And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a delightfully clever and creepy read, and is Tchaikovsky’s take on an adult revisiting childhood magical adventures. In the same vein as Josh Winning’s The Shadow Glass and Dan Hank’s Swashbucklers, his male protagonist is taken back to the tales of his childhood and finds out that what he thought was fiction is actually very very real. In true Tchaikovsky style that reality is a science fiction, horror and fairytale mish-mash masterpiece that only he can pull off.

Harry Bodie is a failed children’s presenter whose attempt to announce a family secret on a genealogy TV show goes seriously wrong. Instead of finding fame by hinting that he’s related to long-lost royalty, he ends up catching the attention of people who believe his story in a way he could never see coming. Harry’s grandmother wrote a series of children’s books set in a world called Underhill. Beloved by many, Harry didn’t realise just how beloved until he’s kidnapped by a group who are convinced that he’s royalty – Underhill royalty. They don’t just believe that Underhill is a real place, but Harry’s the heir, and he’s the key to them getting to the place of their dreams.

Ever the cynic, Harry doesn’t believe a word of it. He escapes the clutches of his kidnappers only to find himself facing even more bizarre experiences that lead him to the very conclusion he laughed off. Underhill is real and it’s in trouble.

With characters that feel as though they’ve just been plucked off the street, And Put Away Childish Things is more than just a portal adventure about childhood nostalgia and responsibility. It’s set during the pandemic and Harry has mental health conditions, which he struggles with even more when the new reality of lockdown sets in. I was particularly impressed with how Tchaikovsky described Harry’s zoom session with his therapist and how difficult it was for him to connect with her over a video call.

There are elements of traditional storytelling and fairytales interwoven with science fiction, and a healthy dose of horror. While being about children’s stories this novella is most definitely not for children and the wickedly imaginative descriptions will lurk in your nightmares for a long time after you’ve finished reading. Serious scientific theories are discussed side by side with children’s literary discourse as the main characters uncover the shocking true nature of Underhill. The juxtaposition of the real world of science and the real world of the stories proposes certain questions of realism. However, the question at the heart of And Put Away Childish Things isn’t ‘what is real?’, rather it’s ‘what is possible?’ and with that Tchaikovsky bridges the gap between fiction and science. This is science fiction at its best, pushing at the boundaries of fiction and once again it is a superb tale that showcases Tchaikovsky’s award-winning talent brilliantly.

My first non-space-opera Tchaikovsky. I liked it! It's a little lightweight, but a fun twist on Narnia-ish portal fantasy. It's probably just the right length for what it is; it could probably stand to be built out a little more, if he wanted to do some Fables/American Gods/Anansi Boys stuff and have vignettes showing the magical-world characters trying to survive either in the falling-apart portal world or between the cracks in mundane society (wherever a giant goat-man or spider-woman [not Gwen Stacy] might be overlooked), but your mileage would vary greatly in the execution so it's not bad to kind of get in and get out of the story here. The cover art is weirdly bad though, considering Tchaikovsky's other books that I've seen tend to have great art.

The portal fantasy is always an attractive idea - that the right lace will take you from our reality to a magical world of adventure. Find the right doorway and you’re off. Like many children I’ve tried the back of the wardrobe and always searched for a police box. But eventually you have to move on and perhaps magical lands do too? In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s darkly entertaining novella And Put Away Childish Things a middle aged man very reluctantly finds himself required to arrive at a childhood world of adventure which is not safe in the slightest.

Harry Brodie is a forty year old who wants the world to take him seriously. However being a on screen Children’s TV presenter and a constant desire to get drunk and disorderly tends to get in his way. His bigger claim to fame is a distant relationship to the author of a famous set of post WW2 children’s fantasies The Books of Underhill. In early 2020 Harry is trying to find the leap into the stage and more fake when he finds himself pursued by a man who may be a faun; a PI who knows too much and a possible group of Uber-fans who may be very dangerous. Harry is about to find Underhill is real; has been waiting a long time and is in no way now a safe adventure.

