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A review by willrefuge
A Long Day in Lychford by Paul Cornell
2.0
4.5 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/05/04/a-long-day-in-lychford-by-paul-cornell-review/
Beware possible spoilers for the Lychford series Books #1 & 2
It’s a period of turmoil in Britain, and Lychford has not escaped unscathed. The townsfolk are torn once again over Brexit, immigrants, and the economic downfall. Autumn, as the only ethnic person of any worth in the surrounding area, is especially affected, and feels targeted by the looming change.
Not to mention the town’s reaction to it.
After a drunken argument, Autumn wakes up with a hangover, no memory of what has happened, with the police on her doorstep, and every magical ward anywhere near Lychford going haywire. Apparently someone bungled through all the wards and has strewn their threads all around, more or less opening the plane to intrusion from any magical entity that wants in.
Wouldn’t happen to be a guilty autumn witch with a hazy memory and a nasty hangover? Yeah, of course it was.
—
I have the nose of a bloodhound…. in my pocket.
—
Third book in the Lychford series, each one featuring a new narrator. I mean, they’re all good—each in their own way—but with the change-up, it’s quite difficult to get into a good groove with any one of them.
But that’s not what I want to focus on.
The entire plot of A Long Day is one of our own making. That is, the characters—Autumn, specifically—screws up, and it threatens the survival of Lychford as a whole, and sets up ramifications for future books. What I want to critique here is that something as ancient as the system of wards in Lychford are shouldn’t be so fragile that they can be wrecked by one apprentice getting drunk and bumbling through them—no matter how strong that apprentice is.
There’s also an undertone of race and ethnicity and Brexit within, but that’s largely ignored come the end, with no lessons learnt whatsoever. It just seems like the entire plot was a screw-up of the character’s own making, of the author’s incomplete world-building; an important step in the series to get it focused on whatever’s supposed to happen next. That being said, it’s not too bad a story, once we get going—it’s just the manner of how we get started is disappointing. The setup. The execution. The world-building. The point where it all comes together.
Note: While it’s the third in a 5+ book series, I may recommend skipping this one entirely. With none of the charm or grandeur of the previous entries, it’s a bit of a mess. The narrator does her best, but when you’re the third one-off in three books, there’s only so much you can save. Further installments will feature Emma Newman in a consistent role, and hopefully the author can get the series back on track. Hopefully.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/05/04/a-long-day-in-lychford-by-paul-cornell-review/
Beware possible spoilers for the Lychford series Books #1 & 2
It’s a period of turmoil in Britain, and Lychford has not escaped unscathed. The townsfolk are torn once again over Brexit, immigrants, and the economic downfall. Autumn, as the only ethnic person of any worth in the surrounding area, is especially affected, and feels targeted by the looming change.
Not to mention the town’s reaction to it.
After a drunken argument, Autumn wakes up with a hangover, no memory of what has happened, with the police on her doorstep, and every magical ward anywhere near Lychford going haywire. Apparently someone bungled through all the wards and has strewn their threads all around, more or less opening the plane to intrusion from any magical entity that wants in.
Wouldn’t happen to be a guilty autumn witch with a hazy memory and a nasty hangover? Yeah, of course it was.
—
I have the nose of a bloodhound…. in my pocket.
—
Third book in the Lychford series, each one featuring a new narrator. I mean, they’re all good—each in their own way—but with the change-up, it’s quite difficult to get into a good groove with any one of them.
But that’s not what I want to focus on.
The entire plot of A Long Day is one of our own making. That is, the characters—Autumn, specifically—screws up, and it threatens the survival of Lychford as a whole, and sets up ramifications for future books. What I want to critique here is that something as ancient as the system of wards in Lychford are shouldn’t be so fragile that they can be wrecked by one apprentice getting drunk and bumbling through them—no matter how strong that apprentice is.
There’s also an undertone of race and ethnicity and Brexit within, but that’s largely ignored come the end, with no lessons learnt whatsoever. It just seems like the entire plot was a screw-up of the character’s own making, of the author’s incomplete world-building; an important step in the series to get it focused on whatever’s supposed to happen next. That being said, it’s not too bad a story, once we get going—it’s just the manner of how we get started is disappointing. The setup. The execution. The world-building. The point where it all comes together.
Note: While it’s the third in a 5+ book series, I may recommend skipping this one entirely. With none of the charm or grandeur of the previous entries, it’s a bit of a mess. The narrator does her best, but when you’re the third one-off in three books, there’s only so much you can save. Further installments will feature Emma Newman in a consistent role, and hopefully the author can get the series back on track. Hopefully.