Competition: WIN a pair of signed Abi Elphinstone books

Abi Elphinstone's The Dreamsnatcher was my 2015 Middle Grade Book of the Year. Last week saw the release of the sequel, The Shadow Keeper, and it is so good that it is already vying for a top spot in my 2016 list.

Now you have the chance to win signed copies of both books, simply by filling in your details in the form below. Thanks to the generosity of Simon and Schuster I have five pairs of Abi's books to give away.
  

The first five names drawn at random after the closing date will each win a pair of books. The deadline for entries is 7pm GMT Monday 7th March. This competition is open to UK residents only.

Contest open to UK residents only.
Neither the publisher or I will be held responsible for items lost in the mail.
I hold the right to end a contest before its original deadline without any prior notice.
I hold the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit.
I will contact winning entrants for their postal address following the close of the competition. Winners have 48 hours to reply. Failure to do so in this time will result in another winner being randomly selected.

The Shadow Keeper Blog Tour: Guest Post by Abi Elphinstone

Today I am delighted to be welcoming the fabulous Abi Elphinstone to The Book Zone, as part of The Shadow Keeper blog tour. Abi's debut book, The Dreamsnatcher, was my favourite middle grade book of 2015, and its sequel, The Shadow Keeper, is even better! Abi is here today to tell us about some of the weird and wonderful items she has in her writing shed, but the wonderment doesn't stop there, as on Monday we will be giving you a chance to win a copy of The Shadow Keeper!

Top 10 Strangest Objects In My Writing Shed

    

One of my favourite things about school visits is showing children the weird and wonderful objects I’ve picked up on my travels. And with recent book research adventures involving living with Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia (you can read about that here) and chasing the northern lights in the Arctic, my writing shed is fast becoming a treasure trove of extraordinary items. So, here you go for a run down on the Top 10 Strangest Objects In My Writing Shed:

1. An arrow fletched with buzzard feathers. Catapults are my weapon of choice but when the witch doctors stepped things up a gear in The Shadow Keeper I threw in some bows and arrows as well. In the run up to writing the book, I learnt to fire a long bow at Barbury Shooting School and afterwards I bought a flint-tipped arrow from an antique shop in Portobello Road, London.

2. A human finger bone. There is a particularly evil band of smugglers in The Shadow Keeper. Barbarous Grudge is the thug at the top and he is often seen chewing the finger bone of a government official who tried to stop him smuggling years ago.

3. A gold tooth. Barbarous Grudge again for this one, I’m afraid. The legend goes that he fended off eight tax officials in a smuggling raid then stole their money to melt down the coins to cap eight of his teeth in gold.

4. A wolf fang decorated with silver. I bought this in Mongolia when I was living with the Kazakh Eagle Hunters. There are wolves in The Shadow Keeper but perhaps not the sort you’d expect…

5. A sheep’s ankle bone. This was given to me by a family living in one of the most remote settlements I have come across, at the foot of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia. Mongolian children play games with the bones and when I come to writing my Eagle Huntress book, I’m going to include the ankle bone and the girl who gave it to me, a five-year-old cat wrestler called Angela.

6. A shaman’s dagger. My little brother bought this back for me after his time living with the Reindeer People in northern Mongolia. The handle is made from reindeer antler and it is one of the most magical and fierce things I’ve ever seen. It’ll be a part of my next series – an Arctic adventure – because I already know there will be an evil shaman wreaking havoc out on the ice.

7. A plastic moth encased in glass. As odd as it sounds – and inspiration for the book I’m currently writing: a wild adventure amidst mountains, moors and lochs.

8. Animal Spirit cards. In The Shadow Keeper, Moll has a very special bond with a wildcat called Gryff. Sometimes I take these spirit cards to school visits and readers can find out what their spirit animal might be. Mine is a fox, apparently: ‘has many allies in the woodland, a sure-footedness in the physical world, is always concerned about family members & travels far afield.’

9. A catapult carved by one of the last ‘true’ Romany gypsies, Pete Ingram. He painted Roald Dahl’s wagon for the film premiere of Danny, The Champion of the World, and the catapult he gave me is made from ash with a beautiful horse head carved into the handle. It’s magnificent and I’m lucky my main character, Moll, hasn’t pinched it yet – because catapults are kind of her THING.

10.

