Review: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

Since Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code took the world by storm there have been hundreds of what I like to call 'quest novels' published. Of course, they were around long before The DVC, and 'quest' is one of my favourite genres of adult novels, which is why I first picked up Angels and Demons not long after it was first published in the UK. You cannot go into any major book store (or supermarket) these days without seeing a plethora of these books begging to be bought. A state of affairs that has long had me asking the question - why on earth are there not more (any?) quest novels being written for young adults?? Author Robin Wasserman has now delivered her reply, and it's a cracker.

I probably would not have picked up The Book of Blood and Shadows if I had seen it in a book shop. The cover almost shouts "YA paranormal romance" to my blinkered mind, and with nary enough hours in the day to read all of the books I already have I am pretty sure this one would have slipped by the wayside. Fortunately I picked up on a few comments made on Twitter by some of my fellow bloggers, and the generous people at Atom sent me a copy to try out. Thank you Atom - I loved it!

The book tells the story of Nora Kane, a high school student who has joined a college project to decipher a centuries old mystery known as the Voynich manuscript (google it - it exists). Nora's father is an expert on classical languages, and Nora has been brought up to be something of a whizz at translating Latin texts, so she is more than a little put out when the bad tempered head of the project assigns her the task of translating a bundle of seemingly pointless letters written by a young lady centuries earlier. This young lady, Elizabeth Weston, just happens to have been the daughter of Edward Kelley, the alchemist who may have been the author of the ancient Book, but this fact is still not enough to stop Nora from sulking. However, once she starts working her way through the letters she becomes more and more interested in Elizabeth's life, and slowly begins to realise that the letters may be much more important than anyone had previously thought.

Of course, a quest novel isn't a quest novel without someone getting brutally murdered along the way, and The Book of Blood and Shadow is no exception to this rule. The victim in this case is Nora's closest friend Chris, and before she knows it she finds herself under suspicion of complicity in the crime, and her own boyfriend the police's main suspect. Nora's quest to prove his innocence and to solve both the ancient and modern mysteries sees her jetting off to Europe, and then running away to Prague with Chris's girlfriend Adriane, and this is when the thriller part of the story really kicks in.

To say any more would be to create spoilers. I started reading this book with few preconceptions as to what it would be like, and I think it was all the better for this. What I will say is that the characters are spot on, especially Nora who is far from being a perfect heroine in that she can by self-centred and moody at times, but she will also stop at nothing to find out who killed her friend. However, the people around her do not always share these same goals, and Nora quickly develops trust issues bordering on paranoia at times, although in this case Joseph Heller's famous quote from Catch-22 "just because your paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you" is perfectly apt in this case. 

This is a story of crosses, double-crosses, triple-crosses and perhaps even quadruple-crosses that will have you guessing up until the very end. In fact, just as you have decided for sure that you know who the murderer might be, something happens that has you changing your mind. And then a couple of chapters on and you change your mind back again. And so on and so forth. If you like mystery stories, this one is for you. Similarly if you like action thrillers. And absolutely for you if like me you like quest novels.

One of my great loves as far as quest novels is concerned is the way authors (yes, even Dan Brown) take historical facts and twist them around to suit their story. Of course, they risk facing the wrath of the historical society dullards  who don't like this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean that they do not put in hours and hours and hours researching the background for their story. Robin Wasserman has certainly earned her 'top researcher' badge in writing this book, as we discover in the afterword that many of the historical figures she weaves into her story were real people.

Robin Wasserman can hold her head high in the company of the likes of Dan Brown, Andy McDermott, Scott Mariani and other writers of adult quest novels. The Book of Blood and Shadow is a fascinating and thrilling read and I would recommend it to teen boys and girls who want a little more mystery in their reading material.

Review: The Dream Thief (Horatio Lyle Mystery) by Catherine Webb

London 1865: Horatio Lyle receives a nasty surprise late at night. A young girl on his doorstep, passed out, dying - apparently poisoned - and she's not the first. Something very, very bad is happening to the children in the East End.


Which means there's a mystery to be solved, sending Lyle, Thomas, Tate and - naturally - Tess out into the wilds of east London. What they find is terrifying: Tess's old crowd of artful dodgers and ace pickpockets are now wandering the streets like zombies, drooling in the workhouses or plain mad in the asylums. And the only clue is a name, half whispered in fear: Old Greybags.

Are you a fan of Doctor Who? Do you like mystery stories? Love a healthy dollop of the supernatural? If so then the Horatio Lyle series may be just the thing for you. This is the fourth book featuring Horatio Lyle and his merry band of helpers, and every book in the series so far is well worth your attention.

