reviews 14+Secondary/Adult continued Boy23 HHH


Jim Carrington, Bloomsbury, 352pp,


978-1-4088-2277-7, £7.99 pbk Jesper is a teenager


somewhere known as My Place. He lives in complete solitude. An entity he knows as The Voice tells him what to do and arranges his sustenance. Out of the blue The Voice tells him that he is in danger. He is free to leave My Place and never return. The reader next learns that My


unstated the corporation is seeking Jesper


abound. Who is Jesper? What is his significance in the sum of things? Why is the Huber Corporation so set on his destruction? The story now mounts to new levels of complexity and scope, involving a conspiracy aimed at global supremacy, a world pandemic and genetically modified entities. The strengths of this novel include


to For reasons as yet who lives


through the writing, particularly in the intriguing character


superpower is not being in the least bit memorable. A fun and fast-paced read that balances the delivery of action and adventure against consideration around the types of impact and responsibilities associated with our action, Zeroes is not to be missed. JH


White Petals HHHHH


Maria Grace, Firefly Press, 339pp, 978-1-9100-8024-5, £7.99 pbk


Place is managed by a malevolent organisation known as the Huber Corporation.


kill him. Questions


This is a story about the fragmentation of a family. Emmeline Rose is aged 14. She lives with her 8 year old sister Freya and her widowed mother Tess. Tess has mental problems so severe that she has to be sectioned. Emmeline is sent


home and Freya to foster parents. During the progress of the book the certain fundamental the


reader learns truths


narrative pace. Once the reader has passed the opening pages the story unfolds quickly and compellingly. Any reader on the lookout for allegorical connections will soon begin comparing the Huber Corporation with the Third Reich. The reader’s sympathy for the characters is also soon enlisted. The


deliberately mysterious but it risks not providing the reader with enough evidence about what is happening. The reader may struggle to detect relevance. In the end a conventional science fiction denouement is tacked on to a teenage psychological study. The confusion of genres makes for hard going for the reader but in the end the book’s strengths make it a worthwhile read. RB


Zeroes HHHH


Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti, Simon and Schuster, 560pp, 978-1-4711-2489-1, £7.99 pbk


Taking as its premise


that superpowers, in addition to benefits, may also carry considerable disadvantages and dangers, Zeroes offers a fresh perspective on the tropes of superhero literature and asks the question whether special skills make us flawed or favoured. Enter the Zeroes, a crew of superhero young adults who are all somewhat beleaguered by consequence of their special abilities and were born in the Year 2000. Silver-tongued Ethan, going by


the moniker Scam, has the ability to articulate his needs and desires and to smooth talk his way from potential problems. That proves necessary when he becomes implicated in a bank robbery. His former friends and Zeroes reunite with him to pit their wits and skills together effecting an escape plan. Action packed and filled with thrills and spills, each chapter is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters. Written by three highly regarded Young


Adult authors, there is a sense of playful experimentation and fun that radiates


the idea opening of the book is


capabilities of the female members of this family. The book explores how they adapt to their new ways of life and how the emergent truths affect them and their relationships. The merit of Grace’s book lies in its willingness to explore an issue rarely confronted in children’s literature – what happens to a vulnerable person when the immediate family can no longer take care of her? Just how painful are the adaptations that such a family fission entails is explored without evasion. The characterisation of the book is convincing. Its central character


failings and all, with great candour. Although Emmeline’s mother Tess is seriously impaired, the author does not allow her to become just a token for illness. She remains a vibrant and convincing character in the narrative. I have two very minor reservations


Emmeline is depicted, about surprising to a children’s Thiebault whose


necessitating that Kady forms an alliance with ex-boyfriend Ezra to execute her escape.


and pace, it is testament to the quality of the writing that characters and their motivations are brought into relief and cement themselves firmly without ever being overshadowed by the format of the novel’s telling – in lesser hands this could easily become gizmo and gimmick. More than a mere story, Illuminae is an immersive experience that is guaranteed to leave a lasting impact on the reader.


and refreshing novel is unlikely to be quite like anything encountered before. Illuminae instantly impresses as a thoroughly modern, high octane action adventure that is ideal for a generation adept at recording and tracing their lives across an ever-increasing array of social media platforms. JH


Wild Lily HHHHH


K.M. Peyton, David Fickling Books, 352pp, 978-1-9102-0050-6, £10.99 hardback


For Anthony’s seventeenth birthday he requests an aeroplane from his rich but distant father. He wants to impress not


but the village boys he meets every holiday.