I really enjoyed this intelligent novel that asks what is these fantasy worlds are real; where would they come from and what happens if no one used them. It could easily have gone for more cynical and funny fantasy world becomes adult but Tchaikovsky goes for something darker and creepier- a fantasy world that isn’t used that decays not just the land but the people in it. Our faun is not jolly but gaunt and losing hair with botched skin; a giant dog known for bravery is not one you’d like to meet on a dark night and comic relief clowns…well that’s never going to end well. When we meet Underhill it’s a scary ominous place that we find holds many family secrets.

Linking this is Harry who initially we will hate. Greedy; brittle and snobbish they are out after their own fame and fortune and that’s it. They’re also not that bright so initially when fauns and cults enter the mix he’s more unwittingly bundled from one mini adventure to another than taking a stance. He’s a great contrast from the ever so practical kids in portal fantasies that can lead armies and solve problems at a pinch. But to be honest wouldn’t most people? Tchaikovsky neatly shows sone contradictions in Harry the children’s entertainment presenter and the adult who wants to be taken seriously - you can’t initially be one or the other. But then as he finds Underhill is real he goes through understandable shock and denial to grudging acceptance. Neatly Tchaikovsky also placed the book in 2020 and there is a parallel to finding out your own wood has changed to a weirder and more dangerous place - as Harry returns from Underhill he is surprised how his simple London life is no longer there anymore and a new reality gets accepted. It can be both funny and a reminder reality can change in a moment for anyone.

Now if this sounds a dark story it is but it’s not cynical. Ultimately Harry although initially wants fake when pushed he does the right thing. While this book takes potshots at various mid-century fantasy books it’s all done with love. There is mention of Lewis; there is a wardrobe but not that one and we get a lot more characterisation of Underhill’s residents that you care about their fate. Can you do the right thing when you’re not the chosen one? When you’re not sure of victory or have a magical all powerful lion on your side? I found this a tale with affection for the writers of the past but evolving the stories for an adult 21st century audience and delivers it very successfully.

And Put Away Childish Things is funny, exciting, creepy and most of all humane. Things get dark but you can do your best even then. It’s a smart novel exploring our own world and reactions using fantasy which for me is a hallmark of good wrong and it’s throughly entertaining in the process. Well worth a look and highly recommended!

Harrie Bodie's grandmother wrote children's books set in the fantasy world of Underhill. What if Underhill is real? What if it isn’t delightful at all?

I had such a great time with this book! Adrian Tchaikovsky takes the tropes we know well in children's, portal fantasy and turned them on their heads. We see characters such as a faun, a clown, a spider, and a loyal dog. However, the part they play in this story isn't quite what you expect. What is set up as a land full of adventure and fun is now a dying place, a place of fantasy and also horror. While we get a chance to see where fantasy stories can be bleak and go wrong, Tchaikovsky also manages to weave through some humor and hope. This was such an intriguing book and I loved every second of it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for an early access copy

And Put Away Childish Things disappointed me a little bit if I’m being honest. The concept is a brilliant one, as I’ve grown a tiny bit jaded on Narnia over the years, so seeing a darker twist on it was a really enticing concept. And I think that this book would have absolutely nailed that concept, had it been a full fledged novel rather than a novella.

I’m generally a sucker for a novella, so initially I was actually glad to see that this title wouldn’t be a monstrous addition to an already overwhelming tbr, but now I wish that it was that monstrous addition. Because what is here, is really good, despite being riddled with pacing issues, it just failed to click with me, or explore any of it’s themes and messages deeply enough for me to feel really satisfied with them.

This review is going to be quite negative, despite the 3 star rating, so I do want to preface this by saying that my issues aren’t a fault of the book for the most part, they’re a fault of my personal reading tastes, and I do think that there’s an audience out there for what this book has on offer, it’s just not me.

Something that I really did like about the book is how it blended Portal Fantasy with Science Fiction, which (in my admittedly limited) experience with Portal Fantasy hasn’t really been done before. Tchacovsky attempts to pin scientific principles to the functionality of the portal world, and does it really well in my opinion.

