Review: The D'Evil Diaries by Tatum Flyyn

Twelve-year-old Jinx is hopeless at being evil. Which is a bit of a problem when you're Lucifer's youngest son. But when Jinx runs away from Pandemonium, the walled city he's lived in all his life, he bumps into dead girl Tommy - who's been sent to Hell for accidentally feeding her nasty uncle to a circus lion - and unearths a conspiracy that could up-end the entire underworld.

Cue shenanigans involving carnivorous carousel horses, death-trap-riddled libraries and hungry quicksand. Now the fate of the realm rests in the hands of its most unlikely demon and a girl who shouldn't be in Hell at all...

The concept of Satan having a hapless son is not a particularly new one, but never has it been as funny as it is in Tatum Flynn's The D'Evil Diaries. In fact, Adam Sandler would have been much better off handing over the co-writing duties on the truly dire Little Nicky to Tatum Flynn - it would have been a hell of a lot funnier if he had (pun intended)!

Jinx D'Evil, the main character of this book, is the son of Lucifer, but he is a pretty poor excuse for a demon. Only he could make the monstrous Nemesis Tree in The Poison Gardens blossom with beautiful pink (and totally harmless) flowers. And the less said about his flying abilities the better. His poor father has tried everything he can think of to make his son a better demon, including sending to various points in Earth's history to learn from some of the planets most despicable villains. But all Jinx seems to do is make them good. With his self-esteem at an all-time low, and before he gets sent to a military academy, Jinx does what many other children his age have thought about doing - he runs away from home, and stumbles straight into a conspiracy that threatens the whole of hell, and possibly heaven as well.

Jinx is aided and abetted in his adventures by Tommy, a young girl who has somehow ended up in hell by mistake (even Lucifer has morals - he doesn't accept children into his realm). Tommy is everything that Jinx isn't - kick-ass brave, clever, resourceful - and the relationship that develops between them as the learn to trust each other (or not, as the case may be at times) is both hilarious and heartwarming.

The D'Evil Diaries is comedy adventure at its best, and it will have children giggling all the way from page one to the final chapter. It is great to see that the author does not patronise her readers - she has obviously done her research and/or knows her mythology and classical depictions of hell very well, and she uses these to great effect without ever dumbing things down for her young audience. Where some funny books for this age group can fall foul of too much emphasis on laughs and not enough on plot, The D'Evil Diaries strikes that perfect balance between the two.

The hilarious and irreverent manner with which the author treats her theology-inspired subject will no doubt have those 'good'(?) people of the Westboro Baptist Church rattling off fire-and-brimstone hate emails by their hundreds, but I'm sure that Ms Flynn can give as good as she gets if she so chooses. She should team up with the brilliant Barry Hutchison, and other authors who have received such missives and find someone to publish an anthology of them. I think it would make a great Christmas stocking filler!

My thanks go to the fab people at Orchard Books for sending me a copy of the book to read.

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: Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff

Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target.

When Boy Nobody was just eleven, he discovered his own parents had died of not-so-natural causes. He soon found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission.

 

You’re a multi-millionaire businessman. Yes, you may have had to strike some less than ethical deals and upset a few important people along the way to fame and fortune, and who cares if you're selling wepaon parts to Iraq? But hey, that’s why you employ a bodyguard. So when your son/daughter brings home the new boy at school, of course you don’t think twice about it. He’s your perfect clean cut, polite, all-American boy after all. And that’s just what THEY want you to think. Before you know it, your guard is down, it’s just you and him chatting in the kitchen and suddenly he lunges at you with a hypo disguised as a pen. And that’s the last thing you will ever register as collapse to the floor, your life quickly slipping away. Death by natural causes, of course!

