Author Archives: keithbwalters

Bath Kids Literature Festival!

If you can’t read the text I put on these pictures in the post, click on the pictures for a close up (:

Last weekend, (or, well, for the last two days :P) I was lucky enough to have a two-day holiday in Bath, because the Kids Lit Fest was starting! I was really excited to go to a couple of events, though a little disappointed because a lot, like Holly Smale’s event, were on weekdays and so I wouldn’t be able to get to them.

We (brother and I) were booked into two events, a Dave McKean talk (Dave is an artistic director, and amazing illustrator, famously of Gaiman titles!) and a horror writing workshop with Alexander Gordon Smith (who’s actually called Gordon, so I’m calling him that in this post), and we were planning on seeing Charlie Higson but his event sold out quickly, as he’s just released THE FALLEN!

Most of the weekend we spent exploring Bath, because it’s a really awesome place. There are some photos I took on here 🙂 On the Saturday, we went to the Holburne Museum, where our events were, and were really disappointed to be told that Dave McKean couldn’t get to the venue as there’d been an incident on the motorway and there was no way he could get around it. So, we had brought too many books down to get signed for nothing, but oh well! I’ll have to catch him at another event. (I am 100% SURE that the accident happened because we walked under a ladder earlier in the day but no one believes that. Hmph.)

On the Sunday, I did the horror writing workshop! I had heard about Gordon’s books in the past, but never read one, so I didn’t know too much about the author/books. However, it was a brilliant event, and definitely made up for the one I missed! After telling us a couple of stories, of inspirations for his books (One involved a very funny expedition to an abandoned house!), Gordon started us on worksheet-packs we’d been given. They were really great! The sheets were all about developing our biggest fears into stories- because if you use something that really terrifies you, you’ll definitely convey that terror into your writing! There were also the tasks of What If- Where everyone had to put their fears into a question: What If a creepy doll you were given was possessed, and intent on destruction? was one of my wacky ones. We did some character profiling too, where we fleshed out some characters for our stories. Unfortunately, as we had all been doing so much discussing, we didn’t quite get to finish everything! However, the course was amazing. I took away a lot of writing and structuring tips from it, and even a short story idea that I started writing on the train home (:

After the workshop there was also a signing. My brother and I bought the first two copies of Gordon’s FURNACE series (Though I really wanted The FURY but it was sold out 😦 Oh well, I shall hunt it down.), and had them signed, which was awesome! Here’s me with Gordon, right:

HOW DID I FORGET?! I met Lucy from Queen of Contemporary! 😀 We met up in the Waterstones at Bath to swap books (I got two awesome ones, I’ll put my Bath book haul in this week’s haul, by the way), and she’s as awesome in real life as she is in bloggyworld. I think my parents had thought I’d be there for about five minutes, but… uh… we may have fangirled over every book individually in the YA section for forty minutes. But… details. It was awesome meeting her! I’ve tried to save this picture but silly PC won’t let me. I’ve tried to be techy and embed the tweet with the picture here… but it didn’t work. So I gave up.

All in all, the Bath Kids Lit fest was really great, even though I only got to go to one event; but it was so great! The weekend was really cool and I bought a lot of really pretty books, which I’ll post about on Saturday. If you’re looking for a lot more coverage on the festival, I know that Lucy is going to a lot of the events over the whole festival, and she’s interviewing authors too, so go check her site out!

New Books! #25

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I’m really excited about these books this week, though it’s not the biggest book haul! Thanks to Curious Fox Books especially, for the book that arrived through the door this morning!

Received in post:

Amber

Amber by Julie Sykes: Amber looks like a brilliant book! I’ve had my eye on it for a while. I’ve never blogged for Curious Fox before, but this sounds like a great starting title! I also love the cover. Isn’t it pretty?

Bought/Borrowed:

Execution (Escape From Furnace, #5)

Furnace: Execution by Alexander Gordon Smith: My dad spotted this in a sale section of a library, which is awesome! I’m going to an event at the Bat Kids Lit Fest with Alexander: a horror writing workshop, tomorrow 😀 Though this isn’t the first book in the series… So I’ll be hunting down the rest!

What books did you buy or receive this week? Have you read either of these books? Leave a comment and let me know! 🙂

More Than This

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By Patrick Ness, published by Walker Books.

Apologies to Walker Books UK for such a late review! This was due to school and also the fact that it took me a few days to actually form coherent sentences about this book.

Goodreads Synopsis: A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this. . . .

