Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingstone

Synopsis:

Kelley Winslow is living her dream. Seventeen years old, she has moved to New York City and started work with a theatre company. Sure, she's an understudy for the Avalon Players, a third-tier repertory company so far off-Broadway it might as well be in Hoboken, but things are looking up—the lead has broken her ankle and Kelley's about to step into the role of Titania the Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Faeries are far more real than Kelley thinks, though, and a chance encounter in Central Park with a handsome young man will plunge her into an adventure she could never have imagined.

For Sonny Flannery, one of the Janus Guards charged by Auberon, the King of Winter, with watching over the gate into the lands of Faerie that lies within Central Park, the pretty young actress presents an enigma. Strong and willful, she sparks against his senses like a firecracker and he can't get her out of his mind. As Hallowe'en approaches and the Samhain Gate opens, Sonny and Kelley find themselves drawn to each other—and into a terrible plot that could spell disaster for both New York and Faerie alike.

Ever since Holly Black reinvented fairies for me a few years ago in Tithe (and subsequently Valiant and Ironside) I've been a sucker for well written novels with a bit of fae magic thrown in.

Wondrous Strange has more than just a big of fae magic thrown in. The book sizzles with magic. Kelley's character in WS is that of the sweet ingenue who is determined to make something of herself in New York. We identify with Kelley because all of us has wanted something strong enough to move heaven and earth to get it and even if it means putting up with overly dramatic producers and tantrum throwing cast members of a acting troupe, well then, she's up for that too.

When she lands the role of Titania in the production, instead of wowing everyone with her acting ability, Kelley manages to make a complete mess of things and she escapes to the peace and quiet of Central Park to rehearse the role. This is where Sonny hears / sees her for the first time and he's inexplicably drawn to her. But as one of the guards watching the portal between the human and fae worlds, he has other, scarier, clawed and tentacled things to worry about at first. Even if the image of Kelley keeps reappearing in his mind.

Kelley and Sonny's romance is slow in developing and it's very sweet - also quite amusing. Kelley is both fierce and confused as to why this strange boy from the park alternately seems to be stalking her, saving her, scaring the life out of her.

Also, Kelley has a problem: after almost drowning in Central Park, she made it home to the small apartment she shared with her room-mate and unexpectedly finds that the horse she saved followed her home and seems to really like hanging out in their bathroom...and uh, using their toiletries.

Written with great aplomb and with a sense of bubbling humour, Wondrous Strange, is a very fun read and I laughed out loud more than once. Kelley's not what she seems, no one seems to be what they seems and as the story unravels, only to be put back together, we are left with a solidly concluded book that has a few frayed tassles left over to segue neatly into the sequel: Darklight.

I don't mind this as both Kelley and Sonny are characters I'd like to spend my time with and their story is fresh and engaging. Also, those covers - tell me you don't want books that look this gorgeous?

Find Lesley Livingstone's website here. Wondrous Strange has not yet been published here in the UK but it is available on Amazon and through The Book Depository.

Going too far by Jennifer Echols

Synopsis All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn’t make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won’t soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won’t be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge—and over... I bought my copy of Going Too Far because I'm a sucker for being told "go and buy it, it's that cool" by various other bloggers and readers. And it is a pretty damn cool book. It deals with adult themes and is aimed at the YA crowd but I'm pretty sure some older folk will benefit from reading it. Meg is an excellent character and someone I liked because I could understand why she acts as wildly as she does. Here's someone who is terrified of being left behind, of being the same as everyone else, as being stuck in a one-horse town and never ever getting out. Her motivations are clear, her character is crisp, funny, abrasive and cool. She's the kid you notice around town, what with the cyan blue hair and the wild clothes, the bad boyfriends and the rumours about lewd behaviour. She's the girl you think you've sussed out as someone who's going downhill, fast. What you don't see is the student, the girl who works hard at her assignments, the one who will do anything to get out of town, to see the world. She's so busy being loud and scary on the outside very few people notice the anxious girl on the inside. It's only when she's arrested for tresspassing on the bridge where a group of children had died in the past that Meg realises that there might very well be a different way to get what she wants from life. She's locked in a car with John, the young policeman who arrested her. As Meg's opinion starts changing about John and she realises there's more to him than just the jutting jaw, the gun, the uniform, so John's opinion about Meg changes too. He realises that behind this loud facade is a young girl who is so determined and resolute to make something of herself that she's burning up with it, her spirit seems almost too big for her body. Wonderfully written with a few utterly amazing tearjerk moments, Going too Far is an excellent read for those of us who want a break from the paranormal and just hang out with a girl and a boy as they slowly but surely fall for one another. At it's heart, Going Too Far is a coming of age story, a story of friendship and falling in love. But it's also about being responsible, clever and wise, even at a young age and how important it is to have goals and how much more important it is to hopefully be able to share that with someone. I do hope Going too Far gets picked up by UK publishers as it genuinely does deserve an airing here in the UK. Jennifer Echols is popular American author (her site is here) and I've got some of her other books on order from the US to read.

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Here is the synopsis from amazon:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Here’s the most important bit of the review:

GO BUY AND READ THIS BOOK! It is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

And here are a few more details:

I LOVE this book! Yes, I know I keep saying that about most of the books I review, but if I had a ‘Best of 2010’ list “Soulless” would be on it for sure. I cannot remember when I have had such a big, fat grin on my face for the entirety of the book.

After being attacked by a mannerless vampire and, having to defend herself, actually killing him, Miss Alexia Tarabotti is thrown into the middle of the London supernatural world. Rove vampires and packless werewolves are disappearing in London and the surrounding areas, she's invited to meet the Westminster vampire hive queen and who is that pesky creature constantly trying to abduct Alexia?

Alexia is the typical bluestocking, intelligent and outspoken. Her inner musings have made me laugh out loud more than once while reading and her interaction with the brash, overbearing, and, worst of all, Scottish Lord Maccon had me in stitches.

Gail Carriger has created a fabulous Victorian London and her characters are well developed, totally off the wall and still so believable. More than once I sat back amazed at what Gail created. Her dialogue is witty and funny, the whole story has an energy and a pace that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I love this fantastic mixture of mystery, action, romance and steampunk. Everything fits together seamlessly and should you be in the unfortunate situation that you have to stop reading because your lunch break is over, you’ll be waiting with eager anticipation to get back to the book.

