Review: Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief by Gabrielle Kent

When Alfie Bloom inherited a castle and a centuries-old magic, his dull and lonely life was changed forever. But Alfie's new life has come with dangers he never could have expected. When Ashford the butler is kidnapped in the middle of the night, the castle comes under threat from a terrifying enemy. Trapped inside with only his twin cousins and best friend Amy, it's up to Alfie to defend his inheritance and prevent a terrible fate from befalling the whole of England!

*** Reader beware - this review is likely to contain spoilers for the first Alfie Bllom book.

Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Castle was one of my favourite books of 2015, and its sequel, Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief has been right up there on my list of most anticipated books of 2016. I described Gabrielle's first Alfie Bloom book as having 'perfect pace and and flow' and the author as a 'damn fine storyteller'. No pressure then, as far as the sequel is concerned!

Said sequel got preordered for my Kindle months ago, but due to the craziness of work I completely missed its release, and it was only as I was about to start reading another book that I just purchased that I saw it sitting there quietly, desperate to be read. All thoughts of reading that other book disappeared, as I dived back into the magical world of exciting adventure that Gabrielle Kent has created. 

Despite now being settled at Hexbridge Castle, Alfie and his friends have still not managed to explore the whole of this mysterious building, which still holds many secrets from them. As does Ashford, the enigmatic butler that came with the Castle when the Bloom's moved it. Readers of the first book will know that there is an air of mystery surrounding this character, and we were left wanting to know much more about him. In this second book, our wants in this particular area are met fully - Ashford's past and present actions are central to the plot of The Talisman Thief, and we see his character developed much more fully.

Last time it was dragons that Alfie found himself up against, and this time it is elves. And these are certainly not elves of the cute and friendly variety - they are far more akin to Tolkien's arrogant and warrior-like elves that we see in The Hobbit. They have been wronged and they want retribution, and their targets are set firmly on Ashford, Alfie and anyone else who gets in their way.

When I wrote my review of Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Castle I took some pride in that fact that I had spotted one particular plot twist that had not yet been resolved. Gabrielle Kent sent me a message (of which I will say no more, for fear of creating spoilers), but I have felt more than a little smug since. Well they say that pride comes before a fall, and I feel that I have fallen big time. The plot of The Talisman Thief has some MASSIVE twists that hit me right between the eyes and had my jaw dropping to the ground. 

Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief is a superb sequel, and I am sure it will be making an appearance in my favourite books of 2016. I have been in something of a reading slump recently as far as children's books are concerned, and have found myself reading far more adult and non-fiction books that I would have in recent years. However, like a phoenix from the ashes, I have been lifted out of this by two books: this wonderful magical adventure story, and Jennifer Bell's wonderful debut, The Crooked Sixpence. Hopefully I can now stay in this mood and catch up on my ultra-wobbly middle grade TBR pile.

Guest Post: Iron Fist Blog Tour

It is always a cause for some personal celebration when Andy Briggs releases a new book. I loved his Tarzan series and I can't wait to read Iron Fist, the first book in his new The Inventory series, especially given its brilliant summary:

The Rules: if you find a secret inventory of utterly deadly battle tech. 

1) Do not try it.

 2) Do not tell anyone. 

3) Do NOT let thieves in behind you. 

What’s more secret than top-secret? The Inventory. Home to the deadliest inventions the world isn’t ready for. Invisible camouflage. HoverBoots. Indestructible metals. Plus a giant creature of chaos: war robot Iron Fist. No one has ever broken past the state-of-the-art AI security system. (Seriously, most bad guys have no idea this stuff is even there.)

Problem 1: the security robot wasn’t ready for a gang of kids wandering in. 

Problem 2: they’ve ONLY brought the ruthless Shadow Helix gang in behind them. Seriously dumb, but it’s a bit late for ‘sorry’. 

Say hello to trouble: the Iron Fist is in the wrong hands!

Today I am overjoyed to be welcoming Andy to The Book Zone, as he gives us an introduction to his main character, Dev:

ENTER THE INVENTORY WITH DEV PARKER

Call him Dev, not Devon, which is his full name. He hates that. The only time he hears his full name is when he is in trouble – which is often. That’s not because he’s a trouble causer, he’s just easily bored. All those lessons in school, he already knows that stuff. Or he thinks he does, but has probably forgotten.  How can he learn anything interesting in school when he lives in an underground complex that houses the most advanced and incredible inventions ever made?