My Review: more Than This, quite simply, just blew me away. It’s taken me a while to get round to writing a review, mostly because I really don’t know how to review such an amazing book! Firstly, can I just say: this book is the best book I’ve read this year. No doubt. It’s quite hard to review this not just because of its amazingness. How do I write a review without spoiling this?! More Than This is the kind of book where, if one thing is spoiled, the whole thing is! I’m going to try anyway…

Firstly, Seth. I read the first chapter, then put the book down, and stared at it for a while. The main character dies in the first chapter? What? How does the book go on? Then, in chapter two, Seth’s woken up in a place that looks freakily similar to his childhood home in England. How is he here? Why’s everyone upped and left? The book follows Seth as he tries to figure out how he got to this place. I loved Seth for a lot of reasons. Firstly, I connected with him not entirely because of his personality, but mainly because he’d appeared, lost and confused, in this unexplained world. It was exactly what the author had done to me, really!

As the book progresses, (and I don’t think I can really say how it progresses) I got to know Seth from his ‘original life’ much better, as when he goes to sleep in this empty world, painful memories for him surface. This book is very emotional, mostly at these points. Argh! I’ll spoil it if I say much more. But his early childhood, involving a kidnapping, was terrifying, and I felt like hugging him when his love life was ruined after a friend betrayed him, and his parents discovered he was gay and disapproved. The love life aspect leads to Seth’s death, and Patrick Ness can really play with the reader’s emotions, I can say that. Bring Kleenex.

The plot was just immaculate. I originally guessed that the whole book was Seth, figuring out how he got here and possibly unlocking the reason he came here. While that technically does happen, it most certainly didn’t happen it the way I had guessed! Patrick Ness split this book into three roughly equal parts, and I think I loved the first one the most because it was mainly getting to know Seth’s background, and was very raw and brutally honest. Not that the other parts weren’t. The rest was just as emotional, really, but the first part focuses on Seth more than the others (as some new THINGS- not saying what exactly- enter the story). Each plot twist made me gasp, or put a blank expression on my face and made me go “Whoa, what?!”. More Than This was entirely unpredictable!

The idea behind this book is just genius. It’s original, thought-provoking, questions reality, and I’ve never read anything like it before. Patrick Ness, why?! I really can’t go into this for fear of ruining things. But, the idea is centrally themed around the question, What’s Real and What’s Not? This book made me wonder if what had happened to Seth could possibly happen to me; that I could wake up in a barren landscape due to a mystery behind reality. As much as I thought about things whilst reading the book, after I’d put it down (at stared at a wall for a while wondering what else to do with my life after that ending) I found myself picking it up, hours; days later, just to read parts again because I’d loved this so much!

Overall, More Than This was a really unique book that is absolutely nothing like anything on the YA market at the moment. It stands out from the current dystopia craze at the moment- while, I guess, it is a bit dystopian, it’s nothing like any other in the genre. It’s probably the most original- and my favourite- book that I’ve read this year! More Than This is packed with shocks, emotion, a couple of laughs, thrills, horror, mystery… the lot. It ticked all of the boxes and more, for me. I honestly can’t recommend it enough! I was tempted to make a six hearts on my rating system, reserved for this book. Simply amazing!

My Rating:

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I received a copy of More Than This from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

The Fallen

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By Charlie Higson, published by Puffin (Penguin).

The Fallen (The Enemy #5) Goodreads Synopsis: First the sickness rotted the adults’ minds. Then their bodies. Now they stalk the streets, hunting human flesh.
The Holloway crew are survivors. They’ve fought their way across London and made it to the Natural History Museum alive – just. But the fight will never end while the Enemy lives, unless there’s another way. . .
The kids at the museum are looking for a cure. All they need are medical supplies. To get them means a journey down unknown roads. Roads where not only crazed, hungry sickos hide in the shadows.
SUDDENLY IT’S NOT SO CLEAR WHO – OR WHAT – THEY’RE FIGHTING.

My Review: about a week before I read this, I read The Sacrifice (the previous book) and I was blown away by its sheer gory amazingness. I thought to myself “Nope. There is no way that The Fallen could top it.”
And then it did. So I was wrong.
Firstly, I was a bit worried because this book revisits Maxie, Blue, and the Holloway crew. They’re my favourite characters of the series! However, they’ve been pretty absent in the last couple of titles. I was a little worried it’d take me too long to get use to reading about them again.
Again, I was so wrong!

