Book Review: Not Fairyland

 And Put Away Childish Things, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s And Put Away Childish Things is a fresh new take on the subgenre in which the beloved children’s fantasy novels are real and open to visitors. In this case, middling successful actor Harry Brodie has grown up in the shadow of his grandmother’s wildly successful and much-loved “Underhill” book series. There’s something “off” about the world and its characters—from the saccharine child heroes to the spooky, dangerously contrarian clown to the faun who never learns from his mistakes. Harry shrugs it off as being “children’s literature.” Now, on the cusp of the Covid pandemic, Harry’s life as a failing kids’ TV presenter takes an unexpected turn and he ends up captive to a group of seriously disturbed folks calling themselves the “Underlings.” They’re convinced that Underhill is real, that Harry is the rightful heir, and that he is capable of taking them all to this magical kingdom.

They’re not wrong, though. But when Harry arrives in Underhill, he finds a world in disarray—decaying, abandoned, and failing. At its heart, in the castle that was once its crowning glory, a dangerous secret.

I raced through the book. I loved the layers of theme and emotional resonance. It is as much about Harry’s longing for meaning in his life as it is about an adventure in a childhood magical realm. Tchaikovsky gives voice to characters whose only purpose has been to entertain one specific reader. Created with immutable flaws, they strive for agency as their world deteriorates around them. I couldn’t help thinking that good fantasy, whether for children or adults, succeeds through emotional resonance at a deeper level. Placeholder characters serve the plot but have no inner psychological life; they cannot aspire to anything greater meaning than their superficial roles. Harry’s “hero’s journey” demands that he shift from an “I-It” relationship to Underhill to one of “I-Thou,” extending both compassion and responsibility to the magical realm and its folk. My favorite of these was the former-villain spider, Smackersnack, who has found her way into the real world as a computer programmer and abdicates the role of eternal monster. I rather like her.

Recommended.