I read the print version of this book longer ago than I care to recall – and then found this offering on my Audiobook library, courtesy of my grandson, so dived back in. Would I enjoy it as much?
BLURB: The Amazing Maurice runs the perfect Pied Piper scam. This streetwise alley cat knows the value of cold, hard cash and can talk his way into and out of anything. But when Maurice and his cohorts decide to con the town of Bad Blinitz, it will take more than fast talking to survive the danger that awaits…
REVIEW: Stephen Briggs does a lovely job of narrating this entertaining standalone story with only the most tenuous connections with the Discworld canon. The only hint of the wider Discworld comes into play when we are told the rats lived on the rubbish heap behind the Unseen University and ate something that made them a whole lot smarter and able to speak. And Maurice becomes a talking cat by eating one of the rats.
While it is regularly touted as a children’s story, I would suggest if your child is the imaginative, overly sensitive sort who has problems with the dark, then perhaps leave this one for another year or so. There are some scary scenes where our protagonists are trapped in tunnels and very afraid, and later in the story Pratchett describes what goes on in a rat pit in quite graphic detail. While there is also his trademark humour, it might not be enough to mitigate the horror for a child who can vividly visualise the action. However, I loved it. Pratchett’s sharp observations on how the world works from a rat’s view is both entertaining and thought-provoking in classic Pratchett style. How I still miss him!
It made for lovely listening, as Maurice, the rats and Keith are suddenly faced with wrongdoing on a different level to the scam they’ve been running. And suddenly, the rats are out of their depth as the book they have been using for advice and guidance on how to negotiate the wider world – Mr Bunnsie Has an Adventure – isn’t up to the job. I would have loved to have used this book as a set text for a Year 5 class, as I think it raises all sorts of philosophical questions which that age group are ready to get their teeth into. Highly recommended for children of all ages who enjoy quirky fantasy tales about human behaviour seen through the lens of rodents and cats.
9/10
No Going Back – Book 5 of the Jon and Lobo series by Mark L. Van Name
A Season of Spells – Book 3 of the Noctis Magicae series by Sylvia Hunter
looking Viking boy, who isn’t all that good at most of the Viking pasttimes. And whose hunting dragon is very small and very, very naughty drew me in from the first by the sheer quality of the characterisation and plotting. I have read these adventures to both children, until they both decided they wanted to complete the books on their own. So I finally finished listening to the last handful of books on my own. Hiccup’s exploits were funny, gripping and ultimately absolutely heart-breaking, so I wept as I listened to the epilogue of this instalment, feeling like I’d lost a cherished friend. This series comprises 
young dyslexic half-blood, Percy Jackson. Frankie absolutely loved this series and so I thought I’d better discover what all the fuss was about. This clever, entertaining series comprises Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse, Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth as well as The Last Olympian. Highly recommended for those who enjoy teenage coming-of-age fantasy adventures. I didn’t review any of these books on my blog, as I felt most of what I had to say had already been covered about this very popular series.
written and narrated by Stephen Fry
BLURB: The Doomsday of Yule has arrived, and the future of dragonkind lies in the hands of one boy with nothing to show but everything to fight for. Hiccup’s quest is clear…but can he end the rebellion? Can he prove himself to be king? Can he save the dragons? The stakes have never been higher, as the very fate of the Viking world hangs in the balance!
or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels. Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.
the American Isles. As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.
more like children than wolf cubs now. They are accustomed to wearing clothes. They hardly ever howl at the moon. And for the most part, they resist the urge to chase squirrels up trees. Yet the Incorrigibles are not entirely civilized, and still managed to ruin Lady Constance’s Christmas ball, nearly destroying the grand house. So while Ashton Place is being restored, Penelope, the Ashtons, and the children take up residence in London. As they explore the city, Penelope and the Incorrigibles discover more about themselves as clues about the children’s–and Penelope’s own–mysterious past crop up in the most unexpected ways…
Waking on an unfamiliar floor, Pax is faced with two hard truths. A murderous government agency wants her dead – and monsters really do exist. What’s more, her body’s going haywire, which she desperately hopes isn’t a side-effect of her encounters in the city’s tunnels. To survive, and protect Ordshaw, she’s got to expose who, or what, is behind the chaos – and she can’t do it alone. But with only the trigger-happy Fae to turn to, Pax’s allies might kill her before her enemies do…
nothing to show but everything to fight for. Hiccup’s quest is clear…but can he end the rebellion? Can he prove himself to be king? Can he save the dragons? The stakes have never been higher, as the very fate of the Viking world hangs in the balance!
