Adrian Tchaikovsky’s And Put Away Childish Things was an interesting, well-written novella with a great concept, but it was just so overwhelmingly sad that I struggled to finish it.  This is a hard one to review.

The concept is that Harry Brodie’s grandmother wrote a series of books set in Underhill, a world similar to Narnia, where young children go on adventures.  Harry is being stalked by people who think that world is real, and who believe he’s the long-lost prince.

When Harry finds Underhill, it’s different than his grandmother’s books. The world and its magical creatures has been abandoned, unloved.  Visiting Underhill felt a bit like reading a book that was just an extended scene of Artax in the Swamp of Sadness, or when the toys are burned in The Velveteen Rabbit.  It’s definitely A Mood.

I do recommend this novella if you’re in the mood for a bit of bleak nostalgia — it’s wonderfully written with characters who captured me right away (Wish Dog!), and I definitely cleared out my sinuses crying while reading it.  

I couldn’t handle 200 pages of that feeling, and I found myself skimming in the last 50 pages just to get through it.  I think if it had been half the length, or a short story, it would have worked better.  It wasn’t the right read for me right now.  Not a bad book at all, just not a good fit.

Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for my review copy of this book.

Felix 'Harry' Bodie is a children's TV presenter who thinks he can boost his fading career by going on one of those shows that digs into your family tree. His grandmother wrote a very famous series of books about the magical world of Underhill, that a family of children get into by means other than a wardrobe, honest. Cough. But as he waits to be told that his great-grandmother was a tsarina, he instead finds himself tottering on the brink of a hugely unexpected rabbit hole. One that raises the question: what if Underhill isn't just a children's story? And more - what if the fantasy is the bit where going there is a good thing?

There's something enduring in the 'portal fantasy' - the idea that you can escape the mundane world for something more magical. Here, however, the author veers very far away from the quaint or sentimental or even allegorical versions that we might have read in childhood, and instead gives this 'wonderland' a very modern, unique take. And not a little creepy, too.

Harry isn't the easiest character to like, at least at first, but it isn't hard to feel sorry for him. Every turn seems to take him closer to disaster, and that's before he's kidnapped by a very peculiar group who want him to take them all to Underhill. Or, his meeting with a private investigator whose client also has an interest in the not-so-fictional-after-all world. But when a ... is that a faun?! ... turns up on his doorstep... well, nothing is as it seems.

The novella length works perfectly for giving plenty of story with enough background, but without getting too bogged down with padding. That said, there are a few elements - like the Underlings - that I expected to have a bigger role after their introduction, but didn't. But, it works rather perfectly for the story of a middle-aged man suddenly facing the reality of those childhood stories, and how that might play out. Not the way you might expect, that's for sure - but it was a lot of fun to read about!

An excellent slice of imagination, and one of the most unique portal fantasies I've stumbled across.

Weirdly logical

Yes, that is a wardrobe on the cover, and yes, if you are a fan of portal fantasy, it means what you think it means. <spoiler>There is a connection with Narnia.</spoiler>

Sometimes you read a book, then, when it's done, you put it down and think, "Wow! That was weird!" Different people feel differently about this. Personally, I love it. I think the last book I read that weirded me out like this one was Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire. Neil Gaiman's Coraline also comes to mind.

This is much harder to do than it looks. You can't scale the heights of Mount Weird just by throwing a lot of random stuff up. That yields something different, nonsense. (Edward Lear was the master of this.) Nonsense is cool, but it is not weird, in the sense I mean. To be weird, you have to make sense, but in an unexpected way -- in a way that at first appears to make no sense. That feeling of weirdness comes from seeing totally foreign but entirely logical ideas connect up.

Mathematicians learn to love this feeling, because it is the sign that you are on the threshold of deep new truths. I'm sure Gerolamo Cardano was weirded out when he realized that he could reduce cubic polynomials by imaging that negative numbers had square roots. and that Évariste Galois had the same feeling even more strongly when he found the edge beyond which Cardano's idea would fail.

