Review: Zom-B Mission by Darren Shan

What has happened to the world since the dead took over? Where have the humans gone to hide? Who do the living most have to fear? B Smith is heading for unknown territory...Leading a group of humans through London and out into zombie-infested suburbs sounds like suicide - but not for the undead! Even so, the horrors of the journey will be beyond anything B has yet seen ...

As this series progresses, it is getting harder and harder to write reviews of Darren Shan's Zom-B books without creating spoilers for previous episodes. So please be warned - if you have not yet read the previous books in the series then I urge you to stop reading this review and go and do something more interesting... such as reading the previous books in this fantastic series!

I never got around to writing a review of the sixth book in the series, Zom-B Gladiator, as things were pretty hectic at work at the time. However, I'll take this opportunity here to say that I loved it as much as I loved its predecessors. I can't remember where I read this, but at the time I was surprised to read one reviewer criticise Zom-B Gladiator for being very short on plot. For me, that is the magic of this series - in one episode we might see a significant plot development, but then in the next book we are treated to wall-to-wall action, or another atrocity so horrific that it puts into the shade all that came before it. For me, Zom-B Gladiator had both of these: B fighting for survival on board HMS Belfast, and the truly evil Dan-Dan demonstrating that however horrific the zombies are, humans can still out-evil them.

As it is my birthday week I treated myself to a copy of Zom-B Mission, and it arrived today. Every Monday I have a meeting at school that lasts from 3 pm until 6pm, and this week I was watching the minutes tick over slowly as I was dying to get home to read Darren Shan's latest instalment. As with all of the previous books it is a relatively quick read and I finished it in a single sitting, and it is almost my favourite of the series so far. Only almost though, and I will come to the reason for this in a bit. In Zom-B Mission, B and her team of Angels are tasked with taking Emma and Declan, the mother and child they took in to their care in Gladiator, to a sanctuary out in the countryside. On their way, they are also to stop off in Hammersmith to pick up another group of human survivors. B and the team are excited that they have finally been given a mission, but calamity strikes before they depart which dampens their excitement considerably (you'll have to read the book to find out what).

Escorting the zombie version of fast food through infested territory is not without its risks, and the journey is not without incident (hell, this is a Darren Shan book so of course it isn't!). However, I don't think it is spoiling things to say that the group eventually reaches the 'safe' compound of New Kirkham (is that an almost nod to another master of the genre?). This journey and their eventual destination gives us a much greater insight into what is going on outside of London, as until now the books have very much focused on the revitalised, and the occasional human or monster that has come their way, and Shan smoothly reveals a little more of the post-apocalyptic world he has created, and some of the many hazards that face the small groups of survivors, many of which I would never have even considered. In addition to this, B's past also starts to catch up with her and we see how far she has developed as a character, and how even in her semi-zombified state she is more human than many of the humans out there.

So why is it only almost my favourite so far? Long time readers will know that I am not averse to cliffhanger endings. I loved the way Shan finished the first book in this series - it really was one of those jaw hitting the ground moments. However, in this one I felt that the cliffhanger was just a little too extreme, and almost left me feeling like the book hadn't been finished properly, and that i had been cheated. I can't tell you how this episode ends (obviously), but all I will say is that yet again Shan reveals an evil in his horrific world that is sadly all too human in nature. Oh yes... and the Owl Man is back! Hurrah! Which kind of makes up for the cliffhanger in my mind :-)

Review: Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom by William Sutcliffe

Hannah's life is boring, boring, boring! Then Armitage Shank's Impossible Circus comes to town and Hannah's world is turned on its head when she meets Billy Shank, his astonishing camel, Narcissus, and a host of other bizarrely brilliant members of the circus. But all is not as it seems; Armitage Shank, evil ringmaster and Billy's surrogate father, has a dastardly plan that could end in catastrophe for Hannah's dull little village and it's up to Hannah and Billy to stop his stinking scheme before it's too late…

I am sure that many of the adult readers of this blog will remember a time when the circus coming to town was a cause of great excitement for children in the area. Circuses were also a staple scenario for writers like Enid Blyton, in stories like The Circus of Adventure, Five Go Off in a Caravan, Five Are Together Again and  Secret Seven Adventure. In addition to these mystery stories (circuses made great locations for mysteries back in the day), Blyton also wrote a her Circus Series trilogy, starting with Mr Galliano's Circus, about a boy and his life as part of a circus. Blyton wasn't the only writer who used circuses to great story-telling effect, so why are they so absent from modern children's literature? Is is just the way society has changed, with the arrival of a traditional circus being far less an exciting event for kids these days? Are there just far less circuses around these days due to vastly improved animal welfare laws? Whatever the reason, I have been thinking for some time that we need to see a resurgence in the circus as the background for a story, especially as so many people find clowns to be so damn creepy.

