Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation

[library_mama]

Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation by Tom Siddell And now for something fun. Gunnerkrigg Court is the first print volume of a popular web comic, set in a spooky British boarding school/industrial complex. Our heroine is young Antimony Carver, just starting at Gunnerkrigg Court following her mother’s death. In the first short story, Antimony finds that she has a second shadow, which turns out to need help getting to the dark and forbidden Gillitie Woods, across a brightly lighted bridge. In typical Harry Potter fashion, finding little help from adults, Antimony finds her own solution – scrounging enough spare parts to build a robot to help the little stray shadow. As the stories progress, Antimony is befriended by a girl named Kat, whose parents (now teachers at the school), Antimony’s mother and now-missing father, as well as a few others, were part of a tight group of friends. Again as in that Potter book, there’s a hint that they were involved in something bigger than innocent school friendships, but the mystery isn’t fleshed out much in this first book. Though the mother’s death and the mystery, as well as the literally dark setting, give the whole book a dark feel, it’s dark and snarky humor. In one of the early stories, for example, Antimony’s favorite stuffed animal is possessed by an untrustworthy but not altogether malignant demon who finds himself forced to obey her commands. Read it on line if you prefer, but please do read it. Assuming, of course, you like magic and technology fused with dark humor.