Reading the book was a perfectly enjoyable experience, that I was engaged with the entire time, but I ran into more issues with it the deeper I got, though none so major that I felt the desire to put the book down, and found myself reasonably content with the time I spent reading it.

The book tries to deal with a bit too much with the page count it has in my opinion. It tries to deal with listlessness, not living up to the expectations you’d set for yourself, what it means to be alive, utilitarianism etc. and this just leads to the book feeling both bloated and rushed.

The main character is likely a primary cause of this, being a passenger to the story at almost every turn, never really taking a proactive, bar making a single phone call at the mid-point of the story. His voice was at times extremely grating as well, dripping in cynicism up until a sudden turn of heart that doesn’t really feel earned.
The side characters however, were delivered upon quite well. Well, two of them were. Seitchman and Timon.

Seitchman is a PI who tracks Harry down for a cult who worship the stories his grandmother wrote about a mythical land, and Timon is a faun from that land, who’s fallen victim to the decay of the land. Both characters are really good, and I think the book would have benefitted from being multi-pov between Harry and Seitchman, so that we could have had an actually proactive PoV.

I thought the antagonist was really weak, as they weren’t set up the best, and then when introduced, they were very moustache twirly. Tchaicovsky has done this a few times, notably in Dogs of War, but I felt like that book in particular had more to say with it’s themes and messages than this one ended up having, so having a less interesting antagonist wasn’t particularly an issue there. Another factor that makes this worse is that this antagonist is very interesting conceptually, but doesn’t get the screentime necessary to become a truly interesting character. Again, I feel like this would have been allayed by the book being longer, as maybe we would have seen the full breadth of this character.

The world of Underhill is really interesting, presented as a Narnia-esque land in the final stages of entropy, dying out because of some mysterious reason. I would have liked to spend more time in it, but half the book is dedicated to Lockdown era London, which leads to the feeling that this was inspired, in part, by the feeling of losing months at a time to Covid due to the disruption that it caused, which is shown by the strange loss of time experienced when people travel between our world and Underhill.

I really liked the spin that Tchaicovsky on the “always winter” angle, with the snow not actually being snow, instead being some kind of strange fungus that’s coating the land as a result of the decay that it’s undergoing.

The prose is fine, it’s nothing particularly to write home about, however, I could be getting swayed by the fact that my ARC had quite a few grammar issues in it, and the typesetting wasn’t fantastic. So, I won’t comment too much on the prose for that reason.

Another issue that I had was the pacing, which was a little bit too breakneck for my taste. The pacing it had would have worked better for a different book in my opinion, because again, it just tries to tackle a bit too much for it’s own good, so you’ll be introduced to something, and ferried along before you really get to experience it properly, which was a massive shame, as there were questions and concepts raised that I would have loved to see fully explored. From my experience with Dogs of War, this seems to be the style of pacing that Tchaicovsky likes to employ, however, it just didn’t really click with me all that well.

The last thing I want to touch on, while admittedly not that important, is the cover. I don’t like it. I think it’s really boring and generic, which is a damn shame because I feel like you could have done quite a few extravagant and eye catching things with the story, such as an art piece showing off the decaying Underhill, but instead we’re left with a rather boring cover that screams “bad Narnia rip off” The colour scheme looks very nice however, so I feel like the book will, at the very least, look nice on the shelf if you get it physically.

In short, the book failed to deliver on the promises it makes in the depth that I would have liked, and has a really annoying and passive protagonist, however if you don't need deep exploration of themes, and enjoy Portal Fantasy, and the theoretical science behind it, I would recommend this book. For me it sits solidly at a 3/5, because despite my misgivings, it was still a fairly enjoyable read

7.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/03/26/and-put-away-childish-things-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-review/

Felix “Harry” Bodie is a children’s TV presenter, one who’d do anything to make a his fame stick. Anything other than continue in his own line of work, that is.