Soulless is published by Orbit and Gail’s website is here. The sequel “Changeless” will be out at the beginning of April and I cannot wait!*taps her foot a few times* Is it April yet?

Waterstone's Children's Book Prize Short List

The shortlist was revealed yesterday and I am so pleased to see several authors and books that I "know" through having read / reviewed / received them.

Here's the listing with some information about the books and the nominated authors:

FLYAWAY BY LUCY CHRISTOPHER

In this poignant novel, Lucy Christopher explores the extraordinary attachment between a young girl and a wild bird. 13-year-old Isla doesn’t want to think about the fact that her dad may be dying until she meets Isthmi, a young swan who can’t fly.

About the author

After various attempts at being an actor, a coffee maker, a waitress and a nature guide, Lucy earned a distinction in a Creative Writing MA. In her spare time, Lucy helps run a children’s wildlife group at Newport Wetland.

THE GREAT HAMSTER MASSACRE BY KATIE DAVIES

A natural and honest version of life’s events from the perspective of a young girl – from her suspicions about her neighbours, to her rocky friendship with the girl next door; from the sudden death of her granny to her relentless quest for a pet hamster. The Great Hamster Massacre is a bittersweet but hilariously funny domestic tale.

About the author

Katie is the wife of comedian Alan Davies and recently gave birth to their first child. She is a literary agent who has also written for radio. The Great Hamster Massacre is the first in a charming series of pet-related dilemmas drawn from real-life experiences of friends and family.

THE GIRL WHO COULD FLY BY VICTORIA FORESTER

Piper McCloud can fly, but even at her top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities she’s special, and there are consequences.

About the author

Victoria Forester lives in Los Angeles with her husband. She has spent most of her time writing screenplays; this is her first book.

SEVEN SORCERERS BY CARO KING

Enter the Drift, a land filled with the fabulous and the dreadful; tombfolk, mudmen and the spirits of the seven sorcerers who once ruled the land. Our heroine must cross the Drift to retrieve her brother, stolen by the bogeyman and taken to the terrible House of Strood.

About the author

Caro tackled a series of widely varied jobs before joining the Civil Service, working in the Official Receiver's Office. She now works part-time and lives in Surrey with her husband, writing and restoring their Edwardian house.

LOVE, AUBREY BY SUZANNE LAFLEUR

Something terrible has happened and 11-year-old Aubrey is on her own. She’s determined to hide away and take care of herself, because facing the truth is too much to bear. Love, Aubrey is a must-read with the emotional power of Before I Die, the readability of Gathering Light and the comfort of Little Women.

About the author

Suzanne grew up in Massachusetts, where she used to read her stories out loud to anyone who would listen. She began writing her first novel Love, Aubrey at graduate school and now lives in Manhattan, where she works at The Anderson School, a New York City Public School for gifted children.]

THE TOYMAKER BY JEREMY DE QUIDT

What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart? From the moment Mathias finds a mysterious piece of paper he is entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinister Dr. Leiter and his devilish toys. The Toymaker is a truly chilling story that will haunt you long after you reach the end.

About the author

The Toymaker was written after the author Jeremy was asked to do some story-telling at a local school. He went in and each week told them a new chapter of a story he had begun writing especially for them – that story became his first published work.

DESPERATE MEASURES BY LAURA SUMMERS

Vicky and Rhianna are twins but they couldn’t be more different. For their fourteenth birthday,

Vicky wants a card from the hottest boy in school. Rhianna, brain-damaged at birth, wants a Furby. Instead they get a nasty shock – their foster parents can’t cope and it looks as if Vicky and Rhianna and their younger brother Jamie will have to be split up. How can they stay together?

Desperate times call for desperate measures …

About the author

Laura Summers grew up in South London and was a teacher before turning to writing full time. She has written extensively for many popular children’s television series and was recently nominated for a children’s BAFTA for one of her scripts for The Little Princess - a pre-school animation series based on the picture books by Tony Ross. Laura now lives in North Devon with her husband and children and when not writing loves to draw and paint.

SUPERHUMAN: METEORITE STRIKE BY A.G. TAYLOR

Introducing mesmerizing heroes with mind-blowing powers, this roller-coaster read of chilling conspiracies and secret organizations is the perfect escape for anyone who’s longed to be just a little bit special.

About the author

Andrew Taylor was born in New Zealand and grew up in England, and has worked as a teacher in England, Poland, South Korea and Australia. He lives with his girlfriend, her whippet and his Italian greyhound. This is his debut novel.

THE CROWFIELD CURSE BY PAT WALSH

What happens when you bury an angel? It’s 1347 and Will, an orphan boy, lives at Crowfield Abbey. When two hooded strangers arrive at Crowfield asking questions about the angel’s grave, Will is drawn into a world of dangerous Old Magic. The Crowfield Curse is a thrilling clash between the forces of old natural magic and new ideas of Christianity.

About the author

Pat spent summers and school holidays working on archaeological digs, took an archaeology degree and spent most of her life since then working as an archaeologist. From the age of twelve she has written short stories based in history and fantasy, and The Crowfield Curse is her first novel for children.

***

I wish all of these authors the best of luck! The winner is announced on February 2010 here in London.

The Toymaker by Jeremy de Quidt

Synopsis:

What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn’t stop. What couldn’t you do if you could make a toy like that?

In The Toymaker we meet someone we should all really like, especially if we are children: the toymaker, Menschenmacher. His creations sound amazing, creations we would all want to play with. Very soon, within a page, we do realise however that the toymaker, the "people maker" is not a cuddly friendly type of elderly uncle whom we can run to with a broken doll to fix. No, here's someone who is part scientist, part explorer, part nightmare maker. His toys are automatons, beautiful creations that the rich and famous strive to own. But there is that element of where he wants to meld the inanimate with the animate that is just shiver-inducing.

The Toymaker is set in an undisclosed European country over a short span of time for the reader - with that comes the bitter cold, the distant almost unfriendly populace and a feeling that really bad things can happen to good people. It's a harsh winter, wolves prowl the woods and people's lives are hard.

