Grace McDermott

Michael Hu Luk, or Raz as he prefers to be called, is struggling to live day by day with his mental illness, the little support he gets from hat and the long suffering tolerance of his dutiful older sister

Until a chance encounter brings him to the attention of Agent Ryan from the Agency, the enforcers and facilitators of the supernatural world. And Agent Ryan can see the potential in Michael

The diversity of this book is excellent and really emphasises what the Agency is about. They don’t show more tolerate diversity. They don’t tolerate minorities – they celebrate them, embrace them, are empowered and enabled by the different elements they bring to the organisation and are stronger because of it.

This is especially true with mental illness as we take Michael (or Raz as he prefers to be called) who is considered completely and utterly unemployable because of his mental illness. His sister regards him as a burden, he himself has fully absorbed the idea that he’s completely useless. But he thrives at the Agency. He’s useful and capable at the Agency. And it’s not because he develops super powers, nor is it because he is magically cured by his mental illness – but he is given a place, a work environment and colleagues who are willing to make the necessary accommodations for him to succeed.

It’s wonderful – and also excellently added to by his sister’s contempt of him. Because she does support him; she is constantly giving him financial support. But it’s clear she doesn’t respect him; it shows that you can actually HELP a marginalised person while hurting them and regarding them with contempt.

We also see racial and LGBTQ diversity. Michael is Asian and gay both of which inform his character, both his family history and, again, with how his sister relates to him (apparently supportive but, again, not wanting his “not normal” gayness being discussed. And her patented “I’m totally not a bigot but I’m disgusted” expression) we have characters who are bisexual and genderqueer, South Asian characters, Black characters – even with the relatively large cast this short story has an amazingly diverse array of characters and some excellent messages about marginalised people in life and the work place.

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New recruit Stef died, on a mission she was grossly unqualified to be on all because Agent Ryan couldn’t say no to the surrogate daughter who just wanted to impress him. And now she’s dead

Unless he breaks one of the fundamental Agency Rules and makes a wish to bring her back. There’s only really one choice - and a desperate need to keep it secret

Which isn’t easy when his Agency gets audited - not for bringing Stef back but because Recruit Curt is outraged by how Stef was put at risk show more and how little Ryan seems to care...

The shifting point of view of this book is interesting - switching away from Spyder’s viewpoint allows us a whole new angle to the world beyond her own.

In particular we see a lot more of Agent Ryan, his flaws and his limitations, those latter two being especially important. It’s easy to see Ryan as this perfect, calm, benevolent force because that is the image he presents to the world and he has done some truly beautiful, kind things.

But when we see him through the eyes of some of the people he has wronged or treated poorly we see a whole new angle. Then we get to see him through his own eyes and we see someone so very unsure, whose bad deeds come more from a deep lack of social graces and understanding and a constant sense of his own inadequacy backed with an almost fierce self-loathing

This really does make the short story Legacy far more relevant. By seeing Ryan’s views of his former self, Rhys, and how that affects him - how he holds his previous incarnation in contempt, even revulsion. How he fights not to follow in his former footsteps while at the same time constantly being judged by his predecessors standards. It’s an excellent shadow hanging over him. His internal conflict and the conflict between how everyone sees him and who he really is really stands out excellently

And is part of the theme of the whole book. We have Curt, the ex-Solstice recruit, so often hated by his fellow agents for his past and so torn over it. Frustrated and angry that he isn’t given the opportunities he should have, isn’t given a true place in the agency or treated as a member of the team by his fellow recruits. Yet at the same time he hates what he has done before and loathes the idea of returning to what he once was - his own self-loathing is as powerful as his disdain for his fellows. On top of that he has his own PTSD to deal with - the abuse he suffered at the hands of agents shadowing him and his actions.

Which brings us to Stef, conflicted and torn by her own mental illness, trying to think her way through it, escape the chains and traumas of her past and facing down her endless insecurity and how it drives her.

All these characters are conflicted, some living with different mental illnesses and all of them - perhaps most importantly - pursuing what they truly want and hope for. Despite the conflict, despite the mental illness, they all have their own wishes and hopes and goals and agendas they are willing to pursue.

The shifting point of view also allows us to see a lot more of the Agency, how it works and, again, fight a rather utopian impression we have had of it in the past. It is flawed, it has major issues and these are only just being explored and promises for some fascinating storylines in the future along with further building of the cosmology of his vast and complicated world.

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[Mirrorheart(Require: Cookie Book 2)] by [Grace McDermott] continues the adventure and ultimate geek out by Stef. Problem is Stef is technically dead. Ryan broke his Duty and used a wish to save her. The problem now is 1) will it work, 2) what to do if it does?

I love the characters in these books because they aren't your typical hero or villain but rather a little of both. I was glad to see more of Curt and Agent Jane added a whole new dimension to the story. Looking forward to reading more.

Novellas are always tricky, especially for pre-established worlds, which is why I generally don’t like them. I often find it’s hard to make them pointful, it’s difficult to put something in such a short book that actually adds something meaningful to the overall world.

This is even more true for complicated world settings because you have so much to remind the reader of, so much relevant information to refresh, and little space in which to do it.

The Require: Cookie series seemed to be a show more particularly tall order. The world is huge, complicated, nuanced and requires a lot of concentration. I was dubious, I admit.

But it worked – it worked by not covering all the vastness of the world but by covering one, gritty, grim corner of it. It alludes to the hugeness of the System and the various supernatural beings out there, but all the reader need know is they exist, not the specific details of them. By resisting the urge to explain the fundamentals of the world it works. And it works because it’s a very personal story. This isn’t a story of the world, the setting, how anything works – this is the story of Rhys. We don’t need the details of the bigger picture – just that there is a bigger picture and that Rhys doesn’t fit in it.

Because Rhys‘s story is also a nice snap shot into the history of the world. If you’ve read the original story, we know about Agents, the enforcers, police and general facilitators of the System who generally make things works. But the Agents in that book are very modern in their outlook and feel; this is a nice insight into what came before and how the System updates itself and how it needs different agents/employees/enforcers as the world changes

If you haven’t read that book, it still works as we look at the updating of agents of the powers that be, as bewinged angels give way to dark and gritty Duskers who in turn fall back to the precise and robotic Agents. It works as a concept even without the excellent back story.

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