What kept the girls of the Crater School safe, what their parents trusted more than walls and rules and governance, was the bold nature of the girls themselves, the pioneer spirit of Mars Britannicus. So there were merlins in the lake. So what? They weren’t Earth girls, to cower indoors and never venture forth for fear of being eaten. [loc. 451]
The setting is Mars Imperial, settled by the British more than a century before our story opens. (The Russians got Venus, but do not much care for it.) As in the prototype Raj, boys are sent back to England for their education, while girls attend local boarding schools ... such as the eponymous Crater School, with its deep blue lake, Lowell Lake, wherein lurks a naiad, the mature and most deadly form of the alien species known as merlins. (There are hints that merlins brought humanity to Mars. Brenchley's worldbuilding is full of intriguing asides like that.)
Twins Tasha and Tawney -- more properly, Natasha and Tatiana -- are in the Lower Fourth. They're asked to welcome Rachel, another twin, who's been separated from her sister Jessica because their parents thought they would do better apart. Monstrous! Luckily Tawney and Tasha are kind and likeable girls, and Rachel thaws a little, especially when she becomes involved in all the usual school-story adventures: exploration of forbidden areas, secret feasts, dormitory life, creative interpretation of rules, encounters with aliens and Russian spies -- what do you mean, that's not usual? I'm sure I remember lots of suspicious male characters in Malory Towers and the Chalet School, at least some of them probably spies (and possibly aliens, who knows), and all of them easily defeated by plucky teenaged girls. Nowadays, one would ascribe sleazy motives to any men lurking around a girls' school, but classic boarding-school stories were set in, and to some extent created, a more innocent world, and Brenchley has retained this perspective. 'Rachel couldn’t imagine why grown men might want to spy on schoolgirls...' [loc. 3536]
A fun, joyful read with a surprising amount of world-building tucked into the corners. There are friendships, mad adventures, competent and capable young women, alien kitties, and teachers who are strict but fair. There are secrets only gradually revealed, and tropes from Golden Age SF. There are mild cliffhangers -- this was originally published in serial form on the author's Patreon -- and absent parents. Three Twins at the Crater School was just what I needed, even before a delightful cameo appearance by the indefatigable Pat Cadigan. I have promised myself the next in the series very soon.
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