Though his position isn’t exactly inherited, his tenuous claim to fame is. The grandchild of a famed children’s author, Harry is the sole heir to Underhill—a delightful world full of fun and adventure. While his grandmother conceived and wrote the books, Harry is just trying to escape from their shadow—or, alternatively, cast that shadow as far as he can, and rake in the riches it brings him.

Harry isn’t even his real name. It’s Felix. But Harry Bodie was more presentable, so that’s what he’s known by. Not to mention the only thing he’s known for. Everything Felix has ever done has ended in self-sabotage. In fact, he’s tried and failed to promote himself so often that his career as a TV presenter itself hangs in the balance.

Everything he has or is is Underhill, and he’s desperate to cling to it. But what would happen if Underhill was real? And what if they’re done waiting for the chosen heir to visit, and have come to take matters into their own hands?

—

<i>”All life is a pyramid of corpses.”</i>

—

So, this may or may not surprise you, but Underhill is real.

At least, there’s an awful lot of people that think it is. And are banking on the glory of delivering the long lost heir to his chosen place upon Underhill’s throne. Which means that Harry’s life is about to get a lot more interesting, for all the good it does him.

As a lead character, Harry Bodie is kind of a bore. He’s introspective, bitter, and greedy. Ambitious in all the ways that end up in him shooting himself in the foot—more of a comic villain than a would-be savior or protagonist. Still, he comes through well enough in a pinch, and it helps that Tchaikovsky really knows how to sell a novella.

This is the fifth consecutive year I’ve reviewed a Tchaikovsky novella courtesy of Rebellion/Solaris, and it’s been really hard to pick a winner or loser. A favorite, I mean. That’s because—while Tchaikovsky’s full-length novels have been hit-or-miss lately—his novellas have been entirely enjoyable. In fact, though I very much enjoyed my jaunt through the world of Underhill, it’s probably (at 7.5 out of 10) my least favorite of the bunch.

But that’s not because this isn’t a thoroughly entertaining read. It’s just because I found it a bit less polished than his other offerings.

Underhill is a dark and beautiful place in equal parts, but a little sparse of setting and a little rough around the edges. Tchaikovsky may excel at his post-apocalyptic worlds, but his fictional, hidden-in-the-wardrobe worlds need some work. The plot itself is good, though it gets a little muddied toward the end. It’s the characters that make this one good—even the aforementioned minor villain, Harry.

TL;DR

Though possibly his weakest of the Solaris novellas to date, And Put Away Childish Things is by no means bad. It’s just a behind-the-looking-glass kind of story, as opposed to a post-apocalyptic adventure. And while Tchaikovsky is objectively great at the latter, he may need some practice with the former. The setting especially left something to be desired. The plot is entertaining and story interesting, with more than enough twists and turns to keep you immersed through to the end. It’s the characters that make this tale a good one, and what a weird and interesting cast it is that Tchaikovsky has assembled. All in all, while not his best work, this novella is far, faaaar from his worst. Definitely recommended.

Ahoy there me mateys!  This was a fun take on what happens if a popular children's book series is based on a real place.  And what happens if that real place actually sucks?  Harry Bodie finds out when he ends up in Underhill - the "imaginary" land his grandmother wrote about.  I enjoyed this read even if I did not like Harry as a character.  He is an arrogant person who I wasn't really cheering for even if I wanted a happier story for Underhill's inhabitants.  I did, however, like all of the nods to Narnia which is a place I visited over and over again in my imagination as a child.  The characters and Underhill didn't feel completely fleshed out but that could be because of the short length.  I loved the dark tone and appreciated the ending.  Not the author's best but I am glad I read it.  Arrr!

Side note: The publisher lists this book as being part of the "Terrible Worlds" series and is listed as destination 3.  I have read the other two and these can certainly be read as standalones.  I would read more of these types of novellas.

