plot wasn't what I expected.
It takes a lot of inspiration from Narnia, and is very open about the similarities. The portal within the wardrobe especially made me smile.
But although you can feel the respect for all things Narnian, and the public love of the Underhill his grandmother created, the real Underhill feels like a horror movie.
Whilst our world is embracing stories of Underhill in its prime, the real Underworld has been rotting away, literally.

I liked how the book played with tropes popular in Fantasy stories, like being the promised prince, and saving Underhill from the eternal darkness.

I also liked how it coincided with the Covid lockdown, how Harry disappeared for months (because time works differently in Underhill), and suddenly the real world became very weird - and the worst part - no one even noticed he was missing.

The not-so-good.
I found it hard to get started with the book. Harry's not a particularly likeable character, and he's very narrow-minded, which made some of the fantastical elements hard to follow in the beginning.
But that's kinda the point of the book, Harry isn't a hero. He wants to be liked by people, but he doesn't know how to go about it.



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