A highland cow teddy. Because why not (and because Siddy takes a fancy to one in Book 3).

~~~

Huge thanks to Abi for taking the time to tall us about all these amazing things she has in her writing shed. The Shadow Keeper was published yesterday so make sure you go out and get your copy now. Although if you have not yet read The Dreamsnatcher, you really must do this first!

    

Review: Hamish and the Neverpeople by Danny Wallace, illustrated by Jamie Littler

Nobody knows it yet, but the people of Earth are in big, big trouble.

Like - HUGE trouble. Oh, come on, where's your imagination? Double what you're thinking!

And it's all got to do with a shadowy figure, an enormous tower, some sinister monsters, huge clanking and thundering metal oddballs, and people who are just like you… but not like you at all.

Luckily Hamish and the PDF are around to help save the day! Aren't they??

 

Three was the magic number for Bob Dorough, Blind Melon and De La Soul, and it's also the magic number for these new style Book Zone reviews, as part of my seemingly endless quest for brevity when reviewing. So, here are three reasons why I totally love Hamish and the Neverpeople (and also the first outing for the titular main characters, Hamish and the Worldstoppers):

1. Brilliant characters

I've always felt that one of the main ingredients that has led to the huge success of David Walliams's books is his ability to create brilliant, memorable characters. Take it from me, Danny Wallace also possesses this ability in spades. Hamish is one of those characters that young readers will relate to with ease - he's not particularly special, he's just an ordinary boy who fate has decided has a part in saving the earth. Twice. He misses his father sorely, and knows deep down that there must be more to his disappearance than others might suggest. And he has the best group of friends in the world... ever! The various members of the PDF (Pause Defence Force) each comes with their own specific skill-set and distinct personality, which was funny and entertaining enough in the first book, but add their 'Otherhalves' to the mix and you can turn the entertainment level up to 11! (What's an Otherhalf? You'll have to read the book to find out).

2. It is pee-your-pants funny

Get those incontinence pants ready! The Hamish books are so funny that there are bound to be a few little accidents along the way. A shame really - these books would be perfect for primary school teachers to read to whole classes during story time, but just imagine the mess! Danny Wallace is labelled as a humorist on his wikipedia page, and that is exactly what you get in these books - joyous, uncontrived humour from beginning to end, with just the right level of silliness. He is also a master of the use of the so-called 'fourth wall' as a device for making his stories even funnier and he uses this to grab the reader from the off, and makes the reading a far more immersive experience for young readers.

3. Jamie Littler's illustrations

It is truly wonderful when an illustrator's artwork complements the written aspect of a story so perfectly. The most obvious recent example that springs to my mind is Sarah McIntyre's collaboration with Philip Reeve, and Jamie Littler's illustrations for the Hamish books firmly places him on this relatively exclusive list. 

The covers for the two books are among my very favourite for books of this type published in recent years, and publishers Simon and Schuster even included a large, glossy, full colour press release with the book they sent me - if I can just remember in which safe place I filed the Worldstoppers press release I intend to get the two framed together as they will look great on the wall. The illustrations throughout the story are almost as fabulous as the cover, and I only say almost because they are in black and white. Wouldn't it be great if publishers could afford to add colour illustrations throughout their middle grade books? Seriously though, if I won the lottery I would certainly be knocking on Mr Littler's door, begging to buy some of his Hamish illustrations, or prints of them at the very least. 

Hamish and the Neverpeople is due to be published in the UK on 11th February, but if you or your child haven't already read Hamish and the Worldstoppers I would suggest you get yourself down to your nearest book store and buy a copy immediately. It really is worth you going out of your way for!

The Dreamsnatcher Blog Tour: The Tribe’s Guide to Not Dying in the Forest by Abi Elphinstone

The Tribe’s Guide to Not Dying in the Forest

I thought about having a go at writing this blog post but then Moll told me to shut up because I’m not technically in The Tribe so there’s no way I could know anything of real importance about forest survival. I tried to point out to Moll that in a way I created The Tribe but she was having none of it, and so before she had a chance to set Gryff on me, I decided to hand over to her…

Introducing Moll – outside her wagon

MOLL: If you haven’t already formed a gang or a club or a secret society, you probably should – especially if you’re planning on Not Dying in the forest. We invented The Tribe a few years ago. At first it was just me, Sid and Gryff – then when we let another member in coz he proved good at picking locks and riding cobs. Most of the time we break rules, avoid chores, tell lies on Tuesdays and Thursdays and do brave things like rescuing trapped otters and mending owl wings. But the first thing we did was to learn how to get by in the forest – how to build shelter and hunt for food – so if you’re keen on staying alive when you’re out in the woods, it’s probably worth listening to us.

First thing: the den. This is VERY important – for meetings, sleeping and generally keeping out of the way of camp chores and witchdoctor chants. The Tribe has a tree house (we call it a tree fort coz Sid says it sounds better) and it’s perched half way up a yew tree – coz every gypsy knows the spirit of the yew grants protection against evil spirits.

Abi’s brother in their childhood den (not as good as The Tribe’s Tree Fort)

Oak, the head of our camp, helped us make the tree fort, and this is how we did it:

1. Gathered up as many planks and slats of wood as we could find 
2. Found a big old yew tree that had a space large enough for a tree house in the middle of its branches. I also checked there was a good swooping branch for Gryff so that he could hang out near us but keep a bit of distance to be all wild and free  
3. Hauled the planks up into the tree (this was the hardest part, mostly coz Sid kept giggling half way up about Porridge The Second, his earthworm, tickling him inside his pocket)
4. Hammered nails into the biggest planks to fix the base to the tree first. Then we made the sides and the roof with the smaller slats. We left a hole for a window (so we can spy on stuff down in the glade), and Mooshie, that’s Oak’s wife, leant us some fancy lace to hang over it as a curtain
5. Collected old jam jars to go in the fort and filled them with funny-looking mushrooms, weird ferns, giant nettles (we tried to pick ALL of these so Mooshie won’t use them to make her disgusting nettle soup) and smooth pebbles for catapulting annoying people
6. Hung wind chimes from the branch under the fort to ward off evil spirits (then I added a dreamcatcher coz I figured the bright feathers might put the evil spirit in a better mood if it did chance on passing our way). We also hung some other good luck charms to help protect our fort from witchdoctor badness: nails dangling from string, bits of mirror stuck into branches, lemon peel tucked into the hollows and a fox tooth in a jam jar by the trunk of the tree

Abi’s Dad cutting down hazel in a Scottish wood for Moll’s catapult

After we built the tree fort, Oak taught us how to hunt. And it’s a good job he did – coz recently Mooshie and me worked out that most of my bad decisions happen when I’m hungry. So to avoid bad decisions, here are The Tribe’s key tips to finding food in the forest:

1. Know how to make a fire. Find a flat area in the forest, dig a circle a few centimetres deep and round enough for your fire (about 75cm). Surround the area with dry rocks to box in the fire. Gather dry twigs, leaves and kindling from fallen branches – birch bark is a good fire starter. Build a small, loose pile of kindling inside the stones and make sure there’s space for the air to feed the fire. Make an inwards tepee of dry twigs and small sticks around and above the kindling pile. Then add to your fire with bigger logs to keep it burning. Remember to put the fire out after you’re finished with it as that can lead to all sorts of annoying problems 
2. Make a catapult. Find a Y-shaped piece of wood (hazel or ash is usually the best as it’s strong), carve it down to shape so that the central base fits into the palm of your hand, use a penknife to make a grove round each of the Y prongs, bake it in an oven for 15 minutes to make the wood stronger, coat it in varnish then fit a strip of strong, thick elastic with a leather pouch in the middle of it over the prongs. Then just find a stone and you’re good to go. I reckon I’m probably the best in The Tribe at catapulting, but Sid’s not bad, and I suppose Gryff is pretty good at hunting and he doesn’t even need a catapult. We get pigeons and rabbits mostly – then we cook them on the fire
3. Tickle a trout. Wade up the river feeling underneath the banks for resting trout. Using one hand, work your fingers from the trout’s tail upwards, gently rubbing its belly with the tips of your fingers so that it goes all still and trance-like. Once you reach the head, grip hard, lift fish out of the water, cook it on the fire. YUM
4. Munch some berries and nuts. Look out for blackberries late summer/early autumn as well as plums, damsons, wild strawberries and raspberries which you’ll find growing in hedgerows. And you can’t go wrong with chestnuts – gather a handful from the ground in Autumn, use a penknife to cut away the shell then roast them over the fire. They taste good dipped in salt

Moll’s catapult (carved by Abi – not that Moll said thank you…)

You should be all right in the wild. I mean, sheltering from the rain and finding food is a walk in the park compared to what I got landed with. Annoyingly there aren’t that many rules on how to avoid witchdoctors and their deadly Dream Snatch. But still, I’ve got my catapult – and that’s a start…

