Review: Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater by Dusty Higgins & Van Jensen

Pinocchio is back, continuing his quest to rid the world of vampires. Still haunted by Geppetto’s death and in an uneasy alliance with an undead friend, Pinocchio is in danger of letting his anger consume him.

Fortunately, the actors of the Great Puppet Theater arrive on the scene to aid their brother-in-wood. Soon, they’re journeying across Italy to the sea in a high-stakes pursuit of the source of the vampire scourge.

Back at the start of the year I started a Tumblr blog, with a view to it running alongside The Book Zone, with one post each day for a year highlighting some of the cool books in my collection. I managed to get to the end of January, by which point I realised that I was never going to keep it going as I was only just managing to keep on top of this blog. One of the first books I mini-reviewed on that Tumblr effort was Pinocchio Vampire Slayer, a small graphic novel that was something of an impulse buy based purely on its title. In that post I wrote the following about the book:

Story-wise I have read far better in graphic novels, but I am not sure Jensen and Higgins set out to create a richly plotted tale; this book should be enjoyed for what it is: an irreverent and crazy horror story based on the characters created by Carlo Collodi. Sure, the hero of this book is no Buffy Summers, but how many times did we see her have to hunt around for an improvised weapon? This vampire slayer simply has to lie to make his nose grow and voila - instant slayer stake! As for the illustrations I guess you may love or hate them, depending on your tastes. I grew up adoring the black and white images in 2000AD, and can still appreciate the power of monochromatic artwork, but lovers of rich colour and detail may find the style in this book a little brutal for their tastes. Definitely a remedy for the Disney-fied version of the story, and far more in keeping with the dark content of Collodi’s original, and many of the other classic fairytales that have been sanitised by Disney Corp.

In fact, I liked it so much that as I wrote that review I had just put in my order for the sequel, Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater. Be warned, reader, that the following may contain spoilers for the first book!

Whilst the first book was something of a lone wolf adventure, with Pinocchio on a one-puppet mission to avenge the death of his father Geppetto (albeit with carpenter Master Cherry and The Blue Fairy as support), the second book is much more of a team affair, with the eponymous hero joined by the equally wooden actors of the Great Puppet Theater. They have been hunting for Pinocchio for some time, keen to join up with him and together rid their world of the vampire menace. Their appearance on the scene brings even more dark humour to the sequel, especially in the banter that goes on between the various puppets, with Van Jansen really getting his teeth into writing the sarcasm-rich dialogue that goes on between them. It also means that this second volume is a good fifty pages longer than the first, and this can only be a good thing.

It is a good job that these puppets can really kick butt as there are none of your wimpy Edward Cullen-type vampires in this book, they are all mean, nasty, bloodsucking mankillers, and even if you are feeling a little jaded by all the vampire stories that have been flying around in recent years you will probably find this to be a fresh and engaging take on the vampire myth. I think that these books would go down a storm with 11+ boys, and I hope to get copies for the school library next term. I am definitely looking forward to reading the final book in this trilogy, due out next year and titled Pinocchio Vampire Slayer, Of Wood and Blood, although a I am a little sad that it will be the final PVS book. A Pixar adapation would be fantastic, though given the body count perhaps a little unlikely, so perhaps Higgins and Jensen could turn their immense talents to re-writing another classic fairy tale in the future?

The books are published by SLG Publishing and you can find out more about Pinocchio Vampire Slayer at http://pinocchiovampireslayer.com/

Review: Candle Man: The Society of Dread by Glenn Dakin

When Theo defeated his old guardian, Dr Saint, in a fierce, fiery battle, he thought his enemies were routed and the bad old days were over for good. But now the terrible slithering, seething crelp are bubbling up from below ground to snatch people and harvest their bones. Deep beneath the city, an ancient force – one that could threaten even Theo the Candle Man’s power – is getting ready to burn, burn, burn. Twisted, charred, faceless Dr Pyre has a plan, and a secret that will shock Theo to the core. Theo will have to descend once more into the dark, slimy tunnels to fight strange creatures and ally with old enemies. Can the Candle Man find a way in the dark this time?

