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Drearcliff Grange #1
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School
A week after Mother found her sleeping on the ceiling, Amy Thomsett is delivered to her new school, Drearcliff Grange in Somerset. Although it looks like a regular boarding school, Amy learns that Drearcliff girls are special, the daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians. Several of the pupils also have special gifts like Amy’s, and when one of the girls in her dormitory is abducted by a mysterious group in black hoods, Amy forms a secret, superpowered society called the Moth Club to rescue their friend. They soon discover that the Hooded Conspiracy runs through the School, and it's up to the Moth Club to get to the heart of it.
410 pages, Paperback
First published October 20, 2015
68 people are currently reading
2256 people want to read
About the author
Kim Newman
288 books949 followersNote: This author also writes under the pseudonym of Jack Yeovil.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.
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August 3, 2025
The Secrets of Drearclìff Grange School
By Kim Newman
I didn't know it was a teen book until I started reading it. I'm not really into the teenage angst but many other situations overwhelmed such a trivial thing as that.
There is a special school for gifted girls, think x-men. They can't control the gifts yet. Someone is out to harm the girls too. One has been kidnapped. The main character, Amy, is determined to track her down and bring her back. Amy has a special gift, she can float. Add wings, she can fly. Amy loves moths and has a Moth Club. The Moth Club is going to rescue their friend.
By Kim Newman
I didn't know it was a teen book until I started reading it. I'm not really into the teenage angst but many other situations overwhelmed such a trivial thing as that.
There is a special school for gifted girls, think x-men. They can't control the gifts yet. Someone is out to harm the girls too. One has been kidnapped. The main character, Amy, is determined to track her down and bring her back. Amy has a special gift, she can float. Add wings, she can fly. Amy loves moths and has a Moth Club. The Moth Club is going to rescue their friend.
October 1, 2016
I can't believe that I'm going to write this...but DNF at 62%
Usually I will read a book from end to end, no matter how torturous it is. The only other book I have ever not finished is The Vampire Lestat (both because it was a sequel to my favourite book of all times but also because they turned Lestat into a mother loving pussy). But I just couldn't keep going. Not with so many books on my shelves calling out to me that I know will be worlds better than this.
If you were to judge a book by its first line, then every indication was that this would have been great.
A week after Mother found her sleeping on the ceiling, Amy Thomsett was delivered to her new school. Like a parcel.
So what went wrong?
1. Too many characters
There is a list of all the houses at the back, with all the girls and staff by their names. But this is just way too many to keep track of. Especially when some of them are referred to by their nicknames after their initial intro, and there is no reminder of who is who. Other than the main characters, Amy, Rayne, Fingers, Kali, Paulie, and Freckles, everyone else just kind of merged together. It was confusing and really infuriating.
2. Similarities
Amy is an 'Unusual,' which seemed very similar to being a 'Preculiar' (as in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children). Disturbingly similar, actually. And while it was a focus for a while, it ended up not really seeming to matter anyway. Also, all the students have meals in a big hall where they sit in their houses on long wooden tables with the staff at the head table. Sound like Hogwarts anyone?
3. Plot
There was no sense of urgency, no concern for the characters. Why was Kali kidnapped? And after Amy and her friends go to rescue her, and she realised who was responsible, why didn't she do anything else, or hell even think about it some more. Instead it was forgotten for ages to the point where I almost forgot it happened. The main story seemed to be focused around Rayne and her hostile take over of the school to become 'Queen Ant' but seeing as she didn't even come into play until page 109, it felt almost like a completely different book.
4. Not Caring
I did not care whether any of the characters lived or died. Amy was the protagonist, but I felt so disconnected with her. Like I was just watching her from above and not allowed to enter into her inner most thoughts. What was happening meant nothing, and I could not understand what would happen if the Black Skirts were successful. Was it the end of the world? The destruction of the school? At 62% it didn't seem to be going anywhere. And I couldn't have cared less if the world swllowed the whole school.
5. Lose ends
I know I didn't finish the book, so these ends may have been tired up, but since some of the intriguing plot points in the first few chapters didn't eventuate to anything by the time I called it quits, I'll mention some here. The principal, Dr Swann, wanted to take Amy under her wing, because she was an Unusual she was supposed to be learning to harness her powers. Well, nothing happened, and the principal disappeared soon after this with no one too concerned where she was. Also, Amy's mother sent her daughter to Drearcliff after finding her floating on the ceiling, but was she scared, did she want this behaviour to stop? Amy seemed to go from denying her powers to accepting them in no time at all. And her mother was never mentioned again.
So considering all of these issues, as well as a severe case of over writing in almost every paragraph, and both the characters and plot not leaving an kind of indelible mark on me at all, I will place it back on my shelves unfinished. Maybe I will give it another go one day...but probably not.
Usually I will read a book from end to end, no matter how torturous it is. The only other book I have ever not finished is The Vampire Lestat (both because it was a sequel to my favourite book of all times but also because they turned Lestat into a mother loving pussy). But I just couldn't keep going. Not with so many books on my shelves calling out to me that I know will be worlds better than this.
If you were to judge a book by its first line, then every indication was that this would have been great.
A week after Mother found her sleeping on the ceiling, Amy Thomsett was delivered to her new school. Like a parcel.
So what went wrong?
1. Too many characters
There is a list of all the houses at the back, with all the girls and staff by their names. But this is just way too many to keep track of. Especially when some of them are referred to by their nicknames after their initial intro, and there is no reminder of who is who. Other than the main characters, Amy, Rayne, Fingers, Kali, Paulie, and Freckles, everyone else just kind of merged together. It was confusing and really infuriating.
2. Similarities
Amy is an 'Unusual,' which seemed very similar to being a 'Preculiar' (as in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children). Disturbingly similar, actually. And while it was a focus for a while, it ended up not really seeming to matter anyway. Also, all the students have meals in a big hall where they sit in their houses on long wooden tables with the staff at the head table. Sound like Hogwarts anyone?
3. Plot
There was no sense of urgency, no concern for the characters. Why was Kali kidnapped? And after Amy and her friends go to rescue her, and she realised who was responsible, why didn't she do anything else, or hell even think about it some more. Instead it was forgotten for ages to the point where I almost forgot it happened. The main story seemed to be focused around Rayne and her hostile take over of the school to become 'Queen Ant' but seeing as she didn't even come into play until page 109, it felt almost like a completely different book.
4. Not Caring
I did not care whether any of the characters lived or died. Amy was the protagonist, but I felt so disconnected with her. Like I was just watching her from above and not allowed to enter into her inner most thoughts. What was happening meant nothing, and I could not understand what would happen if the Black Skirts were successful. Was it the end of the world? The destruction of the school? At 62% it didn't seem to be going anywhere. And I couldn't have cared less if the world swllowed the whole school.
5. Lose ends
I know I didn't finish the book, so these ends may have been tired up, but since some of the intriguing plot points in the first few chapters didn't eventuate to anything by the time I called it quits, I'll mention some here. The principal, Dr Swann, wanted to take Amy under her wing, because she was an Unusual she was supposed to be learning to harness her powers. Well, nothing happened, and the principal disappeared soon after this with no one too concerned where she was. Also, Amy's mother sent her daughter to Drearcliff after finding her floating on the ceiling, but was she scared, did she want this behaviour to stop? Amy seemed to go from denying her powers to accepting them in no time at all. And her mother was never mentioned again.
So considering all of these issues, as well as a severe case of over writing in almost every paragraph, and both the characters and plot not leaving an kind of indelible mark on me at all, I will place it back on my shelves unfinished. Maybe I will give it another go one day...but probably not.
September 12, 2016
It might have all begun with Kim's 1994 book The Original Dr. Shade and Other Stories. Or perhaps in the short story 'Clubland Heroes' that appeared in Joe Lansdale's anthology Retro Pulp Tales in 2006 (reprinted in The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club 2007). Or even a vague element of his most recent novel An English Ghost Story. But while all are obviously contributing factors, the heart of the story, as noted in the acknowledgements, is an expansion, or extension, of the 2010 novella 'Kentish Glory: The Secret of Drearcliffe Grange School' as published in Mysteries of the Diogenes Club. For longtime Newman fans, this sort of cross pollination is exactly as it should be, and for this reader, the result is an utter delight. For readers not so well grounded in Newman's sort of linked worlds, or an utter newbie to Newman's writing, or even someone coming directly from An English Ghost Story, it may be a slightly baffling read, at least so far as to why he's writing 'Girl's Own' style fantasy adventure in 2015.
