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Summer in Orcus
When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains… From the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of "Digger" and "Jackalope Wives" comes a story of adventure, betrayal, and heart's desire. T. Kingfisher, who writes for children as Ursula Vernon, weaves together a story of darkness, whimsy, hope and growing things, for all the adults still looking for a door to someplace else. “It’s Wes Craven meets L. Frank Baum, or Narnia for those of us who thought Narnia smiled without showing enough of its teeth.” ~KB Spangler, [i]Digital Divide[/i]
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 2017
298 people are currently reading
5862 people want to read
About the author
T. Kingfisher
58 books24.8k followersT. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name of Ursula Vernon. In another life, she writes children's books and weird comics, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections.
This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups.
When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies.
This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups.
When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 401 reviews
June 27, 2018
All the stars!! One reviewer described this award-nominated novel as "Narnia with teeth," and that's a great summary. I had so much fun reading this portal fantasy! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Summer is a young girl whose overly protective, clingy mother tries to protect her from every possible danger, although Summer is allowed to read books about magic and shapechanging and such. (“Summer’s mother believed that books were safe things that kept you inside, which only shows how little she knew about it, because books are one of the least safe things in the world.”) But Summer’s mother is no match for Baba Yaga! One spring day Summer is found by Baba Yaga ― actually, she’s found by Baba Yaga’s chicken-footed house, which manages to convinces Baba Yaga that Summer is the girl they want for some unstated purpose.
When Baba Yaga offers Summer her heart’s desire, Summer really isn’t sure what to answer, though shapeshifting or being able to talk to animals do come to her mind. Instead, though, Baba Yaga looks deep into Summer’s heart and mind, then hands over a talking weasel to Summer and shoos her out of the house. And suddenly Summer finds herself in a strange, magical world, not at all certain where she’s going or what she’s supposed to do there.
Initially she’s in a long hallway with purple stained glass windows featuring a mischievous-looking saint, whose book proffers some cryptic advice like “Don’t worry about things you cannot fix” and “Antelope women are not to be trusted.” A door then leads Summer to a forest in the magical land of Orcus, where she meets a trio of shapeshifting women and is charmed by dryad-inhabited trees whose leaves turn into mice or frogs as they drop to the ground. But: “There is a cancer at the heart of the world” the woman in the bear skin tells Summer, and Summer can see that the Frog Tree is dying. Entrusted with a tadpole acorn by the tree’s dryad, Summer takes on a quest to save the Frog Tree, and perhaps more. She finds help from several inhabitants of Orcus, particularly a shapeshifting wolf (at night he turns into, not a human, but a pleasant cottage) and a hoopoe bird with Regency manners and a helpful flock of small valet-birds in bowler hats.
But she also finds that she’s being pursued by the fearsome Zultan Houndbreaker and his aptly named servant Grub, who hunt her in the name of the Queen-in-Chains.
I am completely in love with Summer in Orcus, a charming portal fantasy by T. Kingfisher (a pen-name of Ursula Vernon). Summer in Orcus manages to be absolutely delightful, with vividly imagined details and a delicious sense of humor, while at the same time subverting several stock fantasy tropes. It references Narnia with clear affection, while remaining clear-eyed about the dangers and difficulties of being a child who’s actually in a fantasy portal world.
Summer in Orcus has been nominated for the 2018 World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) award for best Young Adult book. Kingfisher originally posted this novel online in weekly installments, which you can read online here on her website. It’s also available in print and as a very reasonably priced ebook, which have appealing pencil illustrations by Lauren Henderson (I especially loved the tadpole acorn) that help to bring the story to life.
Initial post: Amazing story!! I LOVED this charming portal fantasy, which manages to be completely delightful and subvert several tropes at the same time. Highly recommended! It’s by T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Verson, the author of the wonderful award-winning stories Jackalope Wives and The Tomato Thief, which are both free online and which you should read IMMEDIATELY if you haven’t already done so.
Many thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy of this book for review!
Summer is a young girl whose overly protective, clingy mother tries to protect her from every possible danger, although Summer is allowed to read books about magic and shapechanging and such. (“Summer’s mother believed that books were safe things that kept you inside, which only shows how little she knew about it, because books are one of the least safe things in the world.”) But Summer’s mother is no match for Baba Yaga! One spring day Summer is found by Baba Yaga ― actually, she’s found by Baba Yaga’s chicken-footed house, which manages to convinces Baba Yaga that Summer is the girl they want for some unstated purpose.
When Baba Yaga offers Summer her heart’s desire, Summer really isn’t sure what to answer, though shapeshifting or being able to talk to animals do come to her mind. Instead, though, Baba Yaga looks deep into Summer’s heart and mind, then hands over a talking weasel to Summer and shoos her out of the house. And suddenly Summer finds herself in a strange, magical world, not at all certain where she’s going or what she’s supposed to do there.
