reviews


Adlington has written a powerful and complex book in which historical research enlivens the events described, while also contributing to the creation of a retrospective historical context. Some may feel that the reiteration of the theme of dying (coupled with some horrific descriptions of the dead) is difficult for a teenage readership, and the book does require a high level of maturity to be properly appreciated. Overall, however, this is an imaginative and thought-provoking work, combining an appreciation of history with sophis- ticated metaphysical themes.


RT


eat the meollo from bones, spread like butter on a hot flour tortilla. They understand one another.


As the plot unfolds it’s clear that not for nothing do their names bring to mind Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Pancho helps D.Q. stand up to his mother, to stay true to himself and live his life as he wants it. D.Q. gives Pancho visions of different futures, ones that needn’t involve murder and prison. Such a strange relationship is bound to have its problems, and these are exacerbated when they both fall for the beautiful Marisol.


At no time through this long meditation on death and the meaning of life does Stork descend into sentimentality: like the unflinching descriptions of D.Q.’s illness and symptoms, the book is honest and true. Full of tenderness, it is powerful, unusual, and very moving.


AR Pretty Monsters HHHH


Kelly Link, Walker Canongate, 416pp, 978 1 4063 3029 8, £7.99 pbk


The Last Summer of the Death Warriors


HHHHH


Francisco X Stork, Scholastic, 352pp, 978 1 407120 98 0, £10.99 hbk


Life has not gone well for Pancho. He has been orphaned: his mother died when he was just five; his father more recently, in an accident at work. His sister was found dead in a motel room, in unexplained circumstances. At 17 Pancho is nearly a man, but the authorities, seeing him as a troubled teen, won’t allow him to live on his own. Instead, he is sent to St Anthony’s orphanage.


Pancho is sure his sister was murdered and is determined to find and kill the man responsible. Haunted by his thoughts and his plans, he is vir tually silent.


At St Anthony’s he meets D.Q. D.Q. is different from Pancho in every way. For a star t, he talks non-stop. Physically too the pair are complete opposites. Pancho is tall, handsome, strong, a boxer. D.Q. is in a wheelchair, suffering from a rare and terminal form of brain cancer. Perhaps the cancer has given D.Q. some sor t of mystic insight: he tells Pancho he’s been waiting for him to come to help him. Together, he explains, they are going to live out his Death Warrior Manifesto.


The Manifesto, as D.Q. explains, is actually about how to live. He quotes Thoreau’s Walden in explanation, ‘I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…’ In reply, Pancho describes how he and his father would


There are ten short stories here; most are already in print. It is no surprise that the author references or acknowledges the likes of Diana Wynne Jones, Angela Carter, Joan Aiken and Ursula K Le Guin. This collection is a heady, breathtaking mix of whackiness, fantasy, edgy humour and ancient myth. Even the ones that star t off conventionally enough are slotted into another dimension come the end.


In ‘The Wrong Grave’ Miles makes a bodge of digging up his former girlfriend’s grave to retrieve his poems and is cruelly tricked by the dead. In ‘The Cinderella Game’ Peter fares little better at the hands of his despised step-sister, Darcy. Duplicitous myth and magic feature strongly in ‘The Constable of Abal’ and ‘The Specialist’s Hat’ is downright creepy. ‘The Faery Handbag’ engages us with a whole village in a handbag for which a modern young Miss has guardianship.


Most of the tales are very long short stories. ‘Pretty Monsters’ has a dual plot; ‘Magic for Beginners’ blends a TV show into the storyline that then seems to become the storyline. All are brimming with singular observations and arresting takes on everyday lives, characters and situations. It’s an exhausting roller coaster read which will need a switched on, tenacious reader to enjoy... but boy, will they be rewarded!