This is nothing like the sort of scholastic bait and switch SF philosophizing in a Kazuo Ishiguro-esque Never Let Me Go, vein, nor is it the beautifully horrifying apocalyptic little-girl-done wrong ala Mike Carey's The Girl with All the Gifts (although if you blended those two books with a Ronald Searles 'St. Trinian's' cartoon, or the associated cinematic stylings, you'd be on the right track), instead it is unabashedly pure Grade-A Kim Newman Brit-pulp, with all the usual nods to external influences (Sally Nikola is clearly the spawn of Guy Boothby's Dr. Nikola) and his own previous work (Janice Marsh of 'The Big Fish' makes an appearance, as does Catriona Kaye of numerous Diogenes Club stories). In short, this is a glorious return to Kim Newman's 'Diogenes Club' stories form.
In a spoiler-free nutshell, the plot (it's a superhero origin story of sorts, if you've read the two Diogenes Club stories I mentioned above)revolves around young Amy Thomsett, a girl with an 'Unusual' ability, who is sent off to the Drearcliffe Grange boarding school for girls, shortly after WWI, where she gets caught up in some almost Lovecraftian extra-dimensional hijinx while trying to fit in with her classmates. Sounds simple? Almost YA-like? Well, don't be fooled, it's creepy, funny, and with some downright nasty moments, and it all comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts with Newman nailing the period language and character types perfectly.
As I said, perhaps not the best book to begin with to enter the delights of Kim Newman's vaguely connected worlds, although not the worst either, given that Titan will be reprinting Kim's 'Diogenes Club' stories shortly, it's not the worst place to get on board. Me, I loved it and look forward to more.
This is nothing like the sort of scholastic bait and switch SF philosophizing in a Kazuo Ishiguro-esque Never Let Me Go, vein, nor is it the beautifully horrifying apocalyptic little-girl-done wrong ala Mike Carey's The Girl with All the Gifts (although if you blended those two books with a Ronald Searles 'St. Trinian's' cartoon, or the associated cinematic stylings, you'd be on the right track), instead it is unabashedly pure Grade-A Kim Newman Brit-pulp, with all the usual nods to external influences (Sally Nikola is clearly the spawn of Guy Boothby's Dr. Nikola) and his own previous work (Janice Marsh of 'The Big Fish' makes an appearance, as does Catriona Kaye of numerous Diogenes Club stories). In short, this is a glorious return to Kim Newman's 'Diogenes Club' stories form.
In a spoiler-free nutshell, the plot (it's a superhero origin story of sorts, if you've read the two Diogenes Club stories I mentioned above)revolves around young Amy Thomsett, a girl with an 'Unusual' ability, who is sent off to the Drearcliffe Grange boarding school for girls, shortly after WWI, where she gets caught up in some almost Lovecraftian extra-dimensional hijinx while trying to fit in with her classmates. Sounds simple? Almost YA-like? Well, don't be fooled, it's creepy, funny, and with some downright nasty moments, and it all comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts with Newman nailing the period language and character types perfectly.
As I said, perhaps not the best book to begin with to enter the delights of Kim Newman's vaguely connected worlds, although not the worst either, given that Titan will be reprinting Kim's 'Diogenes Club' stories shortly, it's not the worst place to get on board. Me, I loved it and look forward to more.
October 24, 2017
Well, that was tons of fun! And, oh, the swoons Victorian names!
dnf
December 28, 2015DNF at page 86.
The book is interesting, and it seemed rather fun, but every page I read screamed "I'm clever! Like me!" I wanted to give in and like it, but I kept feeling pushed out. Quite simply, this book was not for me. Not at this time.
The book is interesting, and it seemed rather fun, but every page I read screamed "I'm clever! Like me!" I wanted to give in and like it, but I kept feeling pushed out. Quite simply, this book was not for me. Not at this time.
September 11, 2019
Thank gawd I finished this book. This book... this book... I liked this book but I was SO thankful to finish it because I didn't enjoy reading it. I have no idea if that even makes sense but that's the closest way to describe it.
I think it was the story telling style of the author that did it to me. I mean, yeah, there was five billion characters and all but whatever. I kept up with that. I think it was a mix that there wasn't a sense of urgency and there was no clear plot thread. For the first half, they just did little adventures and then got back to school as usual.
Another issue, again a story telling one, is the amount of diversions she did. These are hard to explain but she'd just go off on a tangent -- a little history here, a little lore there, but there was SO much of it. Nothing was a straight line. It was all cut up with these little bits of shit I didn't care about. By the end, I was mostly skimming. I'm trying to come up with an example of what I mean. Like, at the end, there's a list of all the other adventures she goes on and it's like 100 items long. It takes up a page and a half. Who cares? She couldn't've just said "and she went on many adventures" or listed several? Nope. She has to fill more than a page with useless names that we'll never read or know about. No wonder this book is nearly 500 pages long (trade paperback.)
I think it was the story telling style of the author that did it to me. I mean, yeah, there was five billion characters and all but whatever. I kept up with that. I think it was a mix that there wasn't a sense of urgency and there was no clear plot thread. For the first half, they just did little adventures and then got back to school as usual.
Another issue, again a story telling one, is the amount of diversions she did. These are hard to explain but she'd just go off on a tangent -- a little history here, a little lore there, but there was SO much of it. Nothing was a straight line. It was all cut up with these little bits of shit I didn't care about. By the end, I was mostly skimming. I'm trying to come up with an example of what I mean. Like, at the end, there's a list of all the other adventures she goes on and it's like 100 items long. It takes up a page and a half. Who cares? She couldn't've just said "and she went on many adventures" or listed several? Nope. She has to fill more than a page with useless names that we'll never read or know about. No wonder this book is nearly 500 pages long (trade paperback.)
October 22, 2015
Originally published at Risingshadow.
Are you fed up with reading fluffy young adult fantasy fiction about girls who adore supernatural beings and fall in love with them? Do you want to read a novel that has intriguing darkness in it? If you want to read something a bit different and entertaining, Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is an interesting novel for you, because the author gives an invigorating treatment to YA fantasy.
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is a well written young adult dark fantasy novel with sinister undertones. It starts out as a normal young adult fantasy novel, but soon grows into a dark fantasy novel filled with excitement and fascinating strangeness.
The boarding school genre has become a popular genre in British literature. Many novels and stories have been written about unexpected happenings in boarding schools. Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is a welcome addition to this genre, because it's a well written novel that differs from other similar kind of novels by being a much darker novel. It reads a bit like a supernatural combination of Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew mystery stories and boarding school stories.
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School can be recommended to young adults and adults alike, because it contains elements and happenings that will appeal to both readerships. Young adult readers will enjoy reading about the school and what happens to the girls while adults will be mesmerised by the dark and well written story.
I enjoyed reading this novel and found it interesting. I don't normally read much this kind of fiction, because too many young adult novels are full of fluff and authors tend to recycle clichés and familiar plot elements in a frustratingly annoying way without any kind of traces of originality or style. Fortunately, this novel was something different and had that special something that made it worth reading. Kim Newman writes about familiar issues and themes, but he does it so well that his novel is superior to similar kind of novels. When I read this novel, I got the impression that the author has wanted to please his readers by delivering a good and addictive story, because there's an enthusiastic feel to it.
Here's information about the story:
- The events take place in Somerset.
- When Amy Thomsett is found sleeping on the ceiling, she is delivered to Drearcliff Grange school like a parcel. She meets Frecks who introduces the school and its rules to the overwhelmed and surprised Amy. Amy meets the Headmistress, Dr. Swan, who tells her that she's an Unusual and has Abilities that can be cultivated to find Applications. She gets to know the school, its routines and its different places, and soon she becomes a Drearcliff Grange Girl.
- One of the girls in Amy's dormitory, Kali, is abducted by a mysterious group of people who were black clothes and hoods. Amy and the girls find out that there's a Hooded Conspiracy in the school. They form a secret society of their own, The Moth Club, to go up against the Hooded Conspiracy and begin to investigate things...
This is the beginning of an intriguing young adult fantasy novel that's filled with adventure, excitement, strange happenings and good storytelling.
The characterisation works well, but it isn't deep. In my opinion, it's good that the characterisation isn't deep, because different rules apply to it. Too deep a characterisation would've possibly ruined the story and its entertainment values.
Amy is an interesting and easily likeable protagonist. She's a girl who's been sent to Drearcliff Grange against her will, because her mother wanted to put her there. Her life changes in many ways when she enters Drearcliff Grange and becomes a Drearcliff Girl. She is fascinated by different species of moths, because moths are her enthusiasm. Her enthusiasm in moths is explored in an interesting way.