Initially she’s in a long hallway with purple stained glass windows featuring a mischievous-looking saint, whose book proffers some cryptic advice like “Don’t worry about things you cannot fix” and “Antelope women are not to be trusted.” A door then leads Summer to a forest in the magical land of Orcus, where she meets a trio of shapeshifting women and is charmed by dryad-inhabited trees whose leaves turn into mice or frogs as they drop to the ground. But: “There is a cancer at the heart of the world” the woman in the bear skin tells Summer, and Summer can see that the Frog Tree is dying. Entrusted with a tadpole acorn by the tree’s dryad, Summer takes on a quest to save the Frog Tree, and perhaps more. She finds help from several inhabitants of Orcus, particularly a shapeshifting wolf (at night he turns into, not a human, but a pleasant cottage) and a hoopoe bird with Regency manners and a helpful flock of small valet-birds in bowler hats.
But she also finds that she’s being pursued by the fearsome Zultan Houndbreaker and his aptly named servant Grub, who hunt her in the name of the Queen-in-Chains.
I am completely in love with Summer in Orcus, a charming portal fantasy by T. Kingfisher (a pen-name of Ursula Vernon). Summer in Orcus manages to be absolutely delightful, with vividly imagined details and a delicious sense of humor, while at the same time subverting several stock fantasy tropes. It references Narnia with clear affection, while remaining clear-eyed about the dangers and difficulties of being a child who’s actually in a fantasy portal world.
She thought, down in her very private heart of hearts, that she wanted to go home.Summer in Orcus will be enjoyable for both younger and older readers. It’s written on a middle grade/young adult level, but its sly humor and frequent references to classic fantasy novels and fairy tales will keep adult readers engaged. While the life lessons learned aren’t particularly subtle, they have elegance and mesh well with the plot of the book. Very highly recommended!
She felt immediately guilty for thinking it. In books, nobody who found themselves in a fantasy world ever wanted to go home. (Well, nobody but Eustace Clarence Stubb in Narnia, and you weren’t supposed to agree with him.)
She was definitely not feeling grateful enough for being on a superb magical adventure. She told herself this sternly several times and then wanted to cry, because it doesn’t help to yell at people who are cold and wet, even when the person yelling at you is you.
Summer in Orcus has been nominated for the 2018 World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) award for best Young Adult book. Kingfisher originally posted this novel online in weekly installments, which you can read online here on her website. It’s also available in print and as a very reasonably priced ebook, which have appealing pencil illustrations by Lauren Henderson (I especially loved the tadpole acorn) that help to bring the story to life.
Initial post: Amazing story!! I LOVED this charming portal fantasy, which manages to be completely delightful and subvert several tropes at the same time. Highly recommended! It’s by T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Verson, the author of the wonderful award-winning stories Jackalope Wives and The Tomato Thief, which are both free online and which you should read IMMEDIATELY if you haven’t already done so.
Many thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy of this book for review!
April 1, 2018
Continuing my T. Kingfisher binge-read this week. Both a portal fantasy and a commentary on same. Summer, an eleven-year-old girl, escapes her overprotective and somewhat mentally ill mother through the ambiguous help of Baba Yaga, to a peculiar quest in a fantasy world that allows her to both discover and learn her strengths. (I just typo'd that, "earn her strengths". That, too.)
Somewhere, I made the observation that the ur-theme of books for the young, or at least for adolescents, is empowerment, but the ur-theme for grownups is redemption. This book manages to be a curious compound of both, which I am going to have to think about for a bit.
Also, if you didn't get enough Freddy in Georgette Heyer's Cotillion (and one can never have enough Freddy), Reginald the helpful hoopoe is the perfect Freddy. (Or the other way around, of course.) Also, dictionary.com will tell you how to pronounce "hoopoe".
Ta, L.
April 16, 2024
Fantastic
Oh my goodness. This was freaking fantastic. What a great young adult fantasy novel. I could read this again and again and again.
T. Kingfisher's "Summer in Orcus" follows a young girl named Summer who somehow is transported to a different world/land called Orcus.
Summer who has a mother who is scared of everything and is constantly worried over her will not allow her to do anything. Summer feels lonely and at times finds herself frustrated with her mother. When Summer sees a house moving about the neighborhood (go with it) she comes across Baba Yaga who agrees to grant her, her heart's desire. From there we are plunged into Orcus with Summer as she comes across three sisters who are not as they appear, a wolf, talking birds, and a talking weasel.
I adored Summer, Glorious, Reginald, and just about everyone in this story. Even the bad guys. Well, not Summer's mother. She was a lot. And exhausting. And yep, I would have been pro weird fairy tale land where I may be eaten over her and the stress of dealing with her day in and day out.
I loved the entire fantasy set-up of Orcus. It feels like our world, but is most definitely not (the talking birds wearing clothes and wigs is a big clue.
The flow of the story moves very well too.
The ending was great and I hope we get a sequel one day.
Oh my goodness. This was freaking fantastic. What a great young adult fantasy novel. I could read this again and again and again.
T. Kingfisher's "Summer in Orcus" follows a young girl named Summer who somehow is transported to a different world/land called Orcus.