Despite Higson’s series having so many gangs, so many main characters, it was surprising how quickly I adjusted to the change (In The Sacrifice, it was about completely different people!). That was great, because I then got really absorbed into this story.
The Fallen has, probably, the best story line in the series so far! It was brilliant… And genius, in terms of how things all connected from The Sacrifice to The Fallen. If you’ve been reading this series so far, you’ll know that Sam and Ella are brother and sister, searching for each other, but both secretly think the other is dead. Well… The Fallen’s ending, including those two people, will make you cry and want to throw the book at at wall. CHARLIE HIGSON, YOU JUST DEMOLISHED MY HOPES AND DREAMS. I will say no more.

Whilst some of the Holloway crew and some of the Natural History Museum gang search to find equipment to make a cure, they encounter lots of bloody zombies on the way. As that’s going on, back at the museum two kids have gone missing and something-or someone- is murdering children slowly and building up to something big. The whole plot was very unpredictable, and it was possibly twice as gruesome as the rest of the series. Yay! Also, the origin of the disease that zombified the world was revealed in this book- and… Just… wow. honestly, I was not excepting that, and it was revealed in a very clever-and twisted- way.

Maxie was my favourite character from the first book. I think I loved her even more in this one, even though the focus on her wasn’t entirely huge. Another character I adored was Lettis. Eccentric name, loveable new character. She was a scribe who recorded the journey that she and the other people looking for a cure made. A chunk of the novel was of her diary entries of the journey and… They were just heartbreaking and extremely emotional. All of the characters, who I won’t go further into, we’re really relatable: one of Higson’s series’ strong points is that the character are so realistic that you can really relate to any of them.

Overall, The Fallen was an absolutely brilliant instalment of The Enemy series. It delved into the previously unanswered mysteries of the disease with shocking plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. It revisited some of my favourite (who I thought had been abandoned) characters, which I loved! The plot was extremely terrifying and so if you thought the previous books were bad, then think again. If you love gore, though, read on! This story was much darker! Every horror fan needs to read this series. It is just amazing. Enough said- go grab a copy!

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Fallen from the publisher via an agency. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #24

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A couple of very exciting books arrived this week, I’m looking forward to all of them! Thanks to Ebay and Orion! (;

Received in Post:

She Is Not Invisible

She is not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick: I’ve read about six of Sedgwick’s books and I absolutely adore his writing.When this arrived I did a little happy dance. She Is Not Invisible doesn’t seem very much like his other books, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be in for a very unique read- as the concept seems very original! Thanks to the awesome Nina Douglas for this! 🙂 The book is just beautiful. Marcus even replied to Ruby (Feed Me Books Now!!!) and I saying ‘don’t judge it by its quality, judge it by its spine width’ on twitter, when we were fangirling over the cut size of the book (Yes we are booknerds. Ssh.).

MirrorMask: The Illustrated Film Script The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish

The illustrated MirrorMask Script and The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean: As part of the Bath Kids Lit Fest starting very soon, next week I’m off to Bath to meet Dave McKean as he does a talk! My Dad’s been scouring the internet for copies of his books with Neil Gaiman as we’ve only borrowed them from libraries, before! I read the picture book of MirrorMask and it is just… perfection. I read TDISMDFTG (too lazy to write that ridiculously long title!) and loved that, too. I’m really looking forward to meeting this awesome person (and get these beautiful books signed :3)!

Did you buy or receive any books this week, and what ones? Or have you read any of these before? Leave a comment!

An Interview with… Gina Blaxill!

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I’m so lucky to have interviewed one of my favourite crime authors, Gina Blaxill! I’ve been a fan of her books for about a year-ish, now, having read her first two crime thrillers for teens last October and absolutely loving them. I didn’t know until a couple of weeks ago that Gina had a new title out- and I was so glad I got to read a copy. I really wanted to interview Gina on her newest book, Saving Silence, which I reviewed yesterday on my blog, and she was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions! So, here’s a little bit about this author, and an interview with some really great answers about her new thriller for teens (complete with pictures- of the setting and Gina’s awesome writing shed):

Gina Blaxill is 27 and lives in North London. She has an English degree from Cambridge University and now works in schools liaison, helping teenagers puzzle out the mysteries of higher education. Between the ages of 11 and 15 she wrote an epic 36 part story featuring over 1,000 characters – she still remembers most of their names! Apart from Saving Silence she has two other novels published with Macmillan, Forget Me Never and Pretty Twisted, which is an e-book bestseller.

