Fantastic Finds

 Jackaby by William Ritter

“Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion--and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny. 

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

After DNFing Girl from the Well, plodding through Storm Front (the first entry in the very popular Dresden Files series), and being underwhelmed by Fiendish, I was dying for a good supernatural read. I've had my eye on Jackaby for months- here's what I typed frantically into Goodreads when I first heard about it:

I didn't even get past “Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” before thinking "oh my god YES." Then I skimmed the rest of the intro and saw the bit about it being "Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre."

Oh my hopes. They have been raised exceedingly high.

 So was the wait worth it? Definitely. Ritter knows exactly what he is about in terms of blending these two genre favorites, and if you enjoy the recent BBC adaptation of Sherlock and new run of Doctor Who, I can't imagine you'll read this without smiling. Abigail Rook is an able and progressive protagonist, and what jaded reader can't get behind a girl who ditched her restrictive Victorian future to dig for fossils and, eventually, help solve spooky mysteries? She's as much Charley Pollard as she is Rose Tyler, for all you Whovians, and I love her for it.

Jackaby serves as your Sherlock/Doctor/Howl/Chrestomanci/Eccentric Intellectual stand-in, and while never quite reaching the heights of his forbears, he has his own skillset to offer and is plenty likable. (He may be clueless enough to mistake gunpowder for paprika, but he knows his lore and is a fantastic advocate for the strange and overlooked.) I was really concerned about the seeming likelihood of a romance between our two leads, but that was dismissed almost immediately, and the two instead have the makings of an excellent platonic team. Don't worry though, there is potential for romance for Abigail and Jackaby from amongst the side characters, several of whom are fully-realized and could support books of their own.

While it's not exactly horrifying, there are chills to be had and cases to be cracked. The dialogue occasionally falters a bit in terms of historical accuracy, but if you're anything like me you'll be having to much fun to be really bothered by it. I can't wait for the next installments in a promising new series!

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

I really liked the Hex Hall series, and I wasn't sure that this spinoff was going to stack up. Younger character? Different setting? Eh...

But actually, I think I liked this one better. It's more focused, and Izzy is a slightly more unique character who comes from a really interesting background. Her whole family have been hunters, but now that her older sister is missing, she and her mom are the last ones standing. Thanks to this setup, we not only see a fifteen-year-old struggling with braving high school for the first time, but also trying to live up to her mother's expectations and her own birthright, while trying to discover what happened to her sister. Hawkins balances these elements well, and each aspect was compelling. 

One of the best parts of this book is definitely the Scooby gang Izzy suddenly finds herself a part of at school. Who doesn't love a group of high school misfits with an interest in the paranormal? Added bonus that one of them is a bit of a dandy with exceedingly good manners and a quick wit, while another is a girl so dead-set on solving supernatural mysteries that she talked her school into allowing an official paranormal investigation club. I really enjoyed prickly Izzy trying to make a place for herself as a normal teenager, complete with dating confusion, girly bonding, and a healthy dose of spectral ass kicking. Definitely recommending for fans of, well, any of those things I just mentioned. The ending definitely leaves room for at least one more book, so fans of Hawkins' Prodigium setting will be happy.

Any regular or even occasional reader of this blog could probably come up with some of my favorite shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, Community), but aside from the odd name drop or reference, I've never reviewed a show on here.

Until now. *dramatic music*



Why now, you ask? Because now there is a little show called Sleepy Hollow and it is INSANE and I can't stop talking about it. Here are some reasons why.

The Plot
Well, ok, actually the plot is the thing that made me initially want to stay far, far away from Sleepy Hollow. Time-travelling Ichabod Crane solving crimes in the 21st century? Puh-lease. Actually though, it's shaping up to be a pretty great supernatural series, with some "freak of the week" monsters, as well as season/series long arcs. The horror parts are actually kind of terrifying, and even the ridiculous elements are so fun you'll probably just enjoy the ride.

The Setting
Small historic city with loads of colonial buildings, twisty rivers, and misty woods? Um, yeah, I'm there.