The cast of characters is delightfully fresh and memorable, because the author writes about such diverse characters as Polly Palgraive, Sidoney Gryce and Dora Paule. Polly Palgraive is a girl who has been devoured by a maggot that uses her like a puppet. Sidoney Gryce, the Head Girl, is a sadistic girl who embodies the School Spirit and applies discipline. Dora Paule is an odd girl, because her strange condition is caused by being able to see different planes of reality.
The author writes well about the different characters and their abilities and eccentricities. Character interaction is perfect, because the dialogues between the characters are entertaining. The dialoges contains quite a lot of small and important details.
Reading about the adventures of the Moth Club and its members' attempts to find out what has happened to Kali was fascinating. Because their foes were hooded, the girls wore masks and bravely investigated things. After the kidnapping, the girls turn their attention to other things and soon they have to face the Black Skirts who are taking over the school.
Drearcliff Grange is a fascinating boarding school, because it's a place for girls with special gifts (all of the girls are daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians, and they have an interesting background). The school is located on top of a cliff. Waves that was against the cliff have eroded the supporting rock and caused part of the school to collapse, but the new wings are safely inland.
There are five Houses in Drearcliff Grange: Ariel, Viola, Tamora, Desdemona and Goneril. The girls of the different Houses differ from each other in terms of appearance, abilities and behaviour. They have many powers and abilities and they're encouraged to develop them.
Kim Newman's vision of the Drearcliff Grange boarding school is truly something to behold, because he has thought of many things that together form an original glimpse into a school for special girls. The school he has created may cause a few nightmares for sensitive readers, because some of the happenings are fascinatingly dark and twisted (there's something gorgeously macabre about these happenings).
It was interesting for me to read about the school rules, punishments and encouragements. Drearcliff Grange has its own system for carrying out punishments and encouragements. The Minor and Major Infractions are dealt in different ways.
The author pays attention to how new and older girls are treated at the school and what happens between the Houses. This novel contains descriptions of power play, cunning rescues, twisted plots and treacheries in a highly entertaining format.
In my opinion, Kim Newman has a perfect sense of style and dread. He's particularly good at keeping the story fresh and creating an atmosphere that oozes magic and strangeness. He builds the story well and develops it in an exciting way towards the thrilling climax.
It was fascinating to read about the place that was called the Purple. Amy was introduced to it by one of the girls. In the Purple, things are different and certain things can be seen about persons that are normally impossible to see. I'm sure that the Purple will fascinate many readers.
I was also fascinated by the summoning of the Other Ones from the Purple, and I enjoyed reading about the ritual of the Runnel and the Flute. I'm not sure if all readers will agree with me on this, but in my opinion, there was something intriguingly weird fiction-esque and apocalyptic in these things.
I think it's good to mention that this novel has interesting references to the classic fairy tale "Rapunzel" by the Brothers Grimm. The author has fluently incorporated elements of "Rapunzel" to his story.
I was honestly amazed at how fresh this novel felt when I read it. Although many novels have been written about boarding schools and what happens in them, there was something different in this novel that intrigued me. In my opinion, much of the freshness comes from the irresistible darkness of the story, because most YA fantasy novels aren't as dark as this one. The dark story will appeal to adult readers who have read dark fantasy stories, but it will also be of interest to younger readers who want to read something else than bland and fluffy YA fantasy that can be found in every bookstore around the globe.
Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School has the power to hook the reader by its strange happenings. Whether you're a young adult or an adult, you'll find something to enjoy in it. The dark, magical and adventurous story is told with such enthusiasm and expertise that you simply won't be able to resist its power. It temporarily transports you into a magical school world where unexpected things can and will happen.
In my opinion, this novel has that special British touch that makes it unique. British people have a long tradition of sending children to boarding schools and the author uses this tradition to his advantage by writing about what kind of things happen in boarding schools.
Kim Newman writes good and fluent prose. It's a pleasure to read this novel, because the author keeps the story flowing all the time and doesn't let is become dry or dull. Because he's an experienced author and has written novels and stories for adults, he writes much better prose than many other YA authors. He doesn't underestimate his target audience.
Because I enjoyed this novel, I give it strong 4.5 stars on the scale from 1 to 5 stars. It's a well written and a bit different kind of a YA dark fantasy novel that deserves to be read.
If you're looking for an exciting story to read, you can't go wrong by reading Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School. It's an excellent and entertaining novel with an easily likeable and interesting heroine. This novel will most likely be of special interest to readers who are familiar with stories about boarding schools or have personal experiences about these schools, because it's one of the best novels of its kind.
Excellent and entertaining young adult dark fantasy fiction!
Are you fed up with reading fluffy young adult fantasy fiction about girls who adore supernatural beings and fall in love with them? Do you want to read a novel that has intriguing darkness in it? If you want to read something a bit different and entertaining, Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is an interesting novel for you, because the author gives an invigorating treatment to YA fantasy.
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is a well written young adult dark fantasy novel with sinister undertones. It starts out as a normal young adult fantasy novel, but soon grows into a dark fantasy novel filled with excitement and fascinating strangeness.
The boarding school genre has become a popular genre in British literature. Many novels and stories have been written about unexpected happenings in boarding schools. Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is a welcome addition to this genre, because it's a well written novel that differs from other similar kind of novels by being a much darker novel. It reads a bit like a supernatural combination of Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew mystery stories and boarding school stories.
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School can be recommended to young adults and adults alike, because it contains elements and happenings that will appeal to both readerships. Young adult readers will enjoy reading about the school and what happens to the girls while adults will be mesmerised by the dark and well written story.
I enjoyed reading this novel and found it interesting. I don't normally read much this kind of fiction, because too many young adult novels are full of fluff and authors tend to recycle clichés and familiar plot elements in a frustratingly annoying way without any kind of traces of originality or style. Fortunately, this novel was something different and had that special something that made it worth reading. Kim Newman writes about familiar issues and themes, but he does it so well that his novel is superior to similar kind of novels. When I read this novel, I got the impression that the author has wanted to please his readers by delivering a good and addictive story, because there's an enthusiastic feel to it.
Here's information about the story:
- The events take place in Somerset.
- When Amy Thomsett is found sleeping on the ceiling, she is delivered to Drearcliff Grange school like a parcel. She meets Frecks who introduces the school and its rules to the overwhelmed and surprised Amy. Amy meets the Headmistress, Dr. Swan, who tells her that she's an Unusual and has Abilities that can be cultivated to find Applications. She gets to know the school, its routines and its different places, and soon she becomes a Drearcliff Grange Girl.
- One of the girls in Amy's dormitory, Kali, is abducted by a mysterious group of people who were black clothes and hoods. Amy and the girls find out that there's a Hooded Conspiracy in the school. They form a secret society of their own, The Moth Club, to go up against the Hooded Conspiracy and begin to investigate things...
This is the beginning of an intriguing young adult fantasy novel that's filled with adventure, excitement, strange happenings and good storytelling.
The characterisation works well, but it isn't deep. In my opinion, it's good that the characterisation isn't deep, because different rules apply to it. Too deep a characterisation would've possibly ruined the story and its entertainment values.
Amy is an interesting and easily likeable protagonist. She's a girl who's been sent to Drearcliff Grange against her will, because her mother wanted to put her there. Her life changes in many ways when she enters Drearcliff Grange and becomes a Drearcliff Girl. She is fascinated by different species of moths, because moths are her enthusiasm. Her enthusiasm in moths is explored in an interesting way.
The cast of characters is delightfully fresh and memorable, because the author writes about such diverse characters as Polly Palgraive, Sidoney Gryce and Dora Paule. Polly Palgraive is a girl who has been devoured by a maggot that uses her like a puppet. Sidoney Gryce, the Head Girl, is a sadistic girl who embodies the School Spirit and applies discipline. Dora Paule is an odd girl, because her strange condition is caused by being able to see different planes of reality.
The author writes well about the different characters and their abilities and eccentricities. Character interaction is perfect, because the dialogues between the characters are entertaining. The dialoges contains quite a lot of small and important details.
Reading about the adventures of the Moth Club and its members' attempts to find out what has happened to Kali was fascinating. Because their foes were hooded, the girls wore masks and bravely investigated things. After the kidnapping, the girls turn their attention to other things and soon they have to face the Black Skirts who are taking over the school.
Drearcliff Grange is a fascinating boarding school, because it's a place for girls with special gifts (all of the girls are daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians, and they have an interesting background). The school is located on top of a cliff. Waves that was against the cliff have eroded the supporting rock and caused part of the school to collapse, but the new wings are safely inland.