~~~

Big, big thanks to Moll (and Abi) for guesting on The Book Zone today. The Dreamsnatcher is published on 26th February and you can follow Abi on Twitter where she goes by the name of @moontrug.

Guest Post: My Magnificent Seven Animals in Children’s Books by Abi Elphinstone

It is with great pleasure that today I am welcoming Abi Elphinstone to The Book Zone. Abi is the writer of the brilliant The Dreamsnatcher, which I reviewed last month, and also a fellow lover of middle grade books which she blogs about as Moontrug. Abi has joined us today to tell us about her favourite animals in children's books.

My Magnificent Seven Animals in Children’s Books

1. The Whereabouts Wolf in The Black North by Nigel McDowell. One of my favourite heroines, Oona, is given a Whereabouts Wolf to carry her away from danger: ‘a creature flecked with filth and reeking of the wild’. A Whereabouts Wolf has no eyes – Oona must simply whisper where she wants to go and the wolf will take her there. So when Oona says ‘take us to the middle of nowhere,’ that’s exactly what the Whereabouts Wolf does. I want one…

2. Aslan in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. One of my favourite childhood memories is watching the BBC adaption of this brilliant book around the fire with my siblings at Christmas. The opening theme tune conjures all the magic of my childhood and I fell asleep every night after listening to it imagining I was riding through Narnia on Aslan’s back. I liked the way Aslan was kind and loyal – that he never let the Pevensie children down – but that he was unpredictable and wild as well, as Mr Beaver said: ‘He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion’. And that’s kind of how I imagine magic to be. 

3. Iorek Brynison in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. This was a tricky one. Whilst Lyra’s daemon, Pantalaimon, remains one of my all-time favourite characters, there is something about this ‘outcast bear’ who rises up to be a mighty ice warrior, willing to protect Lyra against the slightest harm. And nothing beats the wonder of imagining Lyra riding Iorek across the Arctic ice plains.

4. Wolf in Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. Torak’s bond with Wolf is one of the most well-drawn, touching and believable child-animal bonds in children’s literature. Wolf begins as a reticent, playful cub but as he takes up his place as Torak’s best-friend and ally, he becomes a brave, loyal and fierce wolf. And the closing chapter of this book shows the wolf-boy bond in a heartbreakingly beautiful way.

5. The White Pigeon in The Last Wild by Piers Torday. This little bird is basically ME in pigeon form – a misdirected ball of enthusiasm, often saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. His malapropisms are laugh-out-loud funny and hopelessly confused lines like ‘Here is your gift – some old sheep’ and ‘Not a bad-looking fat bird yourself’ cement this little chap as a truly memorable character. And it’s comforting to find someone else (even if this someone is a fictional pigeon) whose words tumble out all wrong – because I stutter and mix up words quite a lot, especially when I’m nervous.

