Series: Indexing
Genres: Metafiction, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural
Year: 2013-2016
Age: 16+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Inventive, exciting, trope-subverting and -abiding at the same time. Heart-warming and funny around a dark core.
Cons: Not every story is tightly connected to the others, but it's likely that they weren't written with a book in mind at first (and they do provide a sense of unity nevertheless). While both books are self-contained, there are a few loose thread (mainly one) that were clearly supposed to be picked up in a sequel or more, except none was released.
WARNING! Horror and gore.
Will appeal to: Metafiction and retelling enthusiasts. Also people who don't usually like retellings, but enjoy a creative spin on (dark) fable archetypes.
Blurb for Indexing: For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected - perhaps infected is a better word - by memetic incursion: where fairy tale narratives become reality, often with disastrous results. That's where the ATI Management Bureau steps in, an organization tasked with protecting the world from fairy tales, even while most of their agents are struggling to keep their own fantastic archetypes from taking over their lives. When you're dealing with storybook narratives in the real world, it doesn't matter if you're Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or the Wicked Queen: no one gets a happily ever after.. (Amazon excerpt)
Blurb for Reflections: The struggle against not-so-charming storybook narratives isn’t the only complicating factor in Henrietta “Henry” Marchen’s life. As part of the ATI Management Bureau team protecting the world from fairy tales gone awry, she’s juggling her unwanted new status as a Snow White, dealing with a potentially dangerous Pied Piper, and wrangling a most troublesome wicked stepsister - along with a budding relationship with Jeff, her teammate. But when a twisted, vicious Cinderella breaks out of prison and wreaks havoc, things go from disenchanted to deadly. And once Henry realizes someone is trying to use her to destroy the world, her story becomes far from over - and this one might not have a happily ever after. (Amazon excerpt)
Blurb for Reflections: The struggle against not-so-charming storybook narratives isn’t the only complicating factor in Henrietta “Henry” Marchen’s life. As part of the ATI Management Bureau team protecting the world from fairy tales gone awry, she’s juggling her unwanted new status as a Snow White, dealing with a potentially dangerous Pied Piper, and wrangling a most troublesome wicked stepsister - along with a budding relationship with Jeff, her teammate. But when a twisted, vicious Cinderella breaks out of prison and wreaks havoc, things go from disenchanted to deadly. And once Henry realizes someone is trying to use her to destroy the world, her story becomes far from over - and this one might not have a happily ever after. (Amazon excerpt)
Review: As a rule, I don't do series review. I'm a firm believer in the fact that each and every book has its own unique personality. I've only done that a few times for different reasons, and in this case, my reason is that the last installment is five years old already and there aren't new books scheduled (which is a real bummer). Please note: these books were initially released in episodes as Kindle Serials. I'm not even sure that the author had a "proper" book planned at the time, which would explain the lack of an overall narrative arc, at least for (part of) Book 1.
