SCP Foundation: Iris Through the Looking Glass, Vol. 1

The first novel set in the world of the SCP Foundation, a collaborative online fiction project about an organization of the same name that locates and secures paranormal entities, is heavy on plot and worldbuilding but light on character development. The unnamed narrator, a Japanese teenager, is pulled through a photograph into a secure, prisonlike research facility by Iris Thompson, an American girl and fellow detainee who can manipulate photographs. Identified by the foundation as somehow an accessory to Iris’s powers, the protagonist gets a crash course in understanding the “Secure, Contain, Protect” manifesto of the SCP Foundation and an introduction to the paranormal objects in its collection. As the SCP Foundation experiments on Iris and the narrator, they secretly plan their escape. Though the characters are underdeveloped, the mystery of their powers will sustain reader interest. The paranormal objects collected by the SCP Foundation, each thought up by different contributors, are wildly original. Manga fans will appreciate Sidu’s occasional illustrations, and readers unfamiliar with the SCP Foundation will be fascinated by this introduction to its expansive universe. (Jan.)