Review: The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone

Twelve-year-old Molly Pecksniff wakes one night in the middle of the forest, lured there by a recurring nightmare - the one with the drums and the rattles and the masks. The Dreamsnatcher is waiting. He has already taken her dreams and now he wants her life. Because Moll is more important than she knows...The Oracle Bones foretold that she and Gryff, a wildcat that has always been by her side, are the only ones who can fight back against the Dreamsnatcher's dark magic. Suddenly everything is at stake, and Moll is drawn into a world full of secrets, magic and adventure.

If you read my Books of 2014 post from a couple of weeks ago then you will already know that this is going to be something of a glowing review. In fact, I really wanted to post a review sooner, but every time I've sat down to write it my mind goes blank and I can't come up with the right words. In the time I have been writing this blog there have been a handful of books that have made me feel small and inferior, with every sentence I write sounding clumsy and amateurish, and The Dreamsnatcher is another one to add to this somewhat exclusive list.

The book tells the story of Moll, an orphan girl who has grown up under the protection of Oak, the formidable leader of a gypsy camp. As such she has a rather large extended adopted family, some of whom accept her as one of their own unreservedly, whilst others still fel that there is something about Moll that doesn't quite fit in. This is especially the case with the other girls in the camp, as Moll would much rather be running riot in the forest, getting dirty whilst having all kinds of fun adventures.

Oak isn't Moll's only protector though. Always lurking on the fringes of the camp, and tracking her through the forest, is her beloved Gryff, a wildcat that just appeared one day, as if he was destined to be by her side. The relationship between Moll and Gryff is a magical one, and it grows even stronger throughout the book as the evil forces in the forest attempt time and again to capture Moll for their own despicable purposes. Publishers Simon and Schuster claim on the back of the proof copy I received that "Moll's relationship with Gryff has a strong Pullman-esque quality". By this I am guessing they are drawing parallels with Lyra's bond with her dæmon Pantalaimon. However, in my opinion Moll and Gryff's relationship is far more like that between Torak and his wolf companion in Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. I must state though that I'm basing this on only so far having read Wolf Brother, the first book in that series, which I read at the end of 2014 (funnily enough, after Abi Elphinstone herself had waxed lyrical about the series on Twitter. I loved it and now need to find the time to read the rest in the series).

Moll is a fabulous character and she has already been added to my personal pantheon of great young female characters in books. It is great to see yet another middle grade book that is high on the action and adventure front, with a strong, courageous female character who can hold her own, especially  in the somewhat patriarchal society that is the gypsy camp. Moll is totally impulsive and headstrong, often doing things that she has been forbidden from doing, but she has an irresistible charm that makes her very difficult to tell off. She is the kind of kid that would be a nightmare to teach at school, as she would always be up to mischief, but would blag her way out of trouble with a disarming grin and a string of ridiculous excuses.

The darkness to Moll's light comes in the form of Skull, a witchdoctor and leader of a 'rival' group of gypsies that live in the same forest. Skull is evil personified and ranks up there amongst some of the all-time great villains of middle grade fiction. However, whereas in many of those books it is the villain that makes the piece so memorable, somehow Abi Elphinstone has managed to make the character of Moll so strong and memorable that she eclipses Skull's character completely. This is certainly no Luke Skywalker being overshadowed by Darth Vader moment!

The Dreamsnatcher is a classic tale of good versus evil, as well as being a story about friendship, trust and loyalty. The "is it our world with magic in it or is it a fantasy world?" setting that the author has created is a joy to read, as are the various members of this wonderful community of gypsies that will do whatever it takes to protect one their own. There is so much more I want to say about this story and its characters and its magic but I think it is one of those books that will be most enjoyed with as little prior knowledge of the story as possible. 