Your newest novel is based in an area with a lot of crime. particularly gang crime (The McAllister twins): why did you decide to write a novel with themes of London gang culture?

I wanted to write something that genuinely felt real, like it could actually happen. I also wanted to write about something that might affect teenagers, rather than about teenagers getting accidentally caught up in adult crime. Gang crime is a huge issue that affects lots of teenagers with loads of really interesting themes – identity and belonging and friendship to name a few, themes I think relate to teenagers in particular. I was lucky that I didn’t grow up with gang culture around me but for many of the young people I’ve met across London it’s something they have to deal with every day to a lesser or greater extent.

Did you always want, since wanting to become an author, to write crime/thrillers, and for teenagers?

I definitely always wanted to write for teenagers.I love teenage fiction and I just don’t have anything interesting to say to adults! My teenage years were not at all dramatic but I think it’s a really interesting period of life, when people are discovering exciting new things and figuring out who they want to be.

I actually ended up falling into writing crime thrillers. When I wrote my first book Pretty Twisted I didn’t realise I had written a crime novel! However it makes a lot of sense because I’ve always loved crime novels and crime dramas.

What was your main inspiration for Saving Silence?

My starting point was the idea that someone might do a good deed that had bad consequences. I wanted something really dramatic at the beginning too, so both those ideas turned into Imogen saving Sam’s life. Obviously I then needed an explanation for why someone would want to try to kill Sam and that became the rest of the book. I also really wanted to write something set in a part of London where kids have to be tougher and more streetwise – somewhere that felt claustrophobic and potentially dangerous.

Do you base any of your characters on yourself or other people that you know?

I usually don’t – not consciously, anyway! It’s not that I’m a boring person but I think characters like me would be a bit rubbish in a crime book because they would be sensible and just go to the police ! I do try and give all my important characters a little something of me – like Imogen I like to get things done without fuss and like Sam I enjoy baking. However, I did base Nadina strongly on a lovely girl I met through my day job at a college in Hammersmith – I gave her the same name, appearance and from what I could tell a similar personality. I hope the real life Nadina doesn’t mind being put in a book! I also based some of Ollie’s background, loosely, on a kid in an episode of World’s Strictest Parents, so character inspiration can strike from odd places.

There’s a bit of a romantic twist, especially at the ending, to Saving Silence. Were you always going to include it?

This is a good question! Originally there was less romance in Saving Silence . I think I got so caught up with
plotting and atmosphere that I forgot about it a little – my bad! Both my editors, very wisely, pushed me to up the

romance a little and I’m glad I did. The development of the characters’ relationships and the ending just feel right, and a lot of the romantic twists and turns just ended up happening naturally – I never really planned to end up with a love triangle, for instance.

Finally, do you have any ideas for a fourth book, that you can share with us?

Nothing’s set in stone for the fourth book and I might change my mind and go with a different idea! However the idea I’m working with at the moment is about a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, and revolves around one of them having been abducted.

Ooh, can’t wait to hear more about this idea if it goes forward! Also, I would write this in a picture caption, but stupid WordPress won’t let me caption things for some reason… So can we just take a moment to admire this writing shed/author habitat above. I WANT ONE.

Finally, thanks so much to Gina Blaxill for answering my questions with some really great answers- I really enjoyed reading them and hope everyone else will too. You can check out my review of SAVING SILENCE by clicking HERE, and you can also hear Gina read the first chapter HERE!

Saving Silence

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By Gina Blaxill, published by Macmillan.

Goodreads Synopsis: A high-octane, intricately plotted teen thriller, by an exciting voice in YA fiction.
Sam is the new kid at school – he keeps himself to himself and people don’t take much notice of him. Imogen is little miss perfect – she’s popular, clever, good at sports and has the dream boyfriend – and yet for some reason, she’s drawn to Sam. One day Imogen is with her friends and Sam rushes up – he needs to tell her something urgently. Before he can, a car drives towards him and tries to knock him down – Imogen pushes him out of the way and saves his life. After that, Sam avoids Imogen, but she can’t stop thinking about him. What was it he wanted to tell her? Why would someone want to kill him? Why won’t he speak to her now?

As Imogen and Sam get pulled deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld of East London, they have to rely on each other. Suddenly there’s nothing perfect about Imogen’s life, and people will never ignore Sam again…

My Review: Saving Silence was, quite simply, a brilliant crime book. I was so excited to start it, as not only did it arrive in the post as a surprise, but I’ve also read and absolutely loved Gina Blaxill’s other two teen thrillers! I had really high hopes for this… and it definitely delivered. While I still prefer Gina’s debut, Pretty Twisted, Saving Silence was a very close contender to that, for me.