Summer who has a mother who is scared of everything and is constantly worried over her will not allow her to do anything. Summer feels lonely and at times finds herself frustrated with her mother. When Summer sees a house moving about the neighborhood (go with it) she comes across Baba Yaga who agrees to grant her, her heart's desire. From there we are plunged into Orcus with Summer as she comes across three sisters who are not as they appear, a wolf, talking birds, and a talking weasel.
I adored Summer, Glorious, Reginald, and just about everyone in this story. Even the bad guys. Well, not Summer's mother. She was a lot. And exhausting. And yep, I would have been pro weird fairy tale land where I may be eaten over her and the stress of dealing with her day in and day out.
I loved the entire fantasy set-up of Orcus. It feels like our world, but is most definitely not (the talking birds wearing clothes and wigs is a big clue.
The flow of the story moves very well too.
The ending was great and I hope we get a sequel one day.
January 23, 2021
4.5 stars. T. Kingfisher has a knack for seeing right to the heart of things, whatever genre and subject she is writing in. Reading her books feels like brushing up against a knowledgeable, compassionate, and intensely curious mind that knows about insect metamorphosis as well as riparian plants, sourdough as well as the philosophical mindset of dogs, codependency as well as fairy tales. I've liked many of her books, but Summer in Orcus is the first one I've loved.
On the face of it, it's a middle grade portal fantasy. 11-year-old Summer, the only child of a clingy and overprotective single mother, is granted her heart's desire by Baba Yaga. But what is it? Baba Yaga's not telling. She's given a weasel (not enchanted, but he made the mistake of trying to eat the egg the chicken-legged house laid) and finds herself in a long hallway that leads out into a different world. There are rules, of course: 1) Don't worry about things that you cannot fix; 2) Antelope women are not to be trusted; 3) You cannot change essential nature with magic.
Orcus is a magical world, but it's also dying:
As expected, there are companions and a quest and seemingly useless objects that become useful. The details are quirky: Summer's companions come to include a hoopoe bird who acts like a Regency fop named Reginald and a werewolf called Glorious who turns into a cottage at night, making him a target of house-hunters. Summer's only weapon is a giant cheese knife given to her by the incognito Waymaster who has rebranded himself as the Wheymaster. Kingfisher writes good monsters, too, and her spider-horse hybrids are deliciously icky, and (mild spoiler) they are not even the thing that made me grimace in horrified pleasure.
But what sets Summer in Orcus apart from similar portal fantasies are its awareness of the tropes - sometimes bureaucracy and not bravery is what saves the day - and its refusal to take the easy way out. Summer comes across as a genuine 11-year-old, partly longing for freedom and adventure, and partly wishing some adult would make a real plan and tell her what to do. Kingfisher touches lightly but deftly on some serious issues, including Summer's borderline unhealthy relationship with her mother that has shaped a lot of her young life. Other characters are fascinatingly morally ambiguous. The antelope women are indeed not to be trusted, but they tell good stories: "Well, mythology is a truth that isn't true, and that's as delightfully twisty as a lie in its own way."
Things end satisfactorily but not tidily; I finished with a sigh of things-feel-just-right. Less preachy than Seanan McGuire, with less flash and more heart than Catherynne Valente, and altogether toothier than Narnia, Summer in Orcus is as snappy and crisp as a fresh autumn apple, even to my jaded palate.
Also, the biology in-jokes are nerdily awesome. I'll leave you with this one:
On the face of it, it's a middle grade portal fantasy. 11-year-old Summer, the only child of a clingy and overprotective single mother, is granted her heart's desire by Baba Yaga. But what is it? Baba Yaga's not telling. She's given a weasel (not enchanted, but he made the mistake of trying to eat the egg the chicken-legged house laid) and finds herself in a long hallway that leads out into a different world. There are rules, of course: 1) Don't worry about things that you cannot fix; 2) Antelope women are not to be trusted; 3) You cannot change essential nature with magic.
Orcus is a magical world, but it's also dying:
The tree rustled its branches, harder, and more leaves showered down. She heard the trunk groan, the way trees groan and mutter in a storm.
These leaves hopped. Some of them had changed, but there was something wrong with the frogs. They had no legs or too many legs or they plowed forward on their bellies. In a very few seconds they were all leaves again, and Summer was glad, because there was something horrible and piteous about the frogs. They had looked as if they were dying.
The white tree thrashed. Its limbs swayed in a gale that only it could feel. Behind them, the other two white trees moaned and swayed in sympathy.
Every leaf on the tree fell down, leaving the branches as bare as winter.
Many people have heard of a rain of frogs, but very few - far fewer than say they have - have ever seen one. Summer became one of those few. For a moment the air was full of tiny green frogs, transforming before they even hit the ground, all of them croaking like fingernails dragged over a comb.
As expected, there are companions and a quest and seemingly useless objects that become useful. The details are quirky: Summer's companions come to include a hoopoe bird who acts like a Regency fop named Reginald and a werewolf called Glorious who turns into a cottage at night, making him a target of house-hunters. Summer's only weapon is a giant cheese knife given to her by the incognito Waymaster who has rebranded himself as the Wheymaster. Kingfisher writes good monsters, too, and her spider-horse hybrids are deliciously icky, and (mild spoiler) they are not even the thing that made me grimace in horrified pleasure.
