Summer in Orcus

I’m coming to the conclusion that when at all possible I should read episodically-written stories in the fashion intended rather than consuming them as if a continuous novel. I loved this portal fantasy of an over-protected girl granted her heart’s desire: to go on adventures. And what adventures! A quest with a mystery and an over-arching peril that turns out to be very different from what all the story tropes set you up to believe. But the reading felt a bit jerky, as each chapter resolves to a stopping point, sometimes in an artificial-feeling way. That’s my only complaint, though. The world building is superb and the supporting characters are well-realized in quirky and inimitably Kingfisher fashion. Like much of Kingfisher’s fiction, the setting conjures a complete mythos that borrows from existing mythology but has an integrated reality of its own. I’d call the book “YA-friendly” in the sense that the protagonist is young, it has coming-of-age themes, and the perils and experiences are ones that will feel both real and manageable for teenage readers, but it probably won’t feel “too young” for adult readers.

I wouldn't call this a children's story, but it's similar. Maybe it's the sort of story I might have appreciated as a child, had I been an altogether better and more worthwhile child. In any case, I enjoyed it quite a bit and can't recommend it highly enough.

The author brings to life a quirky yet vividly realized world and sets her protagonist forth to explore and elucidate for us. This she does with charm and grace, making for a wonderful tale, as well as a fine comeuppance to all of those anodyne Narnia tales.

Recommended highly.