I've already mentioned this in a tweet I made shortly after finishing The Dreamsnatcher, but I feel it needs to be repeated here: on the back of that proof copy I received Simon and Schuster also bill Abi Elphinstone as 'a phenomenal new middle grade talent' & based on this wonderful debut I would have to agree. Come back here tomorrow to see the magical book trailer that has been produced for The Dreamsnatcher. I saw it for the first time yesterday and it is amazing how much it brings Moll and Gryff to life. So much so that it left me wanting to read the book again.

The Dreamsnatcher is due to be published in the UK on 26th February and my thanks go to Abi Elphinstone for sending me a copy to read.

Review: Bloodstone by Allan Boroughs

Apprenticed to notorious tech-hunter Verity Brown, India Bentley has spent the last year travelling the globe, finding and selling long-lost technology and doing her best to stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, trouble has a habit of finding her.

Accused of an assassination attempt and thrown in jail, India is rescued by scientist-adventurer Professor Moon: a man obsessed with finding the Bloodstone; key to a source of unlimited energy hidden in the lost city of Atlantis. Now Moon wants India and Verity to join his quest.

Pursued by gangsters, lumbered with a stowaway and haunted by the ghosts of her past, India must risk everything to uncover Atlantis's secrets. But the truth comes at a price.

Allan Boroughs's debut novel, Ironheart, was one of my favourite books of 2014 and, having read it back in February I spent a lot of last year desperate to read the sequel, Bloodstone. As someone who has become rather jaded with post-apocalyptic/dystopian stories in recent years, I felt that Boroughs brought a freshness to the genre with his old school adventure story. I think also the fact this is firmly in Middle Grade territory and therefore does not contain the doom and gloom of a lot of dystopian YA contributed to my love of the story. If If you hadn't already worked it out from my blogging and tweeting last year I'm more than a little fed up with dark YA, but I simply cannot get enough of exciting Middle Grade adventure stories like this.

So, did Bloodstone meet up to the high expectations I had following Ironheart? Absolutely, and then some. It's hard to compare a a sequel to the original when nine months or so has passed between reading the first book, but I am confident in saying that Bloodstone is even better than its predecessor. This is mainly because it benefits from the main characters and their post-apocalyptic world already having been established in Ironheart, so now the author gets to have as much fun as is humanly possible with his creations.

Bloodstone picks up more than a year after the conclusion of Ironheart. India Bentley has been accompanying her mentor, Verity Brown, on her tech-hunting adventures and a potentially highly profitable find has them travelling to Sing City, the tech-hunting capital of the world. It's not a particularly pleasant place, and if you were hunting for a "more wretched hive of scum and villainy" than Mos Eisley, then Sing City would probably fit the bill. Of course, every wretched hive needs its kingpin, or in this case queenpin, and the Aunt Entity of Sing City is the merciless Lady Fang (she collects human eyeballs... 'nuff said). 

Verity and India's trading plans do not go as smoothly as they would have hoped, and it isn't long before India finds herself up to her neck in trouble, and on the run from Lady Fang and her goons, and also from a group of mad monks who have taken it on themselves to make recycling old rubbish central to their dogma. However, with a little help from a handful of new characters India finds herself fleeing towards Antarctica in search of  parts of the Bloodstone, which legend has it will give the wielder incredible power when complete.

I've had the good fortune to meet Allan Boroughs since I read Ironheart, although for some reason we didn't spend any time discussing influences and inspirations. However, if I were a betting man I would happily wager that Allan and I have a lot of these in common. Indiana Jones, the works of Jules Verne, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Star Wars, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (a film that holds a special place in my heart as I think it is the first film I can remember seeing at the cinema, although that honour may belong to Star Wars: A New Hope?)... tropes used in all of these and many other films/books are present in Bloodstone, whether intentionally or not, and together they make for a fast-paced thrilling joyride of a story that I think many 9+ year olds (and many much older) will love.

Bloodstone was published on 1st January and my thanks go to the fab people at Macmillan for sending me a copy to read/review. Watch this space for reviews of more fab Middle Grade books from Macmillan as it looks like they might be ruling the MG roost in the UK in 2015.

