Review: The Woebegone Twins by Christopher William Hill (Tales From Schwartzgarten #2)

When twins Greta and Feliks lose their beloved Aunt Gisela to a poisoned marzipan cake and are sent to the ill-omened Schwartzgarten Reformatory for Maladjusted Children it seems their fate is sealed...that is until they are rescued by the glamorous and wealthy Olga Van Veenen, a fabulous children's author. The two twins are grateful but something tells them that Olga's motives are not entirely genuine...

The Woebegone Twins is a tale of murder and mayhem, fact and fiction. The heroes are horrid. The plots are peculiar. And things are not always as they seem. If you prefer cleavers to kittens and fiends to fairies...then welcome to the gruesomely funny tales from Schwartzgarten.

Under 14s Only Month on The Book Zone continues with the second book in Christopher William Hill's brilliant Tales From Schwartzgarten series, although this post will probably be more of a review of the two books. I picked up the first book in this series, Osbert the Avenger, in Foyles towards the end of 2012 but due to the huge number of books on my TBR pile it sadly remained unread for some time. I finally got around to reading it in September and totally loved it, and reading it so late meant that I didn't have to wait long for the next in the series to be published.

Osbert the Avenger is a truly dark comedic tale that could probably only ever be written by a Brit and the publisher, Orchard Books, recommend it (and its sequel) for fans of Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket. However, this book is far darker than any of the books by these two luminaries of children's fiction, and I would suggest that it has much more in common with one of my favourite TV comedy series, The League of Gentlemen, with a soupçon of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books thrown in for good measure. It is a gruesome and very funny tale full of the most fabulous, colourful characters, both good and evil. And then there is Osbert, who sort of falls between the two. Osbert is the anti-hero of the story, and after he is wronged by the particularly nasty staff of The Institute, Schwarzgarten's school for the incredibly able, he sets out to get revenge, and in the process accidentally commits murder. It isn't long before the staff of The Institute are dropping like flies, yet even though he has become a killer we still find ourselves rooting for Osbert, and guiltily wondering just how he is going to strike next. 

Some reviewers have criticised Osbert the Avenger for its seeming lack of morals, as Osbert appears to get away with his crimes, and does not face full punishment for the murders he commits. I'm sure I read one reviewer state that this shouldn't be likened to Dahl as the perpetrators of dark deeds in his books always got their comeuppance, although I personally can't remember George being punished for pretty much finishing his grandmother off with his marvellous medicine. However, I think kids will totally love this book for its sheer gruesomeness and will find themselves giggling wickedly as Osbert gets his revenge on the people who have wronged him and his family. It's a shame that some adults feel the need to become so holier than thou as soon as they read something that doesn't quite fit their ideals of what makes a good book for children. I guess there will be a few overly sensitive 9+ kids who might be a little scared by this story, but at the end of the day, if a child finds a book uncomfortable reading then they will invariably put it down and move on to something else.

The Woebegone Twins is a sequel to Osbert the Avenger only because it is set in the same town, the wonderfully imagined Schwartzgarten. Beyond this, it is a totally new story with a completely new set of characters. Deserted by their parents as babies, Greta and Feliks Mortenberg have been brought up by their loving Aunt Gisela, who has always loved and treated them as if they were her own children. However, times are hard and therefore she is forced to take in a lodger, the seemingly sinister Mr Morbide. However, nothing is ever as it first seems in Schwarzgarten, but that doesn't mean that things aren't going to take a turn for the worse for Greta and Feliks, and a poisoned cake sees them orphaned and consigned to a grim future in the Schwartzgarten Reformatory for Maladjusted Children. Fortunately (?), an angel of mercy in the form of glamorous children's writer Olga Van Veenen sweeps in to rescue them... but is it a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. As I've already said, nothing is ever as it first appears in this town.

The Woebegone Twins will not have the Daily Mail crowd clamouring for public book burnings as much as its predecessor might. It is still chock full of gruesome murders and despicable acts, but this time around the children are not the perpetrators, just the intended victims. However, it is just as funny and entertaining as Osbert the Avenger, mainly as a result of the author's dark and mischievous sense of humour. and I get the impression that they were probably almost as much fun to write as they are to read.

