AND PUT AWAY CHILDISH TINGS - Adrian Tchaikovsky

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

Felix "Harry" Bodie, a struggling presenter of children's television, is the grandson of the famous Magda "Mary" Bodie - author of the beloved Underhill series of children's books. Harry has been living in Underhill's shadow his entire life and finally takes the time to look into it.

Underhill, it turns out, is not a made up land, but an actual place. His grandmother wasn't inventing something - she was telling about a place she'd actually been to. But Underhill is not a nice place, and the citizens of this land have grown tired of waiting for the promised child to come to them and they've taken things into their own hands.

I haven't read a lot by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but I've been wanting to turn that around, and this looked right up my alley.

Harry is an unusual protagonist - his age (middle age), his accomplishments (none?), his drive (non-existent?) target him as the reluctant hero, but he's never a hero here ... he's just reluctant. But the situation that he's in proves to be an interesting.

For the most part, this is a nod or an homage to some of the classic children's stories of yesteryear.  The similarity to C. S. Lewis's Narnia is most obvious with the use of a wardrobe (note the cover), but I also noticed some significant nods to Edith Nesbit and many of her books. There were other moments that felt like it was probably a nod to a book or series that I wasn't familiar with (or at least couldn't make the association).

All in all, a fun, short read that didn't feel 100% original.

Looking for a good book? And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a quick-read novella that nods and skewers the fantasies that many of us grew up reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

And Put Away Childish Things

author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

publisher: Solaris

ISBN: 9781786188793

hardcover, 208 pages

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