The entire idea behind this book is a demented and painful parody of Narnia, the children's world of C.S. Lewis. Tchaikovsky's version comes off as dark, surreal, and unpleasant. I looooove Tchaikovsky's other books, but this one brought me no pleasure. I finished it only because I agreed to review it. So why did I not enjoy this? To start with, this is clearly a project that Tchaikovsky was using to cope with being cooped up inside during the 2020 Pandemic. Unfortunately, Tchaikovsky’s coping mechanisms took a dark and depressing turn. The protagonist is an unlikeable and selfish jackass, with very little in the way of redeeming qualities. I was hoping he'd change by the end, but you saw little of that change. The world of Underhill is unpleasant and creepy. And the real world is in the midst of the harder lockdowns of the early pandemic panic. I don’t think this was poorly written or ill-conceived or anything like that. I just didn’t enjoy it.

Es prácticamente imposible que con lo prolífico que es Adrian Tchaikovsky todas sus obras sean de 10, pero sí que es bastante consistente con la calidad. And Put Away Childish Things no es de sus mejores publicaciones y además es indudable que la cubierta no ayuda mucho a atraer la atención del lector, pero sí que tiene un poso de mala idea y crítica a los tropos típicos de la fantasía que puede recordar a otras obras como Spiderligth.


El protagonista es el nieto de una autora de fantasía muy similar a C.S. Lewis con una decadente carrera artística, que en un intento de relanzarse como actor va a un reality de esos que investigan en tu pasado. Descubre que su tatarabuela acabó internada en un psiquiátrico, ya que afirmaba provenir de un mundo mágico, ¿quizá el que describió su abuela? A partir de aquí, los sucesos se precipitan, con la añadidura de que en el mundo se desencadena la pandemia de COVID.

La verdad, no me he sentido atrapada por la narrativa en ningún momento. A favor del libro diré que es muy cortito, pero es un poco triste que esa sea uno de los puntos fuertes. En ocasiones es innecesariamente truculento y en otras, increíblemente pasivo. Tiene algunos momentos en los que tira de ironía y se salva un poco el asunto, pero en general el protagonista es un pelele que se mueve por impulsos y la trama tampoco es para tanto. Es bastante probable que alguien que en su infancia haya leído Las Crónicas de Narnia se sienta más imbuido en la historia, pero a mí me ha dejado bastante fría.

Otro día, si os apetece, hablamos de la cubierta, que es un spoiler bastante interesante,

Just, wow... Whovian style writing meets Narnia with a healthy splash of Stephen King villainy in Adrain Tchaikovsky's newest novel, "And Put Away Childish Things". Whenever I knew what would happen next, it was tossed on it's ear and ran over by a bus. Such a wonderful, bewildering ride! This made for a great mad dash of a read!!!!

#AndPutAwayChildishThings #NetGalley @rebellionpublishing

I recently read and reviewed city of last chances by the same author as this book and I was pretty blown away by it. It was intricate and thought-provoking. Unfortunately I found this book to be the complete opposite. In this book we follow a man who discovers that the children's books his grandmother wrote about the fantastical land called Underhill actually turn out to be about a real place. It's a really interesting concept. unfortunately I found Harry Bodie to be a pretty unlikable protagonist and as such I found it hard to root for him. He does become a little more sympathetic as the book continues. There are quite a few supporting characters but to be honest they mostly felt a little underdeveloped and I think the same can be said for the plot in general. Its a fun story about a fantastical land, but it's pretty surface-level. It reads a little like one of Tom Holt lesser works. It is a fun adventure, but I expected more.

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

All children have dreamt about travelling to a fantasy world at least once in their life. But what would happen if the fantasy world came for the children once he is an adult and the world itself is about to die or face an even worse fate?

Starting from an amazing idea, -all children go back home after having the adventure of their life, but what happens with the world they leave behind?-, Tchaikovsky throws the reader into a tornado that is about to take protagonist Harry Bodie away from home and into a wardrove (literally) to find himself in Underhill, the magical place in which his grandmother based her collection of fantasy books and that is suddenly both real and creepy at the same time. Reading about fauns and big spiders and the best dog in the world might be slightly different than finding their old, decaying selves.
I must admit this is not my favourite Tchaikovsky book. I feel the idea intriguing, the characters from Underhill both eery and somehow pleasant and the subtle humour perfect pills among the chaos, but I could not care less about the fate of Harry, our main character, and the chaos itself got me lost in more than one occasion.
I would definitely recommend it to fans of a more twisted fantasy though, because I know for sure this book will find its audience. I, for once, and sadly, was not one of them.

