The Honours

Action packed speculative adventure: a Ripping Yarn.

Following an incident involving another girl at boarding school, Delphine Venner (13) is sent home to Alderberen Hall, in Norfolk. Her father’s mind is disintegrating, her mother is brittle and both are in thrall to a sinister society. But never fear, Gamekeeper Garforth is on hand to provide essential training in firearms.

Here we have the horrors of boarding school, of the enemy in our midst and of invasion from another dimension rolled into one ripping yarn in the mode of Sapper and John Buchan, with a shot of China Miéville for good measure. Delphine, handy with a twelve bore and a crab hook, is a wonderfully flawed heroine.

Clare realises Delphine’s world in intricate detail. At times, he dwells overlong on the description, but his prose is so fresh and with real zest, that it is just a pleasure to read.

To be honest, as soon as I saw the map in the opening pages, I knew this book would be a rip-roaring read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Canongate Books for the ARC.

Last year I read the ice house,the sequel to this book, and enjoyed it immensely despite being a bit bewildered.
This time ,I got the chance to be delighted by Delphine,who really was a fantastic character,and know what was going on,and revel in the wonderful weirdness.
Enjoyable read that had me reading the book in two sittings.
I hear rumours of a third book,and look forward to it.

My thanks to Canongate Books for a digital edition via NetGalley of Tim Clare’s ‘The Honours’ in exchange for an honest review.

It was originally published in 2015 and was offered for review in advance of its new paperback edition and its sequel, ‘The Ice House’, being published on 6th February.

In 1935 war is looming in Europe and on the sprawling Norfolk country estate of Alderberen Hall the atmosphere is tinged with suspicion and paranoia. Young Delphine Venner, newly arrived at the Hall with her parents, is determined to uncover the secrets of the elite society based there as she is concerned about her parents involvement, especially as her father is unstable.

She explores the house, discovering a network of hidden passages that thread through the estate. In doing so Delphine unearths a secret world that proves darker and more dangerous than anything she could have ever imagined.

I found ‘The Honours’ well written, unusual and quite fascinating. Tim Clare has drawn on the tradition of classic British fantasy in which adventurous young people discover by accident portals to other worlds and have adventures. Here he has created a fascinating world peopled with eccentric characters. I found Delphine a delight and felt that the pre-war setting was perfect for the narrative. Overall, it proved a very good fit for my joint love of fantasy and historical fiction.

Both ‘The Honours’ and it’s sequel, ‘The Ice House’, are excellent and I unreservedly recommend both.