Yet again we are presented with a panopoly of characters, and again the villains of the piece are one of the story's real highlights. This is one of the stories where a location is as much of a character as the people who inhabit it, with Schwartzgarten being as dark, mysterious, and occasionally unfathomable as some of its population. However, in this episode the story does not solely take place within the boundaries of the city, and so we are also treated to a glimpse at the wider world that the author has created. I'm sure I read somewhere that Christopher William Hill has been signed up to write a further two Tales From Schwartzgarten books, and I can't wait to find out more about the town and its inhabitants.

I can't sign off without commenting on the wonderful job Orchard have done in presenting these books. They come in a great hardcover (sans dust jacket), with the wonderful artwork of Chris Riddell spot varnished on the front and rear. Both books have this glorious map of Schwartzgarten inside (click on it to see it in all of its glorious largeness), giving readers a great visual reference for the locations of the dark doings within the story. My only complaint - it would have been nice to see some of Riddell's illustrations inside the book as well to accompany the story.

The Tales From Schwartzgarten books are pretty unique in my opinion, as I can't think of anything else for the 9+ age group that is as darkly comic as these two books, especially Osbert the Avenger. I'm wishing there was a lot more of this around as I have a thirst for it now and I'm not sure what to turn to next.

My thanks go to the wonderful people at Orchard for sending me a copy of The Woebegone Twins to read.

Review: The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket

There's nothing unusual about the Brockets. Normal, respectable, and proud of it, they turn up their noses at anyone strange or different. But from the moment Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it's clear he's anything but ordinary. To his parents' horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity - and floats.

Desperate to please his parents, Barnaby does his best to keep both feet on the ground - but he just can't do it. One fateful day, the Brockets decide enough is enough. They never asked for a weird, abnormal, floating child. Barnaby has to go . . .

Betrayed, frightened and alone, Barnaby floats into the path of a very special hot air balloon - and so begins a magical journey around the world, with a cast of extraordinary new friends.

Is there no end to the talent of John Boyne? 

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas = incredible!

Noah Barleywater Runs Away = amazing!

And now The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket has eclipsed both of these books in my heart and mind, and in doing so has also become a contender for my 2012 Book of the Year.

I first heard about Barnaby Brocket back in January, at a bloggers' brunch held by my good friends at Random House, and then again at their summer brunch. At both of these events, the team seemed somewhat awestruck when spoke about this book, with their descriptions littered with words like Dahl-esqe, heart warming, moving, emotional, and uplifting. I left that latest brunch looking forward to a number of their forthcoming titles, including the likes of Dodger by Terry Pratchett and Red Rain by R.L. Stein, but for some reason it was this new book by John Boyne that intrigued me the most.

If you have read either of Boyne's previous books for younger readers then you will know what to expect from Barnaby Brocket - a heart warming and uplifting tale that will tug mercilessly at your heartstrings, with some pretty heavy themes that are woven into the story with humour and deftness of touch that make the book suitable for the both younger audience at which it is aimed, and every age group onwards. You would also know to expect the unexpected.

If Alistair and Eleanor Brocket have on goal in life it is to be normal. To have normal jobs, live in a normal house and have normal children. They certainly do not want to do anything that makes them stand out from the crowd. They are mightily happy as the first two children born into the family prove to be normal to the core, but it is when the third comes along, the titular Barnaby, that the foundations of their world of normality are well and truly shaken. Unlike that of his siblings, Barnaby's birth is not an easy one for his mother, and then when he is born the doctor and nurses step back in amazement as he floats up to the ceiling. From this moment on we begin to see just how terrifyingly ghastly his parents can be in pursuit of their goal, as they try to deal with having a child who is as far from normal as can be. And their comes their ultimate act of betrayal as parents - abandonment. At this point, Barnaby embarks on a journey that sees him travelling around the world, encountering a host of other "different" people along the way.

Although the premise of a boy who somehow defies the law of gravity seems somewhat fantastical, at the root of the story is the concept of being normal, and what happens to those who don't necessarily conform to society's ideals of exactly what constitutes normality. Barnaby's "difference" is that he floats, but for many others it could be a disability, a desire to follow an unusual dream, or simply wanting to do something different from the wishes of a parent. As Barnaby meets person after person who at some point have dared to be different, and are proud of the decisions they have made in life, his own feelings regarding his 'affliction' are shaped, even though all he really wants is to get back to his parents back in Australia. Yes, the thoroughly nasty parents who abandoned him.