There are five Houses in Drearcliff Grange: Ariel, Viola, Tamora, Desdemona and Goneril. The girls of the different Houses differ from each other in terms of appearance, abilities and behaviour. They have many powers and abilities and they're encouraged to develop them.
Kim Newman's vision of the Drearcliff Grange boarding school is truly something to behold, because he has thought of many things that together form an original glimpse into a school for special girls. The school he has created may cause a few nightmares for sensitive readers, because some of the happenings are fascinatingly dark and twisted (there's something gorgeously macabre about these happenings).
It was interesting for me to read about the school rules, punishments and encouragements. Drearcliff Grange has its own system for carrying out punishments and encouragements. The Minor and Major Infractions are dealt in different ways.
The author pays attention to how new and older girls are treated at the school and what happens between the Houses. This novel contains descriptions of power play, cunning rescues, twisted plots and treacheries in a highly entertaining format.
In my opinion, Kim Newman has a perfect sense of style and dread. He's particularly good at keeping the story fresh and creating an atmosphere that oozes magic and strangeness. He builds the story well and develops it in an exciting way towards the thrilling climax.
It was fascinating to read about the place that was called the Purple. Amy was introduced to it by one of the girls. In the Purple, things are different and certain things can be seen about persons that are normally impossible to see. I'm sure that the Purple will fascinate many readers.
I was also fascinated by the summoning of the Other Ones from the Purple, and I enjoyed reading about the ritual of the Runnel and the Flute. I'm not sure if all readers will agree with me on this, but in my opinion, there was something intriguingly weird fiction-esque and apocalyptic in these things.
I think it's good to mention that this novel has interesting references to the classic fairy tale "Rapunzel" by the Brothers Grimm. The author has fluently incorporated elements of "Rapunzel" to his story.
I was honestly amazed at how fresh this novel felt when I read it. Although many novels have been written about boarding schools and what happens in them, there was something different in this novel that intrigued me. In my opinion, much of the freshness comes from the irresistible darkness of the story, because most YA fantasy novels aren't as dark as this one. The dark story will appeal to adult readers who have read dark fantasy stories, but it will also be of interest to younger readers who want to read something else than bland and fluffy YA fantasy that can be found in every bookstore around the globe.
Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School has the power to hook the reader by its strange happenings. Whether you're a young adult or an adult, you'll find something to enjoy in it. The dark, magical and adventurous story is told with such enthusiasm and expertise that you simply won't be able to resist its power. It temporarily transports you into a magical school world where unexpected things can and will happen.
In my opinion, this novel has that special British touch that makes it unique. British people have a long tradition of sending children to boarding schools and the author uses this tradition to his advantage by writing about what kind of things happen in boarding schools.
Kim Newman writes good and fluent prose. It's a pleasure to read this novel, because the author keeps the story flowing all the time and doesn't let is become dry or dull. Because he's an experienced author and has written novels and stories for adults, he writes much better prose than many other YA authors. He doesn't underestimate his target audience.
Because I enjoyed this novel, I give it strong 4.5 stars on the scale from 1 to 5 stars. It's a well written and a bit different kind of a YA dark fantasy novel that deserves to be read.
If you're looking for an exciting story to read, you can't go wrong by reading Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School. It's an excellent and entertaining novel with an easily likeable and interesting heroine. This novel will most likely be of special interest to readers who are familiar with stories about boarding schools or have personal experiences about these schools, because it's one of the best novels of its kind.
Excellent and entertaining young adult dark fantasy fiction!
November 1, 2015
I read a lot a lot of boarding school books when young. I always wanted to attend one too, it seemed fun. Giggles, smuggled candy, horse back riding. Very posh, and very British, yes they were all British schools.
This school is not like the others. Yes there are dorms, and different wings. Our heroine Amy ends up in Desdemona and shares a room with 4 other girls. One with quick fingers, one a bandit princess and one a lady. She soon realizes that she is not alone, there are other unusual girls like her there. Ok stop here for a moment.
The unusuals are mentioned a lot. So it does seem like the public are aware of these others and are perfectly jolly fine with it. Some of them are good and helped in WW1, Some turn bad.
But this school is not just for those few. All sorts of strange folks sends their girls there. There are ladies, there are thieves, there are daughters of criminal masterminds.
Let's call it a supernatural suspense. They are soon on their first case, but then things does turn darker. Not scary dark, just eerie. What is going on? The school turns unfriendly (not that is was perfect to begin with with those punishments!). I'd be afraid to walk in those hallways.
And at the end, all is well. The road there is just dark.
Was this YA or Adult? Who knows. It fits both I'd say.
I enjoyed this book. I'd read more about this school too. But then Newman does have that dark touch. From the 2 books I have read (and 1 novella). He puts an interesting twist on what he does.
This school is not like the others. Yes there are dorms, and different wings. Our heroine Amy ends up in Desdemona and shares a room with 4 other girls. One with quick fingers, one a bandit princess and one a lady. She soon realizes that she is not alone, there are other unusual girls like her there. Ok stop here for a moment.
The unusuals are mentioned a lot. So it does seem like the public are aware of these others and are perfectly jolly fine with it. Some of them are good and helped in WW1, Some turn bad.
But this school is not just for those few. All sorts of strange folks sends their girls there. There are ladies, there are thieves, there are daughters of criminal masterminds.
Let's call it a supernatural suspense. They are soon on their first case, but then things does turn darker. Not scary dark, just eerie. What is going on? The school turns unfriendly (not that is was perfect to begin with with those punishments!). I'd be afraid to walk in those hallways.
And at the end, all is well. The road there is just dark.
Was this YA or Adult? Who knows. It fits both I'd say.
I enjoyed this book. I'd read more about this school too. But then Newman does have that dark touch. From the 2 books I have read (and 1 novella). He puts an interesting twist on what he does.
April 30, 2018
This book was weird as fuck. Usually I'm down for some weirdness but I was also bored as fuck. I had to force myself to finish this book. Largely because this book had multiple arcs happening within the book that all connected. But it hard to see how they'd connect until way too late. The characters were weird and frustrating. Not like "oh girl you different, lets me friends." But like "Oh girl you... please walk away." I just couldn't. I was skim reading by the end. Also the writing was repetitive, confusing, and unenjoyable. So many weird words. Like he was writing with thesaurus of words he made up. And most of the characters went by two different names. Which were both used!! so I never knew who was being talked about. Which kept me from connecting.
My breakdown
Characters 2/5
Plot 1.5/5
World Building 2/5
Writing Style 1/5
Personal Enjoyment 2/5
1.75 Overall
My breakdown
Characters 2/5
Plot 1.5/5
World Building 2/5
Writing Style 1/5
Personal Enjoyment 2/5
1.75 Overall
October 20, 2015
This starts out as a parody of old YA novels about the adventures of boarding school girls (think cartoonist Glen Baxter, who mines similar terrain), but, Kim Newman being Kim Newman, the novel gradually shifts into remarkably inventive and compulsively readable dark fantasy.
Apart from its imaginative force, I was particularly struck by the skill with which Newman manages a very large cast of characters. Characterization is not deep, but he renders even very minor players memorable. His imaginative fecundity is such that he gives the reader a veritable legion of astonishing grotesques, swiftly and often wittily limned, ranging from relatively straightforward types like sadistic Sidonie Gryce, Head Girl, or Smudge, the helpless confabulator, to the utterly bizarre, such as Daffy Dora Paule, whose gnomic utterances arouse derision, but emerge from her existence on more than one plane of reality, and Polly Palgraive, a smiling automaton whose brain was devoured by a parasitic maggot that now "works her like a puppet".
Newman has long been known for incorporating sly allusions to the work of others in his stories, and this novel is no exception, with one supporting player hailing from Innsmouth, another being the daughter of a certain Dr. Nikola, and so on, but this playfulness is not allowed to get out of hand, and his story stands on its own merits, not on its borrowings from elsewhere.
Had Newman devised an inspired finish for his saga of Kentish Glory's struggle to prevent the Black Skirts from summoning the Other Ones from out of the Purple (well, um, you have to read it. . .), the novel might well have been Newman's masterpiece. However, after building his narrative to a tremendous, apocalyptic climax, his nerve or his creativity seems to falter, and the last chapters of the book are a distinct letdown. But mostly the book is a delightful tour-de-force.
Apart from its imaginative force, I was particularly struck by the skill with which Newman manages a very large cast of characters. Characterization is not deep, but he renders even very minor players memorable. His imaginative fecundity is such that he gives the reader a veritable legion of astonishing grotesques, swiftly and often wittily limned, ranging from relatively straightforward types like sadistic Sidonie Gryce, Head Girl, or Smudge, the helpless confabulator, to the utterly bizarre, such as Daffy Dora Paule, whose gnomic utterances arouse derision, but emerge from her existence on more than one plane of reality, and Polly Palgraive, a smiling automaton whose brain was devoured by a parasitic maggot that now "works her like a puppet".