He lives with his uncle, Charles Parker, who is the Inventory’s curator. Their relationship is not exactly fun. Uncle Parker is cool mannered and not very talkative especially when Dev keeps asking about his parents. He doesn’t remember them and his uncle never has the time to talk about them. In fact, Dev doesn't know if they’re dead, missing or simply not interested in him. Not that he dwells on it too much. He’s gone beyond worrying about them – why bother when he can strap on a pair of HoverBoots and fly around the Inventory… even if he’s not allowed to touch any of the exhibits.

Breaking those rules drives his Uncle completely bonkers. To enforce his point, Charles Parker has the help of Eema – an artificial intelligent giant metal sphere with an emoji face and a chirpy personality. She is a battle robot, so is armed to the teeth! Despite that, Dev is more than happy to pit his wits against her as he sneaks into forbidden areas of the Inventory.

Dev’s dreams are to leave all of this behind him. There is a big wide world out there, and living underground – even surrounded by amazing stuff – can be boring, especially if you’re not allowed to touch any of it. It’s not as if he has friends. His Uncle’s strict secrecy orders means Dev has never had the opportunity to befriend anybody. Which, as he grows older, becomes more irritating. He’s constantly trying to avoid being picked on by the school thug, Mason, and is tongue-tied when he has the chance to talk to Lot, a girl with an infectious smile that he desperately hopes he’s not developing a crush on.

One final thing to tell you about Dev is that he has a, well some call it an ability, others call it a phenomenon and to others it’s a disability or neurological condition, called synaesthesia. He sees numbers and letters as colours and sounds because his brain scrambles how he senses such things. It’s a strange, and real, affliction. Some sufferers could easily tell you that yellow plus green equals six; the problem for you and I is that it really does. Dev’s condition is a lot more advanced, and something he has turned to his advantage in a very peculiar way…

So, go down to the Inventory yourself and meet Dev in his first adventure: IRON FIST. The further he delves into the world’s greatest secret the more answers he will discover about himself, his parents, his condition and… he might just make a few friends along the way...

www.andybriggs.co.uk

@abriggswriter

Review: Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Castle by Gabrielle Kent

Alfie Bloom is just an ordinary boy. Until he receives a letter summoning him to raven-like solicitor Caspian Bone's office. Here, Alfie learns that he has inherited a castle. And through mysterious circumstances surrounding his birth, he has also been entrusted as the caretaker of a centuries-old magic. Unfortunately for Alfie, dangerous forces are after this powerful magic. With the help of his cousins Maddie and Robin, Artan the flying bearskin rug, and Ashford (a rather special butler), Alfie must keep the magic safe from terrifying adversaries and make sure the secrets of Hexbridge Castle stay secret for ever...

I first read Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Castle back in January. I had just come out of an event that Scholastic had held about their middle grade and picture book list for 2015, and there was one book that had my interest well and truly piqued above all the others. Everything I had been told about Gabrielle Kent's debut screamed "Read me" and so I started it on the train home. I was gripped by the magical adventure story, but I couldn't say that I truly loved it. 

I give all of the books I read a star rating on Goodreads, as much as a personal record of my reading than for anything else, and I gave Alfie Bloom 4 stars. It just did not feel as good as other books I had rated 5 stars at that point, such as Abi Elphinstone's The Dreamsnatcher. When this 'starring' appeared on Twitter, I received a couple of tweets from the author, first for the 4 stars but also to say that the final version had undergone a fair few revisions since the proofs had been printed, including "Revelations moved around and I changed bits that didn't work". As you will no doubt of spotted, I have not been particularly active on this blog this year, and I never got around to posting a review before the book was published in June. However, as we broke up for the summer holidays and I was tidying away some books, I spotted that proof and decided that I would buy the final version for my kindle to take away on holiday with me. And this time I LOVED it! Definitely worthy of 5 Goodreads stars!

It's very rare that I find the time to re-read books these days, especially so soon after a first reading, but I am so glad that I gave Alfie Bloom another chance, as I was completely captivated this time around (and it also made a rather choppy Channel crossing a lot more pleasurable). I've not done a page by page comparison so I can't tell you exactly what had changed between the proof and final versions, but in my mind the final version had a plot that possessed perfect pace and flow.