But what sets Summer in Orcus apart from similar portal fantasies are its awareness of the tropes - sometimes bureaucracy and not bravery is what saves the day - and its refusal to take the easy way out. Summer comes across as a genuine 11-year-old, partly longing for freedom and adventure, and partly wishing some adult would make a real plan and tell her what to do. Kingfisher touches lightly but deftly on some serious issues, including Summer's borderline unhealthy relationship with her mother that has shaped a lot of her young life. Other characters are fascinatingly morally ambiguous. The antelope women are indeed not to be trusted, but they tell good stories: "Well, mythology is a truth that isn't true, and that's as delightfully twisty as a lie in its own way."
Things end satisfactorily but not tidily; I finished with a sigh of things-feel-just-right. Less preachy than Seanan McGuire, with less flash and more heart than Catherynne Valente, and altogether toothier than Narnia, Summer in Orcus is as snappy and crisp as a fresh autumn apple, even to my jaded palate.
Also, the biology in-jokes are nerdily awesome. I'll leave you with this one:
"Killdeer," said Reginald, spiraling down for a landing. "They can talk, after a fashion, but it's not worth listening to. All they ever say is, "Help, help, my wing is broken, don't eat me.'"
"Are their wings broken?" asked Summer.
"Not a bit of it. They just do it to get people away from their nests. You tell them a hundred times that you're not the slightest bit interested in their nests, that there's nothing more tedious than having to look after other people's children, but they never listen."
February 26, 2017
“It would be a good day for the world if I could not find a child who knew terrible adult things. But I will be a great deal older before that day comes, I think.”Not quite a beginning quote but it may be why so many rightly say this is a middle-school portal fantasy for adults, though it is equally an adult portal fantasy for those middle-schoolers comfortable in classic adult fantasy (I know you're out there, lurking on GR: I was once you).
T.Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) is a rare author. She conceives utterly strange and sometimes wondrous and heartfully true things then conveys them in commonsense prose. That is no small feat: she writes very close-to-the-bone indeed and says more in occasional sparsity than does many a more florid writer.
One gets the sense of listening to a friend telling a very good tale around a fading campfire.
Summer is the protagonist of the tale who ends up in the land of Orcus, the land of word games made real and people of all types, mostly not human types. Whether laughably loony word games or deadly serious, everyday adult-type word games of potential treachery and destruction, there is much to delight the word-lover in this little book and even more to delight the lover of 'hanging-in-there,' and of 'doing the right thing even when the outcome isn't quite exactly what you thought it would be because dammit it's the Right Thing.'
"It is difficult to walk across an enchanted desert and then be thrust into someone else’s sense of humor.":)
Edited to add: you can read this for free on her website at:
Summer In Orcus
or buy for a modest sum on Kindle.
September 9, 2018
When Summer stumbles upon Baba Yaga's Chicken feet house and asks for her heart's desire, Baba Yaga says she must find it for herself. What Summer doesn't know is that she'll be going on an adventure she'll never forget. Will she be able to find her heart's desire and go home? Read on and find out for yourself.
This was a pretty good fantasy story that I read for free at this website: http://www.redwombatstudio.com/portfo... . If you enjoy stories like this, definitely check it out for yourself and I hope you enjoy it as it was action-packed and very whimsical.
This was a pretty good fantasy story that I read for free at this website: http://www.redwombatstudio.com/portfo... . If you enjoy stories like this, definitely check it out for yourself and I hope you enjoy it as it was action-packed and very whimsical.
September 22, 2016
This is for everyone who hasn't forgiven Aslan, or Glinda, but understands now what was really happening.
December 8, 2019
Were-house! Bwahah!
But don't let the humor lull you -- this isn't a fluffy book. Like Glorious, it has teeth.
Also rotting slime and bugs that grow inside people and other nasty stuff.
Read it anyway!
I don't know how other writers do it, but I'm constantly coming up with weird little tidbits that don't fit in what I'm currently working on. Images, vignettes, chunks of mini-story... Sometimes all I have is a single phrase...
These ideas pile up.
Thank you! It's relief to know other people do this.
But don't let the humor lull you -- this isn't a fluffy book. Like Glorious, it has teeth.
Also rotting slime and bugs that grow inside people and other nasty stuff.
Read it anyway!
I don't know how other writers do it, but I'm constantly coming up with weird little tidbits that don't fit in what I'm currently working on. Images, vignettes, chunks of mini-story... Sometimes all I have is a single phrase...
These ideas pile up.
Thank you! It's relief to know other people do this.
June 12, 2018
This book is the reason I was late to work one day. I couldn’t stop reading. While brushing my teeth, while combing my hair, when I should have been getting into my work clothes, when I should have been driving to work, I was sitting on the couch, reading this.
Do NOT start this if you don’t have the time to devote to it. You will find that work and bathing aren’t that important at all.
I love this author, her ability to write is a woven spell around the reader. 5, I am now buying everything she has written EVER, stars.
Do NOT start this if you don’t have the time to devote to it. You will find that work and bathing aren’t that important at all.
