Review: Black Arts by Prentice and Weil (The Books of Pandomonium Book 1)

Elizabethan London: a teeming city of traders and thieves, courtiers and preachers, riff-raff and quality, cut-throats - and demons. When scrunty Jack the 'Judicious Nipper' picks the wrong pocket at the Globe Theatre, he finds himself mixed up in an altogether more dangerous London than he could have imagined - a city in which magic is real and deadly.

An outbreak of devil-worship has led to a wave of anti-witch fervor whipped up by the Elect, a mysterious group of Puritans recognizable from their red-stained right hands, led by the charismatic Nicholas Webb, a growing power at Court. Rumour has it that he wants to purge the city entirely and build a New Jerusalem. Jack has his own reason for hating him: he saw him kill his mother.

Helped by Beth Sharkwell the Thief Princess of Lambeth, Kit Morely the Intelligencer and Dr Dee the Queen's Wizard, Jack pits himself against Webb's Puritans. But this is no straightforward struggle. Things are not as they seem. In fact, ever since his encounter with Webb, there has been something wrong with Jack's vision. He keeps seeing things. Demons.

March 2012 has to have been one of the greatest months ever as far as the release of totally brilliant children's and YA books is concerned. I stopped announcing my Book of the Month some time ago, but if I was forced to make a decision (and it wasn't for a certain sequel by Will Hill) then Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil would be an incredibly strong contender indeed.

I received an early proof copy of Black Arts back before Christmas, courtesy of the lovely people at David Fickling Books, and I the information on the press release simply shouted "Read me now!" and so I dropped everything and did as instructed. That press release mentioned: the setting, London (London is unsurpassed as a setting for magical fantasy/horror in my opinion); in the year 1592 (one of my favourite eras for historical fiction); Satanic atrocities; a shadow world of criminals and fanatics, spies and magicians. I almost felt as if that press release had been directed at me personally, it ticked so many boxes. I was not to be disappointed.

I'm a little bit lost on how to start telling you about this book as there is simply so much I want to say. It is the perfect blend of fantasy, horror and historical fiction, with none of these 'genres' elbowing for dominance over the others. I mentioned this to my friend Liz from My Favourite Books as she had just started reading it, and we agreed that some writers of fantasy/horror set in an actual historical period (as opposed to a fantasy world of their own creation) often get bogged down in trying to ensure that all the historical details are correct, meaning that a great deal of the fun in their story gets forgotten about. The reason for this is the history nerds who seem to take great pleasure in hunting through books like this desperately trying to find some kind of historical inaccuracy. I can't attest to the accuracy of the historical aspect of Black Arts (and frankly I don't care in a story this good), but the writers certainly made it feel very real to me, and yet also managed to ensure that their story was an incredibly rewarding, fun read (some people may think I am a little bit twisted for finding fun in what is such a dark book.... perhaps I am?!) 

Sometimes when reading a book you can tell that the author had great fun writing it, and I have no doubts at all that this was the case with Black Arts. The primary piece of evidence that suggests this to me is the dialogue between the various characters. In a lesser book, the characters might have come across as stereotypes of the traditional Oliver Twist street urchin/crime story, albeit with healthy doses of magic and horror added to the mix, but the quality of the dialogue in Black Arts makes the story stand head and shoulders above its peers. Having met Prentice and Weil at the recent launch of their debut I can now easily imagine the fun they had in writing the dialogue for their richly imagined characters. The characters themselves are perfectly created, especially the villains of the story who are particularly nasty and ruthless (and again, more fun must have been had in the creation of these bad guys - P & W make exceedingly good bad villains).

12+ children who have read all of the Harry Potter books and particularly enjoyed the darker aspects of those books as the story progressed to its final conclusion could do a hell of a lot worse than turn to Black Arts for their latest fix of dark horror. The plot is exciting, and it twists and turns constantly as characters cross and double-cross each other, and with this much mystery and suspense I defy any young person to read this book and find it boring. 

David Fickling and his very small team really know what makes a fantastic children's/YA book. They don't publish many but it seems that everyone that comes out from them is an absolute corker. The impression I am always left with in finishing a David Fickling Book is that David and his team have a passion for great stories, and getting these into the hands of young people. Long may this continue!

*** Interview with Tim Bowler

Yesterday I posted a review of the first book in the reissued Blade series by Tim Bowler. Today, as promised, we are joined by Tim who very kindly agreed to answer some questions for readers of The Book Zone.

Hi Tim. Welcome to The Book Zone and thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for us. First up: how would you describe the Blade books to someone discovering them for the first time?

The series is an urban thriller about a fourteen-year-old boy nicknamed Blade and his battle to find redemption for the things he has done in the past. He has a terrifying skill with a knife and he has used this weapon to devastating effect, but he is a victim of the hideous circumstances in which he grew up, and by the time we meet him at the beginning of the story, he is on the run with his enemies closing in. The series highlights his brilliant gifts of survival but also his vulnerability as an individual as he fights against the odds and struggles with his awakening conscience.

What was the original inspiration for the Blade books?

There were several things that inspired the Blade series. Firstly, I have always had a horror of knives as weapons and while I find them frightening in any context, I am particularly horrified by the thought of young people carrying and using them. Secondly, I wanted to know whether someone who has committed the terrible acts of violence that Blade has can possibly come back from that and even have a future. Thirdly, I remember driving through a town in Devon in the 1980s and finding myself at a pedestrian crossing with the light on green and wondering why the car in front of me hadn't started to move forward. When I looked more closely, I saw that a boy of about seven had placed himself on the pedestrian crossing right in front of this other car and was jeering at the driver and daring him to drive on, which of course he couldn't and didn't. Car horns started going off behind me and eventually, when the boy had had his fun and made his point, he sidled over to the pavement with a triumphant grin on his face and 'allowed' the traffic to move on. I forgot about this boy for over twenty years and it was only when I'd written the first scene of Blade, where the seven-year-old Blade is in trouble with the police for holding up traffic at a pedestrian crossing, that I recognised where he had come from.