tolerated but not often reciprocated. Lily’s childhood echoes Anthony’s as they have both grown up motherless and with disabled siblings. But Lily has to take on responsibilities beyond her years to care for her brain damaged younger brother, while Antony’s blind and deaf sister Helena is cossetted in her own apartment and has two carers to look after her. Anthony gets his plane; when he


about Grace’s book. The capabilities with which these females are endowed are so unusual that the author has difficulty persuading the reader that they are real. In the end Emmeline will combine part- time presence at the children’s home with


resolution is not explained in sufficiently convincing


mistaken for a convenient compromise. These two reservations do not seriously detract from an outstanding novel. RB


Illuminae HHHHH


Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, Oneworld Publications, 608pp, 978-1-7807-4837-5, £8.99 pbk


Genre-busting and mind-bendingly original, Illuminae soars and sears its way into the hearts and minds of readers with its blend of lively, vivacious and atypical narration. Readers are invited to navigate through a complex dossier of information that includes interviews, reports,


medical details to weave together the story and its cast of characters. Following the invasion of her home


planet, Kerenza, Kady’s life is flung into warp-drive. The pressure mounts further as a deadly virus spreads and mutates


blueprints, surveillance and


part-time home residence. detail.


It can easily


This be


tells his village friends he wants to take them on trips they are at first excited, then apprehensive as Antony has a reputation for reckless behaviour and has only had a couple of flying lessons. It is Lily who fearlessly agrees to fly with him and is both terrified but exhilarated by the experience.


strong-willed, Lily knows she will do anything Antony asks of her. It’s


persuades her to parachute out of his plane. The breath-taking description of her descent to earth makes you believe you are up there with her.


is the most amazing thing she had ever done and gives her a passion for parachuting for the rest of her life.


school party to be held in the grotto on the estate while his father is away on business. He wants Helena to be the star of the show and dragoons Lily into organising the party.


desperate to give Helena a good time but it all goes horribly wrong and she drowns. His father cannot be located but appears secretly one evening - his nefarious financial dealings have finally caught up with him - he is on the run, wanted for arms dealing and murder. Antony flies his plane to Paris to help his father to escape and his father is never seen again. Antony’s life takes a downturn as


Antony is Antony plans one grand end of It not long before Antony Although feisty and devotion is only his Eton friends


of this group and has always adored Antony although


Thirteen year old Lily is part her


This massively ambitious Told with incredible energy


with his dreadful aunt and starting work in a solicitor’s office, he runs away to Brooklands and picks up a few odd jobs but the money soon runs out as he is not a trained mechanic. He takes up with some rich Americans, returns to his old village and meets Lily again whose love for him is undimmed. He persuades the Americans to take him and Lily up in their plane as he is keen to try parachuting himself.


of the wonders of floating down to earth but Anthony is suddenly terrified of jumping and full of self-doubt. He jumps but pulls the ripcord disastrously late and is horribly injured as a result and his worst nightmare become reality as he is forced to live with his aunt.


marries the steady and loyal Cedric and meets Antony once more before he marries his nurse. There is one last satisfying twist to this captivating story. Beginning in the


spanning a generation this is a snapshot of a bygone era with a cast of memorable characters. K M Peyton fans will relish this beautifully written and captivating period piece of a spirited heroine, unrequited love and a passion for flying. Downton Abbey eat your heart out!


JC The Fall HHH


Anthony McGowan, Barrington Stoke, 80pp, 978-1-7811-2517-5, £6.99 pbk


Corpus Christi High School is a dumping ground for kids who are not wanted anywhere else.


school is run by the bullies whether they are in front of the blackboard or in the playground. The best survival technique is to keep your head down. Into this world steps Chris, he is just


cool and by being his friend you take on some of his glamour.


narrator, and he get on. Chris seems to enjoy his conversation and his wit and Mog thrives on the attention. Then Chris allows Duffy, the lowest on the pecking chain, into their gang and Mog is jealous. He contrives Duffy’s humiliation when they partake in the local dare of jumping the Beck. Things are never


again between Mog and Chris and the ending for each comes as no surprise because the book opens with the final chapters in their stories. This an evocative book but a hard


feels a much more personal story for the author. contemporaries


happens when they are unable to get themselves out of the situation they were born into. My problem is that it is so personal and such an adult point of view that many young people may not be able to engage with it. Many will find Fall depressing and it undeniably is.


he realizes he is directionless and rudderless. Hating the thought of living


This really the same Mog, the The 1920’s and Lily Lily is full


read. Those who come to this book expecting the uplifting tale of Brock or Pike will be disappointed.


teacher who was so tragically killed and it rings true of the hard lives many young people


It is dedicated to his at school and the


live and what


for many young people who find themselves written off because they have problems with reading and engaging with education it may offer a taste of reality and glimmer of an alternative future.


CD Books for Keeps No.216 January 2016 31


At the same time


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