I love this author, her ability to write is a woven spell around the reader. 5, I am now buying everything she has written EVER, stars.
June 6, 2023
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
I'm working my way through T. Kingfishers entire catalog and picked up Sumer in Orcas when it was a kindle deal. I've enjoyed every story by her that I have read so far and Summer In Orcas is continuing that trend. A portal fantasy in the same vein as Narnia but with a little extra humor added in, Summer is sent to Orcas after Baba Yaga's house finds her trapped in her own back yard for an adventure to save a world (or at least one thing in it) and find her hearts desire.
Summer is trapped, well she didn't necessarily realize she was trapped, but she isn't allow to go anywhere besides school because the world is dangerous and it seems going to the park or a sleep over or riding a bike all hold the same danger to her mother as playing with fire and they are not the same danger. So Summer isn't allowed to do any of those things. One day, Summer was playing in her locked back yard when a house walking on chicken legs, Baba Yaga's house, happened by to change her life forever. Baba Yaga was feeling generous that day and decided not to eat Summer and instead sent her on a journey.
In the world of Orcus, Summer finds wonderous things. Trees that drop leaves that change into lizards, frogs and mice. A Wolf who transforms into a house. A dragon's soul trapped in the body of a woman and oh so much more. There is something wrong in the land of Orcus and if Summer is going to find a way to save a tree, which seems like a much more doable thing than saving a world, she might just be able to save the world for a time at least.
Talking animals and strange places will lead Summer on a grand adventure to figure out what her heart's desire really is. She will face bad people and learn hard lessons but she will have an adventure that will change her forever. Summer is so likeable in that I can relate to her. She is both excited and scared to be on this adventure but is putting one foot in front of another to go down the path she has been led to in hopes she can come through for a magical tree. She has thoughts of going home, as most heroes do on their journeys to become heroes, but still she is carrying on because not everyone is given the opportunity for a magical adventure.
I enjoyed so much of this book. I grew up on Narnia and I like that Summer of Orcus shares that same vibe by also adds T. Kingfisher's humorous flare to it. The conclusion to the story I found quite satisfying and I really did like how Baba Yaga was woven into the adventure. This is a great read for middlegrade and YA while also being fun for regular adults too. Another win in the T. Kingfisher column for me.
I'm working my way through T. Kingfishers entire catalog and picked up Sumer in Orcas when it was a kindle deal. I've enjoyed every story by her that I have read so far and Summer In Orcas is continuing that trend. A portal fantasy in the same vein as Narnia but with a little extra humor added in, Summer is sent to Orcas after Baba Yaga's house finds her trapped in her own back yard for an adventure to save a world (or at least one thing in it) and find her hearts desire.
“Saving a single wondrous thing is better than saving the world. For one thing, it’s more achievable. The world is never content to stay saved.”
Summer is trapped, well she didn't necessarily realize she was trapped, but she isn't allow to go anywhere besides school because the world is dangerous and it seems going to the park or a sleep over or riding a bike all hold the same danger to her mother as playing with fire and they are not the same danger. So Summer isn't allowed to do any of those things. One day, Summer was playing in her locked back yard when a house walking on chicken legs, Baba Yaga's house, happened by to change her life forever. Baba Yaga was feeling generous that day and decided not to eat Summer and instead sent her on a journey.
In the world of Orcus, Summer finds wonderous things. Trees that drop leaves that change into lizards, frogs and mice. A Wolf who transforms into a house. A dragon's soul trapped in the body of a woman and oh so much more. There is something wrong in the land of Orcus and if Summer is going to find a way to save a tree, which seems like a much more doable thing than saving a world, she might just be able to save the world for a time at least.
Talking animals and strange places will lead Summer on a grand adventure to figure out what her heart's desire really is. She will face bad people and learn hard lessons but she will have an adventure that will change her forever. Summer is so likeable in that I can relate to her. She is both excited and scared to be on this adventure but is putting one foot in front of another to go down the path she has been led to in hopes she can come through for a magical tree. She has thoughts of going home, as most heroes do on their journeys to become heroes, but still she is carrying on because not everyone is given the opportunity for a magical adventure.
She felt immediately guilty for thinking it. In books, nobody who found themselves in a fantasy world ever wanted to go home. (Well, nobody but Eustace Clarence Stubb in Narnia, and you weren’t supposed to agree with him.)
She was definitely not feeling grateful enough for being on a superb magical adventure. She told herself this sternly several times and then wanted to cry, because it doesn’t help to yell at people who are cold and wet, even when the person yelling at you is you.
I enjoyed so much of this book. I grew up on Narnia and I like that Summer of Orcus shares that same vibe by also adds T. Kingfisher's humorous flare to it. The conclusion to the story I found quite satisfying and I really did like how Baba Yaga was woven into the adventure. This is a great read for middlegrade and YA while also being fun for regular adults too. Another win in the T. Kingfisher column for me.
“Summer had read a great many books about magic and animals and changing your shape. Summer’s mother believed that books were safe things that kept you inside, which only shows how little she knew about it, because books are one of the least safe things in the world.”