To describe Barnaby Brocket as Dahl-esqe is I feel very appropriate. John Boyne has again created a protagonist and host of supporting characters, both good and bad, that will enthral readers, young and old alike. As this book is written for younger readers then the bad characters are very obviously very bad, just as the good characters that Barnaby encounters are obviously very good. There is also a very strong moral running through the story, that may possibly seen exaggerated to the more older and cynical reader, but are an essential part of this as a story for kids (does anybody criticise the morals behind the likes of Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I think not).

This is a perfect story for 8+ children, although it will be enjoyed just as much by those younger if read to them by an adult as a bedtime story. I wouldn't be surprised if, in thirty years time, people talk about this book as fondly as they do now about Roald Dahl's various masterpieces of children's fiction. The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket is destined to be a classic and my thanks go to the lovely people at Doubleday for sending me a copy to review, so I can say in a few decade's time that I was there at (or at least quite near) the beginning.

The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket is scheduled to be published in hardback on 2nd August.

Review: GRYMM by Keith Austin

The small mining town of Grymm perched on the very edge of the Great Desert is the kind of town you leave - but when Dad gets a three-month contract in the mine there, Mina and Jacob, unwilling stepbrother and sister, are reluctantly arriving.

From a grotesque letting agent who seems to want to eat their baby brother, a cafe owner whose milkshakes contain actual maggots and the horribly creepy butcher, baker and candlestick-maker, Mina and Jacob soon realize that nothing in Grymm is what is appears to be.

And then things get seriously weird when their baby brother disappears - and no one seems to even notice! In Grymm, your worst nightmares really do come true . . .

I first heard about GRYMM by Keith Austin back in January at the Random House Bloggers' Brunch. At that event it was described as being a little like TV's The League of Gentlemen, and as this is one of my all time favourite TV comedy series how could I be anything by excited about reading this book? Fast forward to a few weeks ago when a copy of GRYMM came through my letterbox and I dropped everything to read it. Unfortunately reviewing it is a completely different matter as I think it is unlike pretty much any other book I have read and I'm really not sure how to describe it.

I guess I will start off my saying that I absolutely loved it but I have a feeling that this could become the Marmite of YA books, as there will probably be more than a few people who will hate it. And I'm not sure there is any room for sitting on the fence with this one. However, if you like your stories to be darker than a city banker's soul then GRYMM is for you.

Step-siblings Jacob and Mina hate each other with a passion, but unfortunately for them their respective parents are now married, and together have added a third child to the family. Baby Bryan is the only thing about which the pair agree - they both think he is the most disgustingly smelly creature ever to have been born (and I think that Keith Austin's descriptions of this child will have most readers agreeing with them). The threesome have been relocated with their parents to the middle of nowhere for the school holidays, as Mina's geologist father has been contracted to carry out some studies Grymm's local mine. As soon as they arrive in the town they realise that it is probably going to be very different from your average town, and they are certainly not wrong.

The first resident of Grymm that they meet is the sinister Thespa Grymm, who can only be described as witch-like in her appearance. Both Jacob and Mina are pretty creeped out by Thespa, and the conversation that ensues does little to change their first impressions of this strange woman. However, the pair soon discover that she is only one of a host of truly weird and potentially dangerous people in the town. Thespa Grymm warns the family that "nothing is quite what it seems in Grymm", and never has a truer word been said. 

Shortly after the family's arrival in Grymm the step-siblings awake one morning to an unusual silence. They soon discover that Bryan has gone missing, and worse still neither of their parents have any memory of him ever having existed. So begins a dark adventure that sees the pair fleeing for their lives on more than a handful of occasions as they try to get to the bottom of the mystery that is the town of Grymm and its mine.

Like the TV comedy show GRYMM was semi-likened to, it is full of grotesque and deeply-disturbing characters, and the town of Grymm is like an out-back version of Royston Vasey, situated on the edge of a desert rather than the rural north of England. Other inhabitants of the town include Maggot, owner of Maggot's Milk Bar (you really do not want to drink one of Maggot's shakes; Cleaver Flay the butcher, a man who has OCD as far as cleanliness is concerned, but the meat in his shop may come from rather questionable sources; Malahide Fleur, the baker, whose wares are the most tempting pastries known to man, but don't hang around for too long or....... I could list a host of other characters, but I won't as every one of them is a macabre treat just waiting to be discovered by the reader.

This book is one of those that really does need to be read to be believed, and I only wish I could come up with a more coherent way of describing it. Dark, macabre, bizarre, hilarious, chilling - none of those words are really enough, although together they may give you something of an idea what to expect when you open this book and venture into the town where nothing is quite what it seems.