6. Saracen in Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge. Without doubt the most amusing goose in children’s books. Owned by the feisty Mosca Mye (‘I want my chirfugging goose back!’), Saracen makes a star appearance at the beast fight disguised as King Prael’s Star-crested eagle. Brilliantly funny.

7. Snow Leopard in The Snow Leopard by Jackie Morris. In a world where we move at 100mph through almost everything we do (yesterday I was moving so fast I ran full pelt into a glass door), the Snow Leopard draws you away to a half-forgotten world of peace and silence. The illustrations of this big cat are mesmerisingly beautiful and snow leopards remain one of my all-time favourite animals.

It was so hard to pick just seven animals for this blog post. I mean, I could have gone on for ages about Joe (from The Diddakoi), Hazel (from Watership Down), Eeyore (from Winnie the Pooh), Charles Scallybones (from A Boy Called Hope), Havoc (from The Burning Shadow) Tarka The Otter, The Ugly Duckling and, ummmmm, one more animal I’m very fond of: Gryff, the wildcat in my debut, The Dreamsnatcher. He is fearless, loyal and patient and although he is by nature a solitary animal full of secrets, he forms an extraordinary bond with Moll, a twelve-year-old gypsy girl. And that’s kind of cool.

~~~

Super huge thanks to Abi for writing this for The Book Zone. The Dreamsnatcher is due to be published on 26th February, and it's flippin' brilliant.

Book Trailer: The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone

Here it is, as promised in my review of The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone that I posted yesterday evening. I find book trailers can be a little hit and miss, but this one is spot on perfect and captures the magical feel of the book perfectly. Just seeing Moll and wildcat Gryff in live action made me want to read the book all over again. Needless to say, I was overjoyed when Abi asked me if I wanted to take part in a special blogger reveal of the trailer, following its premier on the Guardian website this morning.

The Dreamsnatcher is due to be released on 26th february.

Review: The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone

Twelve-year-old Molly Pecksniff wakes one night in the middle of the forest, lured there by a recurring nightmare - the one with the drums and the rattles and the masks. The Dreamsnatcher is waiting. He has already taken her dreams and now he wants her life. Because Moll is more important than she knows...The Oracle Bones foretold that she and Gryff, a wildcat that has always been by her side, are the only ones who can fight back against the Dreamsnatcher's dark magic. Suddenly everything is at stake, and Moll is drawn into a world full of secrets, magic and adventure.

If you read my Books of 2014 post from a couple of weeks ago then you will already know that this is going to be something of a glowing review. In fact, I really wanted to post a review sooner, but every time I've sat down to write it my mind goes blank and I can't come up with the right words. In the time I have been writing this blog there have been a handful of books that have made me feel small and inferior, with every sentence I write sounding clumsy and amateurish, and The Dreamsnatcher is another one to add to this somewhat exclusive list.

The book tells the story of Moll, an orphan girl who has grown up under the protection of Oak, the formidable leader of a gypsy camp. As such she has a rather large extended adopted family, some of whom accept her as one of their own unreservedly, whilst others still fel that there is something about Moll that doesn't quite fit in. This is especially the case with the other girls in the camp, as Moll would much rather be running riot in the forest, getting dirty whilst having all kinds of fun adventures.

Oak isn't Moll's only protector though. Always lurking on the fringes of the camp, and tracking her through the forest, is her beloved Gryff, a wildcat that just appeared one day, as if he was destined to be by her side. The relationship between Moll and Gryff is a magical one, and it grows even stronger throughout the book as the evil forces in the forest attempt time and again to capture Moll for their own despicable purposes. Publishers Simon and Schuster claim on the back of the proof copy I received that "Moll's relationship with Gryff has a strong Pullman-esque quality". By this I am guessing they are drawing parallels with Lyra's bond with her dæmon Pantalaimon. However, in my opinion Moll and Gryff's relationship is far more like that between Torak and his wolf companion in Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. I must state though that I'm basing this on only so far having read Wolf Brother, the first book in that series, which I read at the end of 2014 (funnily enough, after Abi Elphinstone herself had waxed lyrical about the series on Twitter. I loved it and now need to find the time to read the rest in the series).

Moll is a fabulous character and she has already been added to my personal pantheon of great young female characters in books. It is great to see yet another middle grade book that is high on the action and adventure front, with a strong, courageous female character who can hold her own, especially  in the somewhat patriarchal society that is the gypsy camp. Moll is totally impulsive and headstrong, often doing things that she has been forbidden from doing, but she has an irresistible charm that makes her very difficult to tell off. She is the kind of kid that would be a nightmare to teach at school, as she would always be up to mischief, but would blag her way out of trouble with a disarming grin and a string of ridiculous excuses.

The darkness to Moll's light comes in the form of Skull, a witchdoctor and leader of a 'rival' group of gypsies that live in the same forest. Skull is evil personified and ranks up there amongst some of the all-time great villains of middle grade fiction. However, whereas in many of those books it is the villain that makes the piece so memorable, somehow Abi Elphinstone has managed to make the character of Moll so strong and memorable that she eclipses Skull's character completely. This is certainly no Luke Skywalker being overshadowed by Darth Vader moment!

The Dreamsnatcher is a classic tale of good versus evil, as well as being a story about friendship, trust and loyalty. The "is it our world with magic in it or is it a fantasy world?" setting that the author has created is a joy to read, as are the various members of this wonderful community of gypsies that will do whatever it takes to protect one their own. There is so much more I want to say about this story and its characters and its magic but I think it is one of those books that will be most enjoyed with as little prior knowledge of the story as possible. 