August 19, 2024
Entertaining, but definitely YA, perhaps even pre-teen level (MC is not quite 12). It took me two tries to finish this one, and it's not my favorite of hers. OTOH, Kingfisher/Vernon is a great storyteller, and she can make even unpromising material work. The birds! The dragons! The weasel! Baba Yaga is just great. So you should read this if you’ve missed it. For me, this was a 3.5 star read, rounded up. Good stuff. I'm glad I came back to it.
July 18, 2017
So far my least favourite T. Kingfisher book. The reason why this book didn't work for me is just a big personal preference thing, so keep that in mind.
Summer in Orcus is a portal fantasy book that reads a lot younger than T. Kingfisher's other books. During the first half I was wondering why she didn't publish this as Ursula Vernon, T. Kingfisher being the name she uses for adult fiction. With time I did realize that the 11-year-old protagonist would probably have been more hopeful and action-ready in a children's book, whereas here she often feels tired, hopeless, cold, and scared.
My main beef with the book is that this fantasy world is, to put it in Seanan McGuire's Every Heart A Doorway terms, a High Nonsense world. And I don't get along that well with those (see Alice in Wonderland). There is a hodgepodge of random stuff like werehouses, frog trees, Regency birds, etc etc. So, let's say it's whimsical. Vernon herself says in the afterword that Orcus is a story where she could put all those random tidbits and ideas that had come to her mind but hadn't fit into any of her other stories. So the protagonist and her party spend their time going to a new place, experiencing a random quirky thing/place/character, and moving onwards to the next thing. That has never been my cup of tea, even if there is a bigger plot on the background.
This was first published as a web serial on Vernon's website, and I found that even with the ebook, I felt better reading it in parts, one or two chapters at a time. One new place/quirky occurence at a time.
It had Baba Yaga, though.
Summer in Orcus is a portal fantasy book that reads a lot younger than T. Kingfisher's other books. During the first half I was wondering why she didn't publish this as Ursula Vernon, T. Kingfisher being the name she uses for adult fiction. With time I did realize that the 11-year-old protagonist would probably have been more hopeful and action-ready in a children's book, whereas here she often feels tired, hopeless, cold, and scared.
My main beef with the book is that this fantasy world is, to put it in Seanan McGuire's Every Heart A Doorway terms, a High Nonsense world. And I don't get along that well with those (see Alice in Wonderland). There is a hodgepodge of random stuff like werehouses, frog trees, Regency birds, etc etc. So, let's say it's whimsical. Vernon herself says in the afterword that Orcus is a story where she could put all those random tidbits and ideas that had come to her mind but hadn't fit into any of her other stories. So the protagonist and her party spend their time going to a new place, experiencing a random quirky thing/place/character, and moving onwards to the next thing. That has never been my cup of tea, even if there is a bigger plot on the background.
This was first published as a web serial on Vernon's website, and I found that even with the ebook, I felt better reading it in parts, one or two chapters at a time. One new place/quirky occurence at a time.
It had Baba Yaga, though.
April 20, 2018
3.5 stars. I enjoyed the ending the most - it's a portal fantasy, but upends some of the cliches. I do feel like this was a bit choppier in its elements than other Kingfisher/Vernon stories I've read, but still enjoyable.
January 28, 2025
Once upon a time there was a girl named Summer whose mother loved her very, very much. So much so that her overprotectiveness feels like a burden. One day in spring, when she was playing in the back garden, a house with chicken legs walked into the alley. Baba Yaga offered Summer her heart’s desire and suddenly she finds herself in another world: Orcus.
This had T Kingfisher’s usual whimsy filled with clever adages.
Here, there are talking weasels, were-houses: wolfs that turn into houses, dancing birds, and feet-birds instead of wing-men.
Summer does not consider herself a hero. She has been sequestered her entire life, more familiar with fairytales and book worlds like Narnia than the outside due to her mother’s paranoia.
This says a lot about a parent’s well-meaning, yet stifling hold. How children look up to grown-ups to know everything. How wanting adventure doesn’t mean you are automatically brave and don’t sometimes want to cry.
Summer’s mother believed that books were safe things that kept you inside, which only shows how little she knew about it, because books are one of the least safe things in the world.
I will recommend T Kingfisher to everyone. She is so diverse and always manages to pack so much in whatever the page count, genre, or age rating.
Bookstagram
This had T Kingfisher’s usual whimsy filled with clever adages.
Here, there are talking weasels, were-houses: wolfs that turn into houses, dancing birds, and feet-birds instead of wing-men.
Summer does not consider herself a hero. She has been sequestered her entire life, more familiar with fairytales and book worlds like Narnia than the outside due to her mother’s paranoia.
This says a lot about a parent’s well-meaning, yet stifling hold. How children look up to grown-ups to know everything. How wanting adventure doesn’t mean you are automatically brave and don’t sometimes want to cry.
Summer’s mother believed that books were safe things that kept you inside, which only shows how little she knew about it, because books are one of the least safe things in the world.
I will recommend T Kingfisher to everyone. She is so diverse and always manages to pack so much in whatever the page count, genre, or age rating.