Back in November 2009, in the dark, early days of The Book Zone, I posted a review of the first book from Glenn Dakin featuring his young hero, and subtitled The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance. It was a book that I loved for its dark humour, fast pace and colourful characters, and I waited impatiently for the sequel. Unfortunately patience is not a virtue I possess in bucketfuls when it comes to books, and my willpower weakened to the point where I ordered the sequel from the US, as for some reason the books have been published over there some time before they are unleashed on the UK. I read it at a time when things were really busy at work and so I just never got around to writing a review, and then a copy of the UK paperback edition arrived from the generous people at Egmont, and has sat on my desk as a reminder to post that review ever since.

I have just re-read the sequel, subtitled The Society of Dread, so that it is fresh in my mind for writing this review, and please me when I say that it is just as good second time around. I loved this book, possibly even more than I loved the first in the series, as it has all the great elements of the first book plus more. More great characters. More horrible creatures. More dark, dark humour. And best of all, more of Theo, a main character with flaws, and one of the great underdogs of modern children's literature.

In preparation for writing this I also re-read my review of the first book in the series. At the time I wrote that I had struggled to get a feel for the place in which the story was set, and that I was a little confused about it. I wonder whether that was just the mood I was in at the time, as there was certainly none of that in this book, and the setting was this time a stand-out element of the story for me. If you haven't read the first book (you really should), the story is set in a modern day London, but there are many elements that give the reader a feeling that some of its characters are firmly rooted in the traditions of the Victorian era, and it certainly has the feel of some of the classic crime and adventure books from the beginning of the 20th Century. It is the kind of book that I would really love to see turned into a film, directed by the likes of Terry Gilliam or Jean-Pierre Jeunet, directors who would lavish care and attention on creating the perfect setting, down to the smallest detail. Although perhaps the scenes where Theo uses his powers might be a little too icky for this, so maybe an animated films by someone like Sylvain Chomet (creator of the totally brilliant Belleville Rendez-vous).

To tell you more about the plot than is mentioned in the publisher's blurb at the top of this post would be risking giving away spoilers from the first book, so instead you should read my review of that first book and then go out and get your hands on the book, in the knowledge that there is an even better sequel already waiting in the wings. If you have already read the first book then you probably don't need to read my waffling about the plot of the sequel anyway. What I will say is that the ending of The Society of Dread leaves us with a number of hints that suggest that there will hopefully be a third Candle Man book some time in the future, although I am not privy to when that may be. If I get any more information about this I will be sure to let you know.

News: The End of Rick Yancey's Monstrumologist Series?

There has been a lot of buzz on Facebook, Twitter and a huge variety of blogs over the past few days regarding The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey. It would appear that Rick had a three book contract with Simon and Schuster US, and due to the number of oustanding reviews garnered by the two books so far, as well as various awards and award nominations Mr Yancey had expected to be given an extension to this contract, especially as S&S knew that he had plans to continue Will Henry's story into further books. However, much to his surprise, he has now been informed that his publisher were not interested in extending his contract. I will give my thoughts on this below, but if you want the full details from the man himself them I urge you to visit The Bookshelves of Doom blog here to read an interview with the author about this matter.

Long time readers of The Book Zone will know how highly I regard these two fantastic horror books, which in my opinion stand out as beacons of quality amongst the plethora of YA horror/paranormal books being released these days, so it was with a great deal of sadness that I read about this. However, my sadness turned to anger when I then discovered that Simon and Schuster had at roughly the same time signed a multi-book deal with Hilary Duff! Yes, that Hilary Duff, the one from countless films, most of which I would prefer to watch paint dry than watch. Yet another celebrity getting a book deal purely on their name, with a publisher hoping that the name will sell books. So sad. As a lover of good stories for kids and young adults I often forget that publishing is an industry like any other, and as such is very much focused on profit, constantly searching for the next cash cow to come along, and in the meantime happy to publish god knows how many below par Twilight wannabe books to keep the cash rolling in.

Supposedly, despite the rave reviews, and the awards, Rick Yancey's books just weren't selling quite well enough for the people holding the purse strings. So quality is losing out to making money yet again, and at the same time yet another so-called celebrity gets paid to inflict their stories on the unsuspecting (and celebrity crazy) public. I may be doing Ms Duff a disservice here, but I doubt it.

I hope Mr Yancey manages to find another publisher for his books so that he can finish his story, and his legion of fans don't get left waiting for the rest of his story, much as we have had to do with Joe Craig's Jimmy Coates series. This reader will definitely be buying the next book in the series and a review will appear on The Book Zone some time in October. In the meantime you can read my review of The Monstrumologist here and Curse of the Wendigo here.