We also meet Matthias, a young boy who works as a Conjurer's assistant in a travelling circus. Well, he doesn't really work as anything to be honest. He's more a dog's body, doing things his grandfather, the conjuror wants, and then gets treated abysmally, beaten, starved and shouted at by everyone else in the circus; in other words, Matthias's life is hell. That is until his Grandfather suffers some kind of attack on stage and then dies. Matthias is in shock. A man he doesn't know walks up and starts searching his grandfather for something and Matthias realises that his grandfather may not have been the man he thought he knew. The well-dressed stranger leaves to speak to the owners of the circus and Matthias discovers a crumpled piece of paper in his grandfather's mouth that he was keen to hide...

Matthias and all his grandfather's belongings are "sold" to the mysterious man, Dr. Leiter and Matthias is bundled into a coach and driven through the night to an inn where he's questioned by the doctor and the odious coachman, Valter, a mishappen dwarf with the strength of ten men and a heart blacker than the abyss. One of the girls working at the inn, Katta, realises these two men are hurting Matthias and rescues him after he is thrown out of the window of the inn and together they go on the run.

Soon they throw in their lot with the mysterious and ruthless Koenig who is keen to figure out what Matthias's secret is and ultimately what the strip of torn paper is that he carries with him.

The Toymaker is beautifully written by Jeremy de Quidt. It's deeply dark and disturbing with touches of the macabre that will scintillate younger and older readers alike. The action is vivid and moves the story forward as much as the quest to find out the secret of the scrap of paper. The ending is a twisty turning thing that had me re-reading it because it took me that much by surprise.

I'd recommend The Toymaker to read out loud too - there is a dark magic to the writing that just begs to be heard aloud. And some fantastic news: The Toymaker has been short-listed for the Waterstones Children's Book Award 2010 which is excellent. I am so happy for Mr. de Quidt who clearly had a great time writing this wonderfully evocative and dark piece of literary horror for the younger folk.

The Toymaker is out now in paperback from David Fickling Books.

Soul Hunter - Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Fear these Space Marines.

Betrayed, cast from the Emperor's light and hunted as heretics, they are the rebels of the 41st milenniun. Garbed in symbols of death, the Night Lords are remorseless hunters and killers. They will never repent for the blasphemies that saw them banished, They prey upon the dying Imperium, bringing death from the darkness between worlds.

And terror is their most powerful weapon.

Soul Hunter poses an interesting situation- a Space Marine legion that has sided with the traitorous forces of the chaos Warmaster, not out of allegiance to any warp spawned powers or the Warmaster himself, but on the back of a murderous betrayal by the emperor himself. Insular and fixated on exacting their vengeance, the Night Lords have waged their war against the Imperium since the assault on terra 10,000 years ago. But their insular stance has weakened them; with no world to call home, their infrastructure is steadily collapsing, their numbers dwindling with little or no chance of reinforcement. The attrition of their war against the Imperium spells doom for them, yet what choice do they have?

Soul Hunter follows the events surrounding Talos, the titular Soul Hunter, known as a prophet amongst his peers, as they are drawn into Abaddon’s daring gambit to plunder one of the Mechanicum’s forge worlds.

Aaron takes his time setting the stage for the fireworks which follow, carefully building up the character of Talos and feeding the history of this non mainstream legion through in carefully constructed pieces, so that by the time the combat explodes across the pages, Talos has become a complex character, far more than the first impressions given of him. Similarly, the Night Lords have been given a long overdue shot in the arm, setting them up as an enigma amongst the Warmaster’s cohorts, and while the same attention isn’t lavished on the cast of supporting characters, they’re more than just red shirts, the switches to their perspectives more than mere fuel for the story’s engine.

After his dab handling of the combat in Cadian Blood, I expected nothing less than sheer mayhem from Aaron now that he’d been given Space Marines to play with, and large calibre carnage is what he delivers. There are some great sequences- one that really lit up the pages for me was his handling of the ship to ship combat in the void. Bearing in mind the ponderous nature of void combat, with ships duelling over thousands of kilometres, undertaking complex manoeuvres over a space of hours, the vivid tension and energy he infused these with were exhilarating. And as for the hunt in the basement of the prison complex... awesome.

If this is the calibre of goods we can expect from Aaron, someone needs to chain him to his writing desk! More sir, more!

Cover P0rn 2010

Friend of MFB, all round good guy and bloody good writer Sarwat Chadda has just sent out this gorgeous cover for his second novel: Dark Goddess, due out later this year from Penguin/Puffin here in the UK.

And people, you have to admit, this cover is simply stunning. I think uploading it in high res has retained it's quality so do go ahead and click on the image to take you to a larger version of it.

From having chatted to Sarwat about Billi's journey in Dark Goddess I deduce (she says, using her Holmes voice) that we're going to look back at Devil's Kiss and go"that was a cake-walk" compared to what Billi's going to go through in this one.

Is it wrong to want to fast forward time to speed things up so I can read books not yet published? Yeah, I thought so too!

Guest Review: Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

Darren from Bart's Bookshelf says:

The quality of Marcus Sedgwickís writing, sort-of crept up on me.

About eighteen months ago, I had read and enjoyed, his first novel, Floodland, and while I had liked it, it hadn't blown me away.

However, by the time I had devoured, The Book of Dead Days and Dark Flight Down, via Witch Hill and The Foreshadowing a few months later, I was as regular visitors to my site can attest, a huge fan.

Only now, I can't tell you exactly when exactly I became one, it seems now that I always have been.

There, are many things that make his writing stand out for me; from his ability to weave a tale so rich in atmosphere it is almost tangible, to his impeccable research, which adds a level of realism to even the strangest of situations.

I can't say enough good things about his depiction of Venice, it is without doubt a brilliant piece of writing, as with very few words, Sedgwick manages to create a richly detailed setting, and I say it, every time I review one of his books, but he is a master at creating atmosphere. You are there, every single step of the way, with the fog lapping around your ankles.

– From my review of, Sedgwick's: The Kiss of Death.

His books are not only vastly enjoyable and always a magical experience to read, but with sophisticated conflicts and relationships expertly woven into the prose they also encourage us, to think, and his latest novel, Revolver, is certainly no exception to this.

