Borderline (The Arcadia Project, #1) by Mishell Baker

Borderline by Mishell Baker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read this entire two book series back to back – literally starting the second book seconds after ending the first, so my review might possibly combine the two books by accident. But I’ll try to keep things separate.

The book, the first one, the one this review is attached to, opens with a young woman resting in a wheelchair in a mental institution (there might be a different name for the place, but that’s how I was thinking of it – mental institution, I mean, it is filled with ‘crazy’ people. Another woman has suddenly appeared before the one in the wheelchair (let’s help here by using names; the one in the wheelchair is Millie, the one not in the wheelchair is Caryl).

Caryl and Millie talk in Millie’s room. Apparently Caryl works for an organization, Arcadia Project, which helps people like Millie find creative work in Hollywood. Millie, you see, had been a rapidly rising young director before she found herself in the insane asylum (oops, mental institution), so she does have some connections to Hollywood (more specifically Millie had been attending UCLA and had directed several films, including one that ended up at a film festival (a film that Millie later learns apparently was seen by many many important people, including Caryl). Without elaborating more on the organization or the job, Caryl basically tells Millie to pack up all of her stuff and meet her in a specific park the next day.

I do not wish to recreate the entirety of the book, so let’s move on by saying ‘Millie kept her appointment with Caryl and then probationally joined the Arcadia Project, though was somewhat disappointed to find out that her first ‘job’ would be in a less creative role than she expected (something like first assistant . . . something or other, doesn’t matter, she never actually worked in that role).’ Millie’s first actual assignment, though, immediately lead to Millie learning that the organization is more than just a nice little place that helps mentally and physically challenged individuals find work – it actually acts as, well the book description itself says (see, now if Millie could have read that description . . . ) – the organization ‘oversees relations between Hollywood and Fairyland’ (not that I recall ‘Fairyland’ actually ever called ‘Fairyland’ (it’s the Arcadia of the ‘Arcadia Project’). Millie’s first assignment involves going with a partner to investigate why a specific individual, an actor (slash fae), hadn’t returned to Arcadia when his time was up. There is a lot of investigating going on in this book.

Now let’s cut to the chase, so to speak: basically everyone in the Arcadia Project organization is, in some way, mentally . . . hmms . . challenged? Though one of the rules is not asking questions of others so . . . how exactly everyone fits in is not always known. But still, yes, basically everyone has some mental illness. Millie herself has borderline personality disorder (also she lacks the bottom half of her legs and one knee). What does the organization do? As already noted – oversee relations between Hollywood and Arcadia. Why are there ‘relations’? Because, it appears, some, not all, but some fae have ‘echoes’, soul mates, among humans. And when they match up – they create great things (the human ends up becoming massively creatively productive through the connection while the fae gets things like the ability to think logically, pay attention to time and dates, and stuff like that (in their natural state, Fae kind of float along, less connected to rational thought, more connected to emotional, and with no sense of time)).

So, that’s what the first book is about – a Bilateral Amputee with Borderline Personality Disorder works as a newbie/probational agent of the Arcadia Project investigating strange things – like the missing actor/fae. There is also the bit about how Millie kind of lusts after any and everyone regardless of gender, but let’s leave it at that.

Of note: the book description calls Millie a ‘paraplegic screenwriter’. I really have no idea if someone who is a bilateral amputee is also considered ‘paraplegic’ but I have a suspicion that the word should not be used in this case (but, again, I’ve no idea if I’m wrong with that – ‘Paraplegia can occur after a spinal cord injury. It's caused by damage to the vertebrae, ligaments, or disks of the spinal column. Paraplegia is the loss of muscle function in the lower half of the body, including both legs.’ – well, yes, Millie has lost muscle function in the lower half of her body – specifically the area of her legs which no longer exist because they were amputated). Screenwriter? Well, that’s just wrong. I might not know if paraplegic is wrong or not, but I know screenwriter is wrong. Millie was a director not a screenwriter – there’s even a moment in the book when Millie tells someone that they knew that they couldn’t be a screenwriter and so knew she would need to get friendly with them (or some words that vaguely correspond to that idea).

Right so – I randomly added this book to my maybe pile at some point. Then again randomly glanced at a sample while going down my shelves looking for something to read. And the sample pulled me in, so I bought the book. Then devoured the book like it was a lamb and I was a lion (I assume a lion would eat a lamb). Great, fun, thrilling book.

Rating: 5.5

April 13 2017



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