From Adrian Tchaikovsky I have previously read only his Children of Time series. There is a kinship between those books and this one, in that Tchaikovsky's interest in philosophy, particularly the ontology of imaginary things, shines through and gives him a logical backbone on which to build a story. (Indeed, as a writer of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Tchaikovsky is a professional in the field.) He also makes claims on the field of folklore. Here I felt a sort of dilettantism show through that I don't perceive with Gaiman or McGuire (who has a degree in folklore from Berkeley).

I am not going to go into the plot or characters at all. The publisher's blurb (not to mention other reviewers) will give you all the background you need on that. I ask you only this, "Do you want to be weirded out?"

I thank NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for an advance reader copy of And Put Away Childish Things. This review expresses my honest opinions. To be released 28-Mar-2023.

Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t my thing. I can appreciate the magical realism and the premise is an interesting one, but something is disconnected for me.

3.5 stars.

Every time I pick up Tchaikovsky's short fiction, I am genuinely, somehow still, surprised at his masterful interweaving of fantasy and sci-fi (light on the sci-fi in this particular story). While I don't think And Put Away Childish Things rises to the level of his other short work like Elder Race or Ogres, this was still an enjoyable ride.

Set in 2020, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, this story follows Felix "Harry" Bodie, an actor with designs of playing serious roles, but who has thus far been limited to doing linking segments for children's TV shows. In an attempt to make some money off of his grandmother's beloved book series, Underhill, he agrees to guest host a show wherein the host delves into the actor's history.

Harry turns up ready to spill a secret about his grandmother that was passed down from his mother, and which is likely to boost his worth as a serious actor. But, the show exposes a very different side of his family history, leading to a sort of scandal that results in him falling out of favour somewhat.

What follows is a wild ride as we follow Harry through his discovery of Underhill's fanatics and, in some instances, inhabitants. There is a faun and there is a wardrobe, but Underhill is nothing like Narnia.

Each chapter is interspersed with excerpts from the fictional Underhill books, involving the adventures of hero/heroine duo James and Jemima and the many characters they meet in their adventures. I thought this provided an interesting contrast to the Underhill, and its inhabitants, that Harry eventually discovers.

As usual, Tchaikovsky writes beautifully. I am always amazed by the tight writing in his short fiction. He manages to create these intricate plots, effortlessly weaving in a number of trials and tribulations within a short word count. The first half of the book felt lighthearted and somewhat humorous, despite the seriousness of the events. I think this worked well, allowing the second half of the book to become darker and raise some serious ethical dilemmas.

My biggest gripe, and this is a personal preference, is the real-world mentions, like C.S. Lewis, Einstein, Tolkien, etc. For me personally this takes me out of the story. Recognising that this starts off as a sort of urban fantasy, as opposed to high or epic fantasy, makes this easier to stomach, but it still irks me.

Overall, I think if you like Tchaikovsky's novellas, you will enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novella

And Put Away Childish Things is Tchaikovsky's take on portal fantasy. He added his own twist to this classic genre and I loved it. Humour is prominent in this novella and it worked for me. Harry isn't a typical hero. He is flawed that made him more relatable. I loved seeing him come to terms with his past and find his own voice.

Oh man. I knew the second I read the summary of this book that I would fall in love, and I’m thrilled that after devouring it that I did, indeed, LOVE it.

This book was a grownup fairy tale - a mixture of CS Lewis, Tolkien, and Carroll’s lore all rolled into one, with some snarky and hilarious banter, and a tearjerker ending.

The ending… wow. After the battle with Harry’s ancestor, the way the characters of Underhill looked to him with such hope and yearning, and how he told them tales of their own journeys and adventures. Hope is one of the most beautiful yet painful emotions - beautiful if it comes to fruition, but heartbreaking if never attained. That moment was a literary moment I won’t soon forget.

I adored this book so much. So many things that reminded me of childhood, but with an adult twist. It’s so nice so visit the fantastical again and not put away those childish things for only a few more hours. Thanks so much for the experience.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novelette, And Put Away Childish Things, is a dark and funny riff on how very wrong a heroic fantasy can go when an antihero stumbles through the wardrobe, cabinet, rabbit hole, cupboard, tunnel, or whatever.