I've already mentioned this in a tweet I made shortly after finishing The Dreamsnatcher, but I feel it needs to be repeated here: on the back of that proof copy I received Simon and Schuster also bill Abi Elphinstone as 'a phenomenal new middle grade talent' & based on this wonderful debut I would have to agree. Come back here tomorrow to see the magical book trailer that has been produced for The Dreamsnatcher. I saw it for the first time yesterday and it is amazing how much it brings Moll and Gryff to life. So much so that it left me wanting to read the book again.

The Dreamsnatcher is due to be published in the UK on 26th February and my thanks go to Abi Elphinstone for sending me a copy to read.

Review: Haunt: Dead Scared by Curtis Jobling

When Will finds himself in hospital, but unable to make anyone see or hear him, he realises that he never made it home from his first kiss with the school hottie. Knocked off his bike in a road traffic accident, Will is now officially dead - and a ghost. But somehow his best mate, Dougie, can still see him, and, what is more, increasingly Will seems bound to Dougie, going only where Dougie goes. Once they've exhausted all the comic possibilities of being invisible, they set about unravelling the mystery of Will's predicament. Is it something to do with that kiss, or the driver of the car that killed him and didn't stop? Maybe they will find an answer by investigating the rumour that there is an unhappy spirit haunting the ruins in the school grounds, and if so, why? What they discover is a long-buried mystery, which stretches its fingers right into the present...

Long time readers of The Book Zone will already know that I am a huge fan of Curtis Jobling's Wereworld books. That series was epic fantasy for teens at its very best, and ever since it finished I have been waiting with baited breath to see what Curtis produced next. Given that this is the guy who brought us both Bob the Builder and RAA RAA the Noisy Lion I was not at all surprised when I discovered that his new book, Haunt: Dead Scared, was totally different: a creepy comedy story aimed at a slightly younger audience than Wereworld.

Although Haunt treads very similar ground to Tamsyn Murray's brilliant My So-Called Afterlife, and there are elements of the plot's central mystery that are not a million miles away from that of James Dawson's Say Her Name, the quality of Curtis Jobling's writing makes this an original and thoroughly enjoyable read for young teens. The real strengths of the book are the humour, and the tight relationship between Will (who dies in the first chapter but comes back as a ghost) and his best mate Dougie (the only person who can see Will's ghost). These are two somewhat geeky boys having to come to terms with a tragic accident, and the bizarre aftermath that sees Will stranded as a spook. Together they have to work out why on earth Will didn't move on, and in the process of their investigations they come across another stranded spirit, and take it upon themselves to help her too.

I've not read any interviews Curtis Jobling may have given about this new series but I would not be surprised if he has cited Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) as one of his inspirations when it came to writing the book. I loved the original series (watched as repeats - I'm honestly not old enough to have seen it when first broadcast) and even enjoyed the Vic and Bob reboot. The humour in Haunt, as the two boys try to get to grips with their rather unique situation, is certainly reminiscent of that TV show, with a heavy dose of Scooby Doo style shenanigans thrown in for good measure.

If you're looking for a creepy and funny book that is also a fairly quick read this summer then look no further than Haunt: Dead Scared. My thanks go to the fab people at Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy.

Review: Zom-B Mission by Darren Shan

What has happened to the world since the dead took over? Where have the humans gone to hide? Who do the living most have to fear? B Smith is heading for unknown territory...Leading a group of humans through London and out into zombie-infested suburbs sounds like suicide - but not for the undead! Even so, the horrors of the journey will be beyond anything B has yet seen ...

As this series progresses, it is getting harder and harder to write reviews of Darren Shan's Zom-B books without creating spoilers for previous episodes. So please be warned - if you have not yet read the previous books in the series then I urge you to stop reading this review and go and do something more interesting... such as reading the previous books in this fantastic series!

I never got around to writing a review of the sixth book in the series, Zom-B Gladiator, as things were pretty hectic at work at the time. However, I'll take this opportunity here to say that I loved it as much as I loved its predecessors. I can't remember where I read this, but at the time I was surprised to read one reviewer criticise Zom-B Gladiator for being very short on plot. For me, that is the magic of this series - in one episode we might see a significant plot development, but then in the next book we are treated to wall-to-wall action, or another atrocity so horrific that it puts into the shade all that came before it. For me, Zom-B Gladiator had both of these: B fighting for survival on board HMS Belfast, and the truly evil Dan-Dan demonstrating that however horrific the zombies are, humans can still out-evil them.

As it is my birthday week I treated myself to a copy of Zom-B Mission, and it arrived today. Every Monday I have a meeting at school that lasts from 3 pm until 6pm, and this week I was watching the minutes tick over slowly as I was dying to get home to read Darren Shan's latest instalment. As with all of the previous books it is a relatively quick read and I finished it in a single sitting, and it is almost my favourite of the series so far. Only almost though, and I will come to the reason for this in a bit. In Zom-B Mission, B and her team of Angels are tasked with taking Emma and Declan, the mother and child they took in to their care in Gladiator, to a sanctuary out in the countryside. On their way, they are also to stop off in Hammersmith to pick up another group of human survivors. B and the team are excited that they have finally been given a mission, but calamity strikes before they depart which dampens their excitement considerably (you'll have to read the book to find out what).