Red Eye Blog Tour: My Life That Books Built by Lou Morgan (author of Sleepless)

Today sees the publication of Sleepless by Lou Morgan and Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, the first two titles from Red Eye, Stripes Publishing's brand new YA horror imprint. Over the next fortnight Lou and Alex will be stopping by at a plethora of blogs to tell us more about themselves and their books.

Although these days I seem to be reading more Middle Grade than YA, for some time I have been bemoaning the lack of good YA horror and thus I was excited when I first read that Stripes were launching Red Eye. I have not yet read Frozen Charlotte, but I really enjoyed Sleepless. It is an incredibly creepy story which also contains some particularly gruesome deaths for its characters. It therefore hits the spot for both kinds of horror lovers - those who love psychological creeps and chills, and those who love a healthy(?) dose of blood splatter. I am therefore honoured to be hosting Lou on the first day of the Red Eye:

My Life That Books Built

I can't remember a time when I didn't have too many books. Growing up, I had too many to fit in my bedroom. At college, I lugged boxes and boxes of them up to my tiny third-floor room in my hall of residence - and I have one friend in particular who swore he was never, ever helping me move again after he spent a Saturday carrying crates of them from a van up to my new flat. (It's not like there wasn't a lift - was it, Matthew?)

I read books on the school bus every day, and I read them in the yard at break time. I always overpack them when I go on holiday, and I've been known to put a spare book in my bag when I catch the train in to London for the day from Bath. Just in case I run out of book before I get home. Because that might happen.

Books, you could say, are old friends - and a few of them have made more of an impact over the years than others.

One of the first books I ever really loved - the one I wanted to talk to everyone about (and which, devastatingly, none of my friends had read) was Alfred Hitchcock's Witch's Brew. It was only a little thing - a collection of short stories by people whose names meant nothing to me at the time, but looking at the contents page in that same copy, there's Shirley Jackson, and there's TH White and Joan Aiken… and Robert Bloch's "That Hell-Bound Train."  That was the one that did it: the story of Martin, a man down on his luck and riding the railroads of America, who is stopped one night by a decidedly sinister train conductor and given a watch that can supposedly pause time. The catch is that if he never uses the watch, when the time comes, he will have to ride the train.

Over the years, the book got packed away and I forgot the name of the story - and even who wrote it - but I never forgot the story. After my mother died a couple of years ago, I was sorting through her things and found a box of books. My books. And there was the little blue Puffin paperback… and there was "That Hell-Bound Train".

I must have been about 11 when I read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper for the first time, and I fell completely in love with the world. I don't think I ever managed to read the whole of the series, but that book in particular has never gone away… and I think about it every time it snows.

In my early teens, I found a book in the SF & fantasy section of the library in town. It had a black cover with what looked like a drop of water in the middle, and if I'm honest, I probably took it home because I thought the cover was cool (and, naturally, that I would look cool reading it on the bus. I said I've always loved books - I never said I wasn't shallow…). That was Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith - and that was the book that made me want to be a writer. I finished it and thought, "I want to do what that book just did to me." I could try to describe the plot, but I'm pretty sure I'd just end up waving my hands around and saying, "… and it's all just, like, awesome."

We take something from every book we love, I think: every book changes us just a little. These three, though, they made a big difference. The Hitchcock-horror book - and "That Hell-Bound Train" in particular - showed me that sometimes, the shortest stories cast the longest shadows. The Dark is Rising dropped me into a world I was desperate to visit: I would have given anything to be able to step into that book. I still would - and I still am. And Only Forward was the book that flipped a switch somewhere in my head: the book that had a voice I couldn't ignore. Every book I've ever read has built me, but these three are the foundations.

~~~

Huge thanks to Lou for stopping by to tell us about the books that meant a lot to her when she was younger. Tomorrow the Red Eye blog tour continues at http://www.flutteringbutterflies.com, and please come back here on Sunday 18th January when Alex Bell will be here telling us about her Magnificent Seven Scariest Books.