Things are already going very south in Underworld when Harry Bodie, an actor marginally employed as a children’s TV presenter during the Covid 19 lockdown and grandson of the author of a beloved children’s fantasy series, finds himself propelled through a wardrobe into the decaying realm. Populated by the hideously deteriorating characters of his Grandmother’s books, Harry is certainly not the hero they’ve been waiting for, especially as his first inclination is run-and fast.

Will Harry embrace the opportunity to become a brave and good descendant of his bloodline and give his sniveling self a worthy character arc? I highly recommend you dive through the looking glass of this inventive anti-Narnia and see. It’s a marvelous adventure.


Thank you to Rebellion and NetGalley for this ARC.

Adrian Tchaikovsky has become a bit of an auto-read for me, after I absolutely adored the first three books I read by him—Children of Time, Elder Race, and Ogres. Given his talent with the novella form, it wasn’t a hard decision to check out his dark portal fantasy And Put Away Childish Things. 

And Put Away Childish Things stars the host of a children’s program and grandson of a relatively famous children's author. Perhaps he’s a bit entitled, a bit bitter about his inability to break into serious acting roles, but he muddles through and puts on a happy face for the kids. But just as the world grinds to a halt amidst a global pandemic, he finds himself catching the attention of those who believe his grandmother’s portal world of Underhill might’ve been real all along. 

Tchaikovsky has a penchant for jaded protagonists, often—though not always—coming with a narrative style that puts some emotional distance between the reader and the lead. In practice, it means that the characters will rarely be the selling point. They may be well-drawn, but they’re not lovable (setting aside the lead of Elder Race, who provides a deeply sympathetic portrait of depression). Instead, the way he builds worlds or explores concepts takes center stage. 

And he’s pretty reliable for building stunning worlds or exploring interesting concepts, which combined with his typical quality storytelling makes for some great books. But the dark portal fantasy concept is well-trod, and even as the storytelling stays strong, it makes for a story that lacks wow factor. The lead isn’t likable, and it’s clear from as early as the blurb that the portal world will be (1) real and (2) terrible. And I’d read enough of Tchaikovsky to seriously narrow down the field of potential resolutions. 

The discovery process is still pretty engaging, because it’s written well and because the magic of discovery is one of the most fun parts of speculative fiction. And there are certainly a few clever details in the specific way in which the portal world is bad, and in how that affects its denizens. But without real investment in either the character or the world, the denouement feels overly protracted, even at novella length. 

Clearly, I’m personally running into a problem of diminishing returns. I’ve read enough Tchaikovsky to be accustomed to the jaded protagonist and to make a good guess as to the tale’s ultimate direction, and I’ve read enough portal fantasies that the trope subversion doesn’t offer much wow factor. Perhaps a reader new to either element experiences that wow factor that I’m missing. There’s certainly no lack of quality in the storytelling. But for me, it’s merely good, not exceptional. 

Recommended if you like: jaded protagonists, dark portal fantasies. 

Overall rating: 14 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

And Put Away Childish Things is the third in a thematically-linked set of three novellas by Adrian Tchaikovsky published in the UK by Rebellion Publishing; I liked the first, Walking to Aldebaran, so I thought I would try this one. And Put Away Childish Things is a portal fantasy where a man stumbles into the world of the beloved children's series his grandmother wrote (think Narnia) and encounters unexpected horrors. To be honest, I wouldn't have picked up a book with this blurb if it wasn't by Tchaikovsky, whom I also know and admire from his Children of Time trilogy. I adore the idea of stumbling into an imaginary world that's come alive but have found that the execution never works for me. People always seem to end up in the tweest of children's literature rather than entering the genuinely frightening and original landscapes that characterise many children's books. The whole thing feels silly to me when I want it to be scary. And sadly, And Put Away Childish Things falls into exactly the same traps. Probably a Just Not for Me rather than a novella that's objectively bad, but I would love to see a writer properly and seriously explore the imaginative spaces of childhood. 2.5 stars.