I first discovered this series shortly after the release of the first book, The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle. How could I not pick up a book with a title like that, especially as it is set in Victorian times and part of the blurb on Amazon read '....when Her Majesty's Government calls, Horatio swaps his microscope for a magnifying glass, fills his pockets with things that explode and sallies forth to unravel a mystery of a singularly extraordinary nature. Thrown together with a reformed (i.e. 'caught') pickpocket called Tess, and a rebellious (within reason) young gentleman called Thomas, Lyle and his faithful hound, Tate, find themselves pursuing an ancient Chinese plate, a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of polite society and a dangerous enemy who may not even be human'.

My feelings on finishing this book were a little mixed - whilst I had enjoyed most of the plot, the fantastically written characters and the beautiful quality of the prose, I was a little unsure about the supernatural element as the synopsis hadn't really made this clear. However, there were more than enough plus points for me to pick up the sequel when it was released, with another catchy title - The Obsidian Dagger: Being The Further Extraordinary Adventures of Horatio Lyle. This book upped the creepy factor, expanded on the supernatural element, and developed the relationship between the main characters perfectly - and this time the supernatural element was not only expected, I was looking forward to it.

Now we are on book four (book three, by the way, is probably my favourite of the series so far, but that is probably the testosterone speaking as it features a massive underground super-machine, and being set in Victorian times it is all steam, cogs, pistons and so on). In case you have not yet heard about this series then first off we have Horatio Lyle - a Victorian scientist/inventor/detective/self-styled protector of all that is good in his beloved city. In the first book the sleuthing was carried out somewhat reluctantly, at the request of HM Government, but as the books have progressed Horatio has witnessed the evil that man will stoop to (especially those in power) more and more and now the investigating becomes almost second nature, although perhaps this time it is mainly because it is children who are being harmed. I mentioned these books as possibly appealing to fans of Doctor Who, and that is perhaps because Horatio Lyle's personality reminds me very much of the David Tennant and Matt Smith incarnations of this iconic character. Like Doctor Who, Horatio Lyle has a very strong sentimental side to his personality - he hates to see people hurt, whether it be his fellow humans, all the mysterious Tseiqin (don's ask me to explain - far too much risk of spoilers). Even when faced with extreme, life threatening danger at the hands of the most evil of foes, he would still rather incapacitate this foe rather then kill them. He is also somewhat eccentric - his passion for science and invention is what really makes him feel alive. Yes... the more I think about it, the more I can see him being played by Matt Smith, not that that would ever happen - far too similar to his current role.

Like Doctor Who, Lyle also has a couple of 'assistants' in his adventures - Cockney orphan Teresa 'Tess' Hatch and uper-class son of a Lord, Thomas Edward Elwick. Without these two characters this series of books would be sorely lacking in many areas. Unusually for a book aimed at young people, the main character Horatio Lyle is an adult but calling Tess and Thomas secondary characters almost feels like I am doing them a disservice. It is these two that bring life and humour to the story, through their banter with each other and with Lyle. In fact, the dialogue in these books is amongst the best you will find in a YA novel by any author. They also give Horatio's character far more depth than we would have seen in their absence, and in this book we find him questioning his role in their lives (and Tess's in particular) even more. Is he now a father figure for Tess? Should he be risking her life so readily? Does he actually have a choice when it comes to involving the two children in his adventures, or will they just involve themselves against his wishes?

This book is probably the creepiest of the series so far. There is no master criminal type trying to take over London or seeking destroy a whole race of people. Instead we have Old Greybags, and what he is doing to children is despicable. There can be little worse than putting children into a permanently comatose state so he can steal their dreams. And yet, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him at times. More I cannot say without spoiling the plot for you.

As ever the quality of Catherine Webb's writing is exquisite. This is, after all, the lady who writes adult fantasy novels under the name Kate Griffin, and brought us the stunningly written A Madness of Angels and The Midnight Mayor. She certainly doesn't dumb down her writing for this younger audience, and I would guess that this book is most suitable for the 13+ age group, or very confident readers who are a little younger than this. This is not just because of the complexity of vocabulary, but also the style of writing in general. When the author is setting a scene, or describing the London she so obviously loves with a passion, she often switches to the present tense, a device that many young readers may find a little unusual, and maybe even confusing. These really are books for teens who love reading, those who will re-read a paragraph more slowly if they haven't quite followed it the first time and then savour the quality of the descriptions of people, places and events.

Oh yes.... and the action scenes are also as good as pretty much anything else out there, and there are lots of them. Enough said!

At a push, this book could be read as a stand-alone, but you would be ruining your enjoyment of the other three books. I would therefore recommend you read them in order and enjoy the way the characters develop as each adventure unfolds. All four books are available in stores, with The Dream Thief having just been released on 1st July. My thanks go to Atom Books for sending me a copy.