Bookstagram
April 22, 2025
Absolute magic, the type of feeling I had at 8 years old reading Narnia or The Faraway Tree, it made me wish my children were still young enough to read to so I could fill them to the brim with this world.
Kingfisher seems to be able to write every genre and for all ages, and she's got the gift, i love everything she puts out. This is definitely one aimed at children, but I think judging by the reviews, us oldies adore it too.
Kingfisher seems to be able to write every genre and for all ages, and she's got the gift, i love everything she puts out. This is definitely one aimed at children, but I think judging by the reviews, us oldies adore it too.
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August 30, 2017In which I continue my T Kingfisher binge. What a lovely story. Classic portal fantasy where a child goes to another world, with a number of the kind of twists in perspective at which Kingfisher excels, including the skills by which Summer saves the day. Absurd and fantastical and wildly imaginative. Author apparently wrote this as a prophylactic against the real-world awfulness of 2016, and it pretty much works.
August 8, 2018
I am not sure how I came to read Castle Hangnail a year or two ago, but I do know that I've been recommending it to everyone I know with children, and quite a few adults, ever since. It was just so thoroughly delightful, with wonderful turns of phrase and good-hearted messages at the core of the story of a young girl taking over an evil castle and installing herself as the new evil sorceress in town.
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
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February 26, 2025I'm going to set this one aside at 30%. It's cute but I guess I'm just not in the mood for a little walking road trip with talking animals. I typically love Kingfisher's writing but this one has me stalled. It's me, it's not the book.
May 29, 2018
I hardly know how to explain why I adored this book so much. I enjoyed it right from the start, but by the end it had carved itself a permanent place in my heart. For starters, I love portal fantasies that really engage with the personal consequences of visiting a different world, and Summer in Orcus does that beautifully, exploring Summer’s changing self-perception and asking what will be different for her once she returns home. I love that Summer’s genre-savviness – born of a life where reading is her only escape from her mother’s extreme overprotectiveness – informs the way she deals with the situations she encounters, and I love that her strength and power comes from unexpected places. I loved the richness, strangeness and detail of Orcus and the characters Summer encountered there. I loved the emphasis on the importance of small quests – fixing something, even if you can’t fix everything. Plus it was funny and smart and heartwarming and sad and beautiful. Highly recommended.
April 18, 2024
2024 reread: Finally have a paper copy of this to read. Still as delightful and deep as I remember, though of course there are a lot of details I'd forgotten. It's a short book, so it should have been a quick read, but Life intervened and I ended up taking almost a week to finish. It also has a kind of meandering plot, so it doesn't actually blitz along as fast as you'd think for a book this short. I'm now removing my previous "middle reader" tag, because I don't think it's a middle reader book at all, even with the age of the protagonist. It's an adult book ABOUT a child, but that doesn't make it a children's book.
2022 review:
Like Narnia, but better and without the religious undertones.
This reminded me a lot of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and I would highly recommend it for fans of that book, and vice versa.
There were so many wonderful delightful tidbits in this book that it's hard to choose my favorite part. I definitely appreciated that the author knows that platypuses don't have nipples, but rather their milk just seeps out of their skin....so if the cheesemaker at the Whey Station wanted platypus milk to make cheese from, he'd have to wring the platypus like a towel. This is a real life fun/weird animal fact getting squidged into a whimsical story. I love it. Also, a were-house? Come on...
Took me a long time to read this book since (at the time) only the ebook version was available affordably, so I was reading it in bits and pieces on my phone. I think on paper this would be a fairly quick read, though the plot is pleasantly meandering. I've labeled it as "middle reader" since the main character is twelve, but it's definitely one of those that is really better for adults who grew up with Narnia and wish they had something similar to read now.
2022 review:
Like Narnia, but better and without the religious undertones.
This reminded me a lot of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and I would highly recommend it for fans of that book, and vice versa.
There were so many wonderful delightful tidbits in this book that it's hard to choose my favorite part. I definitely appreciated that the author knows that platypuses don't have nipples, but rather their milk just seeps out of their skin....so if the cheesemaker at the Whey Station wanted platypus milk to make cheese from, he'd have to wring the platypus like a towel. This is a real life fun/weird animal fact getting squidged into a whimsical story. I love it. Also, a were-house? Come on...
Took me a long time to read this book since (at the time) only the ebook version was available affordably, so I was reading it in bits and pieces on my phone. I think on paper this would be a fairly quick read, though the plot is pleasantly meandering. I've labeled it as "middle reader" since the main character is twelve, but it's definitely one of those that is really better for adults who grew up with Narnia and wish they had something similar to read now.
June 5, 2018
I was a little disappointed in this one. I was expecting an adult-oriented book, which is what this one seemed to be marketed as and was more in line with how I understood Ms. Kingfisher uses her pen names. And I can kind of see where the author is coming from, in terms of subjects that aren't appealing to the typical middle grader. However, in terms of depth and writing style and such, it's still very much a middle grade novel despite the scattering of adult viewpoints.
And while she does ignore many of the common portal fantasy tropes, it never really felt anything other than rather generic.
And while she does ignore many of the common portal fantasy tropes, it never really felt anything other than rather generic.