Rated 4.5 really.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

This is a delightful (if dark and melancholic...and yet humorous) tribute to/twist on the portal fantasy genre, with a sprinkle of real-world issues (mainly in the form of an unnamed, but well recognisable pandemic...I swear though, it's not a downer - plus it serves a narrative purpose).
Tchaikovsky has a talent for putting antiheroes (like in his time-travel novella One Day All This Will Be Yours) and losers (like here) in surreal/absurdist situations and making us root for them, despite their shortcomings. He also has a talent for deconstructing genres while paying homage to them, and for writing novellas that - like Doctor Who's TARDIS - are bigger on the inside. His pocket-universe-gone-bad in this one is full of memorable - if literally rotting - characters (all the more memorable for that very reason 😂) and (darkly) funny imagery, but the best thing about it is the mystery at its core, which, once revealed, puts a whole spin on your usual portal fantasy mythology. I didn't see the ending coming, but I have to say that it perfectly fits the story, and it's - if not upbeat - surprisingly hopeful for a story about a disintegrating world and a failing-at-life protagonist (actually, the ending has a similar vibe to The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning, and now that I think of it, the main character's journey slightly mirrors the one in Winning's book, so if you loved TSG you might enjoy APACT as well). In short, if you're looking for a portal fantasy off the beaten path, this one won't disappoint you.
(I detracted half a star because I struggled a little with the first chapters, but the rotten Narnia rocked my socks off!).

I’m sorry to say that I did not enjoy this at all. I don’t think it was *bad* as such, but there was nothing at all that appealed to me about it.

Tchaikovsky writes a lot of novellas, and he has a distinct talent for writing fun little experimental ones. The premise of this is simple enough, and familiar to readers of works like *The Magicians*: What if the world of a beloved childhood book was real?

In this case, the protagonist is the grandson of the author of the children’s books in question, and has ambivalent feelings towards them to begin with. As the blurb indicates, the residents of not-Narnia have come forth of their own accord, and our protagonist finds this difficult to believe, let alone cope with.

So why did I not enjoy this? To start with, this is clearly a project that Tchaikovsky was using to cope with 2020. Unlike John Scalzi who wrote a silly and fun “pop song of a book” with *The Kaiju Preservation Society*, 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. 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.

Like I said at the top, I don’t think this was poorly written or ill-conceived or anything like that. I just know I didn’t enjoy it one bit. I pushed through it because it was short, I was given the ARC and promised a review, and I generally like and respect Tchaikovsky, but if it had been just a little bigger I would have given up and DNF’d it.

If you’re familiar with the author, you know he can go down just about any old rabbit hole and create a compelling story; one that is never exactly as it first appears. In this case, it’s not a rabbit hole, but a wardrobe (and as the characters say “We’re not the wardrobe one. That’s the famous one. We’re the other one.”) that leads to a disturbing childhood fantasy world that is falling apart.

The main character is a c-list actor whose own world is slowly falling apart. He gets interviewed on one of those “who are your ancestors“ genealogy TV shows and ambushed, with glee by the host, who is happy to let him know his great grandmother was institutionalized for being crazy. They don’t know the half of it!

As things go from bad to worse with his career, one of the characters from grandmom‘s books appears in his front garden to hand him his keys. A strange phone call regarding the estate leads to his kidnapping by a group of folks, who believe his grandmothers fictional world is real, and then it gets really weird.

As always, there is more to the story than meets the eye. As always the author has a knack for world building, for creating compelling characters, and for telling stories with real depth. If you ever wished that Middle Earth or Narnia, or any other of those familiar places was real, you’ll enjoy this one.

A delightful, funny subversion of the portal fantasy trope. The MC is a 40 something looking for a quiet life whose grandmother wrote a famous series about another world. He's bever been interested in that fandom but then he finds a faun in his gardrn and is abducted by denizens of said world as the last heir. Brilliantly humouroys and a lot of fun.

Such a fun read. I had never read anything by this author before and so was not quite sure what to expect, but I loved it. I read this with a smile on my face and an occasional snort of laughter. Harry is a 40 something children's TV presenter whose grandmother wrote a series of children's books about the magical realm of Underhill. But his life takes on a strange turn when he comes across a faun in his garden, he gets kidnapped by a group of middle-aged Underhill fans who tell him he is the heir to Underhill and a PI wants him to look at a wardrobe. This is the book for anyone who has ever wished that they could walk into a magical realm. But the realm that Harry finds himself in is rotting and decaying, the magical creatures old and ragged. This is his kingdom. Set at the start of the pandemic and lockdown, this places side by side a dying world and a world afraid of dying. I loved the humour in the story and the vivid descriptions of Underhill and its inhabitants. But there is also the idea of story-telling, and an author's responsibility both for the stories they create and those that read them. And also the idea that at some point in our lives, sadly we are expected to put aside all childish things. This was a super read and Harry is a narrator that you will love for sarky one-liners and his desire to be brave and do the right thing.

