Review: 'And Put Away Childish Things' (Terrible Worlds: Destinations #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky has become a very steady favourite of mine because of his incredibly solid Fantasy and SciFi output. He is, however, still a mood read for me, just because I need to be in the right mindset to really fully sink into the worlds he creates. Hence, it took me until now to get to And Put Away Childish Things, but this timing turned out to be absolutely on point. Thanks to Rebellion and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My sincere apologies for the delay in reviewing!

Pub. Date: 28/03/2023
Publisher: Rebellion; Solaris

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?

In December, my book club decided that Christmas was the perfect time for us to start reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I am a major fan of the 2005 adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and also like 2008's Prince Caspian. There is just a delightful feel to these films and they introduced me to Ben Barnes, so a plus all around. However, I never got into Narnia the way I did The Lord of the Rings and never read the books. Book club to the rescue, I am now four books deep into the entire series. Although I technically knew they were more actively geared towards children than Tolkien's work, I was nonetheless surprised at just how much they are YA. In that sense they really are more like The Hobbit than LOTR, but without all the intense world-building and more Christianity. Why this detour about Narnia? Well, And Put Away Childish Things is all about a series of books that are portal fantasies, in which young children make their way into a fantastical realm full of adventures and drama. This realm is called Underhill and although its books were never quite as famous as Narnia, which also exists inside this world, there is a dedicated fanbase regardless. Throughout the book Tchaikovsky is very tongue-in-cheek, not just about portal fantasies generally, but about C.S. Lewis specifically. Had I not been reading the Narnia books right now, I would absolutely still have picked up on this (it's not subtle), but I wouldn't have had the reading experience for those books and therefor emight not have appreciated the jokes and references quite as much.

Harry Bodie is extremely down on his luck. Still struggling to become a serious actor in his thirties, he joins a TV show about family history and reveals that his grandmother was the author behind the famous Underhill books. While this reveal goes very sideways, it still draws certain eyes to Harry, eyes who are extremely interested in uncovering the truth of Underhill. When Harry does end up in Underhill after various shenanigans, it is not at all what he was expecting. Underhill is decaying, falling apart, dying. Can it be saved? Should it be saved? And can Harry figure out what his own hero's journey is meant to be, both in the real world and in Underhill? Harry is a delightful protagonist in that he is a deeply flawed human being and he knows it. He is easily annoyed, more easily cowed, and unsure if he brings anything valuable to the table. I read the first third or so of this on a train and I legitimately had to stifle laughter repeatedly as we watched Harry have a horrible time. I also liked Underhill as a place, the whole interrogation of the portal fantasy-genre, and the other characters. I will say that towards the end it got a litttlleee bit convoluted, but I appreciated the lengths to which Tchaikovsky went in such a short book (around 200 pages).

Like I said above, I'm always in good hands when it comes to an Adrian Tchaikovsky book. I don't know how the man writes as much as he does, but it is consistently fun and inventive. With Childish Things, he also really gets to poke fun at fantasy which, judging from my reading experience, he seems to have enjoyed very much. The fun he pokes is in good taste, though, for those worried their Narnia love may be tainted! In its own little way, Childish Things is also about the power of storytelling, about how a good story can keep you going, but also about how a story can be created for bad ends. In today's political and social climate, that is a message of great importance, as is the lesson Harry needs to learn about his own importance. Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend the book to lovers of fantasy.

I give this novella...

4 Universes!

I had a great time with And Put Away Childish Things, especially because of my Narnia reading. However, Tchaikovsky is a consistently excellent author, so even if Narnia isn't your thing, this book very well still might be.