The Characters
Like the better Supernatural (see what I did there?) shows, this isn't all about wacky hijinks and mysterious beasties. It's about the relationships between the characters. Lieutenant Abbie Mills is a skeptic, and not just because there needs to be one on a show like this. She's a skeptic because she and her sister witnessed something as kids that caused massive fallout for them that they are both still struggling with. Ichabod Crane doesn't just have to cope with automatic doors and a 10% levy on baked goods ("insane!"). He's been awakened in a time not his own, one in which his wife has been dead for 200+ years and he has no one to turn to. The chemistry that these two have is amazing, which brings me to... 

The Cast
I love this cast. Even when the show is at its craziest, the actors do an amazing job of injecting gravitas, emotion and humor. Watching them interact is one of the best things about the show, and while it's not overdone, watching Mills try to translate modern quirks for Ichabod is so fun.


A lot has been made of the diversity of the cast, and rightly so. There are several main characters who happen to be POC, and guests stars of various backgrounds have been introduced as well (with mixed results, the Native American episode was a little off). Orlando Jones, who plays Mills' commanding officer (police chief? detective inspector? no hang on...) has promised more and better to come, so here's hoping this trend will continue.

Tom Mison. Tall. Dark. British. His voice nearly knocked me off my chair the first time I heard it, and he's forever doing things that, having been brought up on a steady diet of English costume dramas, make me swoon. He shoots with his arm behind his back. He dashes about in an excellent (if worse for wear) coat. He pronounces "Lieutenant" "Leftenant" and makes use of their extreme and wonderful height difference to hold up police tape for his partner. Also he speaks Middle English and has the best bitchface this side of the Winchesters. Move over Hornblower, I've got a new 18th century man.

The Fandom
This is the first time I've been part of a fandom from the start and it is a blast. Thanks to tumblr, I can see other fans reactions to episodes, share gif sets, art and fic from moments that happened hours before, and geek out about Tom Mison's overly expressive eyebrows to my heart's content. And it's not only the fans. The creators and cast are in on it too, especially the amazingly lovely Orlando Jones. He live tweets episodes, refers to fans lovingly as Sleepy Heads, shares fan art, teases future episodes, acknowledges and praises fan participation with the show, and ships IchAbbie as much as any of us- with the occasional nod to IchaTrina. Be still my nerd heart.

Speaking of shippers... Ship wars can often be the worst part of a fandom, as people take sites, bitterly defend their own OTPs, and lash out at other pairings and shippers. I haven't seen any of that in the Sleepy Hollow fandom yet, which may only be because the fandom is so new, but I like to think it's because we have learned from past mistakes (the Hannibal fandom also seems pretty much free of ship wars, so hopefully this is becoming the norm). 

The Surprise
Honestly, I still can't believe how much I love this show. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would be more excited by this hunk of supernatural cheese than by the new Joss Whedon (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) show, I would have scoffed until I hurt something.



Now? I hate to say it, but other than the always charming and perfect Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is leaving me cold. It's making me flashback to when Dollhouse was on. I watched that religiously, afraid that if I missed one episode it would be cancelled out from under me and I would have no right to complain (obviously, this happened anyway). People would ask me if it was good, and I would pause, trying to find the will to gush, and then mumble something about the cool tech and gorgeous set pieces. But I didn't love it, and that bummed me out more than I can reasonably say. Since then I've come to appreciate Dollhouse more, and to genuinely enjoy it. Unless S.H.I.E.L.D. has a whole arsenal of surprises, though, I don't see that happening here. I want to love it, I took it for granted that I would love it, but the characters are missing some essential spark, and the Bus just looks like Serenity in ways that hurt my still broken Browncoat heart.

But Sleepy Hollow!! I don't know what else to say other than that I love it, unreservedly. The first 5 episodes are on Hulu so there is plenty of time to catch up. I hope you like it.