March 10, 2023
This is a charming (but not saccharine), adventure-quest, portal fantasy meant for younger teenagers. But it's fun to read if you are a grown up too. Eleven-year old Summer has a run in with Baba-Yaga who promises to give Summer her heart's desire... and gets sent through a portal to the land of Orcus - where something is quietly rotting in the shadows. Summer doesn't know what her heart's desire is, but she wants to help a dying tree. The world on the other side of the portal has a fascinating cast of characters and world building - everything from were-wolves that turn into cottages (and becomes the target of house-hunters), antelope women (who are not to be trusted), a brightly coloured hoopoe in a waistcoat (a fop), a city in a giant cactus, trees whose leaves turn to frogs, and terrifying horse-spiders (too many eyes, and too many legs!), and a friendly weasel. I love T. Kingfisher's imagination and her different perspective when looking at ordinary things. A fun little story.
June 25, 2023
One day Baba Yaga grants 12 year old Summer her hearts desire. Summer loves fantasy books and is understandably both thrilled and very worried to be sent into a magical land with a quest and no over-protective mother. Orcus is a very cool land, an odd mixture of charming (Reginald the foppish bird who's waited upon by a valet flock), corny (a wolf who's cursed to turn into a cottage at night, making him sort of a were-house ), and the deeply weird and disturbing. The start was a little slow for me, but Summer picks up tactics and allies in a natural way and by the end I was really enjoying her little band of adventurers.
November 12, 2022
Ich wollte weiterhin eskapistischen Eskapismus (obwohl ich sagen muss, dass die letzte Woche auch in der Realität ganz erholsam war mit dem Erfolg von Mastodon und den gar nicht so furchtbaren US-Wahlen), und ich habe ihn bekommen. Das Buch ist 2016 in den USA genau für solche Zwecke geschrieben worden, wie ich dem Nachwort entnehme. Es hat angenehm vielschichtige Figuren, es ist lustig, es enthält nicht zu viele ausschweifende Beschreibungen von alternativen Gesellschaftsformen in Baumhäusern, die Protagonistin ist sympathisch und sogar das Ende war gut und kein bisschen enttäuschend.
July 9, 2018
it probably, maybe wasn't perfect. but i loved every moment of reading the story, loved the people in it and most definitely loved summer and how she worked and thought and was ordinary in an extra ordinary way. would highly recommend to all my friends.
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August 14, 2024Ne sećam se kad mi je poslednji put neka knjiga (za decu ili ne) ovako fino legla.
September 15, 2019
I’m coming to the conclusion that when at all possible I should read episodically-written stories in the fashion intended rather than consuming them as if a continuous novel. I loved this portal fantasy of an over-protected girl granted her heart’s desire: to go on adventures. And what adventures! A quest with a mystery and an over-arching peril that turns out to be very different from what all the story tropes set you up to believe. But the reading felt a bit jerky, as each chapter resolves to a stopping point, sometimes in an artificial-feeling way. That’s my only complaint, though. The world building is superb and the supporting characters are well-realized in quirky and inimitably Kingfisher fashion. Like much of Kingfisher’s fiction, the setting conjures a complete mythos that borrows from existing mythology but has an integrated reality of its own. I’d call the book “YA-friendly” in the sense that the protagonist is young, it has coming-of-age themes, and the perils and experiences are ones that will feel both real and manageable for teenage readers, but it probably won’t feel “too young” for adult readers.
August 25, 2025
Ursula Vernon didn't know she was writing this book for me specifically, but things work out like that sometimes. Her writing often makes its way into my heart, but this one, combined with A Sorceress Comes to Call, which came out a week ago and I read in one day (I'm a lot faster when I listen to an audiobook), cracked me open in a way that only In an Absent Dream had done before.
Vernon shares her philosophy with Miyazaki when it comes down to how children behave, what they believe about themselves and others, about morality never being black-and-white, and about fear as a great motivator for both harm and good. This book ticked every box for me. I will be re-reading it yearly.
Vernon shares her philosophy with Miyazaki when it comes down to how children behave, what they believe about themselves and others, about morality never being black-and-white, and about fear as a great motivator for both harm and good. This book ticked every box for me. I will be re-reading it yearly.
May 23, 2025
Yes, I suspect most of us of a writerly bend have a scrapbook of odds-and-ends ideas, half-formed concepts, beautiful sentence fragments, and half-baked characters, but I also suspect that few of us ever take a bagful of those scraps and mush them into a beautiful, coherent, gripping story. Out of such a bag Kingfisher has managed to wrangle both an interesting commentary on portal fantasy, but also insightful commentary on wondrous precocious chosen-one heroic child characters, through the highly emotional journey of Summer through the delightfully weird world of Orcus. I loved it and loved reading it out loud (bouncing from the shrill snooty hoopoe voice to the gravelly wolfish werehouse voice was a particular delight), but for out 10-year-old bookworm it has shot straight into her top 5-ish titles, to the point she now only wants to read “more portal fantasy” and is already planning a re-read.
December 16, 2017
Great beginnings and decent end, just wish the middle had been reduced.
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