T. Kingfisher: Summer in Orcus
May. 7th, 2018 03:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bibliogrammaMore Hugo reading. This time, it’s a finalist in the Best Young Adult Novel category (which is, technically, not a Hugo just as the Campbell award is not a Hugo) - Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher (who is also known as Ursula Vernon). And it is a charmingly original portal fantasy, a work of whimsical imagination, calling back to earlier, even Victorian-era children’s fantasies with talking animals and curious landscapes. There’s more than a touch of Narnia, and a fair bit of Alice’s Wonderland, here, and it’s all held together by a truly delightful heroine, 11 year-old Summer.
Summer is a human girl, and lives with her mother in a world much like ours. Her mother works hard, but is more than a little defeated by the stresses of single parenthood and an ungenerous working environment. She is far too protective of Summer, who isn’t allowed to do much of anything except go to school and play in her own yard. And in some ways she’s come to rely on Summer for emotional support when the world has gotten too much.
And then one day, when Summer is playing alone in her back yard, Baba Yaga’s chicken-legged hut comes wandering down the alleyway and settles down just behind Summer’s house. Baba Yaga, being in a good mood, offers to give Summer her heart’s desire - but Summer doesn’t know what that is, although she does think becoming a shapeshifter might be fun. Baba Yaga, however, seems to have her own notion of what Summer needs, or knowledge of a place that needs a girl like Summer, and suddenly Summer is in the very strange land of Orcus, with nothing but the clothes she’s wearing, the lock that was on the back gate of her yard, a talking weasel given to her by the crone, and three pieces of advice she’s read in a stained glass window.
Almost immediately, Summer meets three shape-changing women, and a tree whose leaves turn into frogs. But the tree is dying, and the shapechangers tell her that there is a cancer at the heart of this world. Summer doesn’t think of herself as a hero, and she certainly doesn’t think of herself as someone who can save a world, but she does want to try and make things better for just one tree, which has used up all its remaining energy to produce an acorn, which Summer carries with her along with the lock and the weasel as she follows the advice of the shapechangers to find the Waystation, where perhaps she can learn her Way.
As Summer travels through Orcus, looking for something that will save the frog-tree, she encounters many unusual beings, some who help her, some who want to stop her, and some who decide to come with her. There’s Glorious, a wolf who turns into a house when the sun sets, and is being hunted by real estate procurers. There’s Reginald Almondsgrove, a somewhat foppish hoopoe, and his flock of valet birds. And there’s the Imperial Geese Ounk and Anhk, sisters and warriors.
Summer’s adventures are at times whimsical and at times truly frightening, and while she does discover what is wrong at the heart of this world, and makes it a little better for a while, it comes at a cost, and part of that cost is Summer’s innocence. But when Summer finally returns to her own world, one does have the feeling that yes, she has gained her heart’s desire, and it will be with her always.
There are a lot of wonderful things about this book, but one of the best is that, while there is a battle between agents of good and evil, it’s not the climax of book and it doesn’t really solve anything. It’s the skills that Summer brings with her to Orcus, and the steadfast loyalty of her companions, that makes it possible for things to be better.
Summer is a human girl, and lives with her mother in a world much like ours. Her mother works hard, but is more than a little defeated by the stresses of single parenthood and an ungenerous working environment. She is far too protective of Summer, who isn’t allowed to do much of anything except go to school and play in her own yard. And in some ways she’s come to rely on Summer for emotional support when the world has gotten too much.
And then one day, when Summer is playing alone in her back yard, Baba Yaga’s chicken-legged hut comes wandering down the alleyway and settles down just behind Summer’s house. Baba Yaga, being in a good mood, offers to give Summer her heart’s desire - but Summer doesn’t know what that is, although she does think becoming a shapeshifter might be fun. Baba Yaga, however, seems to have her own notion of what Summer needs, or knowledge of a place that needs a girl like Summer, and suddenly Summer is in the very strange land of Orcus, with nothing but the clothes she’s wearing, the lock that was on the back gate of her yard, a talking weasel given to her by the crone, and three pieces of advice she’s read in a stained glass window.
Almost immediately, Summer meets three shape-changing women, and a tree whose leaves turn into frogs. But the tree is dying, and the shapechangers tell her that there is a cancer at the heart of this world. Summer doesn’t think of herself as a hero, and she certainly doesn’t think of herself as someone who can save a world, but she does want to try and make things better for just one tree, which has used up all its remaining energy to produce an acorn, which Summer carries with her along with the lock and the weasel as she follows the advice of the shapechangers to find the Waystation, where perhaps she can learn her Way.
As Summer travels through Orcus, looking for something that will save the frog-tree, she encounters many unusual beings, some who help her, some who want to stop her, and some who decide to come with her. There’s Glorious, a wolf who turns into a house when the sun sets, and is being hunted by real estate procurers. There’s Reginald Almondsgrove, a somewhat foppish hoopoe, and his flock of valet birds. And there’s the Imperial Geese Ounk and Anhk, sisters and warriors.
Summer’s adventures are at times whimsical and at times truly frightening, and while she does discover what is wrong at the heart of this world, and makes it a little better for a while, it comes at a cost, and part of that cost is Summer’s innocence. But when Summer finally returns to her own world, one does have the feeling that yes, she has gained her heart’s desire, and it will be with her always.
There are a lot of wonderful things about this book, but one of the best is that, while there is a battle between agents of good and evil, it’s not the climax of book and it doesn’t really solve anything. It’s the skills that Summer brings with her to Orcus, and the steadfast loyalty of her companions, that makes it possible for things to be better.
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