Harry Bodie is a failing actor, demoted to working as a presenter in a children’s program. He is the grandson of Mary Brodie who wrote a very popular series of children’s books, not too dissimilar to C.S Lewis’ Narnia novels, where two children have adventures in the mythical world of Underhill with magical beings, always making it back home in time for tea. As Mary’s heir, fans of the book, who believe Underhill exists, want Harry to go there and continue the adventure. Harry is at first reluctant, but what if Underhill really does exist and has been waiting for the heir to arrive?

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fantasy world of Underhill is definitely not Narnia, more like a shabby, dissolute cousin. All is not well in Underhill following decades of neglect and Harry’s experiences there will change his life. There is both a streak of horror as well as humour in this very entertaining tale with some likeable as well as evil characters. Great fun!

Oh! Mr Tchaikovsky, you've done it again although I didn't know how funny you could be. Paralleling the same genre and sense of magic as The Made Things books, Cage of Souls and Ogres, this book is certainly another storytelling tour de force. I really loved the characters, all of whom were mostly exhausted but for different reasons. The humans because life is hard for creatives and the 'toys' because well, eventually, we are told to put away childish things and what then becomes of them in our selfish adult wake? There is also a cheeky dig at the perfection of the Narnia books and how Henry constantly compares the Underhill stories with them, feeling that they never got quite what they deserved.

I don't want to give anything away and I never highlight books but I did with this one and I'm still laughing.

'Is that Dora the Explorer cosplay , or - What's going on?'

'It's five nights at Aslan's'

Utterly brilliant 5 stars all the way. Huge thanks to Rebellion and Netgalley for the ARC.

This was a quick, very quirky read. The main character is someone I think who could be considered an anti-hero. He’s not particularly likeable (this is obviously intentional), but you end up at least sort of caring about him by the end. The many references to Narnia were interesting, but it was tied to that world in such a way that I don’t know if readers would really enjoy this book if they haven’t read at least The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I liked the female side character and actually would have liked more of her in the book. There were a few points I just felt a little confused by what happening (primarily when Carolus was talking), but I enjoyed the ending. The tone of the entire book was a little on the depressing side, I’m sure in part to the pandemic being a fairly central part of the plot. I know a lot of people prefer no references to it in their books, so that could be a problem for some readers.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

"Sometimes a wardrobe is just a wardrobe. Sometimes books are just books. That's why we call it 'fiction'."[loc. 624]

Harry Bodie is a failing TV presenter, stuck in children's programming and approaching middle age, lonely and petty and prone to drinking too much. He hopes an appearance on a TV genealogy show will revive his career, but instead he discovers that his great-grandmother died in a lunatic asylum. Her daughter, Harry's grandmother, wrote a beloved series of books about the magical kingdom of Underhill: typical post-war children's fantasy, with magical creatures, slap-up feasts and home to the real world with no time passing. When a private investigator shows up, claiming that her client takes Underhill 'very seriously', Harry is dubious. But what does he have to lose?

The Underlings do indeed take Underhill very seriously, and are quite prepared to use Harry's blood to open a portal. Luckily rescue is at hand. Less luckily, it's in the person of Timon, who is a fictional character (or so Harry tells himself firmly) and not a real faun, much less a decaying one. When Seitchman, the mysterious PI, gets in touch again, Harry is intrigued enough to meet her in the house that was his grandfather's. Where there is a wardrobe ('no, that's the other one. With the lion. We didn't do wardrobes in our family') which turns out to be a portal to Underhill. The magical kingdom of his grandmother's books is not at its best, and as Harry comes to understand its origins, he realises that he's the only hope that Underhill's crumbling inhabitants have ...