Apart from being a damn fine storyteller, Gabrielle Kent is obviously a fellow lover of children's literature as Alfie Bloom contains elements that in some ways almost make it read as a homage to the great children's writers and books of the past, in the best possible way. The two headmistresses of the local Hexbridge school, the nemeses of every child who has had to be educated there, are incredibly Dahlesque in their nastiness and the punishments they dole out to their students might even have Dahl's Miss Trunchbull reporting them to Ofsted for cruelty to children. And this is just a starter - there are elements of Enid Blyton, E. Nesbit and Diana Wynne Jones in this story, particularly in the way Alfie interacts with his cousins, and their shared sense of adventure.

Following the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter books, there were a lot of similarly themed but far lesser books released as publishers looked to cash in. We then went through a period of (too many) years where it seemed that publishers felt that magic was no longer cool or marketable. Obviously enough time has now passed since Potter, and new adventure stories featuring magic are now appearing on book store shelves again. Recent notable and thoroughly enjoyable examples include Archie Greene and the Magician's Secret by D.D. Everest and Magisterium: The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Hall is another, and in my opinion it is easily the best so far. It has shapeshifters, mythical creatures, time travel, ancient druidic magic, a rather splendid and mysterious butler, and the wonderful Hexbridge Castle itself - almost a character in its own right.

This is the first book in a series (I have no idea how many books are planned, but I really hope there are LOTS of them), and Gabrielle Kent very kindly does not leave us with a kind of cliffhanger ending. There are a small number of threads left untied which I am sure will be further explored in the sequel. There is one in particular that I am very keen to see how it is developed as there is a teacher at the school in Hexbridge who possesses a certain air of mystery. If my knowledge of traditional French & English fables is anything to go by (gained more on a 1970s Fairport Convention song than any in depth study of the subject) then I have a feeling that she has already played a bigger part in the story than some readers may have realised (and there's also that Wayne's World line: "In French, she would be called "la renarde" and she would be hunted with only her cunning to protect her".

I seem to be saying this a lot this year, but this is yet another book that richly deserves a place in my Top 10 books of 2015. I am starting to worry that I may have said this more than ten times though! It is middle grade fantasy adventure at its very best, and I can't wait to read the sequel.

News: Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve to be relaunched as Predator Cities

I received a lovely surprise parcel on Saturday, courtesy of the nice people at Scholastic. It would appear that Scholastic are relaunching the totally brilliant Mortal Engines series in June, with brand new cover designs and under the series heading of Predator Cities. I have to say, I am something of an old-fashioned purist and prefer the illustrated covers that the first editions of these books came with, but I can see exactly where Scholastic are coming from with these new designs. Although steampunk has become a genre in its own right, and is incredibly popular with many adult readers, when I mention the term to the kids at school they tend to give me a blank look. To my great disappointment, they just aren't fussed with beautiful images of brass gears, fantastic steam-driven machines and the Victorian aesthetic. However, when I showed them these new covers on Monday they were in awe, many of them saying how they looked like X-Box games. One boy who would previously have not gone anywhere near a book of this 'thickness' was almost salivating at the thought of reading it.

I know that there will be many long time fans of this series that will hate these covers, but most of them will be adults who first discovered Mortal Engines when it was released in 2001, either as young adults or as adult readers. I would like to remind those readers who may not like these new covers that these books were written for the 11+ age group, and given the wonderfully timeless nature of the stories then a redesign of the covers to entice a new generation of readers into diving into them can only be a good thing in my opinion. It would be tragic if stories as perfect as these sat untouched on bookstore shelves just because the covers were out-of-date with current tastes.

As for the Predator Cities series title? Again, the kids at school loved it, and desperately wanted to know how a city could be a predator. Some of them are going to have to wait a while to find out, as there is now something of a waiting list of pupils who want to read Mortal Engines.  

Review: Apocalypse Moon by M.G. Harris (Joshua Files Book 5)

Something is very wrong with the 2012 Plan. Is it really on course to save the planet from the gigantic Electro-Magnetic Pulse that's due to shatter civilisation at the end of the year? After a narrow escape from US government agents Josh decides to risk his own life on a daring mission - a leap forward in time to discover the truth about 2012. He's jumped ahead far enough to glimpse a post-apocalyptic world in collapse. And to realise - it could be his destiny to stay.