It will come as no surprise to most of you, but the book blogging community is filled with many fantastic people and when one of them, the very wonderful Nikki (aka @stormfilled on Twitter) knew she was meeting Mr Sedgwick a couple of months ago, she immediately thought of me, and made sure a signed copy soon arrived through my letterbox.

The action in it, begins many miles north of the Arctic Circle in a tiny, little place, called Giron.

The year is 1910, and Sig, a young teenage boy, has been left alone in his family's remote and isolated home.

Along with Sig, is the body of his father, who earlier that morning, had an accident whilst trying to cross the frozen lake their property sits on the edge of, and died out on the exposed surface.

While he is waiting on the return of his sister and step-mother, from the nearby town where the pair have travelled to arrange someone to collect his fatherís corpse; a stranger arrives at their home, asking to see his father.

The story then switches back and forth between showing us bits of his father's life some years previously, and back in Sig's home where there is an ever growing sense of threat and danger as the stranger forces his way in, demanding to settle some outstanding business.

It is revealed that the man has been chasing Sig's family for over 10 years, and now with his fathers corpse lying on the table between the two of them, the stranger insists that as Sig is now the man of the house, the responsibility to settle his fathers debts, now lies with him.

As his desperation grows, Sig comes to the belief that the only means of escape, lies with an old Colt revolver that he knows is hidden in their storeroom

When Sig's father had bought the old second-hand revolver to protect his young family in the remote and desolate wilds of Canadian gold-rush towns, when they were first settling there, he can have had no idea the significance it would have many years later.

I defy anybody to read this and not shiver! And I'm not just referring to the tension, Sedgwick slowly builds towards. No, I'm talking about his perfect descriptions of the cold, harsh, landscapes that lie in the Arctic Circle. You'll want to keep a hot pot of tea or coffee and a blanket nearby whist reading them.

At it heart, this is a moral tale about whether it's right to use a gun, and for what purpose, and even in the end, how. Yet, even though it is about Sig's moral choice, Sedgwick never attempts to moralise on either side of the argument.

Impeccably researched and wonderfully written, with this one, Sedgwick continues to be one of my favourite writers of recent years.

***

I met Darren from Bart's Bookshelf through him commenting on MFB. I popped over to his blog after he commented on the previous Marcus Sedgwick posts and immediately fell in love with his blog. Here was a kindred spirit, someone who enjoyed reading and books and chatting to authors and telling the world about it.

I gathered courage and asked him to write something for MFB's Author of the Month and he agreed, responding with the remarkable musing and review above.

Thanks very much Darren - I am so glad to see that there are fanboys and fangirls out there who match my own levels of geekness!

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Synopsis

Set in a world of stunningly beautiful, exceptionally dangerous monsters, Fire is one of the most dangerous monsters of all - a human one. Marked out by her vivid red hair, she's more than attractive. Fire is mesmerising.

But with this extraordinary beauty comes influence and power. People who are susceptible to her appeal will do anything for her attention, and for her affection. They will turn away from their families, their work, and their duties for her. They will forget their responsibilities to please her . . . and worse, crush nations, neglect kingdoms and abuse their power.

Aware of her power, and afraid of it, Fire lives in a corner of the world away from people, and away from temptation. Until the day comes when she is needed - a day when, for her king, she has to stand against not only his enemies, but also against herself . . .

I completely missed the Graceling phenomena. I knew of it, I knew of Ms. Cashore and thought that I'd take my own time to catch up on her writing.

And I'm glad I did. As much as I love and enjoy part of a trend, helping grow an author's reputation for her / his work, I like not being rushed, not running blindly with the crowd.

I got two copies of Fire given to me - one by Gollancz UK and one by my friend Sarwat Chadda (Devil's Kiss author) upon his return from BEA in the US. I loved the UK copy so much that it's sitting pristinely on my shelf, next to Graceling (equally pristine) whereas the US copy of Fire has been read and re-read.

Author Kristen Cashore has an incredible talent for characterisation and world creation. Rich in detail and political intrigue, Fire's world feels real very quickly. We learn that the young King Nash hangs precariously onto his throne whilst rebel lords plot to unseat him. War is coming and the royal family are keen to do anything it takes to get the upper hand to ensure that the throne remains stable.

Fire (our main character) is breathtakingly beautiful. She's a freak, a monster. Something so wildly exotic and beautiful that men (and women) lose themselves around her if they don't protect themselves against her mentally and physically. She evokes tempestuous emotions in people unprepared to meet her face to face. Some fall in love immediately, others want to kill and destroy her on the spot. Her monstrous nature acts as a mirror, reflecting hatred, violence and malice that others feel towards her when they see her.

It's a compliment to the author's skill where she manages to pull off Fire as a believable and likeable character. We could so easily not have felt any kind of empathy with a creature so almost unbelievable. And yet we do - her humanity is shown in her compassion to others, her deep care for her friends and even for those who mean to harm her. She strives to be better than her father, who had almost destroyed the kingdom. She fights to be herself and not her father's child but unfortunately for her, these things are linked.

Fire is the only human monster left. Her father, also a monster, had been killed years ago when he walked into the cage of one of his favourite caged feline monsters who promptly tore him apart. He had held a position in the previous king's court as advisor and together with the king drove the kingdom to the edge of ruin. it was now up to the King's current heir and family to protect the kingdom against invaders and war. Fire feels that she should somehow help and she does so by aligning herself with the new King Nash and his family.

The royal family held a bit surprise for me. Here was a group of people utterly dedicated to one another and the kingdom. They pulled together as a team, working hard to make Nash the king he could and should be. I was surprised by this. Too often you read the political machinations of brothers and sisters behind the backs of their siblings and it becomes a bit dull, because it's expected. By giving us a family focussed on fixing what their father and Fire's father had almost destroyed we have a formidable force to be reckoned with. And it works really well within the context of the story.

Fire has to find a way to use her powers without betraying herself, by becoming her father and manipulating others around her against their will. She has to find an inner strength and realise that her battles don't necessarily have to be fought alone single handedly. She has strong friends to stand by her side and at the end of day she has to learn that she can't do everything herself and that she has to rely on their skills and friendship as much as they need to rely on hers.

It's a beautifully written novel by a very talented author. Fire is fresh and exciting, something utterly different that will surprise you no matter what your preconceived ideas. I just wish I had more time at my disposal as I'd like to read it again. Very soon. For a third time.

