Review of The People in the Castle by Joan Aiken

Full disclosure: I’m pretty sure I requested this book to review because I thought it was written by Jenny Jaeckel, which is sort of similar sounding to Joan Aiken, but not really. Oh brain, the tricks you play on me. But it turns out I have read Joan Aiken; I’ve read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and was not particularly enthused about the whole thing. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is of a very specific English style. I remember thinking it was dry. Maybe gin martini dry. Maybe dead leaf dry. And now I had a whole other Joan Aiken book to read. Okay. Crack her open.

So The People in the Castle isn’t dry. It’s still that very specific English style. Most of the stories seem to be in that odd space of Englishness where there are still empires and vicars and sooty London lanes and rattling old cars along idyllic country lanes. Yes, all that stuff (minus maybe the empire) still exists, but I never seem to come across books about those things. This is a whole book about those things. I can’t tell whether I’m sort of charmed by this sort of British world or unnerved by it. It can get to be a bit much to have story after story there. They start to blend together, the magic, the ghosts, the Idea of What England Once Was.

Magic in this world is present, never odd, never questioned. Like a world just slightly out of sync with ours. Sure there’s an alien picking flowers that shouldn’t be picked. Why not have a ghost dog? Or two. A tree hiding in a room in a mansion, all righty then. Again with the whimsy. In small doses, it’s fine. But a whole lot — it’s like I’ve eaten a full tin of Quality Street. I like each candy right enough, but afterwards my stomach feels sick.

Small doses only. Maybe don’t read all the stories in one day, like I did.

The People in the Castle by Joan Aiken goes on sale April 26, 2016.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.