The Society of Unknowable Objects - Gareth Brown
If there is danger to come in the magic adventure it is laid out in the prelude of the book where Imelda Sparks, on a kind of treasure hunt but one for rare objects identified in the Atlas of Lost Things, is currently trying to track down just such an object in the Nevada desert. Imelda has an unfortunate accident there and is killed; and not only that, the end of the prologue advises, but she would stay that way for almost two years. Well, if that’s not a cosy way to die I don't know what is, but that could be a little disturbing as well.
Cue time to visit the magic bookshop, a second hand antiquarian bookshop in Marylebone called Bell Street Books, that has been Magda Sparks’ favourite place since she was brought there as a child by her mother - the aforementioned Imelda - a magical place lined floor to ceiling with books. A bookworm - someone we as avid readers can all identify with - Magda is a successful published author herself now. There is another reason the place is special and that is because Magda is part of a small secret society run by the owner of the bookshop, Frank, called the Society of Unknowable Objects. It's a fairly genteel affair, the society only meeting two times a year for tea and biscuits, but Frank has called an extraordinary meeting for a rare event. A new magical item has been found for the first time in 40 years!
Although they haven't had to do much up to now, the purpose of the society is to remove and keep locked away such newly discovered items as they can be dangerous if they get into the wrong hands (although in practice it seems that everyone secretly keeps one object for their own personal use that they wield like a superpower). And indeed, this one has been found by a non-member of the society in Hong Kong, so Magda agrees to go and retrieve it and gets a little swoony in a bit of cute embarassingly soppy romance, another element that just adds to the cosy feeling. It's the general tone of the writing however that really enforces this impression, that there is no danger that can't be overcome - not even death apparently - with a plucky heroine and kind friends to pull us through.
The thing with cosy crime and cosy fantasy is that we want the world to be like this, ordered and only mildly threatening, but that can be managed by competent people who know what they are doing. All the more so since the real world is increasingly going in the other direction. Unfortunately for Magda, despite the best efforts of the author to create a place of safe magic and lovely people around her, her world isn't like that either and very quickly the harsh reality starts to appear. Not too harsh, not too realistic, in fact far from it. It all becomes quite silly, like a polite UK version of Marvel's Avengers, with unlimited superhero powers confronting evil in a game of top trumps. The winning hand in this one is so obvious long before it comes to Magda - who admittedly has other things to worry about - that it is rather frustrating.
On the other hand you can't really fault Gareth Brown for exploiting a fun idea to the limit. It is such entertaining fun and intended to be such that I can't hold more serious complaint against The Society of Unknowable Objects than its tone of pleasant cosiness and it being rather vague about the origins of the extremely powerful and obligingly useful magic. And the tedious romantic musings, brief and chaste though they might be. That would enough for me to deduct one star to make this a four star book if I gave star ratings, which I don't. If you are a kinder person, this is a 5 star book all the way.
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