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.

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.