The Story

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock boy – he runs errands, delivers messages, does research, etc. for those who are willing to pay for his services. His jobs take him all over Victorian London, and it’s not unusual for him to run into all kinds of adventures. But when he meets with a wolf on the rooftops of London, even he is terrified.

When Barnaby’s friend Old Benjamin, and other people who won’t theoretically be missed, disappear Barnaby starts investigating what he soon learns is connected to the wolf that he had the run in with on the rooftops. When he is led to a doctor who has a magical concoction that cures the ailments of the poor, Barnaby discovers that he is drawn into something that could threaten his city, and is determined to stop it.

The Review

I haven’t had much time to read the past couple of weeks, so this weekend all I wanted was a book that I could quickly thrown myself into, that would grab my attention right from the beginning, and that I could get through in one or two sittings.

And when a book starts with the main character talking about his unwilling transformation into a werewolf, and an evil doctor looming up on the now-werewolf, WELL. It was exactly what I needed.

This was an adorable book. And if I’m saying that about a book about werewolves, then it’s really GOT to be adorable. (I really don’t like werewolves.) It had action and adventure, supernatural elements, and a couple of adorable cast members.

Unfortunately it WAS only a couple of adorable cast members – Barnaby was brilliant. He kept mentioning past adventures that he’s had, and it certainly made me wish that they had been gotten into a little bit more. And then there was this one little shop girl who was adorable… but that was it. The rest of the cast sort of faded into the background – even the evil doctor, unfortunately. Missing just a touch of menacing to make him feel threatening and memorable.

I liked how the authors managed to make Victorian London seem as as grimy as you would expect it to as well – that’s something I’ve definitely been paying more attention to lately.

But the highlight of the book for me was the illustration. Chris Riddell had some lovely illustrations in this book, and I definitely recommend looking into this book just for the illustrations.

The only major downfall (other than the character bit) was that it didn’t really have much of an impact on me. I finished the book a couple of hours ago, and it’s not a large book, but I’m still having a problem recalling a lot of what happened in the book. It’s just not sticking with me, unfortunately.

The Bottom Line

This was definitely a charming werewolf story with enough adventure to make it a quick and engaging read. At the same time, it wasn’t memorable enough to make me need to read the rest of the books in the series.

Other Reviews

The Well-Read Child, SherMeree’s Musings, Books and Other Thoughts. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

On the night before his eleventh birthday, some weird stuff starts happening to Will: radios go all crazy when he passes by, animals have taken a sudden dislike for him, and his neighbour tells him that “the Walker is abroad.” So begin Will’s adventures in discovering that he is an Old One – a guardian for The Light. And Will is a special Old One. It is his destiny to search out and join six magical Signs, before the Dark rises.

The Review

I’ve been attempting to write this for about three days, but have had a hard time of thinking what to say other than that it is brilliant. Because it is brilliant. It’s a brilliant story, written in a wonderfully brilliant sort of way that makes it enjoyable for adults as well as the younger audience that it’s aimed at.

I think I said this for the first book as well, but really, I love how this book was written in the 70′s and yet is still so applicable in the world we’re living in today. It’s not dated, it’s not obvious that it was written in the 70′s. The dialogue still comes across as being up-to-date, the plot doesn’t seem dated, it’s amazing how some authors can write something that stays current more than 30 years later.

If I hadn’t realized in the first book that this series was based on Arthurian legend, I don’t know if I would’ve guessed it from this one. It doesn’t mention who Merriman Lyon is, and only mentions the Holy Grail a couple of time – not enough to really make a person realize how much this is based on Arthurian legend.

Definitely a thoroughly enjoyable book with wonderful characters, an exciting plot and it is so very readable! It totally had me engrossed right from the beginning, and I was so sorry for it to be finished!

The Bottom Line

It took me almost a year to read this after finishing the first book in The Dark is Rising Sequence, and I’m totally kicking myself over that. Definitely highly recommend this series, and am definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the books in The Dark is Rising Sequence.

