Before picking up on Season Six proper, I'd scheduled this curious little novella for this spot. It's hard to tell exactly where during this season this story is meant to go, but as Zoe still seems fairly new, this spot seemed appropriate.
Foreign Devils is interesting, for... a number of reasons, really. I don't think that a late-Victorian murder mystery with a dragon and a woman transforming into a plant can actually fail to be interesting on some level. The Telos line are all a bit odd, if only in format. This is about half the length of The Dark Path, which I just read, so it was gone in a flash. I thought the pacing was pretty good, at least, with the central murder mystery lasting just about long enough.
It's a bit unfortunate that the central mystery is only slightly mysterious. It's more of a "howdunnit" than "whodunnit", because it's far too easy to guess from the start that the Astrologer encountered by Roderick Upcott is responsible. It's only the means by which the murders are being carried out that remains in question. The scenes where they're puzzling this out, and the general atmosphere of the house during the investigation, are quite good, and Thomas Carnacki is a welcome addition, although I wasn't familiar with him prior to this.
It's impossible to ignore the orientalism in this story. The "white man goes to the East, gets cursed" angle is more or less played straight, and for all that the book's framing and imagery are inspired by Chinese culture, there aren't actually any named Chinese characters in the book. The Upcotts almost certainly deserve it. I don't think we ever hear one way or the other what Aunt Arabelle was like when she was alive, but the rest that we see have done nothing to acquit themselves after the lifetime of sin led by their ancestor. The theme of repayment for Britain's imperial past is thus grasped for, but because of the issues of presentation here it just doesn't really work out.
As well as the good bits and the bad bits, there's the just plain bizarre. Like the "Spirit of the Poppy" (as in the plant) being the ultimate culprit behind the killings, and possessing Carnacki's lover, Celandine. And Celandine graphically transforming into a plant-person for a few pages because she's been possessed by the spirit of a flower. The way it's described is grotesque, and I do mean that in both senses of the word. A little bit of a misjudged writing choice, all told, but certainly memorable.
So my overall impression of this book is a mixed one. Do give it a try, it's plenty entertaining, but your mileage may vary on how "good" it exactly is.
The Dominators is next.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 12 March 2021.)
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