Kill All Enemies Review

Title: Kill All Enemies

Author: Melvin Burgess

Release Date: 1^st September 2011

Publisher: Puffin

Everyone says fourteen-year old Billie is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends.

But her care worker sees someone different.

Her classmate Rob is big, strong. He can take care of himself and his brother.

But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate.

And Chris is struggling at school. He just doesn’t want to be there.

But his Dad sees a useless no hoper.

Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. But there are two sides to every story, and the question is … who do you believe?

Billie, Rob and Chris don’t fit in and they have no one they can turn to. Billie was abandoned by her real family and doesn’t feel her foster family understand her. Rob feels he has to protect his little brother, while being the victim of abuse from his step dad and Chris’ family don’t understand why he won’t ‘pull his socks up’ at school. The three of them meeting doesn’t seem out of the ordinary, although Chris does end up being hospitalised! But what seems a chance meeting soon goes on to mean bigger things for all of them as they develop an unlikely friendship.

Actually, all three characters have much more going on in their lives than anyone realises and through short chapters written from their different perspectives, the reader takes on board what these characters actually have to deal with on a day to day basis. The book is beautifully written with elements of humour and romance throughout but dealing with several heavy subject matters.

I think Rob is my favourite character, although none of them are characters I dislike, they are all explored in depth and I think it is what makes this book so enjoyable. All three characters have a tale to tell as well as having their own personalities. I wouldn’t say it was a really long book but it includes so many different tales! Anyway, Rob is my favourite character because he has the biggest change in his personality. He becomes a confident person and realises that he can make a difference to other people’s lives by his friendship.

The ending of the book is unexpected although it is assumed ‘they live happily ever after’. However, the novel is a gritty read so it is implied that actually, the characters will have to work hard in order to get what they want , one of the characters (read the book to find out who!) says ‘Maybe we’re getting there after all’!

Without revealing too much content… I want you to read this book! It was a pleasure to read and although it contained such emotional and serious issues, it was an easy read and the characters develop throughout, making them really easy to follow. It isn’t just the main characters who get a voice but we are given an insight into other characters and the decisions they make too which is really interesting. 

5/5  A really good story with strong characters! A must read.

The Finer Points of Becoming Machine Review

Title: The Finer Points of Becoming Machine

Author: Emily Andrews

Release Date: 23rd July 2009

Publisher: Ransom Publishing

Everyone wants to know why Emma tried to kill herself, but she’s not telling.

First she needs to confront her own past. And then her dad comes visiting.

Emma’s life hasn’t been easy. She had to deal with her dad’s abusive behaviour and it seems like this sent her life spiralling out of control. When her boyfriend ends their relationship, she feels there is nothing left in her life and attempts suicide. It takes this near miss for her to realise how much she doesn’t really want to die and the story follows her recovery in a mental institute. Dr X knows that Emma is hiding something, will he manage to get her to open up?

I chose this book because it is part of a series called Cutting Edge, ‘Gritty, quick reads for young adults’. I think this is a really good idea for people who want something quick to read and I thought the larger font size used was a really good idea –sometimes the font in novels can be just too small!  

The story begins with a young girl, Emma, who has attempted to commit suicide. While I realise this is a serious, hard hitting subject matter, I felt that the entire book was really miserable. There is little plot and the book mainly focuses on what is going on in Emma’s head. It reminded me slightly of Cut by Patricia McCormick, which is on the same lines but has much more plot (it is a brilliant book).

Originally I was confused by the title, The Finer Points of Becoming Machine, but it relates to Emma’s state of mind as she becomes a machine and no longer thinks in an emotional way. I liked this analogy but felt a lot more could have been made of this, especially as a build up to the ending. In fact, the ending is really good, Emma begins to try and deal with things in her own way but after she returns home, she realises everything has changed and her life will never be the same.

It is a strange and harrowing ending but also reveals Emma’s strength, she says ‘If I’m going to survive, I’d better power up’. This draws back on the machine idea but also shows a new feeling of determination which makes everything seem so much better, an almost happy ending to a miserable book.

The terms ‘quick’ and ‘gritty’ are definitely apparent in this book. However, despite the fact that was what I was looking for, I felt the story was maybe too quick and too gritty. The novel isn’t fast paced, in fact, in some places it is rather slow but I felt if this hadn’t have been written as a quick read the plot would have been more developed and more would have been written about some of the other characters such as Ricky, who seems like such a lovely guy! As for gritty, I felt thoroughly miserable while reading this book. That obviously reflects the power of the writing but because of this it wasn’t really for me.

2.5/5 For those who can handle something really quick and really gritty!