Jonathon Fletcher's Blog: Captain's Blog - Posts Tagged "review"

“If it had only been something we could fight - ! But just to be drowned and starved and forced into destroying one another to live – and by things nobody has ever seen, living in the one place we can’t reach!”

This quote from Phyllis Watson, one of the main protagonists of “The Kraken Wakes” pretty well sums up the whole book. Phyllis and Mike are journalists who work for the E.B.C. (rivals to the B.B.C.). When strange events begin on Earth, the two journalists are tasked with reporting what is happening back to the masses in the United Kingdom and around the world. This is their story.

It begins harmlessly enough; a few strange glowing lights fall through the sky and plunge into the oceans of the Earth, but then events become terrifyingly sinister. I won’t go into the details of what happens for fear of spoilers. What I will say is that this is the best imagining of an alien invasion that I have read since “The War of the Worlds” or John Wyndham’s other classic book, “The Day of the Triffids”.

The writing style is a little formal, even old fashioned by today’s standards, but if you can get past that then the story simply sucks you down into the murky “depths” that are slowly being colonised by creatures that we can’t even see as they live at depths where the pressure would crush even our strongest submersibles. From the moment that an exploratory deep sea diving bell disappears with the loss of two sailors the puzzling events that have so far been dismissed as “harmless” take a sinister and deadly turn. The scene where “sea tanks” crawl out of the depths to prey on the unfortunate inhabitants of a coastal village still haunts my imagination.

The book is not only entertaining but is cleverly and intelligently thought through and has many of the elements of cataclysmic, worldwide apocalypse that wouldn’t seem out of place in a contemporary big budget movie. In fact I can’t imagine why no one has bought the rights to this story as it would put such mind numbing popcorn fodder as “The Day After Tomorrow” to shame.

As with his other books, The Kraken Wakes has a dismal feel to it. The main characters become gradually worried, depressed, terrified and eventually completely disconsolate. This book scared me more than “Jaws”, mainly because the creatures below are never seen or described. The imagination conjures up more terrifying creatures than computer special effects ever could. Tentacles, beaks and gelatinous amorphous forms roll in the deep as huge saucer-like eyes regard mankind with incomprehensible malevolence. One piece of advice I would give you; don’t even think of reading this book while you are on a cruise…

This is one of the most difficult reviews I have had to write. It took me a long while to get used to the first person narrative in which Darren Shan’s book, The ZOM-B Chronicles, is written. I found the writing style a little distracting at first. Ignoring the fact that the book is apparently aimed at a young adult audience, the story is very good. I struggled with the first few chapters which were full of teenage angst but once the zombies started to rampage and feast the story became much more interesting.

The book is definitely a book of two halves, having been spliced together from two separate books, “ZOM-B” and “ZOM-B Underground”. As I said, the first half reads like a teenage drama that just happens to have zombies in it. I almost stopped reading it at this point but I persevered and I’m glad that I did.

The second half is like another book entirely. The writing is tighter, the story gripping and full of action and horror. The perspective from a zombie’s point of view is intriguing and the descriptions visceral and unpleasant enough to make you squirm. What saved the book is the clear notion that this is not just another zombie holocaust. There is a sinister power in action behind the scenes, personified in one of the most memorable characters that I can recall from any horror franchise.

Mr Dowling is part clown, part zombie, part insect nest and thoroughly terrifying. Who he is or what he’s up to I assume will be revealed in later books and the desire to know that is enough to encourage me to read more of Darran Shan’s sequels. A book of two halves; persevere to the end and I promise that it will be worth your while.

Mr Stink is aimed at children, so why am I reviewing it? My wife is a teacher and wanted to check it out before reading it to her class, simple at that. We read the book to each other over a few nights as you might do for your child. Bearing in mind that it's for kids, I loved it.

David Walliams is clearly in line to be the next Roald Dahl, the illustrations are even drawn by the fabulous Quentin Blake. The book is well written, imaginative and poignant. The story of a young girl called Chloe who befriends a dirty, smelly tramp is heartwarming and the end of the book (just to warn you in advance) had us both in tears.

The only reason this didn't get the full five stars from me was a few repetitive passages which seemed unnecessary and distracting. Maybe they would work for children, I'm not sure? I'm probably too old and jaded to enjoy that sort of thing so I'll let you decide on that one. They simply took the shine off what was otherwise a perfectly executed and magical story.

Mr Stink is a loveable eccentric who has a sausage addiction and a grounding in etiquette and impeccably good manners. Chloe is a girl from a mildly dysfunctional family. She is obviously lonely and finds a friend and confidant in Mr Stink and his dog. The book deals subtly with several difficult issues including bullying and homelessness and takes a clever side swipe at the political system. Mr Walliams is clearly no fan of David Cameron or his government and should be applauded for introducing children to the idea that politicians are not to be trusted implicitly!

A fun book with some thought provoking moments. It was as enjoyable to read as it was to listen to but be prepared for some hard questions from your children. After finishing I really wanted to find Mr Stink and give him a really big hug. Good job Mr Walliams. A sequel please!