I'm going to start this review with a long overdue apology to M.G. Harris. Just over a year ago M.G. very kindly sent me a signed proof of the fourth Joshua Files Book, Dark Parallel. I read it, loved it, but never posted a review of it on The Book Zone. Believe me, I wanted to, and I lost count of the number of times I started to write something and then gave up. Dark Parallel really messed with my head - if you haven't read it then it sees Josh and Ixchel travelling through time, finding themselves in various parallel timelines. Not only did it mess with my head, but it also answers a number of the questions created in the earlier three Joshua Files books, and leaves many more for the final instalment, and I just could not come up with a review that did not contain a long list of spoilers.

I did however make a promise to myself that I would review Apocalypse Moon, come what may. However, having finished it yesterday afternoon I am still in something of a quandry. This is the final book in the series. It is the book that ties off all the loose ends and answers all the questions readers have been pondering for the past four years. So yet again I am left with the unenviable task of writing a spoiler-free review. With this in mind I have decided to make this brief, and bullet point the key aspects, as they come to me, in no particular order:

• I loved it. It is the perfect ending to a series that I was enjoying long before I started The Book Zone.
• The black gel sleeve is gorgeous. I have to admit, I initially had my doubts, but I take them all back. It is perfect!
• Every question is answered (at least every question I had was answered).
• We finally find out the identity of Arcadio.
• Josh travels into the future and we find out what happens to the world after the Electro-Magnetic Pulse hits. And it's scary!
• We finally find out the mystery surrounding the disapperance of Blanco Vigores.
• We discover the secret behind the Bakab gene and what that means for Josh, his friends, and the future of the planet Earth.
• We are treated to even more twists and turns, and shock revelations about secondary characters and the part they may have to play in the 2012 plan.

I would be absolutely amazed if there is a single Joshua Files fan out there who ends up feeling disappointed on finishing this book. I am a little sad that we have come to the end of Josh's story, but also elated that it ends with such a great final instalment.

Having started with an apology, I'm going to end this review with a note of thanks to M.G. for mentioning me in her acknowledgements at the end of Apocalypse Moon. I started reading the series long before I started The Book Zone, and when I first picked up that stunning orange day-go gel covered book in Bracknell Waterstones I never dreamed that four years later my name would be printed inside the last book in the series. I am very flattered, and rather humbled by this kind gesture by M.G.

Apocalypse Moon is due to be published on 5th April (in its lovely black gel sleeve). My thanks go the good people at Scholastic who sent me a copy to review.

Coming Up In 2012 #14: Atomic! by Guy Bass

My original intention had been to run the Coming Up In 2012 throughout January only, but the response from publishers and authors has been so fantastic that I still have a few more for you. Today's is from Guy Bass, the hugely talented author of Stitch Head, Dinkin Dings and Secret Santa. February 2nd saw the release of the first book in his new series - it's about superheroes so I'm sold on it already. Here's Guy to tell us some more about the books:

My name is Guy and I’m addicted to superheroes. I’m a superheroholic.

I’ve been wanting to write about superheroes for years – professionally, that is. I spent most of my childhood (and a fair chunk of my adulthood) reading superhero comics. In my younger days I made up scores of my own heroes and villains and sent them on adventures or pitched them against each other. My brother and I came up with hundreds of characters – men, women, children, robots, monsters, robot-monster-children... We mapped out worlds and histories spanning hundreds of years, ending up with an entire universe (and the odd parallel universe) to play with. We’d write stories, draw comics, or, more often than not, act out epic, noisy, house-and-garden-spanning battles that would almost always result in Mum shouting at us. We’re in our mid-thirties now, so the battles are slightly less epic. But we still fight... and we still get shouted at.

All of which sort of led me to write Atomic! It’s a comic adventure (and an adventure comic – I’ll explain later) about Jonny and Tommy Atomic, the twin sons of the world’s greatest superhero. They’re also the world’s best kept secret – no one even knows they exist. Their father, Captain Atomic, is always busy saving the world, so he keeps Jonny and Tommy hidden away on a giant, invisible island in the sky, under the watchful eye of their uncle, Dogday (who happens to be super-intelligent talking dog) and Aunt Sandwich (who’s a hamster. Just ‘cause.)

Jonny and Tommy’s adventures kick off with Issue #1: The Vengeance of Vinister Vile. Jonny and Tommy are sent to school and have to pretend that they’re ordinary nine year-old boys. Jonny takes his secret identity very seriously but Tommy just wants to show the world what he can do, which (among other things) involves putting a crocodile in a swimming pool. Then in Issue #2: The Madness of Madame Malice, the boy’s mother – who is also the world’s most famous super-villain, Madame Malice – escapes from prison and tries to convince the boys that villainy is a lot more fun than heroism.