Boy Nobody tells the story of a teen assassin. He works for The Program, a shadowy government agency that makes the CIA look like a group of boy scouts. Jack aka Ben aka is tasked with working his way into the families of his designated targets by befriending the target’s son or daughter, his youth and clean looks being the perfect cover. It’s a kill or be killed situation for him – if he doesn’t carry out his orders then it won’t be long before he finds himself the target of another of The Program’s assassins. All of this goes pretty much unquestioned by our main character until he is given his latest mission, a rush job and a target that he can’t help but like, and whose daughter he can’t help but start falling for.

Earlier this year I was able to attend a conference organised by the National Literacy trust titled Improving boys’ literacy attainment across the curriculum. For the final presentation of the day we were treated to 30 minutes of Charlie Higson talking about boys and reading, using his experiences as a father and as a writer to highlight various points. During this talk he explained that when he submitted the first Young Bond book to Puffin they got nervous and asked him if he could tone down some of the violence. They were worried that they would receive nothing but complaints from librarians, teachers, journalists, etc. Charlie told us how he stuck to his guns (no pun intended), and when the book was finally released it received very few, if any, complaints. In fact, exactly the opposite. I would imagine that this probably reflects the experiences of both Darren Shan and Anthony Horowitz, both of whom are recognised as early trailblazers of boy-friendly action stories that contain more than a hint of violence. Charlie also said that now, eight years on from the release of Silverfin, something has happened that would have been unheard of at the time of its release, let alone back in 2000 when Stormbreaker was released: one of the new covers of the Young Bond series shows the 13-year-old James Bond holding a machine gun.

The fact that in Boy Nobody we now have a book that features a main teenage character who is an assassin, killing with no remorse, shows just how far books have come since those days, and also shows how publishers are willing to push the boundaries that little but further these days and take chances on slightly edgier material. And in my opinion this is a good thing. When I was in my early teens there simply were no books like this around so I graduated very early on to reading adult thrillers by the likes of Robert Ludlum, books which certainly didn’t hold back on the violence, or the sex in some cases. I have friends who started reading Stephen King when they were 13 as nobody was writing horror for teens in those days. Surely it is better that young people are given the chance to experience books that feature violence, suggestions of sex, etc. in books that are specifically written for them than in books that are specifically written for a far more mature audience? And let’s not patronise our young adults – if they aren’t comfortable with a book due to levels of violence and so on then odds are that they will stop reading it anyway.

I loved Boy Nobody. I loved the coldness of the main character, who in many ways reminded me of the cold killer that is James Bond in Fleming’s novels, a feature of his personality that is very much lost in the majority of the Bond films. For Ben (the name that he uses for much of Boy Nobody) killing is both a job and a means of survival. If he kills he is kept in the manner he has become accustomed to. If he doesn’t kill then he knows his life won’t last much longer. I loved the fact that I struggled to relate to Ben, as he was so cold and although he starts to question his life as events start to spiral out of control, it is not the killing he is questioning, more the loss of a traditional family life.

The action scenes in the book are fast and frantic, and are guaranteed to hook boys (and girls) who like stories like this. This is a great story for gamers who are fans of Hitman, Black Ops and so on (even though they are technically too young to be playing them) as the short chapters, action set pieces and the concept of the teen assassin combine perfectly to pull them away from their games consoles and keep them buried in the book, eagerly turning the pages to find out what happens next.

The book is not without its faults, but I don’t want to dwell on them for too long as they were only minor niggles for me. The claim that boys do not like romance in their books is very much a myth in my experience. Boys don’t mind a little romance, if it is done well, but like me many do not like it when it seems forced. The romantic element in Boy Nobody is an important part of the plot, and at no point does it overshadow the main theme of the story, but for me it didn’t ring true. I’m not sure what it says about me when I find the concept of a teen assassin far more believable than said assassin letting his guard down for a girl he has known for only a couple of days?