Newman has long been known for incorporating sly allusions to the work of others in his stories, and this novel is no exception, with one supporting player hailing from Innsmouth, another being the daughter of a certain Dr. Nikola, and so on, but this playfulness is not allowed to get out of hand, and his story stands on its own merits, not on its borrowings from elsewhere.
Had Newman devised an inspired finish for his saga of Kentish Glory's struggle to prevent the Black Skirts from summoning the Other Ones from out of the Purple (well, um, you have to read it. . .), the novel might well have been Newman's masterpiece. However, after building his narrative to a tremendous, apocalyptic climax, his nerve or his creativity seems to falter, and the last chapters of the book are a distinct letdown. But mostly the book is a delightful tour-de-force.
January 24, 2016
A mash-up of Harry Potter-meets-Graceling-meets-Nancy Drew, I got into the book quite quickly, however, I did find it slightly confusing at times. There was a vast amount of characters I was introduced to over a short period of time, with only a few words each, who were then brought back later on in the book where I was expected to know exactly who they were and why they were important. In addition, in one paragraph the characters would go from being called by their surname and then by their nickname, which added to the confusion.
There were many different things that added into the many plot, segments I suppose, that seemed to be thrown in throughout, however, they didn't seem thought through at all. Things were put in to provide information, but then they were rushed through and not really concluded, which was annoying and felt like a waste.
I also wasn't invested in the characters. Whilst reading it, there were points where I should have been feeling something for the characters, but I couldn't care less about any of them. The author could have killed of every single character (which he didn't) and I wouldn't have cared less! The only characters I liked were Light Fingers and Paule, but I still didn't care about them!
Having said this, I was enjoying the book, and would have given it three or four stars, until I came towards the end of the book. When I reached the last 50 pages or so, for me, the book went vastly downhill. Without giving spoilers, I felt that there was an entire chapter that was completely pointless and just sort of jumped. I had to check that I wasn't missing a section of the book because of the weird change in time. Then upon finishing the story, I was left disappointed, as I didn't feel anything was concluded very well, as if things just stopped and everything was fine, with no explanation, which was needed in this book! It was left so that there could be a sequel, but I won't be buying it!
There were many different things that added into the many plot, segments I suppose, that seemed to be thrown in throughout, however, they didn't seem thought through at all. Things were put in to provide information, but then they were rushed through and not really concluded, which was annoying and felt like a waste.
I also wasn't invested in the characters. Whilst reading it, there were points where I should have been feeling something for the characters, but I couldn't care less about any of them. The author could have killed of every single character (which he didn't) and I wouldn't have cared less! The only characters I liked were Light Fingers and Paule, but I still didn't care about them!
Having said this, I was enjoying the book, and would have given it three or four stars, until I came towards the end of the book. When I reached the last 50 pages or so, for me, the book went vastly downhill. Without giving spoilers, I felt that there was an entire chapter that was completely pointless and just sort of jumped. I had to check that I wasn't missing a section of the book because of the weird change in time. Then upon finishing the story, I was left disappointed, as I didn't feel anything was concluded very well, as if things just stopped and everything was fine, with no explanation, which was needed in this book! It was left so that there could be a sequel, but I won't be buying it!
December 3, 2017
Rating: 1 / 5 stars
Nancy Drew meets Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children.
I picked this based on the cover thinking it'd be spooky and it wasn't.
This book contained a lot of long sections that were supposed to be part of the world building, but it was way too much and didn't really do much to compliment the story. Too many specific details that felt like the author was trying too hard.
We are introduced to way too many characters in a short period of time and are expected to remember them. Too many characters are used in this story, and we didn't need the halfassed backstory created for each of them because it took away from the development of our main characters.
Amy, the main character had little depth and no progression throughout the story (at least nothing worth noting that I could see). It would have been interesting to see Amy's development of her powers over the course of the story, but we didn't get that. Rather we got a back and forth with her ability to control her powers where she suddenly had control after no struggle to understand them.
The plot was extremely basic. I honestly believe that this story could've had great potential if it had been split up into shorter stories and targeted to Middle Grade.
For my less succinct review check out my BookTube review Here.
Nancy Drew meets Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children.
I picked this based on the cover thinking it'd be spooky and it wasn't.
This book contained a lot of long sections that were supposed to be part of the world building, but it was way too much and didn't really do much to compliment the story. Too many specific details that felt like the author was trying too hard.
We are introduced to way too many characters in a short period of time and are expected to remember them. Too many characters are used in this story, and we didn't need the halfassed backstory created for each of them because it took away from the development of our main characters.
Amy, the main character had little depth and no progression throughout the story (at least nothing worth noting that I could see). It would have been interesting to see Amy's development of her powers over the course of the story, but we didn't get that. Rather we got a back and forth with her ability to control her powers where she suddenly had control after no struggle to understand them.
The plot was extremely basic. I honestly believe that this story could've had great potential if it had been split up into shorter stories and targeted to Middle Grade.
For my less succinct review check out my BookTube review Here.
November 28, 2016
Having read Newman's Anno Dracula series, I had really high hopes for this but sadly he didn't quite manage to live up to them. I think his style of writing and use of mainstream influences didn't really work as well for YA as it has for adult fantasy, particularly his use of lots of characters (even I got a little lost with a the people involved, especially as nicknames were used a lot without them being listed in the pupil lists at the back), interwoven stories and the familiar feel of this with the Miss Peregrine series. There was also a bit of a disconnect between Kali's kidnapping, the Hooded Gang and Rayne and the take over of the 'ants'. It kind of feels like they started off as two separate stories that have been combined into one. Having said that Newman still shows his macabre side well and shows that not all female led YA books have to be drenched in romance or that they even need many male characters at all, which I particularly liked. I did also find myself totally drawn in as Rayne slowly takes over the school and the Moth Club battles to save themselves, their friends and the school, using some unusual methods as they do so.
December 25, 2017
A cracking good read!
It beats me why so many reviewers were down on this novel. It was fun, whimsical, and dotted here and there with atrocious puns.
Set in the early ‘20s, it prefigures the rise of fascism to a slightly stomach turning degree. The Black Skirts were at first a subject of humorous disdain. (Their leader’s mother — an entomologist and eugenicist — wrote a book blurbed by Roderick Spode, he of the infamous Black Shorts brigade!) Then their ranks began to swell, and the lockstep marching — I mean, skipping — began to shake the earth.
Fans of the Flavia de Luce series should enjoy this book tremendously. I hope there will be a second book in this series. I’m rather curious about the makeup of the Violas. My only complaint is that the exact nature of the Thing that started the Black Skirt movement was never entirely revealed.
Oh, and Henry Buller makes an awful Fay Wray.
It beats me why so many reviewers were down on this novel. It was fun, whimsical, and dotted here and there with atrocious puns.
Set in the early ‘20s, it prefigures the rise of fascism to a slightly stomach turning degree. The Black Skirts were at first a subject of humorous disdain. (Their leader’s mother — an entomologist and eugenicist — wrote a book blurbed by Roderick Spode, he of the infamous Black Shorts brigade!) Then their ranks began to swell, and the lockstep marching — I mean, skipping — began to shake the earth.
Fans of the Flavia de Luce series should enjoy this book tremendously. I hope there will be a second book in this series. I’m rather curious about the makeup of the Violas. My only complaint is that the exact nature of the Thing that started the Black Skirt movement was never entirely revealed.
Oh, and Henry Buller makes an awful Fay Wray.
December 9, 2015
D/F - Just could not get into this book. The language was tough as there were so many made up words it was some times hard to follow. Add that to jumping into the story in what felt like the middle and it was just tough to get engaged.
February 6, 2024
When Amy Thomsett is found sleeping on the ceiling her mother sends her to Drearcliife Grange in Somerset – presumably to be cured of her magical tendencies, though the headmistress soon lets Amy know that’s not the case.. Set some time after the first World War, This is all very jolly hockey sticks and ‘Girls’ Own,’ with a touch of St Trinians. Think over-the-top Chalet School with a dark twist. There are girls who have special strange talents, or are the daughters of criminal masterminds. Some of the girls are unusuals, like Amy, but with different talents. Others are ordinaries, but that doesn’t stop some of the older girls being bullies and mean girls. There’s a Hooded Conspiracy, and Amy’s room-mates become the Moth Club to fight them. I confess I liked this to begin with but about a third in it began get a bit too jolly hockey sticks for me. I gather there are other stories that tie into this and I probably should have read some of them first in order to get the subtext..