So, what can you expect from Atomic! – apart from heroes and villains, prison breaks, epic battles, rampaging monsters and a hamster with a ray gun? Here’s what: comics. The best thing about Atomic, without a doubt is that it’s part comic. Whenever anything really exciting happens, especially when things explode or fights break out, the book turns into a comic. I’m beside myself about this. It’s panel upon panel, page upon page of ridiculously awesome artwork by Jamie Littler. It’s some of the best, most dynamic, book illustrating I’ve ever seen. I could (and probably will) wax lyrical about the look of these books for weeks on end.

As they say in comics - see you in the funny papers!

News: New trailers for Apocalypse Moon & The Joshua Files series by MG Harris

In my first post of 2012 I mentioned how I was both excited and a little sad about the publication of Apocalypse Moon, the final book in MG Harris's brilliant Joshua Files series. Back in 2008 when I was still reading children's and YA books based upon their covers attracting my attention, rather than on press releases from publishers, I could not help but buy Invisible City, in its unique orange day-glow gel sleeve. I loved that story and the publication of each book that followed became an annual event in my diary. Now, with the publication of Apocalypse Moon just over two months away, there have been two new trailers released, one of the series as a whole and one for Apocalypse Moon. They are both brilliant - enjoy!

Attention Grabber #8: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding

Attention Grabber is my weekly feature where I post what I think is a great opening paragraph to a book, the sort of opening that pulls young readers in and hooks them from the start.

This week's Grabber is from one of my favourite author's of the moment. I love Chris Wooding's Ketty Jay stories, but I first discovered his work through The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, one of my favourite books of the last decade. It is a glorious Gothic fantasy horror story set in an alternate London, with airships, demons and corruption at the highest level. The opening paragraphs mentioning an airship, London fog and hansom cabs give a really good feel for what is to come and had my interest piqued right from the start. I also love Chris Wooding's descriptive writing in these opening paragraphs - he has the ability to tap straight into my imagination so that I can really picture the scene he had created.

The airship lumbered low overhead, its long, lined belly a dull smear of silvery light in the fog as it reflected the gas lamps of the city beneath. The heavy, ponderous thrum of its engines reverberated through the streets of the Old Quarter, making the grimy windows of the tall, close-packed terraces murmur in complaint. Like some vast, half-seen beast, it passed over the maze of alleys and cobbled walks, too huge to consider the insignificant beings that travelled them - and finally it moved on, its engines fading to a dull hum, and then gradually to silence.

There was a chill in the air tonight, a cold nip that had crept in from the Thames and settled into the bones of London. And of course there was the fog, which laid itself over everything like a gossamer blanket and softened the glow of the black lamp-post to a haze. The fog came almost every night in autumn, as much a part of London as the hansom cabs that rattled around Piccadilly Circus or the stout Peelers that walked their beats north of the great river. Not to the south, though; not in the Old Quarter. That was the domain of the mad and the crooked and the things best left unthought of. The good people of the capital knew better than to remain there after the sun had dipped beneath the skyline; not if they valued their necks, anyway.

Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

In a lawless land, where life is cheap and survival is hard, Saba has been brought up in isolated Silverlake. She never sees theangers of the destructive society outside. When her twin brother is snatched by mysterious black-robed riders, she sets out on an epic quest to rescue him.

Post-apocalyptic and dystopian stories seem to be all the rage in YA literature at the moment, although neither are sub-genres that I have had a huge amount experience of reading. However, with a number arriving in the post over the past couple of months I decided that this summer would be a good time to see what is currently out there. I have read three new books that could fit into these categories recently, and each is very different from the others, either in setting or the nature of the apocalypse that befell society, and every one of them has been a hugely enjoyable read. This is a review for Blood Red Road by Moira Young, but watch this space for reviews for Six Days by Philip Webb and 20 Years Later by E.J. Newman.

Blood Red Road tells the story of Saba, a young teenage girl living in some remote dust-bowl of an area with her father, twin brother Lugh and younger sister Emmi. Saba feels incredibly close to Lugh, but her relationships with the rest of her family are fraught. Her father has been going increasingly potty since the death of Saba's mother, who died whilst giving birth to Emmi, and as such Saba has a great deal of resentment towards this younger sibling. The story is narrated in the first person by Saba, and initially I found it hard to get in to for two reasons. The first is that a good deal of Saba's narration is written in her dialect, exactly as it would be if she was dictating it out loud, and this really takes a great deal of getting used to. On its own, this would probably not cause too many problems, even for less confident teen readers, as it really does work and I found myself drawn into the story completely. However I feel that the issue was compounded by the complete lack of speech marks in the story, which means that every single line of dialogue blends in with the rest of the prose. Again, once I was used to it there was no problem, but this is where I think struggling readers may give up on the story.

