The Radleys Review

Title: The Radleys

Author: Matt Haig

Release Date: 5^th July 2010

Publisher: Walker Books

Meet the Radleys: An entire family in identity crisis

Rowan: Never sleeps: wears factor 60 sunblock. It’s a fact: Rowan Radley is a freak.

Clara: Wants to turn vegan, but the lack of meat is making her sick. So is her family.

Dad: Midlife GP with a permanent headache. He’s thirsty: So thirsty.

Mum: Papers over the cracks in family suburbia. She wouldn’t lie to her kids… would she?

Enter Uncle Will – Cool, exciting, deadly, the prodigal uncle returns, trailing secrets in his wake.

And BLOOD. Quite a lot of sweet, sweet BLOOD.

The Radleys is a book about family life. The only difference is, the Radleys are a family of vampires and two quarters of the family doesn’t even know! Rowan and Clara’s parents, Helen and Peter, thought that keeping the family secret from them would be the best thing to do. They abstain from drinking blood and attempt a normal life, holding down normal jobs and having the neighbours round for tea (to share a meal, NOT as the meal). However, when Clara, a strict believer in animal rights, decides she is becoming a vegan, she doesn’t realise just how ill this will make her. A bad night out leads to more than she bargained for and the Radleys’ world is turned upside down. With the arrival of Uncle Will, Peter’s brother, come to assist in cleaning up the mess, things go from bad to worse. Can Rowan accept who and what he is? Can Clara get out of trouble? And what exactly has gone on between Helen and Will? How can things ever be made right?

This book is brilliant and will make you laugh out loud! A black comedy throughout, the story gives us insights into the difficulties the vampires face as well as the traumas the people around them have to suffer. Dealing with the general issues all teenagers face, such as trying to find love and parental worries, the book approaches teenage life in an innovative way while making you laugh constantly. But beware, this novel is not for the faint hearted (!) and involves blood drinking, blackmail and murder by the bucket.

All the characters are really complex and well developed, although my favourite is Rowan, possibly because he is the more sensitive one of the bunch and also gets the happy ending he really deserves. Uncle Will is also a brilliant character and closer to the blood sucking fiend of our nightmares than any of the others, he too gets an ending he deserves!  

Another one of those novels that I cannot recommend enough! Will challenge your ideas of what it means to be a vampire and also what it means to be human, as the characters are pushed to their limits by their instincts and the violent passions of others.

5/5 A brilliant black comedy- a must read!

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!

The Gospel According to Larry Review

Title: The Gospel According to Larry

Author: Janet Tashjian

Release Date: 3rd June 2004

Publisher: Puffin Books

Josh Swensen is no average 17-year-old. His IQ is sky high, he owns only 75 possessions, he communicates with his dead mum at Bloomingdales’ make up counter, he’s completely besotted with his best friend Beth. And he is now got an anti-consumerist alter ego called Larry who is worshipped by millions of teenagers…

Conundrum #1 betagold is on his tail. How can he prevent her from exposing his identity?

Conundrum #2 How can he let Beth know how he really feels about her?

Conundrum #3 What drastic steps will he take when it all goes horribly wrong?

Josh Swensen, an American teenager, creates an online persona, Larry. What he doesn’t bet on is the hero-worship Larry generates and his new found celebrity status online. U2 even start a concert promoting his ideas. However, all this is fine until someone, calling herself betagold, decides to reveal who Larry is. From then on Josh’s life spirals out of control and he realises that by being Larry, he isolated those who loved Josh. The book is in the form of a manuscript which Josh gave to the author to publish.

This book is certainly interesting and made me think a lot in terms of consumerism. While I don’t want to sound negative, I felt the beginning of the book was an anti-consumerism rant from Larry’s character. While the reader still gets bits of information about Josh’s family life with his stepdad, Peter and potential stepmother Katherine (both his biological parents are deceased) and his love interest, Beth, it was hard to follow the plot with so much politics being thrown at the reader. However, I do agree with Larry’s theories (though I’m not sure I could only live with 75 possessions… what about the books?) and the book made me think about my own life in terms of the importance of possessions. Why are we so obsessed with material possessions when those in less developed countries barely have enough to eat?