Other Reviews

Things Mean A Lot, Libri Touches, Arch Thinking, Chaotic Compendiums, Epiphany, Puss Reboots, Words by Annie, Working Title, You Can Never Have Too Many Books. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

One day, a few thieves find an abandoned baby girl on the side of a river in the middle of the footprint of a monster. With no idea where this girl came from, they bring her back to their village to raise her. Over the years, Auralia grows into an adventurous and almost magical girl with the ability to create things. These things that she makes seem to have powers of their own, and the colours in them enchant and even change people. Are these colours what the kingdom of Abascar needs to bring about the change that it needs to save it from itself?

The Thoughts

I’m torn about this one. Really torn.

It had a lot going for it, but it also had a few things that I really don’t think worked too well. And I’m going to touch on those first, because they’re the things that are most prominent in my mind at the moment.

Firstly, I will admit that most of the time I was reading this, I was thinking about how the publisher is a Christian publisher, and I was keeping my eyes open to see what it was that made this a Christian children’s fantasy book. I can happily say that there weren’t many really overt Christian moments, and people who weren’t looking for the Christianity may not have noticed them. There were a few times where you can see hints of it. For example, the Keeper. The people of Abascar say that the Keeper is something children dream about, but that they will grow out of it. They do not like the thought of the Keeper. These people believe the Keeper is a nightmare figure and makes people feel guilty in their dreams, blah blah blah. I don’t know if the author meant it like this, or if I was just reading into it because I was looking for it, but it sounded a lot to me like how some Christians I’ve run across think of those who aren’t Christians – they think people avoid religion because it makes them feel guilty about themselves and their lives. Hmm.

The other thing that bothered me about this book was how the first third of the book was really slow and didn’t give much chance to get to know the characters or to see how they grow from chapter to chapter. The first third takes up the first sixteen years of Auralia’s life – so all you really get are snapshots of what is going on in specific times. You don’t even really get to know her or the other characters until about halfway through the book. So I totally wasn’t emotionally invested in what happened to anyone for the majority of the book. Even when the characters started developing, the only ones I actually cared about were the ale boy and Prince Cal-raven.

Okay, speaking of the ale boy, I’m now reminded of something else that bothered me – there was this whole mystery bit as to who he was, where he came from, and why he wasn’t given to the Gatherers to raise him like every other orphan… and in the end, the reasoning seemed a little bit of a cop-out to me. (Trying to make this next bit as non-spoilery as possible…) Okay, if your good friend and his wife died in a fire and you were able to save their baby from the same fire, wouldn’t you treat said child with more than contempt whenever you cross paths with him?

But! Other than those things, I did enjoy the book. As I said, I really liked the ale boy and Prince Cal-raven. I think they were great characters who had depths that were revealed throughout the book. They were completely believable.

And there was the narration, which was positively beautiful. Completely made me really visualize what was going on in the story. Here’s my favourite passage:

The child became twigs and burnt autumn leaves, thin and fisty fingers clutching acorns and seeds as though they were stolen jewels. Her hair hung in tangles, silver and brown like the bark of apple trees. Her smile sealed off secrets. Each day she made a hurried journey to see as much of the world as she could bear and to harvest a small gallery of souvenirs.

Doesn’t that just sound so lovely? Can’t you see what the author’s describing as you’re reading it? There are little jewels like this interspersed throughout the whole book.

And what drives me nuts with most books in series was totally not apparent in this one. I didn’t even realize it was the first in a series until the last page when the next book was mentioned. In other words, there was closure! It works as a standalone, but if I wanted to, I could read more of the story. How often does that happen? Rarely. The book ended with hope that the future will get better, that the people have overcome some great obstacle, it doesn’t leave you right in the middle of the darkest part of the story. And a book that ends with hope? I don’t think there’s anything that I enjoy more.

The Bottom Line

On one hand, I wouldn’t hand anyone this book telling them that they had to read it. On the other, I also wouldn’t take it away from them telling them to skip it. (Unless they could only read one more book in their life and it was a choice between this one and one of Catherine Webb’s Horatio Lyle books or Arthur Slade’s Jolted.) It was good, but not good enough to seek out the rest in this series.