The Whatnot

Audiobook from the library - In this sequel to The Peculiar, Hettie Kettle is stuck in Faerie, trying to survive while waiting for her brother Barty to rescue her. She passively goes along with whatever the various pompous faeries tell her to do, almost to the point of slavery. However, after long years pass with no sign of Barty, Hettie begins to realize that maybe she will have to grow up and rescue herself. Meanwhile in the now anti-faery city of London, an orphan boy named Pikey is ostracized due to having a wonky eye that sees only things that aren't really there. After evading a group of particularly nasty bullies, Pikey is recruited by Barty Kettle and Mr. Jelliby to help them find a way to rescue Hettie. They believe there is show more more to Pikey than meets the eye (pun intended).

What I expected to be a straightforward sequel ended up being something much more interesting. Barty and Mr. Jelliby, the heroes of the first book, are relatively minor characters in this one. The plot and perspectives center around Hettie and Pikey, who are much more interesting at this point. In the previous book, Hettie was a (rather annoying) helpless little sister, but in the sequel we get to see her grow up before our very eyes. By contrast, Barty is self-assured but a bit incompetent, since it takes him years to rescue Hettie. The weirdness and surrealness of Faerie is excellent, especially the inconsistent sense of time between it and our world. Once again, I'm blown away by a book written by an author so young. show less

I was not familiar with Stefan Bachmann before this title, but I am so glad to know about him now. While the poverty and violence of this particular magical world may be a little much for the under-12s, the story is gripping and the characters are wonderfully engaging. I am always particularly impressed with authors who capture the dark side of the fairy world, and Stefan has certainly done that. A feast for the visual imagination and a fresh story.

Just like the previous book, it takes a while to get going, but definitely gets up the pace faster here. It was much more exciting and much more happening, but, again, the author drowns in long descriptions about things that aren't that important. While it is nice to read in itself and the writing style is almost poetic, it simply isn't what the story needs. Or deserves. So many questions were left unanswered. The actual bulk is under 30 pages.

The main characters found each other, but what about the world? What about the villains and their plans?
Just like in the previous book, it feels like the world is just there. Nothing important. Things are happening but the author is mostly writing about the main characters. The world-building show more feels very unfinished, which is a waste.

It doesn't feel like an ending. Maybe it's not the last book in the series? Maybe the author plans more? Or maybe that's his style. Leave things unanswered.

The book wasn't bad and I did like it more than the first, but it simply left me quite... empty? Unsatisfied? show less