December 28, 2015
This was like reading one of Joan Aiken's better books. You have small children in a grim alt-1920s English boarding school for girls with odd parents (thieves, spies, mad scientists) or who themselves have superpowers. The larger world is the 1920s that we might have had if superheroes and supervillains were a fact of life. Most people don't have powers, though, and there is an ugly side to how people with Abilities are viewed. This book didn't dip into politics much, but if it had, the results would be something like X-Men.
Amy, who is sent off to school when she is discovered sleeping on the ceiling, tells the story. The plot is reminiscent of HP book 5, though this book doesn't share much else with Harry Potter. Drearcliff Grange is not Hogwarts.
Amy, whose passion is moths NOT butterflies, of which she is rather scornful, starts Moth Club, whose true purpose is to rescue her friend Kali from some kidnappers. The name Moth Club is chosen to divert suspicion. Kali is duly recovered but the conspirators escape, which sets up the rest of the story.
I mostly loved this book, and I'll be back for the next one. If it has a weakness it's that the cast is so HUGE that I had trouble remembering which girl was which and what her powers are. Even worse, they all have nicknames and Moth Club names so after a while I wanted a dramatis personae. The middle section of the book did drag a bit, but it picks up again. Kim Newman has a talent for dialect (another thing that reminds me of Aiken) and there are a lot of literary and pop culture references, some of which are pretty obscure, buried in here. I recommend having Wiki handy — I spent a lot of time looking up silent movie stars, American gangster slang, Twelfth Night, the Mikado, and more.
Amy, who is sent off to school when she is discovered sleeping on the ceiling, tells the story. The plot is reminiscent of HP book 5, though this book doesn't share much else with Harry Potter. Drearcliff Grange is not Hogwarts.
Amy, whose passion is moths NOT butterflies, of which she is rather scornful, starts Moth Club, whose true purpose is to rescue her friend Kali from some kidnappers. The name Moth Club is chosen to divert suspicion. Kali is duly recovered but the conspirators escape, which sets up the rest of the story.
I mostly loved this book, and I'll be back for the next one. If it has a weakness it's that the cast is so HUGE that I had trouble remembering which girl was which and what her powers are. Even worse, they all have nicknames and Moth Club names so after a while I wanted a dramatis personae. The middle section of the book did drag a bit, but it picks up again. Kim Newman has a talent for dialect (another thing that reminds me of Aiken) and there are a lot of literary and pop culture references, some of which are pretty obscure, buried in here. I recommend having Wiki handy — I spent a lot of time looking up silent movie stars, American gangster slang, Twelfth Night, the Mikado, and more.
June 26, 2017
YA female-lead fantasy is overwhelmingly dominated by romance. I'm not a romance-hater. Few things delight me more than a well-written, "slow burn" romantic plot with no pesky triangle in sight. All the same, too often I get the sense that romance is the ONLY kind of story some writers know how to tell about a female protagonist. So when a book comes along that presents us with an "unusual" female lead and centers her story on friendship and a fight for identity, with romance nowhere in sight, I can't help but smile.
Things I liked:
Frecks. She's my favorite, the most vivid of the sympathetic personalities.
The detailed and evocative 1920s historical-fantasy setting.
The disturbing nature of the threat in the majority of the book.
The expansion of the circle of friends to include characters we may not have noticed before.
Things that could have been better:
I think one of the reasons I prefer Frecks to Amy (though I do like Amy) is because I know what Frecks looks like. I know some people like the trend of never getting any physical description of the female central character, or having that description be sketchy at best, but I don't care for it. I'm not keen simply to insert myself. I want a picture in my head as I follow her.
While I liked the expansion of the circle of friends, at times I felt it verged on too many, so that I felt they were more cool names than personalities.
Still, a fun and somewhat creepy "school days" romp.
Things I liked:
Frecks. She's my favorite, the most vivid of the sympathetic personalities.
The detailed and evocative 1920s historical-fantasy setting.
The disturbing nature of the threat in the majority of the book.
The expansion of the circle of friends to include characters we may not have noticed before.
Things that could have been better:
I think one of the reasons I prefer Frecks to Amy (though I do like Amy) is because I know what Frecks looks like. I know some people like the trend of never getting any physical description of the female central character, or having that description be sketchy at best, but I don't care for it. I'm not keen simply to insert myself. I want a picture in my head as I follow her.
While I liked the expansion of the circle of friends, at times I felt it verged on too many, so that I felt they were more cool names than personalities.
Still, a fun and somewhat creepy "school days" romp.
October 17, 2016
***4.5 STARS
This book was heading for 5 stars until page 357 and the 20+ year time jump, which dropped it to 4 stars. But then on page 375, it jumped back to the original time line, which earned back ½ a star.
There are TONS of details in this book; approximately 250 of Amy's classmates, mentioned by name, many of which we're supposed to keep track of. And then there are the numerous superheroes and an entire page of battles "Kentish Glory" took part in…there is A LOT of detail in this book. But I don't mind lots of details if I'm enjoying the story and the world the author has built. I loved this world and wish that this book had been a trilogy or even a series set in the Drearcliff Grange School. I mean, it's a boarding school for girls with special abilities (we're talking like the X-Men here), daughters of criminal masterminds and nobles, etc. It's a fascinating place. I'm still not sure I understand *everything* that happened in the story (and Headmisstress Swan's excuse for disappearing during the Black Skirts taking over the school is a little hard to swallow…and was it me or did that aspect remind anyone else of Dumbledore's flight from Hogwarts when Umbridge took over? Because Rayne's 'welcome' speech was very Umbridge-like.)
But it was a fun story, super-creepy in places, plenty of mystery and fun characters (Amy, Light Fingers, Frecks, Kali, most of the girls in the Remove) to keep me engrossed in the story.
This book was heading for 5 stars until page 357 and the 20+ year time jump, which dropped it to 4 stars. But then on page 375, it jumped back to the original time line, which earned back ½ a star.
There are TONS of details in this book; approximately 250 of Amy's classmates, mentioned by name, many of which we're supposed to keep track of. And then there are the numerous superheroes and an entire page of battles "Kentish Glory" took part in…there is A LOT of detail in this book. But I don't mind lots of details if I'm enjoying the story and the world the author has built. I loved this world and wish that this book had been a trilogy or even a series set in the Drearcliff Grange School. I mean, it's a boarding school for girls with special abilities (we're talking like the X-Men here), daughters of criminal masterminds and nobles, etc. It's a fascinating place. I'm still not sure I understand *everything* that happened in the story (and Headmisstress Swan's excuse for disappearing during the Black Skirts taking over the school is a little hard to swallow…and was it me or did that aspect remind anyone else of Dumbledore's flight from Hogwarts when Umbridge took over? Because Rayne's 'welcome' speech was very Umbridge-like.)
But it was a fun story, super-creepy in places, plenty of mystery and fun characters (Amy, Light Fingers, Frecks, Kali, most of the girls in the Remove) to keep me engrossed in the story.
Read
November 12, 2019Set in an alternate version of what seems to be the 1940s, the story begins with teen Amy's secret--she floats, mostly at will. By the time she discovers that others at her all-girls school have equally strange talents, it's too late-- menace has arrived in the form of a hooded cult called the Red Flame and a diminutive, insect-loving, teen tyrant named Antoinette Rowley Rayne. Amy loses her two best friends--a staunch British girl named Freckles and an Indian girl named Kali, who learned English from gangster films.
Amy is soon creating the Moth Club to fight the Red Flame and save Kali. But she isn't prepared for the cruel reign of Miss Rayne.
An exquisitely written fantasy with a nearly all-female cast, about superheroes of a sort, and dangerous school cliques gone wrong. For anyone who loved A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Amy is soon creating the Moth Club to fight the Red Flame and save Kali. But she isn't prepared for the cruel reign of Miss Rayne.
An exquisitely written fantasy with a nearly all-female cast, about superheroes of a sort, and dangerous school cliques gone wrong. For anyone who loved A Series of Unfortunate Events.
February 14, 2018
So this book was definitely a roller coaster ride. For the first 50 or so pages, I had a hard time getting into it. I almost dnf'd it, but I'm ultimately glad I didn't. However, that pattern repeats itself throughout the book. Stretches go on where nothing really happens, then the tension ratchets up only to go back to parts that drag. The pace was definitely all over the place with this book. It didn't help that the book was 75-100 pages too long. More should have been cut to make a tighter story. Other than that, I generally liked it, though there were other issues as well. The characters were fun and diverse (Newman brings in many characters and it does get hard to remember them all, especially when they each have at least 1 nickname and get called both), the slang and general British boarding schoolness of it was great, and the world of the Ordinaries and Unusuals was intriguing (what we get to see of it, that is; most of the world-building is done as an afterthought, leaving the reader wanting to know more). The plot did a great job of building suspense, but I just wish things had been explained a bit more. Final thoughts: Despite its flaws, I enjoyed it and I'm glad I did finish it. It may not have a place on my shelf, but if Newman ever wrote a sequel, I'd be happy to read it.