Dark Entries by Ian Rankin, illustrated by Werther Delle'edera

Synopsis:

Occult detective John Constantine has seen his share of strange things in his career, but nothing could prepare him for the horrors of…reality television. "Haunted Mansion" is currently the hottest show on tv, but when the macabre house actually starts attacking the contestants, Constantine is hired to be the ultimate mole. Locked inside with a cast of wannabe-celebrities, his every move being monitored by a deadly figure from his past, Constantine must figure out who (or what) is pulling the strings before he gets cancelled—permanently.

DARK ENTRIES is a classic locked-room mystery starring HELLBLAZER's John Constantine. Ian is joined in this graphic novel by Italian artist Werther Dell'Edera, the illustrator of a number of American comics – mostly notably Vertigo's LOVELESS.

Note: the review contains strong language!

I chose this as my first graphic novel review for 2010. Needless to say I am pleased that I did. More than Mr. Rankin's writing, I took to Werther's illustrative style. I like to say I enjoy graphic novels but the fact that I don't read enough of them makes me a liar. I'm a visual reader, especially when it comes to reading standard novels, no matter the genre. I enjoy scene setting and imagining how it pans out in my head. Werther's artwork throughout Dark Entries is a showcase of someone who "got" Ian Rankin's storyline for Constantine. It could have gone a whole different way, with lurid splashes and severe close-ups, but instead we have tightly controlled bit of art, revealing much of Rankin's story, without it being repetitive. A good combination.

The story is one of those odd ones where even before you get to the guy who has broken into Constantine's house to offer him a deal he can't refuse, you know the brown stuff's going to hit the fan in a spectacularly Constantine way.

Constantine gets coerced into walking into the "Haunted Mansion" reality tv show as a fellow participant, after the producer reveals that something odd was going on and for a change, they had nothing to do with the visions and nightmares the contestants were experiencing.

It takes maybe all of five minutes for Constantine to come to grips with the fact that something was definitely up and that the tv producers weren't lying about having nothing to do with the visions the contests were having. But then, the tv producers were lying about other things, bigger things.

The reveal is handled well enough - I felt disappointed that the characters didn't show a lot more reaction than they did - but then, I suppose from their point of view, and what they've been going through, anything can happen and it does. On levels that Constantine and the tv producers couldn't begin to predict, even if they were the masters of the chaos that ensues.

Rankin plays heavily on Constantine's lost cause/damsel in distress attributes and I felt a little manipulated by this. Although I mentioned above that I don't read far enough comics / GN, I do my Constantine and I felt that his portrayal by Mr. R just didn't ring true. It's only once Constantine faces what's really going on that you see the other side of him, the guy who can gilbly say: No one fucks with John Constantine, and you believe it, that the stakes are upped and you realise the game is now really afoot.

Dark Entries is for mature audiences so if you're offended by swearing look away...now!

Note: this was snipped with iphone from the GN with no intention other than to illustrate this line's cool-factor.

Dark Entries is part of a new sub-imprint called Vertigo Crime from DC Comics. It is available in all good book stores and online.

Bloodring by Faith Hunter

Wow, it's been ages since I've posted a review. As much as I would've liked to, I wasn't kidnapped by aliens (hunky space pirate anybody;D), I've been incredibly busy with my new job and moving into my new flat. I was also without internet access for a considerable time. I apologise.

Here is a goal for 2010: I will post a review every Friday (they may just be a little bit on the short side;D)! Well, it will be Friday for me and Saturday for you UK people.

Here is the synopsis of Bloodring from Faith Hunter's website:

In a novel filled with exhilarating action and lush imagery, Faith Hunter portrays a near-future world, caught in the throes of an ambiguous apocalypse, where a woman with everything to hide finds her destiny revealed….

No one thought the apocalypse would be like this. The world didn’t end. And the appearance of seraphs heralded three plagues and a devastating war between the forces of good and evil. Over a hundred years later, the earth has plunged into an ice age, and seraphs and demons fight a never-ending battle while religious strife rages among the surviving humans.

Thorn St. Croix is no ordinary neomage. All the others of her kind, mages who can twist leftover creation energy to their will, were gathered together into Enclaves long ago; and there they live in luxurious confinement, isolated from other humans and exploited for their magic. When her powers nearly drive her insane, she escapes—and now she lives as a fugitive, disguised as a human, channeling her gifts for war into stone-magery and the pacific tasks of jewelry making. But when Thaddeus Bartholomew, a dangerously attractive policeman, shows up on her doorstep and accuses her of kidnapping her ex-husband, she retrieves her weapons and risks revealing her identity to find him. And for Thorn, the punishment for revelation is death….

I've been looking at these books since I walked past a display in the 'World's Biggest Bookshop'. I would walk into the section, read the back and admire the cover, but I kept hesitating because it didn't look like the romance would play such a big part in the book.

Finally, I bought the book and I was right, romance wasn't the driving force behind the story, but there is plenty to keep me glued to the page;D.

Thorn has disguised who she is and her stone mage powers for a decade. When her ex-husband disappears and she becomes the main suspect, Thorn can either run and leave the jewllery store she built with her two best friends behind or investigate on her own and risk being found out. Being an unlicensed Witchy-Woman results in horrific and extended torture, followed by slow death (what can I say, the people of this world are really loving and tolerant).

'Bloodring' had me by the throat from the first page. This post-apocalyptic world Faith Hunter has created is mindblowing. There are some inconsistencies (sugar is rare and expensive but aspirin readily available, the world is in an ice age, major cities are destroyed but the internet still works), but I didn't notice any of that because I was so caught up in the action, creatures and characters.

Thorn is the narrator and she has a wicked sense of humour. Her self-depeciating sarcasm made me laugh out loud more than once. When her powers came online as a teenager, she could suddenly hear the thoughts of every single mage around her; she had to leave her home or go mad. Now, following the clues searching for her ex-husband Lucas, Thorn discovers that Darkness is once again rising in Mineral City and that there may be far more involved than just the kidnapping of one human. And her being here at this point in time may not be an accident.

I really enjoyed the way Hunter describes Thorn using stones and crystals for her magic, the way she mixes fact with fiction. It always felt smoothly weaved into the story and appropriate for the situation. You were never quite sure what would happen next.