I dived into this, knowing only what the pretty short and very mysterious blurb told me. I was hooked, straight from the start, with that gripping first line! I was really interested to see how the author used switching narratives in a plot where if too much was told, the story would be spoiled. However, it was done brilliantly! The story’s chapters alternated from Sam’s perspective to Imogen’s, and I really enjoyed seeing what they thought of each other, both their perspectives on the crime, as well as seeing both of them develop really well throughout the book. Gina Blaxill kept her writing detailed, and suspenseful- I loved it!

The idea for this story was brilliant. It was very original, and with its gang culture references and setting of a London crime hot spot, it was frighteningly realistic (and, of course, possible). I guess this story carries an important moral about getting involved in gangs, and committing crimes. That’s one of the reasons that I’d strongly recommend it to all people, teens and up, regardless of gender or age. Most of it was really unpredictable, and when I though everything had been resolved, a new dilemma would shock both me and the characters!

I liked the main character, Imogen, for a lot of reasons. One being that she was described to look exactly like me. That was awesome. Also, because she was a really great lead role; inquisitive, a good detective, determined, and I loved her relationship with Sam… she just ticked all the boxes for me! She was also tackling problems more common in lives of sixth formers like her; like managing studying and her relationship. A very relatable character for some teens, I think! I also really loved Sam, as the other main character. He was the kind of character that you couldn’t not like. I found his involvement in the crime, and the reason why he was being hunted down, really interesting- it’s a thing that could easily happen to anyone. He had a really great back-story, too, that I enjoyed reading about!

Overall, Saving Silence was a great crime book that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a thrilling read, or who wants a book that captures the lives of London teenagers, especially those caught up in gang crime, perfectly. It was a really unpredictable, exhilarating read from start to finish! The main characters were unforgettable, and very realistic teenagers. I think that the plot was pulled off so well, too! There were loads of twists and turns in the book that kept me reading- if you’re planning on grabbing a copy of this (which I highly recommend doing ASAP), I’m very sure you’ll get hooked like I did.

Also, I have interviewed the amazing Gina! Hopefully, unless I’m bombarded with homework tomorrow at school, Gina Blaxill’s brilliant answers will be up tomorrow. Be sure to stop be here tomorrow! 🙂

My Rating:

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I received a copy of Saving Silence from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #23

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A really exciting book arrived in the post this week! I also issued myself a book buying ban. Which failed miserably: I blame the #BooksAreMyBag campaign; which meant I bought two books whilst getting one of their awesome bags. Then I went into a charity shop and bought more books. Maybe… I’ll stop buying next week…?

Received in post:

Because It Is My Blood (Birthright, #2)

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin: Earlier this year, I bought, read, and loved All These Things I’ve Done. The lovely people at Macmillan offered me this book earlier this year, too, but the publishing date was pushed back until about a week ago- not entirely sure why, though! Anyway, they still sent it to me- so THANK YOU, awesome Macmillan people! I’m about halfway through this, now, and it’s amazing. But heart-breaking.

The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co, #1)

Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud: I bought this as it was sitting on the shelf at Beckenham Bookshop when I went today, screaming Buy Me!! And so I bought it, obviously. Ghosts? A haunting business? Yes please! Also, I’ve heard so many glowing reviews. I bought this and also got a free Books Are My Bag Tote. Which I’ve put a pic of below. Though… I’m a bit annoyed at my bad luck. I requested this ages ago on Netgalley, and thought I’d been declined. But it got approved- TODAY! Oh well. I prefer physical books anyway, and I’ve supported a bookshop by buying it 🙂

A Hero For WondLa (WondLa, #2)

A Hero For WONDLA by Tony DiTerlizzi: I got this in the Beckenham Bookshop too, as I spotted it and haven’t seen it anywhere else before. I’ve been wanting a copy for absolutely ages! When I did a few reviews for We Love This Book Magazine, The Search For WondLa was one of the books they sent me- and it’s one of my favourite Children’s books. The sequel came out last year. It looks so great, and I can’t wait to dive into this amazing Cyber-Punk world again!

