2021-04-11

lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
2021-04-11 01:46 pm

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

What Abigail Did that Summer

3/5. Rivers of London novella about what Abigail did when Peter was off in the countryside. Because I guess he's trying a YA spinoff since the American spinoff hasn't taken?

This is entertaining, and Abigail is delightful, but. But he wanted to put her in magical peril to make this adventuresome, but that's delicate when she's a kid and also when Nightingale is around to say anything about it. So the result is that, from Abigail's POV, she thinks she's colluding with a white woman in order to get what they both want, which involves Abigail walking into peril. And from my perspective, I see a white adult with a lot of power deliberately sending a black child into danger in order to rescue a white kid. Which Abigail does not see at all, and neither does the book, judging by the ending. So a big yikes on that one.