As far as the story is concerned, I found myself constantly reminded of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and this feeling increased the further I got into the story. The post-apocalyptic desert setting is the first element that brought that Mel Gibson film to mind, but it is the lawless settlement of Hopetown, and some of the villainous fiends who live there, that really struck that chord of similarity in my mind. This is not a bad thing: although in my opinion Beyond Thunderdome is nowhere near as good a film as the previous two outings for Mad Max (too many pesky kids), I love the scenes set in Bartertown, and the fight scenes in the Thunderdome are fantastic. 

To summarise very briefly, strange men appear on horseback one day, abduct Lugh and kill Saba's father in the process. She vows to herself that she will hunt them down and rescue her brother, and eventually ends up as a prisoner in completely misnamed Hopetown. Here she is forced to be a cage fighter, or face execution, for the entertainment of the rather nasty inhabitants of the town. At this point the story gets pretty violent, although the author always manages to hold off from describing some of the more potentially brutal scenes in full blood soaked detail. Instead of breaking her, Hopetown is the making of Saba, as she gives in to the rage whenever she enters the cage, and always leaves unbeaten, even if it means an opponent will face execution. She has one thing on her mind at all times, driving her on however bad things get: finding Lugh.

Saba is a great character: although initially I found it quite hard to like her, especially given the way she treats her younger sister, as the story progresses she grew and grew on me, and by the time she is cage fighting I was almost shouting out loud, egging her on to beat her latest opponent. This feeling of support for her increased even more throughout the second half of the book, but to tell you what happens there would be to spoil the story for you. In the course of her quest she meets a variety of other colourful characters, some of them good, some of them pretty damn nasty (Vicar Pinch and his mother are a delight to read).

It would be remiss of me to finish this review without mentioning Jack, and the relationship he builds with Saba. As with a great deal of YA novels featuring female main characters there is an element of romance to this story, as Saba meets and falls for the mysterious Jack. However, this is only a small part of the story, and there is more than enough action, adventure and violence to keep those boys who might normally avoid books with romantic elements thoroughly interested in the story. It certainly did not bother me at all, and I am now eagerly awaiting the sequel, due to be published sometime in 2012. 

At nearly 500 pages this is quite a long book, and given the aforementioned issues regarding the phonetic narration and the lack of speech marks I would reluctantly suggest that this is not for less confident readers. Boys (and girls) of 13+ who are confident with their reading should however find this an exciting and rewarding read. My thanks go to the generous people at Scholastic for sending me a copy.

Review: Maskmaker by Jane Johnson

In a town in which the inhabitants are plagued by dreams, Jamie Wave sleeps on undisturbed. Is he the only person in Cawstock not suffering from nightmares?

At school, they make masks in the Art lesson. Jamie and his friend Jinny make a tiger mask. Jamie has gone to a lot of trouble to get it just right: with wire for whiskers, fake fur and realistic markings it looks really good. But when he puts it on something very strange happens. Jamie -- for a few seconds -- becomes a tiger! Has he been touched by magic, or is the magic already inside him.

Jamie Wave is about to find out in a series of adventures that will see him solving riddles in the Sahara desert, battling a terrifying shaman in the Arctic and pitting his wits against an ancient dragon beneath a Chinese lake... (synopsis taken from the author's website)

First of all..... what a stunning cover! It first caught my eye when someone posted an image of it on Twitter, I then read the synopsis, thought it sounded great so I managed to persuade the nice people at Scholastic to send me a copy. I have since discovered that Jane Johnson has written several other books for children - The Eidolon Chronicles - although Maskmaker is not part of this series.

I really enjoyed reading Maskmaker, although it is quite difficult to categorise it. It has elements of fantasy, horror and adventure in equal measures, as well having a healthy dose of humour laced throughout. These elements combine perfectly to make an entertaining and thrilling story - yet another book I had to force myself to put down in order to get some much needed sleep this past week.