March 21, 2021
Five things about The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman. 5/5⭐️s
1. This is one straaaaaaasnge book and I LOVED it! Harry Potter meets The Woods meets American Horror Story meets flapper girls and anti-fascist supernatural war fought across time through The Purple.
2. Reading this book is like riding a roller coaster. In order to enjoy it you must surrender your will to control speed and direction. In order to keep from growing nauseous you must lean into the curves and not resist the dips. Just suspend reality and don’t expect a lot of explanation. You’re just a moth on the wall and flown into a world you’ve never experienced before. Observe it, let it unfold, and then you’ll understand.
3. I’d had this book, unread, on my shelf for four or five years. As soon as I finished reading it, I ordered it’s sequel and another book by Newman that he mentions as the book he was researching when Drearcliff began to grow in his imagination.
4. Kim Newman may be a new favorite author of mine now. I really shouldn’t leave books unread for half a decade. Sigh.
5. Not only is war waged against fascist eugenicists but there’s found family, acceptance of self, and inclusion and acceptance for all expressed here.
1. This is one straaaaaaasnge book and I LOVED it! Harry Potter meets The Woods meets American Horror Story meets flapper girls and anti-fascist supernatural war fought across time through The Purple.
2. Reading this book is like riding a roller coaster. In order to enjoy it you must surrender your will to control speed and direction. In order to keep from growing nauseous you must lean into the curves and not resist the dips. Just suspend reality and don’t expect a lot of explanation. You’re just a moth on the wall and flown into a world you’ve never experienced before. Observe it, let it unfold, and then you’ll understand.
3. I’d had this book, unread, on my shelf for four or five years. As soon as I finished reading it, I ordered it’s sequel and another book by Newman that he mentions as the book he was researching when Drearcliff began to grow in his imagination.
4. Kim Newman may be a new favorite author of mine now. I really shouldn’t leave books unread for half a decade. Sigh.
5. Not only is war waged against fascist eugenicists but there’s found family, acceptance of self, and inclusion and acceptance for all expressed here.
January 14, 2024
One bonus star for imaginative weirdness and gothic tone.
Apparently this started as a short story that was developed into a novel, which makes sense in retrospect; there was an initial story arc which felt very disconnected from the rest of the story. As a whole, the plotting and pacing was very inconsistent.
The book has an appendix with a list of all the students, but given that all the characters are referred to in multiple ways, it was absolutely no help in untangling who is being talked about.
Some occasionally interesting writing, but a lot of it doesn't really serve any purpose in the book - lots of passages seem there just to be there, and don't help develop characters, build the world, advance the plot, etc.
Apparently this started as a short story that was developed into a novel, which makes sense in retrospect; there was an initial story arc which felt very disconnected from the rest of the story. As a whole, the plotting and pacing was very inconsistent.
The book has an appendix with a list of all the students, but given that all the characters are referred to in multiple ways, it was absolutely no help in untangling who is being talked about.
Some occasionally interesting writing, but a lot of it doesn't really serve any purpose in the book - lots of passages seem there just to be there, and don't help develop characters, build the world, advance the plot, etc.
April 3, 2024
DNF at page 46 / chapter 6
Received as part of a mystery Halloween box and have now tried to read it twice, but I think it just mustn’t be for me.
I wasn’t keen on the way the characters spoke - it seems one character (who was the main characters roommate so likely there for the rest of the book) spoke a load of gibberish with each sentence and it felt like it was going nowhere.
I also disliked miss peregrines home for peculiar children and this seemed very similar - but set at a gothic like school with mean girl drama - so if you liked that then you may like this but not for me.
Received as part of a mystery Halloween box and have now tried to read it twice, but I think it just mustn’t be for me.
I wasn’t keen on the way the characters spoke - it seems one character (who was the main characters roommate so likely there for the rest of the book) spoke a load of gibberish with each sentence and it felt like it was going nowhere.
I also disliked miss peregrines home for peculiar children and this seemed very similar - but set at a gothic like school with mean girl drama - so if you liked that then you may like this but not for me.
July 14, 2016
http://openbooksociety.com/article/th...
The Secret of Drearcliff Grange School
By Kim Newman
ISBN: 9781781165720
Author’s Website: https://johnnyalucard.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Summary
A week after Mother found her sleeping on the ceiling, Amy Thomsett is delivered to her new school, Drearcliff Grange in Somerset. Although it looks like a regular boarding school, Amy learns that Drearcliff girls are special, the daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians. Several of the pupils also have special gifts like Amy’s, and when one of the girls in her dormitory is abducted by a mysterious group in black hoods, Amy forms a secret, superpowered society called the Moth Club to rescue their friend. They soon discover that the Hooded Conspiracy runs through the School, and it’s up to the Moth Club to get to the heart of it.
Review
The story starts off with Amanda “Amy” Thomsett arriving to Drearcliff Grange, a boarding school for girls, located in an actual cliff. Like the summary reads, Amy is sent there by her mother after she finds her sleeping on the ceiling more than once. Amy struggles to keep herself anchor to the earth, as she has the ability to float and make other things float. Once she arrives to Drearcliff Grange and is delivered to her new dorm and cell, she meets the girls that will be her lifelong friends: Serafine Walmergrave (Frecks), whose parents were spies, but were killed; Kali Chattopadhyay, a girl from Kafiristan sent away by her father after killing his own wife; and Emma Naisbitt (Light Fingers), whose parents are thieves and are in jail. The girls ask Amy why she was sent to school in the middle of the autumn semester. When she hesitates to reply, they come to the conclusion that she is what they call, an Unusual. To Amy’s surprise, Light Fingers is also an Unusual, as she is very fast.
It doesn’t take long for Amy to learn that Drearcliff Grange is a very different school from the others that she has attended before. There are so many rules and regulations to follow, and other girls to look out for. While she is not the only Unusual, not all the Ordinary girls are so good as her friends. Her ability and knowledge of moths comes in handy when her friend Kali is kidnapped by a group of hooded men, and a girl of the school lies about Kali escaping from school on her own. Amy and her friends decide to form the Moth club and with their abilities they find and rescue their friend.
While the purpose of the club was fulfilled when finding Kali, other strange things start to happen in Drearcliff Grange; a mysterious girl arrives, a ghost appears, and the fashion of the Drearcliff Grange girls starts to change. Now it is up to the Moth club and the other Unusuals of the school to save the other girls from having ants in their pants.
I liked the storyline of The Secret of Drearcliff Grange School, and while it was a little hard to follow at the beginning, it gives the feeling that the reader is also learning the ropes and the language of the school as Amy does. It was fun to learn the names and nicknames that the girls give to each other and the school staff, it was clearly a self-preservation thing and to give the girls a feeling of power over each other’s, with the purpose of making their stay in Drearcliff Grange bearable.
At the beginning of the story, I thought that a lot of the things that the girls said were lies to impress each other, and that Amy was being made fun of; but I was wrong and most of the things that they gossiped ended up being true. Drearcliff Grange has many rules and it was fun learning about them as Amy did.
Like many books, you forget how old the characters are, as many of them act much older than what they are. At the same time, in this story there were scenes where the girls acted according to their age, and needed the guidance of others to know they were on the right path. Like Frecks mentions at the beginning, most of the girls at Drearcliff Grange don’t have the full set of parents, and had to mature faster than others.
Meeting the different Unusuals and learning about their abilities was the part that I liked the best. Some of them already knew how to use their abilities, but it was fun as they all practiced and came to accept that they were special in their own way, and shouldn’t hide themselves. While all the girls were interesting and fun to read, my favorite character was Polly Palgraive. Whatever inhabit her is a mystery that I would like to know.
Many of the challenges that the girls had to overcome were not all evil, some of them were personal, and others were based on their upbringing. Like all girls in boarding schools, they stay within their own dorm groups and sometimes didn’t pay attention to what happened to the other girls from different dorms. This was one of the things that Amy learned to pay attention to, when things started turning “black”.