In this sense, the book makes you reassess your own views. The message within the pages becomes more complex when Larry’s identity is revealed and Josh’s decision not to revel in his new celebrity status makes his character appeal to the reader even more. What happens next is quite strange and I don’t want to reveal too much but I found Josh’s actions to be melodramatic and slightly uncalled for. Then his philosophy changes from anti-consumerist to just general caring for each other on a small level. I also agree with this idea, that day to day positive actions can make the world a better place. I just felt that Josh gets a little bit confused over his politics and the book loses some of its potency because of this.

Janet Tashjian has done a series of Larry books, this being the first one I have read but they all have interesting titles, Vote for Larry and Larry and the Meaning of Life. There is also a website with regular posts from Larry http://www.thegospelaccordingtolarry.com/

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to approach their consumer driven life in a different way. The politics may be a little too enthusiastic at times but Larry does raise some relevant points to modern life and the manuscript format of the novel makes for interesting reading.

4/5 Analyse your life!

The Gates Review

Title: The Gates

(Samuel Johnson Versus The Devil: Round 1)

Author: John Connolly

Release Date: 1^st April 2010

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

Samuel Johnson has a number of problems. Samuel’s dad cares more about his car than his family, Samuel’s mother is lonely, and only Samuel’s dog, Boswell, truly understands him.

Oh, and as if things couldn’t get any worse, Samuel’s neighbours, led by the villainous Mrs Abernathy, are trying to open the gates of hell. It’s up to Samuel to stop them, except nobody will believe him, and time is running out…

Now the fate of humanity lies in the hands of one small boy, and even smaller dog, and a very unlucky demon named Nurd…

Everything is normal in the town where Samuel lives or at least until the Abernathys and their friends summon the devil. However, Samuel is well aware of the situation. Along with his friends, Tom and Maria, his faithful dog, Boswell, his Mum and a terrified scientist from CERN, Dr Planck, he is out to save the world. It takes Samuel’s Dad’s car, a demon called Nurd and a whole lot of laughs before they can defeat the demon known as Ba’al (posing as Samuel’s neighbour, Mrs Abernathy).

There is only one word for this book and that is… hilarious! The book is also really intelligently written and appeals to all ages. The Gates was first recommended to me by someone over twice my age and then my younger brother borrowed it and was also really impressed – I haven’t heard him giggle that much in ages!

Not only is it written in a conversational style, which makes it easy to read but the subject matter is also engaging and really interesting! There are little footnotes that add to the silliness of this book but Connolly deals with complex subject matter such as the Hadron Collider in an understandable way, although you do have to follow the details closely at one point. The characters are really well written and Samuel experiences the difficulties many young people deal with, such as his parent’s separation as well as some not so common difficulties, like flying skulls in his hallway.

John Connolly uses chapter headings to tell the reader what will happen in each chapter, for example, Chapter Two, ‘In Which We Encounter a Small Boy, His Dog, and Some People Who Are Up to No Good’. Each chapter deals with a new setting and storyline and is as exciting as the last, from bodies rising from the dead at the church to confused scientists trying to figure out how they had a hand in releasing the devil.

Overall, I cannot stress how much I think EVERYONE should read this book. It is literally un-put-down-able because it is so easy to read, so funny and the story is so effortlessly executed. My only criticism is that the ending leaves you on a slight cliff hanger, which means you have to scurry to the library/book shop to pick up the next one!

5/5 Read it!

Dangerously Close Review

Title: Dangerously Close

Author: Sandra Glover

Release Date: 3^rd April 2008

Publisher: Anderson Press

When Dee's traumatised family start a new life, she is relieved to find two uncomplicated fun-loving friends. But with the onset of problems for one, and a controlling boyfriend influencing the other, Dee notices frightening parallels with her own troubles. Is she seeing things clearly, though?