Blade is a great protagonist. Can you tell us a little more about him?

He's complex, he's dangerous, he's full of contradictions, he's street smart, he's bright, he loves books, he has an inquiring mind, he's inventive with words, he's likable, he's courageous. He's also deeply damaged. He's been damaged since the day he was born and it wasn't till he was ten that he started to learn to love and to trust. But by then it was too late and when he fled from his enemies at the age of eleven to go to ground in a new city, he sealed his mind against the possibility of ever loving or trusting again. But he didn't seal it tightly enough.

When the Blade books arrived at the school library a few years ago my librarian was a little hesitant about putting them on the shelves because of their focus on knife crime. I managed to persuade her that they were fine for our students. Have parents, teachers or librarians expressed similar concerns to you? What would your answer be?

One librarian did say to me that she was worried the series might glamorise knives for young people, but she hadn't read the books. I suggested that she first of all read the books for herself, and then find me one paragraph, one sentence even, that glorifies knives or suggests they're a good thing. Within just a few pages of the first book, we realise that this boy has a life nobody would want, and things only get harder for him as the story progresses. Far from portraying the romanticised life of some devil-may-care teen buccaneer with swashbuckling knife skills, the story shows a boy haunted by fear and guilt and perpetually on the edge of death, a boy fighting not just to save his own life but to believe in the point of that life. Blade is not a preachy story but it is a deeply moral one and I fail to see how an urban odyssey of this kind with sympathetic character portrayals and fast-moving action can possibly damage student readers, provided they are willing to embrace its issues in a mature way.

I have loved reading books ever since I was a child. Were you like this when you were younger or were you a reluctant reader? Who encouraged you to read when you were younger?

I'm just like you: an avid reader. I started at the age of five and never stopped. I just dived into reading. The first story I read was a sea story (Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone) and I've been passionate about sea stories ever since: Arthur Ransome, C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian, Robert Louis Stevenson etc. I lapped them all up. I also loved Tintin books, which I read in French, and thriller writers – too many to name – and then in my late teens I started moving towards poetry too. Since my twenties I've read pretty much anything that interests me – fiction of all kinds, poetry, non-fiction, e.g. biographies, history, history of music, diaries, letters, philosophy etc.

Is there anything else you would like to say to readers of this blog?

Just that it's been a real pleasure talking to you and to wish you all well. Thanks for your interest in Blade.

~~~

Huge thanks to Tim for taking the time to answer these questions, especially as I know he has been very busy recently. If you have not yet discovered the Blade series then the books are perfect for teens who love realistic, gritty thrillers. You can find out more about Tim and his many books at his website http://www.timbowler.co.uk/ 

Review: Enemies by Tim Bowler (Blade book one)

Meet Blade. But be careful. You might not like what you see. He's dangerous. He needs to be. Because there are people who want him dead.

It's dog eat dog in his world. Win or die. He thought he was safe. But now they've found out where he is. And they're coming.

Tim Bowler's Blade books have been around for a handful of years. The first book, Playing Dead, was first published back in 2008, followed by a further seven instalments over the next couple of years. I remember Playing Dead arriving in the school library - my librarian stopped me as I was passing through and, concerned about its early mention of knife crime, asked me if was suitable to be put on the shelves. I had a very quick read of the opening chapter and gave her the thumbs up but for some reason I never got around to reading it fully at the time. Now Oxford University Press have started to reissue the books, this time over four volumes, and they very kindly sent me a copy of the first, Enemies, to read and review. 

All I can say is that I am disappointed that I did not continue to read Playing Dead back in 2008 as I would have spent the last four years recommending them to any teen reluctant reader who said they liked thrillers. If there was a checklist of elements that were guaranteed to suck a teen boy into a story this book would have a tick in every single box: a great protagonist that teens will easily identify with; a fast, very tightly plotted storyline; short chapters, most of which end in a way that pretty much force you to carry on reading; a very modern theme of youth crime, and how for some things can spiral out of control. Instead of closing libraries the government should be pulling disaffected kids into them and placing books like this into their hands.

The story is narrated by Blade, a fourteen year old with a a great deal of secrets in his past. As such, we know very little about Blade other than what he chooses to reveal as the story progresses, and herein lies the real magic of this story. Blade is such a believable character that even though I was a rather well behaved teenager, and many years ago to boot, I still found myself identifying with him, caring about him and fearing for him. I very quickly found myself desperately wanting needing to know the back story behind this damaged young man. Why is he on the run? Who are the thugs hunting him down? How has he survived living alone on the streets for so long?

Blade's narration of the story is quite different from most books I have read in recent years. As a reader I really felt that Blade was talking to me personally, such is Tim Bowler's mastery of the first person narrative. Blade even goes so far as to refer to the reader as Bigeyes, as if he was telling his story out loud across a Big Mac and fries. He also uses a great deal of street talk and colloquialisms, which again will appeal to teen readers.

This book would make a great class reader for a group of lower ability teens as it would engage them, and also draw them into discussions about Blade's behaviour, his use of language, and the general themes of teen crime and homelessness. It is certainly one I will be recommending to the English teachers at my school.

Enemies was published back at the beginning of February, and the sequel, Flight, is due to be in shops in June. I feel though that I must reiterate that these are reissues of books that were earlier published with different titles so please double check before buying. Please come back tomorrow when I will be posting an short interview that Tim has very kindly done for The Book Zone.