The Secret of Drearcliff Grange School is a very interesting and fun book to read, if you are a fan of other books from author Kim Newman, then you are going to like this one. In this book, Newman creates a world where a school teaches girls to be more than the average girl and to be prepared for what the real world needs from them: either a detective, a vigilante, a spy, or even a crime lord. Drearcliff Grange School has many secrets to see and unusual things for you to meet.
The Secret of Drearcliff Grange School
By Kim Newman
ISBN: 9781781165720
Author’s Website: https://johnnyalucard.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Summary
A week after Mother found her sleeping on the ceiling, Amy Thomsett is delivered to her new school, Drearcliff Grange in Somerset. Although it looks like a regular boarding school, Amy learns that Drearcliff girls are special, the daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians. Several of the pupils also have special gifts like Amy’s, and when one of the girls in her dormitory is abducted by a mysterious group in black hoods, Amy forms a secret, superpowered society called the Moth Club to rescue their friend. They soon discover that the Hooded Conspiracy runs through the School, and it’s up to the Moth Club to get to the heart of it.
Review
The story starts off with Amanda “Amy” Thomsett arriving to Drearcliff Grange, a boarding school for girls, located in an actual cliff. Like the summary reads, Amy is sent there by her mother after she finds her sleeping on the ceiling more than once. Amy struggles to keep herself anchor to the earth, as she has the ability to float and make other things float. Once she arrives to Drearcliff Grange and is delivered to her new dorm and cell, she meets the girls that will be her lifelong friends: Serafine Walmergrave (Frecks), whose parents were spies, but were killed; Kali Chattopadhyay, a girl from Kafiristan sent away by her father after killing his own wife; and Emma Naisbitt (Light Fingers), whose parents are thieves and are in jail. The girls ask Amy why she was sent to school in the middle of the autumn semester. When she hesitates to reply, they come to the conclusion that she is what they call, an Unusual. To Amy’s surprise, Light Fingers is also an Unusual, as she is very fast.
It doesn’t take long for Amy to learn that Drearcliff Grange is a very different school from the others that she has attended before. There are so many rules and regulations to follow, and other girls to look out for. While she is not the only Unusual, not all the Ordinary girls are so good as her friends. Her ability and knowledge of moths comes in handy when her friend Kali is kidnapped by a group of hooded men, and a girl of the school lies about Kali escaping from school on her own. Amy and her friends decide to form the Moth club and with their abilities they find and rescue their friend.
While the purpose of the club was fulfilled when finding Kali, other strange things start to happen in Drearcliff Grange; a mysterious girl arrives, a ghost appears, and the fashion of the Drearcliff Grange girls starts to change. Now it is up to the Moth club and the other Unusuals of the school to save the other girls from having ants in their pants.
I liked the storyline of The Secret of Drearcliff Grange School, and while it was a little hard to follow at the beginning, it gives the feeling that the reader is also learning the ropes and the language of the school as Amy does. It was fun to learn the names and nicknames that the girls give to each other and the school staff, it was clearly a self-preservation thing and to give the girls a feeling of power over each other’s, with the purpose of making their stay in Drearcliff Grange bearable.
At the beginning of the story, I thought that a lot of the things that the girls said were lies to impress each other, and that Amy was being made fun of; but I was wrong and most of the things that they gossiped ended up being true. Drearcliff Grange has many rules and it was fun learning about them as Amy did.
Like many books, you forget how old the characters are, as many of them act much older than what they are. At the same time, in this story there were scenes where the girls acted according to their age, and needed the guidance of others to know they were on the right path. Like Frecks mentions at the beginning, most of the girls at Drearcliff Grange don’t have the full set of parents, and had to mature faster than others.
Meeting the different Unusuals and learning about their abilities was the part that I liked the best. Some of them already knew how to use their abilities, but it was fun as they all practiced and came to accept that they were special in their own way, and shouldn’t hide themselves. While all the girls were interesting and fun to read, my favorite character was Polly Palgraive. Whatever inhabit her is a mystery that I would like to know.
Many of the challenges that the girls had to overcome were not all evil, some of them were personal, and others were based on their upbringing. Like all girls in boarding schools, they stay within their own dorm groups and sometimes didn’t pay attention to what happened to the other girls from different dorms. This was one of the things that Amy learned to pay attention to, when things started turning “black”.
The Secret of Drearcliff Grange School is a very interesting and fun book to read, if you are a fan of other books from author Kim Newman, then you are going to like this one. In this book, Newman creates a world where a school teaches girls to be more than the average girl and to be prepared for what the real world needs from them: either a detective, a vigilante, a spy, or even a crime lord. Drearcliff Grange School has many secrets to see and unusual things for you to meet.
October 14, 2021
A great book if you like the dark academia setting.
October 6, 2022
Meh. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for this kind of story? But it just didn’t click for me.
August 10, 2019
This book could have benefited from a good editor which would tell the author to cut some of the fat and split the storyline into multiple books.
May 2, 2024
I had no idea if it was a kids book or a young adult book or something in between, but I really liked it. I'm assuming this takes place in a world where the Sherlock Holmes stories actually happened, because otherwise a lot of stuff makes no sense. (I haven't read any of the author's other stuff, so....)
I agree with other people who said the same thing - this book reminded me a lot of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which happens to be one of my favorite books/series probably of all time. Also Harry Potter. And St. Trinians. This was not in any way a turn-off for me; it's literally impossible to have a wholly 100% original book in this day and age. Also, those are some of my favorite things, so I went into this very excited.
The first chunk (what with Kali getting kidnapped) didn't seem to have too much overall effect on the actual plot with the Black Skirts and Antoinette Rowley Rayne. Looking back, it was a little irrelevant, but I didn't dislike it at all.
The thing that confused me the most was the ending. They beat Rayne, fine. Did she die? How about her mother, who by the way is implied to be behind all of this? What was that one chapter that was a glimpse into the future? Will that actually happen? Also, can someone just kill Inchfawn. I didn't like her.
(Also, QUESTION. In the beginning, a character is introduced as "Ticia Frump." This is the maiden name of Morticia Addams, from the ever-famous Addams Family. Sure enough, I checked the back, where there's a list of literally every girl attending the school, and there was a girl named Moraticia Frump. I will admit I'm not familiar with Addams Family lore, but does her backstory work with that? Is the reason there's an A in there a way of saying "haha actually it's not really Morticia" or something?)
Anyway, four stars! I liked it, and I liked the second a little less.
I agree with other people who said the same thing - this book reminded me a lot of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which happens to be one of my favorite books/series probably of all time. Also Harry Potter. And St. Trinians. This was not in any way a turn-off for me; it's literally impossible to have a wholly 100% original book in this day and age. Also, those are some of my favorite things, so I went into this very excited.
The first chunk (what with Kali getting kidnapped) didn't seem to have too much overall effect on the actual plot with the Black Skirts and Antoinette Rowley Rayne. Looking back, it was a little irrelevant, but I didn't dislike it at all.
The thing that confused me the most was the ending. They beat Rayne, fine. Did she die? How about her mother, who by the way is implied to be behind all of this? What was that one chapter that was a glimpse into the future? Will that actually happen? Also, can someone just kill Inchfawn. I didn't like her.
(Also, QUESTION. In the beginning, a character is introduced as "Ticia Frump." This is the maiden name of Morticia Addams, from the ever-famous Addams Family. Sure enough, I checked the back, where there's a list of literally every girl attending the school, and there was a girl named Moraticia Frump. I will admit I'm not familiar with Addams Family lore, but does her backstory work with that? Is the reason there's an A in there a way of saying "haha actually it's not really Morticia" or something?)
Anyway, four stars! I liked it, and I liked the second a little less.
November 13, 2020
Even after reading this book twice I still can’t tell if this is supposed to be a young adult novel, or if Newman is just writing an adult novel in the style of the early 20th Century “girls boarding school” stories. I’m not much for either genre, so I’m not the best judge. I am, however, a big fan of Kim Newman and his fiction. There’s a strong pulp feel to the story and characters and I have a feeling that isn’t traditional. I’m only going to give this a low 3 stars because of the ending: just as the story is reaching it’s climax, it seems to end and jumps to a time during World War II when the protagonist is an adult, then, at the end of THAT chapter, Newman jumps back into the story. I have NO IDEA why he wouldn’t just have included that section at the end of the book, rather then shoehorning it into the final scenes. However, bonus for the list of awesome-sounding pulp adventures that he included. (The Clockwork Churchill, the Monkeygland Monstrosities, the Jollity Plague, and the Wrath of the Onion Men, to name a few). As with many books by this author, there is some crossover with his other works – mostly with the “Diogenes Club” books, but also with ENGLISH GHOST STORY, where he mentions a series of “Drearcliff Grange School” books written by Louise Magellan Teazle.
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