Indexing, Episode 2: Musical Patchwork by Seanan McGuire

Now this is settling in to be something I want to read.  Here in Episode 2, things are settling in — we’re getting to know these people as characters, not just as types or names, but as people.

First and foremost in this regard is Demi Santos, who we met last time, the Piper that came to the rescue — at the cost of her own lifestyle.  Watching the others deal with her apparently great and uncommon power should prove compelling.  Henry/Henrietta, our Snow White protagonist also seems a bit more like a person  now, and more like someone I want to read the continuing adventures of (nicely — and not surprising — she’s not a Toby Daye or Verity Price clone).  I could use a little more rounding of Andy, the actual, normal human (the guy who most authors would use as the protagonist, the reader’s entry way to this world), but I like what we have so far.

I think it’s entirely possible that Jeff, the cobbler elf, could be my favorite of this bunch — just for the fun to watch him and his particular traits be exploited by Henry while making him more content than anyone else we’ve met.

Sloane, the gothy Wicket Stepsister with a shoe-shopping fixation is still mostly a small collection of quirks and ticks.  But it’s early days yet.  I do get the impression that McGuire wants us to like her more than I do, but that’ll come.

The biggest development is what the dispatchers, in particular, Birdie (a character who starts off rounder than most in this book), seems to give us the central conflict of the book.  That the stories the Agents are sent out to contain/manage seem to be one type on the initial analysis, but end up being another once agents are on the ground.  Henry seems perplexed (to say the least) and I can’t say I blame her.  I suspect the answer to this will be quite interesting.