Thorn's investigation kept me on the edge of my seat, twisting and turning in directions I did not see coming. Sometimes it became a little too complicated and just one creature too many, but overall, I found the story new and different and Hunter's charaters well developed and intriguing. 'Bloodring' is the first book in a series and I went right back to the store to buy 'Seraphs' and 'Host' and I now cannot wait for the next book in the series.

'Bloodring' is post-apocalyptic fantasy with a certain amount of violence, is published by Roc and Faith Hunter's website can be found here.

The Splendour Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Synopsis:

Sylvie Davis is a ballerina who can’t dance. A broken leg ended her career, but Sylvie’s pain runs deeper. What broke her heart was her father’s death, and what’s breaking her spirit is her mother’s remarriage—a union that’s only driven an even deeper wedge into their already tenuous relationship.

Uprooting her from her Manhattan apartment and shipping her to Alabama is her mother’s solution for Sylvie’s unhappiness. Her father’s cousin is restoring a family home in a town rich with her family’s history. And that’s where things start to get shady. As it turns out, her family has a lot more history than Sylvie ever knew. More unnerving, though, are the two guys that she can’t stop thinking about. Shawn Maddox, the resident golden boy, seems to be perfect in every way. But Rhys—a handsome, mysterious foreign guest of her cousin’s—has a hold on her that she doesn’t quite understand.

Then she starts seeing things. Sylvie’s lost nearly everything—is she starting to lose her mind as well?

I will quite honestly say that I was very guarded when I started reading The Splendour Falls. I was so concerned it was going to be similar to Fallen or even The Hollow and so when after the opening chapter I was faced with something utterly unexpected and well written, I was over the moon. I even did a little skippy dance. No. Seriously.

The Splendour Falls introduces us to Sylvie who suffered a terrible accident whilst on stage – she broke her leg quite badly and after months of therapy and operations, Sylvie is in a dark place. She can hobble around but she seems to be in constant pain. Her mother’s about to go off on her honeymoon with her second husband and decides that Sylvie may be better off with her cousin in Alabama. But then Sylvie did get drunk at the wedding reception, stagger out of the party and have a particularly vivid hallucination in Central Park. All of this, her “substance” abuse and her dark moods convinced her mom that a change of scenery would be best.

Sylvie knows very little about her father’s home. She knew he left in his late teens, never to return. He never spoke about his family or where he came from. So she’s in for a big shock when she arrives at Blue Stone Inn and discovers that everyone’s been waiting for her to arrive as she belongs. But belongs to what or where, exactly? Sylvie’s not sure what exactly is going on – wherever she goes in town everyone greets her and is nice, welcoming her “home”. She feels more than just a bit freaked out and the way that Shawn Maddox behaves around her, it’s like he owns her, like they are destined to be together. Hokum, right? It’s an interesting question that’s raised – old folkloric beliefs vs common sense and modern thought.

Throw into the mix the very lovely and pleasant Rhys who clearly has a thing for Sylvie but who is an outsider, working with his father (an anthropologist) whilst helping out at an archaeological dig nearby. Rhys is very likeable. I like how he stands up to Shawn and is protective over Sylvie, although he clearly feels he can’t reveal what he’s about as that would freak her out. Sylvie on the other hand is not a stupid girl, at all. She’s very quick to catch on that things are different at the Inn and soon pieces are coming together and her doubts about her sanity goes from one end of the spectrum to the next. She starts working on the knot garden, clearing off the blue standing stone in the middle of the garden and reshaping the garden according to an old plan she found in a diary. Working in the garden keeps her grounded, she feels closer to her father who was a landscape architect.

There is a smattering of the supernatural throughout The Splendour Falls. I have to say I strongly suspected it to go one way and then it didn’t and I was so incredibly pleased. The whole story works so well. Wonderfully written with the main character being someone you actually like and have empathy for. She proactive and reactive. Her life is her life. She’s strong and independent and a bit sulky and moody for quite a while in the beginning but then, she’s allowed to be.

What I love about Sylvie’s character is that she has a very firm grasp of who she is or rather, who she was. She thinks she has to change utterly from being brought up with this dream of being a world famous ballet dancer and flounders quite a bit, but it’s her training and her self-determination that sees her through and she realises that although she may never dance again, there are other things out there that she can do, that she’s good at. She was never just a dancer, there is more to her (and her future) than that. Again, a fantastic role model for girls of all ages to look to. I found Sylvie a fantastic change of pace as well as the whole story told within The Splendour Falls and the snippets of Celtic lore woven throughout. There are many strands from the story which I’ve left unexplored in this review because as a reader you should discover them for yourself. And I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did!

The Splendour Falls is due out at the end of January 2010 by Random House Children’s Books and is aimed strongly at the YA market with some tremendous cross-over appeal. Find Rosemary Clement-Moore's website here.

Guest Post: Adventuring, and How to Avoid It by Lavie Tidhar

As part of him taking the world by storm, we've got Lavie Tidhar visiting us today on his whirlwind blog tour. What I found / scrounged up about the world-travelling Lavie is:

**

Lavie grew up on a kibbutz in Israel and has lived variously in South Africa, the UK, Asia and the remote island-nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

Lavie’s first novel, The Bookman, will be published by HarperCollins’ Angry Robot imprint in January 2010: “both an exuberant steampunk adventure novel and a book about books, a retelling of the Orpheus story set against the wide background of an alternative nineteenth century.” It will be followed by at least two more books in the series.

Lavie’s other works include novellas An Occupation of Angels, Cloud Permutations and Gorel & The Pot-Bellied God, linked-story collection HebrewPunk, and collaborative novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (with Nir Yaniv), as well as numerous short stories. He has also written a short play, a Hebrew poetry collection, and scripts for comics.

**

Adventuring, and how to Avoid It

I think I always feared, deep down, that unless I did something drastic with my life I would end up at sixty with a pipe, a glass of sherry and a book, sitting in an armchair, having lived a thoroughly dull life.

Which, looking back, might not have been such a bad idea!

Someone once told me only dull people go travelling: interesting people stay at home and have an interesting time. Certainly, the kind of conversations you can expect when you travel seem to boil down to the “where do you come from?” and “where are you going?” prompts (to both of which I used to answer “Japan”, for no good reason but to get it over with). And yet...