Vivian Kawabata can’t wait to claim her privileged destiny. But when the heir to the family agricultural empire finds her bank account empty while shopping for expensive shoes, she’s horrified to discover that her own brother has financially stabbed her in the back. To stand a chance of restoring her rightful place in the universe, the honest and rule-following Vivian may have to break a few intergalactic laws.
As is apparent from the blurb, this isn’t a series you can easily crash into. As each of the stories, while standalone for each of the mysteries they pose, adds another piece of the puzzle that Lockwood and his young associates are struggling to solve – what caused the Problem in the first place, some fifty years ago. Why did ghosts suddenly take to infesting the world of the living, causing fear, havoc and so many countless deaths?
work on the revisions for Mantivore Prey, bracing myself for all sorts of major plot anomalies… poor characterisation… clunky dialogue – and to my delighted surprise, apart from some small alterations necessary to ensure one of the main antagonists is already suitably sneaky right from the start of the book, it read quite smoothly. It took me two days to work through the manuscript, fixing any major problems and by then I was sufficiently fired up to start work on the plot outline for Mantivore Warrior. I’d known the character and some of the main plotpoints, as well as more or less where I wanted the book to end. Now I’ve worked out the whole narrative arc, who all the major characters are and the beginning, the middle and the end. It’s been wonderful to know that this creative upsurge is not going to be hampered by having to break off and produce Creative Writing handouts for the coming term. In fact, it’s going so well, I am seriously considering bringing forward my soft launch of Mantivore Dreams, the first book in the series, to the last week in August.
The Sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapur, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, surviving on the debris of its long-dead progenitors, Shadrapur is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity.
This meme was started by Books by Proxy, whose fabulous idea was to compare UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer. This meme is currently being nurtured by
This edition was produced by Oxford University Press in January 2009 and is my favourite. I love the halo of supernatural light as the four children emerge from the underground bunker. If you look closely at the three children you can see clearly, you’ll see that two of them are dressed quite differently from the middle boy. I really like the fact that the artist has taken the trouble to depict the difference in their clothing, given it features so much in this timeslip adventure. I think it is plain from the cover that this is a science fiction adventure – another pluspoint for this polished, classy offering. It doesn’t hurt that this is the cover that I recall features on the audiobook, either.
Published in June 2013 by Oxford University Press, this retread isn’t quite so successful. While I like the artwork – I think it’s a real shame that over a third of the cover is given over to that intrusive, ugly text box. That marvellous font could easily have stood out against the forest canopy and looked more contemporary and interesting as a result.
This US edition, published by EgmontUSA in May 2010, so very nearly became my favourite. I love the fact that this one depicts the dramatic scene where the modern pair encounter their great aunt and uncle in suspended animation… But it’s a daft expression on Freddy’s face as he slowly surfaces in the chamber that ruins it for me. Other than that, I love the funky font and the marvellous artwork. This is definitely a contender…
This German edition, produced by Fischer KJB in November 2012, seems to have got their genres muddled. While there are some genuinely creepy moments in this fast-moving adventure, it is not a horror story – it is definitely a science fiction timeslip adventure with generous dollops of humour and some interesting things to say about how life has changed for children over the last fifty years. And this cover doesn’t give a hint of that.
This French edition, published in December 2016 by Bayard Jeunesse, has the feel of the old Enid Blyton books, which given the age of a couple of the children is more relevant than it might seem. What worries me is that I’m not sure this cover would attract modern independent readers as there is no sense of the smart, funny, thought-provoking writing in the artwork. Which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 