I read somewhere once, a long time ago, about a book that someone (either an individual or a group) banned somewhere as it had a young main character who killed someone and didn’t seem to feel any remorse. I love the way that Allen Zadoff never makes excuses for his main character, and he doesn’t leave us with the moral that killing is evil. Zadoff leaves it entirely up to his readers to decide whether they are comfortable with the actions of the main character, and there will be some who will side with him and sympathise with him, there will be others who will be horrified at his actions, and there will a large number siting firmly on the fence. This is a great book for encouraging discussion about what is right and wrong, the life of one versus the lives of many and whether the end justifies the means, especially as in the eyes of The Program the people that Ben is sent to dispatch are all considered threats to national security in one way or another.

My thanks go to the lovely people at Orchard Books for sending me a copy of Boy Nobody to read.

Book Trailer: Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff

I finished reading Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff last week , and I can tell you that it is one hell of a thriller and the kind of book that just wouldn't have seen the light a few years ago. A teen boy who infiltrates his way into the lives of others in order to carry out an assassination? I still remember when there was an outcry if a teen character killed someone without facing suitable punishment for his/her crime.

Boy Nobody is out at the end of May, and my review will appear here nearer to that date, but in the meantime here is the trailer for you to enjoy:

Review: Metawars 2: The Dead Are Rising by Jeff Norton

The Changsphere offers a safe haven for the Uploaded, and with more processing power than the Southern Corner could ever offer, the Uploaded begin to grow, develop, and yearn to be alive again. With the Changsphere offering competition to the Metasphere, more and more avatars take up residency in it. But the Uploaded begin to prey on live avatars, infecting them, and their users, with their personalities and becoming reborn in the real world. The dead are rising. 

Now reborn into the real world, the once dead avatars will not let anyone shut down the Changsphere - the source of their rebirth. Meanwhile, Jonah, Sam, and Axel struggle to keep the Metasphere safe from Granger's assault on the Western Corner, which is housed in the old subway lines under New York City. But Jonah struggles with whether they are doing the right thing: in fighting Granger, they face a more dangerous virtual world, where millions of Uploaded now roam freely, stalking users for their virtual avatars and their real bodies.

Why does the phrase 'more of the same' seem to sound more negative than positive. In my review, I described Fight For The Future, the first book in Jeff Norton's Metawars series, as a "super fast-paced and well plotted story that sucks readers in from the very first chapter" and the sequel is, to coin a phrase, more of the same. So I put it to you that in this case, 'more of the same' is far from negative and is in fact high praise indeed.

The story picks up very soon after the climactic finale of the first book, with Jonah and Sam still in Australia. Jonah is spending a huge amount of time inside the newly formed Changsphere, enjoying the company of his father, who, like the rest of the Uploaded, has somehow recovered most of his memories. However, Jonah very quickly discovers that there is something not quite right with the Uploaded, and at Gamescon, now newly relocated from the Metasphere to the Changsphere, everything hits the fan. The Uploaded, with their newly regained faculties, now realise that they are dead in the real world, and they are hungry for life. And the only way to get it is to consume the avatar of a living person, and in doing so usurp that person's body in real life.

Whilst all this is going on, Matthew Granger is up to his old tricks, and this time he is out for revenge. Having escaped from the Guardians as the end of Fight For The Future, he has managed to make his way to Manhattan Island, now an independent republic, and a safe-haven for anyone who has enough money to be able to afford to live there. His solution to the Changsphere is an extreme one, with little care for the avatars that have moved over to the rival virtual world, and it isn't long before Jonah and Sam find themselves heading for Manhattan to attempt an invasion of the Western Corner, although the real world journey from Australia, via Hong Kong, is fraught with danger.

As with the previous instalment, The Dead Are Rising, is much more than just a science fiction action adventure story. It raises a number of question regarding identity, and Jonah continues to find his conscience twisted and torn as he struggles with the various moral dilemmas that come his way. These books are ideal for book groups as they would encourage young people to debate on a number of issues related to technology, virtual worlds, global corporations and eco-terrorism.

Metawars: The Dead Are Rising is already available in book stores, and the good news is that the third in the series, Battle of the Immortal, is less than six months away, with a provisional release date of 2nd May. My thanks go to Orchard Books for sending me a copy to read and review.