There was the Artificial Intelligence doctor I met in a guest-house in Zimbabwe one time... and the nuclear physicist travelling around the South Pacific on a miniscule yacht, who shared his sense of excitement in working on nuclear weapons for the US military in the 60s and 70s... or the South African police detective who retired to the shores of Lake Malawi, and shared stories of spontaneous human combustion...

Someone once told me most of my stories feature travel. And that is certainly true of The Bookman, my first novel coming out this week in the UK. My hero, Orphan, is a reluctant traveller – a guy who wants nothing more than to stay at home and read books. Adventure, as it were, is thrust upon him. Because the thing about adventure, the real-life truth of it, is that it is usually only fun once it’s safely over, and you can sit at home, warm and well-fed, and recall it.

Adventuring means being cold – and hungry – and tired – and scared. I once climbed the volcano on the island of Gaua in the South Pacific – a semi-active volcano surrounded by the southern hemisphere’s largest volcanic lake, Lake Letes. Very few people ever get to go there – the Banks islands of Vanuatu, where I lived, are some of the most remote and inaccessible parts of the world. And the volcano was beautiful. Giant eels lived in the sulphuric lake, and giant prawns, and nothing else. There were no people there, no lights, nothing but the smoke rising from the volcano and the sun setting in the distance.

And we ate instant noodles mixed with tinned fish. I urge you to try it.

And it rained that night.
Heavily.
And trying to go and relieve myself, I instead fell in the mud.
I really wasn’t having a good time.

We walked bus fasin (bush fashion). Barefoot through the forest, knee-deep in water from the rains. We had to push our way through with machetes, clearing a path over steep falls and precipices. A fall would have meant an instant end: there were no helicopters standing by, no doctors, no hospitals.

I didn’t fall – luckily.

Another time, I was in a small town on the Rejang river in Borneo, around 600 miles into the interior – the farthest one could go – when I started talking to a man who turned out to run a logging camp deep in the jungle, and who said, “If you want to go, we’re leaving in an hour.”

My girlfriend and I grabbed our bags and an hour later were sitting in the back of a pickup, traversing dirt roads deep into the forest, arriving – six hours later – somewhere near the border of Kalimantan.

No one knew we were there. We weren’t even supposed to be there.

Looking back... you take risks you’re not even aware of. Hitchhiking from Zimbabwe to Malawi, via Mozambique, in a day – at one point sitting at the back of a pickup belonging to a speed-mad Portuguese missionary... or going off into the Gobi desert for ten days, where a frozen river sits an hour’s drive from giant, pristine sand dunes...

I don’t know if any of this made me any more interesting than I was. No one likes other people’s travel stories. For me, it was – it is – about visiting the more remote places of the world, of getting to see life as it’s lived elsewhere – and try to gain a new perception from it.

In The Bookman, Orphan leaves home not because he wants to, but because he must. How far will you go for love? And how far will you go to learn the truth about yourself? It seems to me, as it no doubt seems to Orphan, that adventure is best enjoyed at home, in comfort. Adventure is best found in books – and I love adventure books. I also love having hot water in the shower, and clean water to drink – rare and wonderful things, both. And so I hope that The Bookman has that sense of adventure to it – the sweat and the fear and the discomfort, but also the sheer unbeatable exhilaration of it, that sense of pure freedom that can be more addictive than any drug.

That sense of fun.

There’s a lot more in The Bookman – exploding books and vast conspiracies, automatons and giant lizards, chases and escapes, a quest of sort – but fun, I hope, lies beneath it all.

I hope you might read it –

And I hope you agree.

Lavie's novel The Bookman is out later this month from Angry Robot.

Lemony Snicket answers your questions!

The famous yet mysterious author of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books allows himself to be interviewed by you on this live webTV show

Show date: Monday 11th January

Show time: 17:30

Who is Lemony Snicket? This is a question that has been uttered by many a child since last millennium.

The famous author of the “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books is shrouded in both myth and mystery, and has shunned publicity after a scandal that saw Mr Snicket exiled from his hometown several decades ago.

His tales of the orphaned Baudelaires – Violet, Klaus and Sunny – and their attempts to avoid imprisonment, torture and death at the hands of their evil, distant relative Count Olaf have captivated and chilled hundreds of thousands of children and adults around the world. The series has sold over 60 million copies worldwide – including five million in the UK – and have even been turned into a film starring Jim Carrey, Billy Connolly and Meryl Streep.

But with the 13th and final book in the series now published, many wonder what the mysterious author has next. Fortunately, the many can now quiz him in a live webTV show about what he’s been doing and what they can expect from the new series, which at this stage cannot be named (for fear of jeopardising the final stages of Mr Snicket’s investigations).

Lemony Snicket joins us live online at http://www.webchats.tv/chat/lemony_snicket_answers_your_questions
on Monday 11th January at 17:30 to discuss.

Click above to submit questions before the chat.

For more information visit www.unfortunateevents.com

Chat spokesperson’s biog

Lemony Snicket was born before you were, and is likely to die before you as well. His family has roots in a part of the country which is now underwater, and his childhood was spent in the relative splendour of the Snicket Villa which has since become a factory, a fortress and a pharmacy and is now, alas, someone else's villa. Due to the world-wide web of conspiracy which surrounds him, Mr. Snicket often communicates with the general public through his representative, Daniel Handler. Mr. Handler has had a relatively uneventful life, and is the author of three books for adults, The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, none of which are anywhere near as dreadful as Mr. Snicket's.

Guest Review: Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick

I am so very pleased to have my buddy Sarah Bryars (she is Esssjay on LiveJournal and @Esssjay on Twitter) helping me review some of Marcus Sedgwick's books. As you can tell by the small little advert on the right hand side of the blog, January 2010 is "Marcus Sedgwick Month" on MFB.

Synopsis:

There is a magician called Valerian who must save his own life, or pray the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. But will alchemy and sorcery be any match against the demonic power pursuing him? Helping him is his servant, Boy, a child with no name and no past, and the quick-witted Willow, and watching their fortune, mapping their destinies ... is Fate.