Somewhere Beneath Those Waves by Sarah Monette

The first non-themed collection of critically acclaimed author Sarah Monette''s best short fiction. To paraphrase Hugo-award winner Elizabeth Bear's introduction: '"onette's prose is lapidary, her ideas are fantastical and chilling. She has studied the craft of fantastic fiction from the pens of masters and mistresses of the genre. She is a poet of the awkward and the uncertain, exalter of the outcast, the outre, and the downright weird. There is nothing else quite like Sarah Monette's fiction." -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Ok, so this isn't YA. I was getting desperate for another post, and I know there are people who may read this blog occasionally who would love this one. Before this one I had read The Bone Key, her collection of short stories about Kyle Murchison Booth, a sort of supernatural detective. She really captured the feel of Lovecraft's horror in some of those stories, without getting bogged down in the prose or offering faceless narrators. She also has the detective story thing down, and I'd love to see a Mystery! production of Booth's stories, in the same vein as Miss Marple or Poirot. 

Both these points, while true, don't do any justice to Monette's own voice as an author, which is distinct, memorable, and masterful. These stories will creep up on you- the language is evocative and conjures up images that will stick with you. The other thing that sets Monette apart, and that many other reviewers have commented on, is the feeling of Otherness embodied by most of her narrators. Her protagonists are, for the most part, outsiders, people who find themselves treading boundaries. To call them quirky would be an insult- they aren't stock characters with a twist, or exploding with irritating eccentricities. They are three-dimensional people, drawn believably but with surprisingly few strokes. Some, like the cops in "A Night in Electric Squidland" and "Impostors," and the aforementioned Booth, are recurring characters. Others, like the courtesan/spy from "Amante Doree" or the heartbroken musician from "Katabasis: Seraphic Trains" (possibly my favorite story), you'll only see for a few brief pages but are unlikely to forget. 

I'd recommend this, and The Bone Key, for fans of Neil Gaiman, Margo Lanagan, Charles DeLint, Catherynne M. Valente (the Seraphic Trains story really reminded me of Palimpsest), Lovecraft, Hellboy, Supernatural (not only are there paranormal cop buddies, there's a naive but tetchy angel), urban fantasy, horror, and magic realism. 

*A caveat: some of these stories are extremely dark, and not just in the sense that they deal with supernatural beings and gothic situations ("The Séance at Chisholm End" is a fantastic period piece about spirit mediums). No, some of these stories deal openly with some heavy stuff, like the loss of an older brother to Vietnam ("Letters from a Teddy Bear on Veterans Day"), surviving conquest ("A Light in Troy") and trauma ("After the Dragon"), and the horrors of war ("No Man's Land"). Serious trigger warnings for these, especially the last.   

The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

After her near-fatal run-in with the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Devereaux has been living in Bristol under the close watch of her parents. So when her therapist suddenly suggests she return to Wexford, Rory jumps at the chance. But Rory's brush with the Ripper touched her more than she thought possible: she's become a human terminus, with the power to eliminate ghosts on contact. She soon finds out that the Shades—the city's secret ghost-fighting police—are responsible for her return. The Ripper may be gone, but now there is a string of new inexplicable deaths threatening London. Rory has evidence that the deaths are no coincidence. Something much more sinister is going on, and now she must convince the squad to listen to her before it's too late. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Unusually for many series installments, our protagonist, Rory, has rather a lot of consequences to wade through- not the least of which, coping with the trauma of a violent attack that occurred at the end of The Name of the Star. I really like that Johnson took the time to deal with these issues, it adds another layer of believability. That being said, looking back, this one does suffer a bit from middle-of-the-series-itis. The reveals weren't as big as they could have been, there wasn't much romantic sparkage, and there was a great deal of set-up for the next book. And why, oh why did we only get one appearance from Alistair, the 80s punk ghost who haunts the literature section of the library?! Love him! Miss him! Need more of him!

Still, I love Rory and the world she inhabits (although I will admit that, when the book dragged, I got a bit distracted pretending that this was taking place in the Being Human UK, and that Rory might bump into Annie or Mitchell at any moment). I'm excited to read the next book, The Shadow Cabinet, in 2014.