Writer William Sutcliffe has thankfully arrived on the kidlit scene to start bringing circuses back into the world of children's literature with his delightfully funny debut for children, Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom. This first book in what I hope will be a long series introduces us to Hannah, a young girl whose life 'boring, boring, boring!' However, in a classic case of be careful what you wish for, things suddenly become a whole lot less boring for hannah when Shank's Impossible Circus arrives in town. Hannah very quickly makes friends with Billy Shank, camel trainer extraordinaire, and heir to the Shank Entertainment Empire. However, not all members of the circus are as friendly as Billy circus owner Armitage Shanks being a particularly nasty piece of work, and Hannah soon finds herself on a mission to foil a scheme so dastardly that it would make you swoon.

There were so many aspects of Circus of Thieves that I loved. I'm sure I'm not the only reviewer who will find it impossible to start talking about this book without first mentioning the fantastic cast of characters. William Sutcliffe obviously had a great deal of fun creating the many different characters that populate his story. Naturally, a circus setting gives a writer a great opportunity to let their imagination run wild, and so we have Armitage Shanks, the vicious and despicable ringmaster, Maurice (pronounced 'Murrggghhhheeece') the trapeze artiste and his assistant Irrrrrrena his assistant, Jesse the Human Cannonball and Hank and Frank, the clowns who simply do not get on with one another. And the great list of supporting characters doesn't stop there: there's also Fizzer the dog, Fluffypants McBain the cat, and a stick-wielding granny.

Despite sharing an illustrator with Andy Stanton's Mr Gum books (the increasingly prolific and totally wonderful David Tazzyman), the similarities with Stanton's anarchically bonkers books ends there (apart from the occasional made-up word, that is). The humour is at time brilliantly off the wall, but it is not as in-your-face wacky as the Mr Gum books. The publishers, Simon and Schuster, are pitching this books as being great for fans of Andy Stanton and David Walliams, and the humour is somewhere between the two. The writing is also of the highest quality, and 7+ readers will love the story of good versus circus evilness. It is also another to add to the ever growing list of books that are great to be shared between parent  and child as a bedtime story (or any time story - reading together is not just for bedtime!).

Another technique that William Sutcliffe employs to add a further level of wackiness to his story is the use of footnotes. I've seen this used in books before, and it doesn't always work as sometimes they do little but distract the reader from the flow of the story, but in this case I totally loved them. In Circus of Thieves they are invariably funny, and the reader is drawn to them, not by reference numbers, but by little pictograms.

There are some stunningly good and very funny books being published for this age group at the moment and Circus of Thieves is definitely up there as one of the best. I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel, as and when it is published, and I'm sure I won't be the only one. My thanks go to the lovely people at Simon and Schuster, not just for sending me a copy of the book, but also for the wonderful set of promotional Circus postcards, illustrated by David Tazzyman.

Competition: Win A Pair of Tickets to the Divergent European Movie Premiere

Thanks to those wonderful people at HarperCollins UK, I have an pretty damn amazing prize on offer for the winner of this competition: 

a pair of tickets to the European movie premiere of Divergent!

The Premiere is taking place in London next Sunday (30th march) and will will be attended by stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet and director Neil Burger. And you could be joining them on the red carpet. Sadly I can't go myself, but having been fortunate to attend a couple of movie premieres in the past (XXX and Bad Boys II), I can say it is a fantastic experience.

Competition details and information about the Divergent Fan Experience:

Experience the world of the hotly anticipated DIVERGENT movie in Leicester Square and attend the EUROPEAN PREMIERE!

On Saturday March 29th and Sunday March 30th Leicester Square will be transformed into the dystopian world of DIVERGENT, where fans will be invited to undergo initiation tests and, like Tris Prior, choose where they belong. Would you survive in Dauntless? Fans will be put through their paces with Dauntless training to see if you are brave enough to join their faction!

But that’s not all – we have a pair of tickets for the European premiere of DIVERGENT at Odeon Leicester Square on the Sunday at 1.30pm, attended by stars of the film Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet! So not only can you discover the world for yourself, you can walk the red carpet, mingle with the stars and watch the film before it’s released in the UK!

Enter here for your chance to win this once in a lifetime experience! If you aren’t lucky this time, you are still in with a chance - get down to Leicester Square early as we will also be giving out a limited number of premiere tickets to fans on both days!

The Divergent Fan Experience Timings

Saturday March 29th 
11.00am – 6.00pm

Sunday March 30th
11.00am – 12.00pm
3.00pm – 6.00pm

Premiere timings

Sunday March 30th 
Doors open – 1.30pm
Doors close – 2.30pm
Film starts 3.00pm

DIVERGENT is released April 4th 

FB handle: DivergentUK
Twitter: @Divergentmovie
#Divergent

How to enter:

Simply fill in your details in the form below. Competition closes at 9pm GMT on Tuesday 25th March. Please take careful note of the Terms and Conditions at the end of this post.

Terms and conditions

The prize is one pair of tickets to the premiere.
Only one entry allowed per person.
The winner must be 13 years old or over.
Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
The winner must be available on Sunday 30th March, and be able to make their own way to London.
The winner will be responsible for their own travel expenses.
Contest open to UK residents only.
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 pass the contact details of the winner on to the publisher following the close of the competition. The winner will then be contacted by the publisher.
Closing date for entries is 9pm GMT on Tuesday 25th March.