Escorting the zombie version of fast food through infested territory is not without its risks, and the journey is not without incident (hell, this is a Darren Shan book so of course it isn't!). However, I don't think it is spoiling things to say that the group eventually reaches the 'safe' compound of New Kirkham (is that an almost nod to another master of the genre?). This journey and their eventual destination gives us a much greater insight into what is going on outside of London, as until now the books have very much focused on the revitalised, and the occasional human or monster that has come their way, and Shan smoothly reveals a little more of the post-apocalyptic world he has created, and some of the many hazards that face the small groups of survivors, many of which I would never have even considered. In addition to this, B's past also starts to catch up with her and we see how far she has developed as a character, and how even in her semi-zombified state she is more human than many of the humans out there.

So why is it only almost my favourite so far? Long time readers will know that I am not averse to cliffhanger endings. I loved the way Shan finished the first book in this series - it really was one of those jaw hitting the ground moments. However, in this one I felt that the cliffhanger was just a little too extreme, and almost left me feeling like the book hadn't been finished properly, and that i had been cheated. I can't tell you how this episode ends (obviously), but all I will say is that yet again Shan reveals an evil in his horrific world that is sadly all too human in nature. Oh yes... and the Owl Man is back! Hurrah! Which kind of makes up for the cliffhanger in my mind :-)

Review: Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom by William Sutcliffe

Hannah's life is boring, boring, boring! Then Armitage Shank's Impossible Circus comes to town and Hannah's world is turned on its head when she meets Billy Shank, his astonishing camel, Narcissus, and a host of other bizarrely brilliant members of the circus. But all is not as it seems; Armitage Shank, evil ringmaster and Billy's surrogate father, has a dastardly plan that could end in catastrophe for Hannah's dull little village and it's up to Hannah and Billy to stop his stinking scheme before it's too late…

I am sure that many of the adult readers of this blog will remember a time when the circus coming to town was a cause of great excitement for children in the area. Circuses were also a staple scenario for writers like Enid Blyton, in stories like The Circus of Adventure, Five Go Off in a Caravan, Five Are Together Again and  Secret Seven Adventure. In addition to these mystery stories (circuses made great locations for mysteries back in the day), Blyton also wrote a her Circus Series trilogy, starting with Mr Galliano's Circus, about a boy and his life as part of a circus. Blyton wasn't the only writer who used circuses to great story-telling effect, so why are they so absent from modern children's literature? Is is just the way society has changed, with the arrival of a traditional circus being far less an exciting event for kids these days? Are there just far less circuses around these days due to vastly improved animal welfare laws? Whatever the reason, I have been thinking for some time that we need to see a resurgence in the circus as the background for a story, especially as so many people find clowns to be so damn creepy.

Writer William Sutcliffe has thankfully arrived on the kidlit scene to start bringing circuses back into the world of children's literature with his delightfully funny debut for children, Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom. This first book in what I hope will be a long series introduces us to Hannah, a young girl whose life 'boring, boring, boring!' However, in a classic case of be careful what you wish for, things suddenly become a whole lot less boring for hannah when Shank's Impossible Circus arrives in town. Hannah very quickly makes friends with Billy Shank, camel trainer extraordinaire, and heir to the Shank Entertainment Empire. However, not all members of the circus are as friendly as Billy circus owner Armitage Shanks being a particularly nasty piece of work, and Hannah soon finds herself on a mission to foil a scheme so dastardly that it would make you swoon.

There were so many aspects of Circus of Thieves that I loved. I'm sure I'm not the only reviewer who will find it impossible to start talking about this book without first mentioning the fantastic cast of characters. William Sutcliffe obviously had a great deal of fun creating the many different characters that populate his story. Naturally, a circus setting gives a writer a great opportunity to let their imagination run wild, and so we have Armitage Shanks, the vicious and despicable ringmaster, Maurice (pronounced 'Murrggghhhheeece') the trapeze artiste and his assistant Irrrrrrena his assistant, Jesse the Human Cannonball and Hank and Frank, the clowns who simply do not get on with one another. And the great list of supporting characters doesn't stop there: there's also Fizzer the dog, Fluffypants McBain the cat, and a stick-wielding granny.

Despite sharing an illustrator with Andy Stanton's Mr Gum books (the increasingly prolific and totally wonderful David Tazzyman), the similarities with Stanton's anarchically bonkers books ends there (apart from the occasional made-up word, that is). The humour is at time brilliantly off the wall, but it is not as in-your-face wacky as the Mr Gum books. The publishers, Simon and Schuster, are pitching this books as being great for fans of Andy Stanton and David Walliams, and the humour is somewhere between the two. The writing is also of the highest quality, and 7+ readers will love the story of good versus circus evilness. It is also another to add to the ever growing list of books that are great to be shared between parent  and child as a bedtime story (or any time story - reading together is not just for bedtime!).

Another technique that William Sutcliffe employs to add a further level of wackiness to his story is the use of footnotes. I've seen this used in books before, and it doesn't always work as sometimes they do little but distract the reader from the flow of the story, but in this case I totally loved them. In Circus of Thieves they are invariably funny, and the reader is drawn to them, not by reference numbers, but by little pictograms.

There are some stunningly good and very funny books being published for this age group at the moment and Circus of Thieves is definitely up there as one of the best. I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel, as and when it is published, and I'm sure I won't be the only one. My thanks go to the lovely people at Simon and Schuster, not just for sending me a copy of the book, but also for the wonderful set of promotional Circus postcards, illustrated by David Tazzyman.