And Put Away Childish Things is another example of Tchaikovsky's versatility as an author, but it didn't quite work for me: I wasn't sure if it was aiming for comedy, profundity (about the responsibilities of creators, and the origins of magical worlds) or an exploration of what happens when (as Gaiman puts it) 'real things happen to imaginary people'. I did think the pandemic elements were very well handled: that sense of unreality and timelessness in the first lockdown, the erosion of 'normal' life: no wonder Harry is willing to return to Underhill. And the philosophies of Underhill's inhabitants, from 'rascally' Timon to the creepy clown Gombles, are well-considered. Fun, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK publication date is 28 MAR 2023.

Back in the olden bygone days of the 1980s, Watchmen sparked off a craze for deconstructing the superhero tropes that comics are so steeped in. What was novel and fresh in Watchmen soon became dark and brooding. Characters had tragic backstories or their adventures were shown to have negatively impacted the world. It was quite a lot of well-intentioned bummer.

I thought about that time while reading And Put Away Childish Things. This story follows Harry, whose grandmother wrote a series of Narnia-esque books about a place called Underhill. And, at the very very start of the Covid pandemic, Harry's world is slowly falling apart because of his relationship to the Underhill stories. Which is when he finds out that Underhill is real.

From there the reader discovers Underhill, learns some things about fictional universes, gets presented some metaphors for how we cope with Covid, and the then the story ends. The book is well-written and Harry, while not very likable, is an understandable protagonist.

I enjoyed some of the ideas at the end of the book a lot, but the journey to them took me some time to get through. This is a 3.5 star review rounded up.

That was fun overall! I felt like I really enjoyed the first part, before we discover the real Underhill, more than the rest, though.
The protagonist, an unhappy TV presenter, was an interesting one, he was well written and all the mounting tension regarding Underhill, the place his famous grandma wrote about, being real or not, plus mysterious people, etc, was compelling and I just wanted to read more as it was entertaining.
Then while there was an interesting plot twist, the overall plot was a tad too predictable and I felt less interested once the main mystery was revealed. I think I also found Underhill itself a bit boring for a fictional world, even though I liked how the childish (on purpose) concepts from the fictional books ended up being used in the "real" plot and twisted.
The writing style was OK, not the tightest but effective, and the Covid lockdown references and setting were cleverly used and put the story into perspective.

I want to thank NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for sending me a copy of this book in ecxhange for an honest review.

Harry, a struggling actor, makes the mistake of participating in a genealogy tv show and trying to capitalize on his grandmothers success as an author only to learn his family history is not what he thought.

Absolutely loved this! Such a fun story with a great, relatable character. I loved how the early days of the pandemic was sprinkled in to add to the mental conflict. The genealogy parts were also great. Anyone who has done family history knows that the stories you were told all your life are exaggerated or outright false.

All in all a great time. Highly recommend.

And Put Away Childish Things is the next instalment in his standalone series of novellas he releases each year.

The story focuses on a adult person called Harry whose grandmother wrote a very successful children's book series called "Adventures in Underhill". It seems like Underhill is a very real place and the adventures are also real. Due to some reasons, Harry was forced to go to the place and the story follows from there.

The story gave me a feel that if all the fairy tales and children's stories that we all grew up seems to be real, it will be horror filled and wont be as nice as Disney shows us. The story also shows us what happens after a story (in this case, the fairy tales) ends and how the world will look like years after that. And it offers some alternate explanations as to what brings about these stories besides the too-easy answer of "magic".

The character of Harry was very well written. It showed me how does a person feels and reacts to failure, family issues, yearning to do something useful and how does Harry reacts to it when an opportunity presents itself. Harry finds himself dealing with the problems caused and ignored by his family for too long, and now he has to actually Do Something.

A final note to anyone who needs more about the author's novellas is You have to read until the very last word to get the full meaning of the novella. Each word makes you think more and each final words will make the story more impressive.