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Having finished Dalemark, my next bit of catch-up reading was to add to the 'books by friends' pile. I had actually met Gabby Hutchinson Crouch through a friend back when I was living in London. We became Twitter friends several months later, and even though I've never seen her in person since, she's one of my online besties. So when she published her first book last year, a fractured fairy tale with a satirical bent, I felt rather guilty that I didn't have mental or temporal space to tackle it, being at the time more than taken up with juggling my own book and preparations for my Antarctic trip. This year, things have settled down, and given my YA fantasy groove and the imminence of Book 2 in the trilogy, it seemed the ideal moment to step into Darkwood.
The setup is as follows: Hansel and Gretel Mudd live in the village of Nearby, in the land of Myrsina, which thirteen years ago saw the deposition of its monarchy by the Huntsmen, a sort of grassroots vigilante group dedicated to rooting out witches and other abominations, the list of which gets added to regularly. Girls Doing Maths is on the list, which is bad news for Gretel, who has a keen scientific mind. One manifestation of this is a defence system to protect the village from creatures of Darkwood, a wild place just across the river where witches and magical beings have fled to escape persecution. Well, one thing leads to another and Gretel ends up fleeing to the Darkwood herself, where – surprise! – the witches are rather lovely (well, two of them are, anyway) and even the talking spider is nothing to be afraid of (Bin Men, on the other hand, are).
Overall it's the sort of witty, well-observed, and creative storytelling one would expect from a writer who regularly provides material for Radio 4 topical comedy. Working in animation I have seen my fair share of fresh takes on fairy tales, but this book is full of genuinely unexpected re-imaginings and I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to be surprised. It's not just the fairy tales that feel fresh, though: the moral universe is updated from the one I remember from my childhood, where the maverick has to strike out on their own from a society that doesn't appreciate them (Gretel's family and village all love and support her) and where understanding the other's point of view will solve everyone's problems. It is a world where a harsh and reactionary minority are laughed off until they slip into power and set up a system to keep them there. The commentary on the present day slips in under the radar for most of the book, but sometimes comes right out and practically breaks the fourth wall. Stories are how we programme the consciences of the young; this is a timely and desperately needed update to the operating system, given how the world has changed since the 1990s.
The benefits of a radio comedy background are strong characters, excellent dialogue, snappy pacing, and, of course, a fair few laughs. The weak point of Darkwood, in my opinion, might be the fault of sketch-writing as well: there is a sort of orchestration one has to impose on a long-format narrative to give it shape and help the reader feel the ups and downs. In a macro sense Darkwood does this just fine – the narrative structure and character arcs are solid – but a few levels down, it's a little shaky in what I am tempted to call 'cinematography'. Not that it is lacking in visual presentation, but rather the sort of thing that makes or breaks a film in the editing suite: the rhythm of the shots, the placement of focus and POV, the perceptual experience of the viewer as the film flows by. (This is almost completely different from the literary sense of 'editing,' which is why I don't want to use that word, even though that's really what I mean.) There were a number of times I missed something important because it had not been 'shot' clearly enough to pick it up without thinking. Luckily it was re-established well enough that I didn't need to go back and find it, but I stumbled a bit when it happened. It's the sort of thing you don't really notice in writing until it doesn't quite work right, and to be honest is something I've never thought of before, so in that respect was kind of appreciated! It's certainly not something that would impede anyone's enjoyment of the book, only something that I am particularly attuned to on my constant quest to understand storycraft.
Minor craftsmanship nitpicking aside, it is definitely a book that I would give to an 8-14 year old in my life, if not to my own friends, especially the ones who have embarked on parenthood, as it would make very good bedtime reading and invite some productive discussion. If it's any sign of how I enjoyed it, I had pre-ordered the second volume and was annoyed that it hadn't arrived in time to start right after I finished the first. Luckily it did turn up within 48 hours so I wasn't bereft too long, and it turned out to be better than the first, so worth the wait!
The setup is as follows: Hansel and Gretel Mudd live in the village of Nearby, in the land of Myrsina, which thirteen years ago saw the deposition of its monarchy by the Huntsmen, a sort of grassroots vigilante group dedicated to rooting out witches and other abominations, the list of which gets added to regularly. Girls Doing Maths is on the list, which is bad news for Gretel, who has a keen scientific mind. One manifestation of this is a defence system to protect the village from creatures of Darkwood, a wild place just across the river where witches and magical beings have fled to escape persecution. Well, one thing leads to another and Gretel ends up fleeing to the Darkwood herself, where – surprise! – the witches are rather lovely (well, two of them are, anyway) and even the talking spider is nothing to be afraid of (Bin Men, on the other hand, are).
Overall it's the sort of witty, well-observed, and creative storytelling one would expect from a writer who regularly provides material for Radio 4 topical comedy. Working in animation I have seen my fair share of fresh takes on fairy tales, but this book is full of genuinely unexpected re-imaginings and I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to be surprised. It's not just the fairy tales that feel fresh, though: the moral universe is updated from the one I remember from my childhood, where the maverick has to strike out on their own from a society that doesn't appreciate them (Gretel's family and village all love and support her) and where understanding the other's point of view will solve everyone's problems. It is a world where a harsh and reactionary minority are laughed off until they slip into power and set up a system to keep them there. The commentary on the present day slips in under the radar for most of the book, but sometimes comes right out and practically breaks the fourth wall. Stories are how we programme the consciences of the young; this is a timely and desperately needed update to the operating system, given how the world has changed since the 1990s.
The benefits of a radio comedy background are strong characters, excellent dialogue, snappy pacing, and, of course, a fair few laughs. The weak point of Darkwood, in my opinion, might be the fault of sketch-writing as well: there is a sort of orchestration one has to impose on a long-format narrative to give it shape and help the reader feel the ups and downs. In a macro sense Darkwood does this just fine – the narrative structure and character arcs are solid – but a few levels down, it's a little shaky in what I am tempted to call 'cinematography'. Not that it is lacking in visual presentation, but rather the sort of thing that makes or breaks a film in the editing suite: the rhythm of the shots, the placement of focus and POV, the perceptual experience of the viewer as the film flows by. (This is almost completely different from the literary sense of 'editing,' which is why I don't want to use that word, even though that's really what I mean.) There were a number of times I missed something important because it had not been 'shot' clearly enough to pick it up without thinking. Luckily it was re-established well enough that I didn't need to go back and find it, but I stumbled a bit when it happened. It's the sort of thing you don't really notice in writing until it doesn't quite work right, and to be honest is something I've never thought of before, so in that respect was kind of appreciated! It's certainly not something that would impede anyone's enjoyment of the book, only something that I am particularly attuned to on my constant quest to understand storycraft.
Minor craftsmanship nitpicking aside, it is definitely a book that I would give to an 8-14 year old in my life, if not to my own friends, especially the ones who have embarked on parenthood, as it would make very good bedtime reading and invite some productive discussion. If it's any sign of how I enjoyed it, I had pre-ordered the second volume and was annoyed that it hadn't arrived in time to start right after I finished the first. Luckily it did turn up within 48 hours so I wasn't bereft too long, and it turned out to be better than the first, so worth the wait!