When I was a child, my favourite TV show was Mr Benn - I loved the concept of trying on a costume, walking through a magic door and finding myself in an adventure appropriate to that costume. The premise of Maskmaker is very similar - Jamie finds himself drawn to the mysterious Maskmaker's shop in a run-down part of town, and through actions beyond his control he finds himself walking through a portal in space and time wearing the mask of a Tuareg warrior, and ends up in the Sahara Desert in 1663. Throughout the rest of the book this happens to him again on several occasions, each time a different mask taking him to another far-off location on a reluctant mission for the increasingly sinister Maskmaker.

Jamie's character is well developed throughout the story. He is one of life's victims, bullied at school with only his ability to make said bullies laugh with his vast repertoire of jokes to save him from a major beating. As the story progresses he uses this ability to great effect in the various exotic locations he finds himself in, but in these places it is no longer his lunch money he wants to keep hold of.... now it is his life at stake! However, despite us seeing Jamie become a far stronger character through these tests, it does become a little repetitive after a while and so I would suggest, as the publishers do, that this book is suitable for the 9+ age group as older readers may find the repetition a little annoying. For those younger readers however, this remains an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable adventure story.  

The horror elements in the story will not give children nightmares, but are enough to have them jumping nervously at the nighttime sound of a hooting owl or barking dog, for in Maskmaker these animals are the servants of the evil King of Shadows. The author uses Jasper the talking cat, and the banter that develops between him and Jamie, to help lighten many of these more menacing scenes.

Maskmaker is published by Scholastic as a paperback edition and is due to be in stores on 1st March 2010. 

Review: Blackjack (Darkside) by Tom Becker

Jonathan is shocked when he finds out his mother has been locked away in Darkside's most infamous madhouse, The Bedlam, for years - and he's determined to rescue her. But with the rotten borough's brutal new leader causing mass chaos, a mysterious stone wreaking havoc on all who possess it, and the wereman Carnegie nowhere to be found, will he be able to save his mum without losing everything else?

As John 'Hannibal' Smith stated many times in the 80s..... "I love it when a plan comes together" and that is exactly what Tom Becker delivers with Blackjack, his final instalment in the brilliant Darkside series. All loose ends have been tied and the story arc started back in 2007 with Darkside is finally brought to a deeply satisfying conclusion. 

Back in 2007 Mr Becker was the winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for that first book in the series, and the quality of writing and has been of a consistently high level ever since, so is was with much anticipation that I ordered  Blackjack after seeing it on Amazon before its official release date of 1st February. However, it is also with some trepidation that I approach reading 'last in a series' books where I have greatly enjoyed all of the previous books - there is always a lot of pressure on authors to reward their long-standing readers with a satisfying conclusion, and not all authors manage it. I am delighted to say that Tom Becker certainly did not disappoint. 

If you have not yet discovered the Darkside series then where have you been over the last few years? Just to set the scene, the books focus on a boy called Jonathan who discovers a world hidden in London; a world run by the ancestors of the infamous Jack the Ripper. It is a world resembling a totally depraved Victorian society, populated by the very dregs of society - murderers, thieves, vampires, werewolves and a host of other particularly nasty characters and creatures.  The books are full of action, blood, horror and really great characters.

I am reluctant to say too much about the plot of Blackjack, for fear that it will ruin your enjoyment of earlier books in the series, should you not yet have read them. Suffice to say that the action is more non-stop in this book than in any of the previous stories as all the scene setting took place a long time ago. I finished this book in one sitting (reading well into the night) as I refused to put it down for fear that I might stumble across another review for it with accidental spoilers that could ruin my reading experience. Throughout the series Mr Becker has also developed the quality of his horror writing - this is a series of books that will have great appeal to readers new to the horror genre, who are maybe only just discovering Darren Shan's Vampire books.

The best part of the Tom Becker's writing has, for me, always been the way he describes the locations in Darkside and its inhabitants - even though you know it is an incredibly dark and dangerous place he manages to tempt you into wanting to visit this den of thieves. He makes the forbidden sound so thrilling and exciting, and Lightside (our world) sound boring and oppressive.  Over-imaginative readers (like myself) will, when visiting London, find themselves wondering.........

With the current popularity of all things steampunk, hopefully more readers will try the Darkside series with its quasi-Victorian setting. The Darkside books are suitable for readers of 11+; Blackjack is the fifth book in the series published by Scholastic and is scheduled to be in stores on 1st February, but if you're lucky you may spot it early.