How to Catch a Bogle, Catherine Jinks

I haven't read any middle-grade fiction recently, so I snagged this one off of a recommended reads list, and I'm glad I did.


How to Catch a Bogle
Catherine Jinks (author of Saving Thanehaven, which I also enjoyed)
ISBN: 9780544087088
Read May 9, 2014
Juvenile/Middle-Grade alternate Victorian London; urchins and magical creatures

This one goes right along that same alley as Kieran Larwood's Freaks, Y.S. Lee's Agency series, or for a more gritty "literary" take, Berlie Doherty's Street Child.  Birdie is an orphan, but she's better off than most.  Unlike the mudlarks digging in the filthy and dangerous Thames for shillings'worth of scraps, or the professional beggars getting rousted by the police, or the ragged street-thieves risking prison-time, or even the poor unfortunate souls getting used and abused at the workhouse, Birdie is a Bogler's Apprentice, and that gets her a good day's work, extra spending money (sometimes) and what's most important - a degree of respect in this hard-knock world.

And what's a Bogler's Apprentice?  She works with the Bogler, to lure out and kill bogles.  These nasty slimy dark nightmares like nothing more than a tasty child to eat, and only Alfred and Birdie can find them, lure them in, and destroy them.

Birdie loves her life, loves her job, and loves being important and needed.  She very resolutely does not think about how dangerous her job is, but Alfred does.  (Making this obvious is a very nice grace-note in the story.)  It doesn't matter how dangerous it is, there's no real alternative for Birdie in the slums she calls home.  Until the duo meets an eccentric armchair naturalist, who follows them out on a bogle hunt, and is promptly scandalized and terrified.  Miss Eames is determined to save Birdie from her most likely fate as bogle food, but Birdie is equally stubborn.

The book jacket and the press indicate that this is the first of a trilogy, and I'm deeply satisfied with how they did it, because this is a totally complete story - none of this cliffhanger nonsense.

Parts of this are pretty creepy in the "things sneaking up behind you" sort of way.  Otherwise, it's a delightful romp through the poor muckridden slums of London, with a totally accurate (and colorful) vocabulary.

An excellent read, and I'm looking forward to A Plague of Bogles, out in January.

Mary Quinn "Agency" Mysteries, Y.S. Lee

1) A Spy in the House.  ISBN: 9780763640675
2) The Body at the Tower.  ISBN: 9780763649685
3) The Traitor in the Tunnel.  ISBN: 9780763653163

All by Y. S. Lee.

Re-read 1&2, Read 3 September 27, 2013

YA historical mysteries, half-Chinese female protagonist, light romance.

These are enjoyable, but there are a lot of mysteries left in the stories.

Particularly, the role and scope of the Agency is puzzlingly unclear, as is their reach.  Mary herself is a puzzle - able to pass as an elderly lady AND a 12-year old "penniless lord" working boy (within the same day, mind).  There are also some liberties taken with the Royals in the palace in the last book - I don't care how dissolute poor Bertie was, or how pretty he thought her, there's no way that the prince of the realm would act that way around a servant.  Likewise the enemies of the second and third book are left puzzlingly un-motivated.  I don't know why the blackmailer kept asking for more, and got violent when he failed.  I don't know why the traitor decided that he needed to PERSONALLY handle guncotton.  Even the first villain's aims are unclear - there are reasons to suspect the motivation, but the problem isn't exactly solved.

And speaking of solving problems, I find myself increasingly irritated at how the heritage situation has been resolved (or if there are future works, at least how it has been dealt with thus far).  It seems upon reflection that the author simply didn't wish to deal with the complications she introduced in the first book, and so they were made to vanish in awfully convenient ways.  First by unnecessary housefire and death (and when there is a fire, people put their lives in danger by fetching what they most love - I find it very hard to accept that a certain item was simply left behind after the rescue was completed.)  Then, another unnecessary death (with the attendant inability to convey any information at all) ties the whole thing off quite nicely. 

I think that's taking the easy way out, and I would very much like to have seen Mary handling her heritage, instead of having it conveniently whisked away from her to leave her burden-free to head into the future.   

Other than those quibbles, they are quippy, quick, fun, well-set, and enjoyable, even on a second read.  I've been unable to determine if they are a trilogy, or if there are other books forthcoming.  I do hope for the latter, and if so, I hope that the heritage question is brought up again, because that is the real sticking point of dislike for me so far.