Pride and Prejudice

Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen: This is a classic book that I’ve always wanted to read. I found it in a local charity store today- along with a lot of other Austen books (I may have to go back there…). I picked up this one, as it’s one of Austen’s most famous. I’ve heard lots of great things about it, so I’m looking forward to this.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne: I’ve never read this before, in fear I’ll cry my eyes out. Same goes for the film… but I saw this in the charity shop, too, and bought it because I really wanted to read this to see if it was as amazing as many have said. I’m seriously looking forward to it- though I think I should buy Kleenex before starting it… right?

Adding this pic to my book haul. Because it’s bookish. If you haven’t heard of the #BooksAreMyBag campaign, it’s in aid of supporting Indie bookstores, mainly, after shocking statistics were revealed about the closing down of independent bookshops. To help raise money, if you buy a book at any independent (though I think at some chain stores like Waterstones, too!) you’ll receive one of these awesome bags. I love them! I would post a pic of my own bag. But my phone is playing up.

This picture does NOT belong to me. Credit goes to the B.A.M.B. website!

Have you read any of the books in my book haul, and what did you think of them- or have you got a Books Are My Bag tote yet? Feel free to leave a comment- and link back to your own hauls so I can comment back! (:

The Sacrifice

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By Charlie Higson, published by Penguin.

The Sacrifice (The Enemy #4) Goodreads Synopsis: The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. All across London diseased adults are waiting, hungry predators with rotten flesh and ravaged minds.
Small Sam and his unlikely ally, The Kid, have survived. They’re safe with Ed and his friends at the Tower of London, but Sam is desperate to find his sister.

Their search for Ella means Sam and The Kid must cross the forbidden zone. And what awaits them there is more terrifying than any of the horror they’ve suffered so far . . .

My Review: I really don’t know why I’d not gotten around to this yet, being a huge fan of the series, but I’m glad I finally got around to it! The Sacrifice was another brilliant installment in a brilliant teen zombie series.

I was so glad to be getting back to the character of Sam! I just loved him, and have adored following his journey as he survived zombie attacks by himself, being just a small boy. I really admired his courage and bravery. He’s a great, vital character to this series! This story was pretty much focused all around him and that was just awesome. Also, of course, it focused around The Kid, Sam’s newest accomplice. I loved The Kid because he seemed very different to any of the other teenagers in the book. He was a little… strange, but I loved that. His humor and general random-ness really brightened up the book! The bond between The Kid and Sam was just beautiful, I think, and had very intriguing links to this religious warning given by a teenager that went mad after a gas poisoning. Sounds a bit random, right? It all makes sense if you read the book, haha!

The plot was really great. The focus frequently switched between Sam and The Kid’s journey, to Shadowman, a mysterious guy stalking the increasingly intelligent zombies, to Ed and his crew from The Tower, who go out in search for Sam after he disappears with The Kid and the strange new Tish (Who I thought was bad news from the start. And I was SO right). Higson handled this really well: He didn’t switch every chapter, which would’ve been annoying, but he did flip the focus leaving huge cliffhangers that meant I really couldn’t stop reading!

The descriptions, as ever, were bloody and gory and stomach churning. Obviously, though; what else could you expect from one of teen’s biggest horror writers? I absolutely loved it (don’t be fooled by the cute looking blog I have. I love gory stuff ;)). The vivid and horrific descriptions captured Charlie Higson’s apocalyptic world so brilliantly! As always, also, the settings were great. I love the whole concept behind it; how the teenagers were all taking advantage of famous London Landmarks. Not only do you get a great insight into the landmarks, like St. Paul’s and The Tower, but the author has definitely made them seem a whole lot darker. Maybe I’ll avoid St. Paul’s Cathedral if I’m ever in that area. Some creepy stuff happened there in The Sacrifice!

Overall, The Sacrifice most definitely did not disappoint. Full of violence, action and brutal, terrifying zombies, fans of horror in any form will gobble Charlie Higson’s brilliant Enemy series up! Though, these books are especially not for the faint hearted. The plot was probably the best that I’ve seen in the books so far, although it did seem like this installment was very much about showing all of the settlements to the reader… hopefully for a huge connection to be made in the final books? The characters in The Sacrifice were great: I loved all of them so much and felt like crying a bit at some of the deaths. I’ve now jumped on to reading an ARC of The Fallen, published tomorrow, and that’s great so far, too!

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Sacrifice from family as a Christmas Present (I KNOW, I can’t believe I never got round to it until now, either! :/).

the bibliomaniac book blog

Author Archives: keithbwalters

Bath Kids Literature Festival!

New Books! #25

More Than This

The Fallen

New Books! #24

An Interview with… Gina Blaxill!

Saving Silence

New Books! #23

The Sacrifice

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