DB The Glass Demon HHH


Helen Grant, Penguin, 432pp, 978 0 14 132576 7, £6.99 pbk


German Medieval stained glass and the sinister myths that surround its making are at the core of this psychological thriller, where glass strewn bodies are regularly discovered and a parade of shady characters seems to pursue the daughter of a glamour-seeking professor. He single- mindedly drags his unwilling family to a remote Teutonic castle, whilst he


Lies HHH


Michael Grant, Egmont, 432pp, 978 1 4052 5429 8, £12.99 hbk


Lies is the third instalment of Grant’s series set in the FAYZ – a mysterious bubble which has settled over the town of Perdido Beach, California, trapping its residents – but only those under the age of 15. All of the adults are gone – and on turning 15 the children face a choice of vanishing to the unknown fate of the adults, or resisting and continuing existence in the town.


Seven months have passed since the creation of the FAYZ and the town is turning feral. After the events in Hunger, they have food – of sorts. Now the kids have conquered the challenge of surviving, they need to learn how to live. But coming up with a set of rules to live by which aren’t based solely on fear and intimidation is proving a difficult and divisive task, and some of the natural leaders are beginning to lose focus – and hope.


Some are turning to the Prophetess, who claims to walk the dreams and minds not just of those inside the FAYZ, but of the adults in the real world outside. But is what she has to offer real hope – or damnation in disguise?


Meanwhile the tensions between the ‘freaks’, a minority who have developed special magical powers, and the ‘normals’, who haven’t, reaches boiling point and a declaration of all out war serves mainly the purposes of the Darkness, the evil force which the inhab- itants of the FAYZ must face once more.


searches for the fame and glory of discovering that which was thought to have been destroyed. His oblivi- ousness to the dangers to which his family is exposed is breathtaking.


It is a long novel which could have been shor ter for improved readability; at times the tension seems to stall. The central character, her sister and the German youth who befriends her are credible, but most of the adults seem a bit OTT. The demon himself proves a bit of a letdown at the finish.


Readers of The Vanishing of Katharina Linden might like to find out what this author did next.


DB


Grant is a master of tightly woven plots and the excitement and tension from the first two books are kept up. This book also widens the cast of characters, fleshing out some we are already familiar with and introducing new ones via a neat device. There are a few quite harrowing scenes which some may find offensive or upsetting, but for fans who have followed events in the FAYZ so far this won’t disappoint, and will leave them waiting for the next instalment. CBk


Monsters of Men HHH


Patrick Ness, Walker, 624pp, 978 1 4063 1027 6, £14.99 hbk


The critics certainly enthused about the first two books of the multi-award winning Chaos Walking trilogy – ‘fantastic’, ‘extraordinary’, ‘brilliantly evocative’, ‘furiously paced’. Well yes, but at over 600 pages, this concluding volume is also long. That would be fine if shifting events and relationships dictated such length, but here the plot is frequently repetitive. One skirmish echoes another in a protracted military stand-off without significantly moving the book forward to a resolution. The action rarely moves outside a single valley and the cast of major characters is small for a book of this scale; that could make for greater intensity, but it may also prompt a wish for more variety.


You would be adrift in Monsters of Men unless you knew what had gone before. So for new potential readers, it makes sense to suggest starting with the first volume, The Knife of Never Letting Go, rather than offering too much detail about the present novel. In essence, Book Three continues the account of the struggles and shor tcomings of humans in their attempts to settle the planet New World. The conflicts which arise are mostly seen through the eyes and adventures of the young protagonists, Todd and Viola; a third voice allows the reader to share the perspective of the spiritually aware native population. There are undeniably some highly inventive and power ful dimensions to the trilogy: the notion of some characters being able to read others’ thoughts and so to manipulate them; the dilemma of whether killing is ever justifiable in pursuit of a lesser evil; issues of colonialism as the human settlers confront


indigenous Spackle, who think and act as one community. The three contrasting narrative voices work well and there are some intriguing pressures at play among the main characters, especially within the ambivalence between Todd and the devious, ruthless Mayor Prentiss, the would-be military dictator of this brave new world; but even this complexity is diluted because the relationship is revisited too often – and with too little development – for interest to be maintained. Blockbuster fantasy/ science fiction stories are in vogue, but the observance of the old dictum ‘Less is More’ might well, for me, have resulted in greater involvement. GF


the


Books for Keeps No.184 September 2010 31


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