New paperback releases - June 2010

Whilst I was waiting in line for Charlie Higson's session at the Hay Festival I had a brief conversation with the mother of three boys who had with them an impressive pile of books. Somehow we got onto the subject of hardbacks versus paperbacks, with her saying that she rarely buys hardbacks as they are often quite expensive and therefore her boys either have to borrow the books from the library or wait until the paperback edition is released. Her one small moan was that whilst the hardback editions of popular books generally arrive with quite a fanfare of publicity, the paperbacks are often released without a lot of fuss and it would be nice if blogs such as The Book Zone could occasionally highlight when these books are getting their paperback release. So, with this in mind, here are a few of the big paperback releases of boy-friendly books for this month:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way, taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

In my review back then I described this book as "one of the finest examples of steampunk fiction for boys that I have come across". Since then I have read Cherie Priest's amazing Boneshaker, but Leviathan is still a good second place. Is it steam punk? Or is it diesel punk? Whatever it is I really enjoyed this imaginative story with its original premise when I first read it at the tail end of last year. 

Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz

Targeted by a hitman and under threat of his past being exposed by the media, Alex reluctantly turns to MI6. But their help doesn't come cheap: they need Alex to spy on the activities at a GM crop plant. There he spots Desmond McCain, a high profile charity organiser, who realises that Alex is on to him and the real plans for the money he's raising. Kidnapped and whisked off to Africa, Alex learns the full horror of McCain's plot: to create an epic disaster that will kill millions. Forced to ask MI6 for protection, Alex finds himself being manipulated in a deadly game that could lead to the destruction of an entire East African country.

Mission 8 for the seemingly indestructible Alex Rider, and in my opinion one of the best books in the series. In my review I stated that: "Reading Crocodile Tears is very much like watching a well-made action movie – Mr Horowitz manages to balance perfectly the highs and lows of the story so that during the quieter moments you are tense with wondering what happens next, and then you get fantastic full-on, white-knuckle action scenes that have you turning the pages as fast as possible to find out just how Alex is going to survive the latest test on his abilities. In this respect this book was very similar to the adult action thrillers written by Matthew Reilly, who readily admits he to writing action movies in novel form. There is no chance to get bored reading this book – the pacing is perfect throughout."

It doesn't really seem like ten years since the first Alex Rider book was published. In order to celebrate this Walker Books is publishing the entire series in new cover designs. In addition, each of the books also contains a new Afterword by Mr Horowitz, in which he takes us behind the scenes of the series with information about the gadgets, locations, characters and many more insider secrets. 


And if you like reading all this extra background information then as an extra little treat, today I saw this great article in The Telegraph about the trip Anthony Horowitz took to Egypt in order to research the next Alex Rider book, to be called Scorpia Rising. Follow this link to read the full article.

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

They'll chase you. They'll rip you open. They'll feed on you...When the sickness came, every parent, policeman, politician - every adult - fell ill. 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. But can they make it there - alive?

 

This book was published in hardback before I started this blog so no review has appeared on here so far. However, I did mention it only yesterday in my write up about Mr Higson's highly informative session. If that isn't enough for you then you could do a lot worse than go over to My Favourite Books and read Mark De Jager's great review of it. As an added bonus for the paperback edition you also get a chance to read the first chapter of the sequel to The Enemy, enitled The Dead, as well as a short interview with the author.

Review: Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz

Targeted by a hitman and under threat of his past being exposed by the media, Alex reluctantly turns to MI6. But their help doesn't come cheap: they need Alex to spy on the activities at a GM crop plant. There he spots Desmond McCain, a high profile charity organiser, who realises that Alex is on to him and the real plans for the money he's raising. Kidnapped and whisked off to Africa, Alex learns the full horror of McCain's plot: to create an epic disaster that will kill millions. Forced to ask MI6 for protection, Alex finds himself being manipulated in a deadly game that could lead to the destruction of an entire East African country. 

Reading this book tired me out! In the past week I have read Crocodile Tears and seen 2012 at the cinema and both left me with the same sensation of breathlessness at times – some of the scenes are so tense and action packed that I am unconsciously holding my breath as I read. Reading Crocodile Tears is very much like watching a well-made action movie – Mr Horowitz manages to balance perfectly the highs and lows of the story so that during the quieter moments you are tense with wondering what happens next, and then you get fantastic full-on, white-knuckle action scenes that have you turning the pages as fast as possible to find out just how Alex is going to survive the latest test on his abilities. In this respect this book was very similar to the adult action thrillers written by Matthew Reilly, who readily admits he to writing action movies in novel form. There is no chance to get bored reading this book – the pacing is perfect throughout.

Personally I feel Crocodile Tears ranks up there with Mr Horowitz’s very best work. ‘Snakehead’ was good, but a little less believable and less well written than his previous Alex Rider books (although I should add that stories being ‘less believable’ is something I can cope with easily – one of the reasons I have always loved reading so much is the escapism it offers me, and suspending disbelief has always come easy to me as far as books and films are concerned). As always Mr Horowitz’s imagination is beyond compare – as I was reading each near-death action sequence I was constantly wondering just how Alex would manage to escape, and invariably I required the author to take me by the hand and lead me through the sequence to its nail-biting but ultimately satisfying conclusion (despite the small clues he had already left leading up to the scene).

Crocodile Tears is also a very topical story, dealing as it does with the issues surrounding the growing of GM crops, and Mr Horowitz very cleverly uses his craft to encourage his young readers to become more curious about issues such as this. The majority of the young people I teach/have taught show little interest in many of the issues that appear daily in various media, until that is they are prompted. Hopefully stories like Crocodile Tears will also encourage them to sit up and pay a little more attention to the world around them. The fact that the author has created a villain intent on making a great deal of money immorally may also strike a chord with his readers; there is no Dr Evil or Ernst Stavro Blofeld character hungering for world domination in this story.

I have read a rumour that this may be the last of the Alex Rider books, and also a rumour that there is one more in the series. I feel the ending of this book subtly implies that there may be one more to come, but whichever is true when Mr Horowitz does finally bring the series to a conclusion Alex Rider will be sorely missed (although I am very sure that Mr Horowitz will very quickly manage to fill any such vacuum with another brilliant page-turning creation).

 

Lightning shopping trip

Walking into my friendly, neighbourhood Tesco this morning at 7.15am I was very disappointed to find that they had not yet unpacked their supply of 'Crocodile Tears', Anthony Horowitz's latest Alex Rider book. Shame on you Tesco!!!!! However, I managed to shoot into Waterstones during breaktime to pick up a copy (or three.... one for Danny my godson and two for the school library). I'm already well into the story and will write more when I have finished it. There's a nice little video here of Mr Horowitz introducing the book and his super-cool studio complete with secret entrance.