Booklog: Foglio and Siegel

[nebroadwe]

Phil and Kaja Foglio, Agatha Heterodyne and the Golden Trilobite

Reread. When we last left our heroine, Agatha Heterodyne was caught in the toils of The Other, the evil Spark whose attempt to conquer Europe is believed to have been thwarted by her now-vanished father and uncle. She's fighting back, with the aid of her faithful dingbots and the dubious assistance of Tarvek, Prince of Sturmhalten. Meanwhile, two rescue operations are converging on the town: one sent by the love-struck Gilgamesh Wulfenbach and the other headed by the equally smitten Lars of Master Payne's Circus of Adventure. And over all looms the shadow of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, who believes Agatha to be a dangerous influence to be contained at all costs ... The conclusion of Girl Genius's second story arc lives up to the billing of its subtitle: the Foglios provide us with adventure, romance and mad science in spades, culminating in a melodramatic battle among all the converging forces, which manages to include a touching death scene, a mad scientist at the organ, and the perfection of the calming pie ("Take that, Brillat-Savarin!"). Highly recommended, but read the preceding installments first.

Jan Siegel, Prospero's Children

When feckless Robin Capel inherits a Yorkshire farmhouse from a distant relative, his sensible daughter Fernanda thinks only of how to persuade him to sell it as soon as possible (though her younger brother Will is keen to hunt for treasure in the attic). The children quickly discover, however, that the house is being watched by forces friendly and unfriendly, all in quest of a key that holds the power of lost Atlantis. As Fernanda's own latent Gift awakens under the press of magical events, it becomes clear that she must close the door that key opens, lest the world be destroyed by what emerges. Interesting work in the Alan Garner/Penelope Lively strain of UK fantasy, with an attempt at Patricia McKillip-like prose. The characters are engaging -- the heroes more so than the villains, who come across a bit flat -- but everyone tends to talk the way the author narrates, to the detriment of their realism. The pacing is uneven, too; the story reads more like two related novellas than a single novel, despite the unity of the plot. First in a three-book series, but I'm not sure I'll pick up the second.