Years ago, Harry Bodie's grandmother wrote the beloved children's books set in Underhill. Today, Harry is a struggling children's TV presenter and considers his family legacy a burden. But then he encounters a group of believers who say Underhill is real and he should be its king!

Bitter and cynical, Harry is not your typical 'likeable' protagonist but you still root for him. A POV of wit and snarky charm, a straightforward narrative in a modern-day world, with an air of whimsical and interesting words I did not know like lugubriously. Life gets crazy for our protagonist and then we arrive at Underhill...

Underhill is not your standard 'nice' fairy tale land rather a land that is obviously not well, nightmarish even, full of danger and wickedness. Always winter. Always night. I loved the author's descriptions, imaginative and so precise you can 'see' what he's writing about. There is a humorous undertone to the narrative. The parallelism between our covid-inflicted world and the decaying Underhill is genius. The double depiction of fear: fear of death, fear of not really mattering.

A lot of build-up which makes sense, the story is quite tight after Underhill is introduced, but the truth is I do wish some parts had been allowed to breathe more, that there was more of the story. There are a lot of things just mentioned which I would have liked to see. Some of the musings got away from themselves, but its philosophical heart is sincere.

The predicament of Underhill symbolizes the loss of your childhood awe and how to nourish that disappearing inner child. It is about fulfilling a purpose — building your destiny. Bittersweet but quirky in its creativeness and outrageousness, a different kind of tale, not so merry and oh so contrary.

Very likely the funniest book I've ever read, the way Tchaikovsky uses descriptive language should be taught in schools. The novel is not just an excuse for him to show off his talents either, as he weaves a very powerful and thoughtful tale, about the importance of stories, and storytellers, and the responsibility a creator has to those they create. From page one Harry is an incredible likable protagonist, partly because of his foibles, and there's rarely a moment when I didn't enjoy spending time with him. Sure, the few moments we spend in COVID-wracked London drug, but it was such a small stretch that it's easily forgiven, and it's always nice to see a book acknowledging the world as it is. I so much enjoyed the book that I've since set a goal to dive further into the authors work, as if this is how his command of language is used in such a simple, short story, it must do wonders for his science fiction epics.

An excellent if slightly (okay, more than slightly) cynical take on childhood tales! Whether you're a fan of certain wardrobe-related stories or if you despise them, you'll find something in this book for you. I did find the author's treatment of the pandemic a little questionable; his disdain for safety practices clearly came through in his writing. However, it was perfectly in character for his grumpy lead, so it didn't feel out of place. I often laughed out loud at the snarky descriptions and cranky one-liners that fill this story. Definitely more toward "One Day All This Will Be Yours" than "Children of Time" on the Adrian Tchaikovsky Attitude Spectrum. "And Put Away Childish Thing" strikes me as sci fi/fantasy for the older crowd - think Gen X, not Gen Z.

This is a pretty good fantasy story (rather than his usual hard scifi ones) and it already has lots of great reviews. So I'll just recommend it to scif and fantasy fans.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

"My Hogwarts letter is just late," the flippant joke on the Internet goes, but have you ever truly wondered what it would be like to get to your own magical Narnia at the ripe age of 40+, with all your neuroses and somewhat important adult obligations in tow? And what if that magical world turns out to be almost exactly unlike what you've imagined and falling apart at the seams?

Well, wonder no more, this novella has got you covered. Adrian Tchaikovsky takes the reader on a journey that is both down-to-earth and somehow still magical. The tone of the main character's mild-tempered confusion, interspersed with bursts of true courage, is a curious way to tell a tale about how perhaps it's never too late to learn to care. And the narrative voice was oddly reminiscent of Richard Osman’s character vignettes sometimes - and I mean it as a compliment.

Thanks to #Netgalley for the advanced copy of the novella.