Recent reading

[luzula]

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1962)
This was a quite enjoyable children's adventure! But, having been promised alternate history and bizarre Hanoverian plots, I do feel a bit cheated--maybe those bits are in the sequels? The only really bizarre thing in this book is the unexplained presence of packs of supernaturally dangerous wolves in 19th century Britain (how do ordinary people and their livestock survive, I wonder? surely they don't all live in caves with geese like Simon?). Also, "Miss Slighcarp" is a delightful name for a villain.

Comments

[skygiants]

This is definitely the most standard of Aiken's books in this series -- from this point on things take a fairly rapid turn for the increasingly bizarre and by the fourth or fifth they're in wonderfully absurd territory. It's about the journey!

[luzula]

Thanks! I'll definitely give the next one a chance.