Review: Metawars - Fight for the Future by Jeff Norton

Jonah Delacroix can't stand the real world - so he lives most of his life inside a global computer-based virtual world called the Metasphere, where everyone is represented by an avatar. When he discovers the avatar of his dead father, and assumes his online identity, a series of events are unleashed that compel Jonah to race across the real world with a secret society to protect the freedom of all mankind...

You would have to be some kind of hermit living in a shack on a remote Pacific island not to have noticed the glut of YA dystopian novels that have flooded the market of the past couple of years. If I'm brutally honest, I'm getting more than a little bored of them, but there is still one sub-genre of this that still excites me - tech. Over the past year or so I have had the pleasure of reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (written for the adult market but potentially just as exciting for older teen boys); Bzrk by Michael Grant; Insignia by S.J. Kincaid; and now Metawars: Fight for the Future by Jeff Norton. Every one of these books has the potential to turn a certain type of reluctant reader boy (or girl) on to reading, as they all have huge appeal for gamers.

Metawars starts off with protagonist Jonah Delacroix racing through the night time streets of London on his trusty rollerblades, desperate to win the sizeable meta-dollar prize that will keep him and his mother in food foe the next few months. Unfortunately for Jonah, as he is in spitting distance of the finish line he is thrown off his feet by an huge explosion - the terrorist Guardians that he hates so much have struck again. Meanwhile, across the other side of the Atlantic the US government has fallen, and Matthew Granger, creator of the Metasphere and long incarcerated leader of the Millennials is released from his prison by his armed supporters. Jonah does not yet know it, but both of these events are about to change his life immeasurably.

The world in which Jonah lives is not hugely different to ours in many ways. Millions live in poverty and can't help but see their future as being particularly bleak. To escape the day-to-day depression of their lives they spend increasingly more hours plugged into the Metasphere, a virtual world where people have jobs, socialise with each other, and in Jonah's case, attend school. Every person who enters the Metasphere has their very own avatar, constructed for them by the software, based upon the owner's own sub-consciousness. There are unicorns, dragons, robots, animals, and some even more bizarre avatars, but Jonah is stuck with a humatar, i.e. his avatar looks just like his real world self. 

In discussions at school Jonah is always the first to defend the Millennials (his father used to be Granger's personal pilot) and just as quick to damn the Guardians, who he believes murdered his father in a terrorist attack some years ago. However, very soon Jonah's world is going to be rocked as everything he believes is challenged, and the lines between good and evil become increasingly blurred. As events begin to unfold he finds himself on the run with the people he previously hated, not really knowing who to trust as he crosses both the virtual and real worlds, fleeing for his life.

Metawars is a super fast-paced and well plotted story that sucks readers in from the very first chapter, and I would have finished it in a single sitting if I hadn't already made plans to go out with friends. As it was, we were late arriving as I kept on telling my wife I wanted to read one more chapter. And then another. And another.

Jeff Norton has filled his story with a great number of cracking concepts and ideas that will fire up the imaginations of young people, and I think it would make a really good class reader for English lessons as there are so many elements that make great points for discussion. Both the Millennials and the Guardians feel that they are morally right, and every action they make is justified, whatever the collateral damage, and readers will find themselves challenged just as much as Jonah does. Although it is science fiction, many of the concepts are only a few jumps on from web and gaming technology that so many people, young and old, enjoy today and this makes the story all that more credible as a possible future world that may be experienced by today's teens.

If you have boys or girls that prefer sitting in front of a screen with a game controller in their hand to reading then this might be the book that gets them turning their console off, even if just for thirty minutes at a time. It is the first in a series, and although Jeff Norton brings this instalment to a satisfying end, it leaves enough questions to make kids hungry for more. The good news is, we don't have long to wait as the sequel, Metawars: The Dead Are Rising is scheduled for a November release. There is also a cool website that ties nicely into the book at www.metawarsbooks.com where you can enter a competition to win an ipad.

