Review: “Indexing: Reflections,” Seanan McGuire

Pros: Such a wonderful and unique take on fairy tales
Cons: Some slow parts
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Seanan McGuire’s Indexing: Reflections is a follow-on to her Indexing, which was a wonderfully unique book. The general premise is the same: In this world, fairy tale incursions into the real world have the strength to warp reality. There’s a secret government bureau whose sole purpose is to put a stop to these incursions. Sometimes they even recruit people whose stories have become ‘active,’ or, preferably, those who’ve averted the scripted ending to their tale. That doesn’t mean the narrative doesn’t pull at them, however, and they can end up getting pulled into other people’s stories as well. Sadly, fairy tales don’t tend to be kind to supporting cast.

Reflections is more of a coherent novel than the original Indexing, which was a bit of a cross between a novel and an anthology. An old enemy is chaining story incursions together in ways that cause new and unique–and terrifying–consequences. Henry and her team are in the crosshairs, and she’s going to have to learn how to control her Snow White story rather than avoid it if she wants her team to survive the experience. We also get to find out a lot more about Sloane (the Wicked Stepsister) in this installment, as the bad guys decide that they can turn her the rest of the way over to villainy.

I thought Reflections was a little bit slow for me, but it’s still a fantastic book. I just can’t get over how unique and new McGuire’s ideas can be. She’s my new favorite author, and I’m thankful she’s as prolific as she is. I’ll have to alternate reading more of her books with other authors’ so I don’t become the-reviewer-of-Seanan-McGuire-books!