Review: The Dark Inside by Rupert Wallis

The House on the Hill has been abandoned for as long as James can remember. So when he discovers Webster, a drifter, hiding there, he's instantly curious about the story behind the homeless man. What is he running from? Afflicted by a dark curse, Webster is no longer who he used to be. But there is said to be a cure and it might just be that by helping Webster, James will find some solace of his own. Together they embark on a journey, not knowing that what they discover will impact them both in ways they never imagined...A gripping and haunting story about loss and hope, perfect for fans of Patrick Ness and David Almond.

This is one of those books best read with as little prior knowledge of the story as possible, so I'm going to be brief with my details here. Teenager James is an unhappy and troubled young man. He is still struggling to deal with the loss of his mother, a situation not helped by the fact that he has to live with his violent, alcohol loving (and seemingly unloving and resentful) step-father. James' only place of retreat from the day-to-day troubles at home is a run-down, abandoned old house, where he daily marks up the number of days until he is old enough to leave home for good. One day James discovers Webster, an seriously injured man in the house, a man who believes he is cursed and who is on the run from a family of gypsies who believe in the curse and want to cage and exploit him. As James and Webster join forces to escape from their respective troubles, they embark on a dangerous journey of hope and discovery that will change both of them forever.

The publishers are pushing this book by likening it to the works of David Almond and Patrick Ness, and I can't argue with them for doing this. In particular, this book took me back to when I first read Skellig, which I've just worked out was more than fourteen years ago. Like Skellig, this is an story about a young person who strikes up a deep and rewarding friendship with an older person, although the books differ in that almost from the start of Skellig we are left in little doubt as to the otherworldliness of the mysterious person discovered in the garage, whilst in The Dark Inside we are kept guessing about this all the way through to the end. Is Webster actually cursed or has he just been 'changed' by his experiences in the war and is suffering from some kind of PTSD illness? For me it was this key piece of information that kept me so enthralled with his story from beginning to end.

I have to admit that one of the YA genres that I rarely ever read is contemporary. As an Assistant Headteacher, and an ex-Head of Year with considerable pastoral experience, I have spent a lot of my career working with young people with a huge variety of issues, and so when I get home from work the last thing I want to do is pick up a book and read about young people with similar issues. I was therefore suckered into reading The Dark Inside by those wonderful people at Simon and Schuster by the paranormal spin they put on the story in their press release. And I am truly grateful for this and otherwise I would have missed out on an exciting, compelling, though-provoking story. It covers themes of loss, hope, friendship and forgiveness in a way that I feel is far more accessible and interesting for young adults than many of the (admittedly few) contemporary YA books I have read. I know there are legions of YA contemp fans out there, so please remember that this is my own opinion, and do seek out reviews on other sites written by people who read this genre far more regularly than I do.

Rupert Wallis' prose is an absolute joy to read, and this is one of those books that is cross-generational, in that it will be enjoyed equally by teens and adults, although possibly on different levels. I would be very surprised if this book does not find itself on the shortlist of a host of different book awards over the next year or so, as the story and writing has that rarely seen power to affect the reader deeply and leave them thinking about the book for some time after the final page has been turned.

The Dark Inside is due to be published in a lovely hardback edition on 30 January, and I believe that there will also be a number of signed special limited edition copies that will only be available in independent book shops. Look out for them as this book is a keeper - one of those you will read, proudly display on your bookshelf, and then probably pick up again a year or two's time, to read all over again. My thanks go to the lovely people at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy to read.

Review: Zom-B Baby by Darren Shan

How do you know if you're working for a lunatic? Where do you go when you've run out of people to trust? Have you ever heard an undead baby scream? B Smith is out of her comfort zone ...

*** Warning: contains spoilers for previous books in the series ***

Just as B thought she had found somewhere she felt comfortable, with Revitaliseds of the same age, and someone who could mentor her, said mentor, Dr Oystein, dropped that pretty huge bombshell at the end of Zom-B Angels that has left B feeling confused and concerned that she may just have allied herself with a complete nutjob who believes he is God's chosen one. So begins an instalment of this brilliant series that is more about soul-searching than it is about horror and gore. B must decide whether County Hall really is the place for her, but to do so she may have to experience even more of the horrors that exist in this deadly new world.

First off, lets get any discussion of the cover of this book out of the way. I know that some people have found it pretty grim, even by this series' standards, but I personally find it is fitting for both within the series as a whole and this particular instalment. 

Now onto the story itself. We are incredibly fortunate to be welcoming Darren Shan to school next week for an event, and I know loads of the students are getting excited about this. In promoting the event to the staff at the school I have mentioned many times that the horror and zombie aspect of the story is really just a vehicle for a story that covers a huge variety of different themes. As I have mentioned many times before, in my reviews for the first four books in this series, the author covers such themes as racism and bigotry, corruption, genetic engineering, and now religion and belief. However, one element I have not dwelt on enough in my reviews is that of B herself. Maybe that's because the first three books were about setting the scene, world building and establishing B as a character, and the fourth was about really driving the plot forward. 