And will her efforts to help mean revealing family secrets? Secrets they so desperately want to keep hidden.

Three friends, Dee, Hazel and Abbie are all dealing with their own problems. Dee has a past that she is trying to keep secret from her friends, Hazel is having to come to terms with her family keeping secrets from her and everyone thinks Abbie might be keeping secrets about her new boyfriend (despite talking about him ALL the time!).

I’m not sure that this book was what I was expecting. The three friends are all brilliant characters and the narrative moves fluidly through their individual family lives. I really liked the way the structure of the tales were so different, Dee’s story is revealed piece by piece and Abbie’s tale holds a surprise at the end. However, I found Hazel’s story to be a bit lacking towards the end. Although she still has to deal with what has happened to her Mum (read and find out what) and is devastated by Abbie’s selfish actions, I felt that we don’t really get to see a lot of her or her family towards the end.  

The book becomes more and more gritty towards the end, so do be prepared for some unpleasantness as Dee reveals what happened to her family. Even before we find out what went on, Dee’s family are really developed characters which makes her revelation even more dramatic, although it is dealt with in a really delicate way.

The character of Abbie reminds me of Lana in And Baby Makes Two in the way that she falls head over heels in love with Tom. She puts her life completely on hold for him, even down to leaving sixth form so she can get a job and work with him in his Dad’s hotel.

The ending of the novel is really effective, with Dee reflecting on what has happened and thinking about the future. Although awful things have happened, she still has hope that things will get better and this is especially important regarding her family.

Overall, Dangerously Close is a really good novel. The characters are all really interesting, dealing with their own problems and the tale addresses some key issues for teenagers. I would recommend this novel as something quite surprising and it packs a lot into a relatively small space! It is also set locally to me – which I couldn’t help but like!

4.5/5 Full of secrets.



Blood Runner Review

Title: Blood Runner

Author: James Riordan

Release Date: 6^th October 2011

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

Samuel's parents and sister die in a bloody massacre. His brothers retaliate by joining the anti-Apartheid movement, with guns and terrorism as their weapons. But Sam decides to fight prejudice in his own way- as a runner. Against all odds - from a poor township childhood to the Bantu homelands, from work in a gold-mine to competing for gold - he focuses his mind, body and heart on the long, hard race to freedom...

Samuel has to deal with the awful effects of a particularly brutal attack on his community which leaves his parents dead. He and his brother, Looksmart, have to move in with their Uncle Sabata, who brings the boys up as his own and gets them jobs in the gold mine. However, it is obvious that Sam is a skilled runner. Despite his brother’s violent actions in the anti-apartheid movement, Sam realises he can use his skill to his advantage and peacefully protest against the horrific prejudice that black people faced at that time in South Africa.   

This book is unique because of the way the tone changes so quickly and suddenly.  The story starts in a shocking and devastating way, with an outbreak of violence against innocent civilians. Despite his childhood (at times it is unsettling to remember he is just a child), Sam goes on to become a strong young man and the book traverses the years, with Sam becoming a loving husband and father. The teachings of his uncle and the ‘Note on Apartheid’ at the end offer a non-fictional element to the novel and also place it in context which is not just useful but also interesting. The novel is not just informative about the injustices that occurred but is also an interesting tale about a determined young man. As a character, I found Samuel to be really well constructed, with a mature outlook on how the world should be.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, both for the story and the historical note at the end. It was a well-rounded tale with a positive ending which contrasted with the tone at the start of the novel. Although the subject matter was often serious and heavy, the novel becomes a ‘feel good’ tale as Sam gets the things he wants and deserves. Even if you know nothing about the apartheid in South Africa, this novel is a brilliant stand-alone story but the way it is written will leave you with a greater understanding of recent world history.

5/5 Brilliantly constructed with a wonderful well-deserved happy ending.

With special thanks to Frances Lincoln for sending me a copy of the book.