My thanks go to the lovely people at Orchard Books for sending me a copy to review.

** Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead Contest Result

The lucky winners, who will each receive a copy of Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead by James Black are:

Teresa Majury

Louise Rawlings

Caroline Fielding

Richard Sutherland

Suan Watts

Well done and thank you to all of you who entered. I will now endeavour to contact the winner through by email. Please reply within 48 hours or I will draw another name out of the hat. Many thanks to Orchard Books for providing the prizes.

(Note: all names were drawn randomly using a nifty little freeware programme called The Hat)

*** Contest: WIN a copy of Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead by James Black

Earlier this month I posted a review of Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead, the first book in a series of Mash Ups by James Black. Now, thanks to the generous people at Orchard Books I have a five copies to give away to readers of The Book Zone. In order to be in with a chance of winning one of these five copies  all you have to do is fill in your details on the form below.

The first name drawn at random after the closing date will win a copy of the book. Deadline for entries is 8pm Saturday 26th February. This contest is open to UK residents only.




Contest open to UK residents only.
Neither the publisher or I will not 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.

Review: Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead (Mash Ups) by James Black

What happens when Robin Hood and his Merry Men are faced with a plague of zombies? Somehow, Robin must figure out a way to defeat the most difficult and dangerous enemy he's ever faced, and save the country from destruction...

There have been some brilliant YA zombie books released in recent years. The first that spring to mind are The Enemy and The Dead, both by Charlie Higson, and the soon-to-be-published Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (finished this yesterday, watch this space for my review). Zombies seem to be one of the next big things in YA literature and a number of publishers have zombie related releases coming this year (the one I am most intrigued about is Dearly Departed by Lia Habel, described by the lovely people at RHCB as Gone With The Wind vs Dawn of the Dead). Zombies are a great way of engaging boys and grabbing their attention, as we all know that reluctant reader boys love a bit of gore, and Orchard Books, through author James Black, are another publishing house with a new zombie book aimed at just this market.

However, Black's book is a little different from others on the market at the moment as it is a Mash Up. The mash up is a concept that has been popular in the adult market for a couple of years now (Pride & Prejudice & Zombies being the obvious example), but it is now making the transfer over to a younger audience, especially as a way of marketing books to boys, and Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead is the first in a planned series of Mash Ups books written by James Black. Yes, you read correctly, I did say Robin Hood, and this book is exactly what is says on the cover - the infamous outlaw of Sherwood Forest battling against a hoard of zombies. Zombie purists may hate it; Robin Hood officianados may hate it even more. But reluctant reader boys of aged 10 and above will probably love it.

When reading books for review I sometimes have to remind myself to look at these books from the point of view of a young male reader. As an adult reader I am far more picky about what I enjoy (or not) about a book, whilst an 11 year old who is not particularly fond of reading more may be a little less discerning. I've spent many hours talking to boys like this at school, and when I mention things like characterisation they tend to give me a blank look. But the moment I start talking about action, fights, blood and gore for some reason they become far more animated. If the first chapter is full of action, with a cliffhanger at its end, and the pace of the ensuing story is fast and exciting, then they can so easily be hooked by a book. 

Personally I felt that Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead ticks all of these boxes, even though I did not enjoy it hugely myself. I think I have been spoiled recently with the quality of Higson's zombie stories and couldn't help but compare them, and this one falls well short of The Enemy and The Dead in all areas. Higson's books are, however, aimed at a slightly older audience, and their greater page count and more complicated themes make them less accessible for struggling readers, whilst James Black's book is a much easier read (unless you're not a gore fan that is). I know it is going to be a hit with certain boys at school.

Robin Hood vs The Plague Undead was published on 3rd February and my thanks go to Orchard Books for sending me a copy to review. I have already mentioned that this is the first in a series, with the next book Blackbeard's Pirates vs The Evil Mummies, due to released in July.