Sarah says:

I first read this when it first came out and loved it at the time. When it came to re-reading it I discovered that I really couldn’t remember a great deal of detail except the feeling that the book gives you. It left me with the image of shadowy halls and dark, dirty streets. The story takes place on the days between Christmas and New Year but the celebration of this time doesn’t touch the inhabitants of the novel.

It starts with a magic show which sets the framework of the whole book. You feel as if you’re being shown one thing while the author’s sleight of hand is hiding the truth from you. Boy is Valerian’s assistant and slave. He can’t remember a great deal of his life before he lived with Valerian but is simply grateful for a place to sleep and the meagre food he’s given. Valerian is a character with few redeeming qualities. On odd occasions throughout, he treats Boy with kindness but moments like these are rare.

Valerian, who’s always troubled, has recently become more morose. He sends Boy out on endless errands and one of these leads to Boy witnessing a murder. On the other side of the city a girl called Willow discovers the dead body of the theatre owner where she works. Both Boy and Willow find each other in time to be arrested for murder and thrown into prison. Valerian rescues them and they are thrown together in a quest for a book that Valerian believes will save his life. This search takes the characters to suspicious inns, graveyards, underground canals and crypts.

Although I had little sympathy for Valerian I didn’t question Boys devotion to him. The alternative to the abuse Boy receives is the street, starvation and the opportunity to freeze to death. Willow is a wonderful character, she becomes the reader and asks the questions that Boy would never think of. She feels the need to take care of Boy (and Valerian to an extent). As the story progresses you get to watch their relationship develop in a touching way.

The story itself progresses at speed. There’s hardly any downtime and the characters ricochet from one event to the next. This gives the book a breathless quality that is exaggerated by the short chapters. Most of the action takes place at night. Other themes include grave digging, scientific discovery, taxidermy and the search for the book. I loved the gothic feel of the novel, you feel as if the characters’ lives are taking place out of the view of society in a secret world. It’s very seductive and secretive, the book is full of the unknown. Sedgwick is a master of world creation. The one that he’s created in The Book of Dead Days is so shadowy and alluring that it was far too easy to slip back into it again.

The final chapters do answer many questions but the very last few pages do leave you hungry for more answers and sets the reader up for the sequel; The Dark Flight Down. So, if you love the gothic and shadowy this book is for you. However, if you like something a little more flowery or glittery then leave this; it’s relentless in its bleakness and not for those with a weak stomach.

**

Liz says:

I recall reading The Book of Dead Days, having bought it from Ottakars in Bromley. I had carried it home like it was a trophy, made myself tea and sat down and read it in one fell swoop. Then I made Mark read it. This was quite a few years ago. I've been a fan of Mr. Sedgwick since then. Which is why I've decided to have Mr. S be the first of our "Author of the Month" authors on the blog for 2010.

Reading The Book of Dead Days I was struck by the strong imagery, the sense of place in the novel. I loved this dark city he created with its winding alleys and shadows that lurked. I loved the use of language and the style of his writing. How quickly he set the whole story up and how it just escalated from there, bouncing you along, come hell or high water.

You had to be a cold-hearted person not to feel empathy with Boy. Willow's treatment was equally harsh at the hands of her mistress and through both these two characters you experience a world that is dark, grim and yet, and yet, there is this vague hope of something less ugly just around the corner!

It has to be one of my all-time favourite Marcus Sedgwick books out there and having the chance to revisit it for the purpose of the Author of the Month has been good fun.

Author of the Month

Mark and I brainstormed a new idea towards the end of 2009. We wanted to do something different on the blog to highlight a few of our favourite authors throughout the year.

Subsequently we came up with the Author of the Month event for MFB. We'll still be reviewing as many books we can each month but each month we'll be getting a bit "intimate" with a chosen author.

We're kicking off in January with one of my personal favourite authors: Marcus Sedgwick. I've not reviewed him on the blog. I know - weird, right? Well it's because his work lies a bit too close to my heart. I'm a fan. Before I'm even a reviewer. I'm a reader and a fan. Which is why I've roped in a few other fans/readers/reviewers to help me out with Marcus's Author of the Month.

In an utterly selfish way, it helps me keep perspective of his writing and it reigns me in from turning into a slavering fan-girl and using too many exclamation marks like this!!!!

There will be comps, there will be interviews and reviews with the Author of the Month. And Mark and I hope you like this new feature on the blog!

My Love Lies Bleeding Competition Winners

And the two winners are:

Michaela D

and

Tam

Thanks so much for entering! Hope you enjoy MLLB as much as I did. And thanks to Bloomsbury for letting us run the comp.

The Enemy - Charlie Higson

They’ll chase you. They’ll rip you open. They’ll feed on you.

When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician – every adult- fell ii. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry.

Only children under fourteen remain, and they’re fighting to survive.

Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city -down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground- the grown ups lie in wait.


The story starts with a bang, a daring daylight raid by a posse of diseased and animalistic adults that sees them make off with a small boy for the larder. It’s a dramatic start that sets the tone for the rest of the story and cleverly slips in a whole bucketful of background info.

By the time we join the story, the mysterious plague has already wreaked its havoc on the adult population and the city; the kids who are still around have already learned hard lessons and are, in the most part, veterans of their apocalypse. Their position is precarious; while their current hideout is secure for the moment, it isn’t sustainable; there are too many mouths to feed and resources are rapidly running out.

While not a wholly original concept, what makes The Enemy stand out is the constant feeling that a big brown comet is about to hit the fan; it’s a relentless tension uniting the escapades of the various characters as time runs out and the adults start displaying symptoms of a cunning, feral intelligence. It’s really one of those ‘missed-my-station’ books- it’s hard to tear yourself away once you get into it. Charlie doesn’t pull any punches on the violence either, an important consideration that prevents anything from being taken for granted and makes for scenes of exquisite tension, because there’s never any doubt what is at risk.

The principal characters are well drawn and convincing; their bravado and desperation is underpinned by sometimes poignant reminders that these are, after all, otherwise normal kids who’ve been plunged into a world where everyone they’re supposed to trust is trying to eat them.

I’ve not read any of Charlie’s previous offerings, but if they’re anywhere as gripping, tense and more-ish as The Enemy then I’ve done myself a disservice.

You can visit The Enemy website here and read an extract here.