Some new York…
Synopsis
After centuries of suppression, the magic of England is
Reawakening
Return to the world of The Seer of York with this collection of new tales set in the aftermath of The Hiding.
Harper, Grace, Saqib, Heresy, and AJ bond as a team and as a family to save innocents, supernatural and human, despite hunters pursuing them.
Introducing Zero, a starlight cat with a bleak and painful past.
Demonic-possession
Faery circles
Pūcas
And more…
Review
The Hiding, the alternate-York set supernatural folklore urban fantasy critical hit of earlier this year, saw Alethea Lyons introduce us to one of the most compelling fantasy worlds of recent times: a Britain of mythical creatures kept at bay by a magical border, within which religious powers vie with the secular, dystopian Queen’s Guard for how to handle the threat of magic. It was atmospheric, it was chilling, it was vividly described with prose you can dine off, and with the strong found family vibes of the Buffy-style monster hunters who live in this supernatural York (complete with witch, monster-slayer, wisecracking demon, IT expert and science geek), it was something to get obsessed over.
And now Lyons, while we wait patiently for next year’s sequel, has returned to this world with a collection of shorts that takes place immediately after the seismic ending of Book 1, both expanding the addictive mythos she has created and gently introducing the big plot lines that I assume will explode into relevance in the sequel.
On the face of it, this is (Buffy reference again, sorry, Elder Millennial talking) simply a “monster-of-the-week” affair, as the fab five investigate all the creatures and entities unleashed as a result of the events of Book 1. And what an eclectic mix this is – from ghostly monks to gremlins in the machine (literally) to the faery folk to shapeshifting demons. But this is the author who mixes the surreal with the wholesome with the chilling with the thematic with consummate ease so, of course, it is much more than that.
Not that we don’t get the purely chilling, of course. In Through the Looking Glass, a lost girl is found, but her fate is more disturbing than a spider leg in your pasta. Opening tale Never Alone Again offers a subtly sinister possession story to kicks off proceedings. And in the one of the standout stories, The Tailor and The Acic’m – a cautionary tale of the past narrated by one of the characters – we get a sobering reminder of the consequences of messing with the fae folk.
Throughout all these stories, we get a mix of wonderful character moments, as Lyons deftly builds up our characters’ relationships and challenges without ruining it for those who will skip this (more fool them!) for Book 2. It’s a delicate balance to give a mid-run collection value without making it essential reading, and Lyons is up to the task. So we get hints throughout of the sinister role the Queen’s Guard – the Orwellian magic-hating fascists of this universe – are playing, and more hints as to central protagonist Harper’s real witch background.
But we also get a new character, who I suspect will play a large role in Book 2, Zero the cat – a cat with many special powers. In the same manner that witty mischief-maker Heresy the deception demon stole the show in The Hiding, so here Zero, in the two stories he appears in, makes the most of his limelight. Zero appears to be a good, magic cat in the care of an almost-certainly-not-good sorcerer (the big bad of Book 2? we shall see) and their cruel treatment by their owner as they seek freedom is hard but mesmerising to read. In one of the standout stories, they journey through dreams and nightmares, described in a kaleidoscopic array of colours and emotions which showcases Lyon’s gift of the surreal and the visual. Their pain when they are pulled from these dreams by their cruel master is palpably felt by the reader who at this point is already obsessed with this curious feline.
Overall, this collection is further proof that Lyons’ supernatural York is one of the most vividly compelling fantasy universes to be in right now – one part chilling, one part wholesome and all parts must-read.
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