Now, in Zom-B Baby, B is given the chance to really reflect on what has happened to her and society, with Oystein's epic pronouncement being the catalyst for this period of deep introspection. She has to decide whether Oystein is mad, and in doing so she has to take a look back at her life before the 'apocalypse', and especially her father's racism. This is not something she feels able to do at County Hall, surrounded by Oystein's crowd of sycophants, and so B takes herself off back into the revived-infested streets of London, hoping to find some kind of answers to set her make what is a huge decision. On her journeys she stumbles across and old acquaintance, and I don't think it is creating spoilers to say that she also comes face to face with something that could even rival Mr Dowling as Shan's most repulsive creation to date (the clue is in the book's title).

Zom-B Baby is yet another brilliant episode in a series I have loved from the very first chapter of Zom-B. It arrived yesterday and we had visitors so I didn't get a chance to pick it up until late, but there was no way that I was going to bed before reading it, and so it became another single-sitting read Zom-B book. For anyone out there who thinks that the zombie genre has become tired and generic in recent years, I say get your hands on these books and prepare to have your love of the genre rekindled.

My thanks go to the rather mashing people at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy to read.

News: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda available free for limited time

Yesterday I received an email from Kat at Simon and Schuster saying that the brilliant The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda is available free from Apple's iBook store for a limited period (until the 20th August). I loved this book and it's new take on the vampire story (you can read my review here) and thought I would bring you attention to this great offer. You can get the book from here:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/the-hunt/id449565431?mt=11

I generally read books on my Kindle so I rarely visit the iBook store, but having just been on there to download The Hunt I can say it is well worth you visiting as there are a number of great children's books available for free on there.

The Hunt:

Against all odds, 17-year-old Gene has survived in a world where humans have been eaten to near extinction by the general population. The only remaining humans, or hepers as they are known, are housed in domes on the savannah and studied at the nearby Heper Institute. Every decade there is a government sponsored hunt. When Gene is selected to be one of the combatants he must learn the art of the hunt but also elude his fellow competitors whose suspicions about his true nature are growing.

Review: Zom-B Angels by Darren Shan

After spending the last few months wandering around London--a city filled with the dead--B Smith has given up hope for any sign of normal human existence. But then B finds strange signs all over the city--a "Z" plus red arrows. Following them, B finds The Angels-- a group gathered in the hopes of combating the evil dead and the forces that introduced them. But all is not as it seems and it's up to B to find out: what battle are they truly waging?

*** Warning: This review will contain spoilers for earlier books in the series. I you have not yet these other books then please navigate away now.


The closing line of Zom-B City left us with something of a cliffhanger, with readers' jaws hitting the ground possibly as hard as B's did. As with previous books in this series, Zom-B Angels picks up the story immediately following the close of its predecessor, with B discovering that she has been subtly manipulated into walking into County Hall. However, it is not some kind of trap, and for the first time since she first woke in the underground complex B finds herself among friends. More importantly she finds herself under the care of a Dr Oystein who has many of the answers that B (and us readers) have been craving since the opening chapter of Zom-B. Answers such as how the zombie plague started, the identity of the freaky clown thing Mr Dowling, why B is a freethinking revitalised zombie rather than one of the stumbling reviveds and more.

Darren Shan has done it again and produced another superb instalment in this series, although given that he wrote all twelve books in the Zom-B series back-to-back then this should be expected I suppose. Darren promised his readers that the first three books were very much setting up B's character and the zombie changed world, but this fourth book would start delivering much sought after answers, and he hasn't let his readers down. This book is much lighter on the action and gore than previous episodes, and as such moves at a slightly slower pace, but what it delivers in plot development make it just as un-put-downable. You may as well dig a deep hole and bury pretty much every guess you have made about what?, how? and why? as you will probably be wrong on most counts (I was), and the shocks, although not bloody in this book, are just as effective. This volume is certainly setting things up nicely for the rest of the series now.

When the first book in this series was released Darren Shan stated that he wasn't setting out to just write a zombie horror story. He was very clear in his intentions to cover some pretty hefty themes, and we saw that in the first book with B's racist father, and how she had been brought up to have similar bigoted views. Now, with this fourth book, Shan has continued to create topics for discussion, with themes that touch on religion, corruption, genetic engineering and more. Again Shan has delivered on his promise: this is definitely far more than just a zombie story full of blood splatter and brain munching.

I have been a fan of Darren Shan's ever since I first picked up and read Cirque du Freak back in 2000, but this latest series is possibly my favourite out of anything I have read by him. I used to think that Shan was a great storyteller, but lacked a little something as a writer. No longer - this series shows that he has continued to develop and mature as a writer over the past decade or so, and now he is both a great storyteller and a damn fine writer to boot.

My thanks go to the ever generous people at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of Zom-B Angels to read. The fifth book in the series is due out in the UK at the end of September, and given its title, Zom-B Baby, and its gloriously disgusting book cover I'm expecting a return to some Shan-tastic blood, guts and violence.