Return of the Emerald Skull

Barnaby Grimes #2

by Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, running errands in his city, day and night, and high-stacking around the rooftops in search of new mysteries to solve. This is a fantastic romp through a Dickensian-style city, with a wonderful new hero in the guise of Barnaby.

After collecting a strange parcel from a deserted ship in the fog of the docks, and delivering it to the local schoolmaster, Barnaby thinks he’s earned a moment to sit on the rooftops and eat his favorite pastry. But soon he realizes that all is not well at the school—but is the problem quite as he expects it? A gruesome tale of a school overrun by a terrible curse—who will survive?

Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell are the creators of the bestselling Edge Chronicles series and the Far-Flung Adventures.

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Adventure, Childrens, Historical Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Paul Stewart is a highly regarded author of books for young readers – from picture books to football stories, fantasy and horror. Together with Chris Riddell he is co-creator of the bestselling Edge Chronicles, which has sold more than three million copies and is available in over twenty languages. They have also collaborated together on lots of other exciting books for children of all ages. The Far-Flung Adventure series includes the Gold Smarties Prize Winner Fergus Crane, and Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper, both Silver Nestle Prize Winners. Then there are the Barnaby Grimes books, two Muddle Earth adventures, and the sci-fi Scavenger and fantasy Wyrmeweald trilogies. For younger readers there is the Blobheads series, while for the very young, Paul has written several picture books, including the Rabbit and Hedgehog series, In the Dark of the Night and, his latest, Wings.

Other authors by this name disambiguation Note:
Paul Stewart - business and management books

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars


Definitely preferred this book over the first. The story was more interesting. Though, it did take me a long time to actually connect with the story, but once I did, I enjoyed it.

I know at the end of chapter 11, it was meant to be a serious revelation in the story, but I found it so ridiculous that I burst out laughing. Like a cute baby animal that was trying to be all big and scary but instead was just so adorable and cute. Except the revelation hadn't been all cutesy but was meant to be scary. It wasn't. It was ridiculous but ohh well, it made me laugh and that's a positive.

I liked the addition of Mei Ling. It was only an added small storyline but it really complimented the story as a whole.

Now, onto the next in the series.

[Melanie Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

War wieder so gut wie der erste Band. Ich mag Barnaby Grimes als Charakter und auch die anderen Charaktere waren gut. Vor allem wegen dem einen freu ich mich auf den nächsten.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many different books in this series, this is the second i have read and it's so different from the other one! The same characters are in the books but you don't need to read in order.
Set in the past, this story is an adventure with a curse that needs to be battled! My favourite character is Barnaby he has an awesome stick sword

[Ronald McCutchan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast and furious, with a bit more violence than I would normally consider for a younger middle-grade book, but I enjoyed the playful take on Victorian paranormal if only for the lovely pen-and-ink illustrations by Chris Riddell.

[Yami · Rating 4 out of 5]

fast paced one day read,feels like a reading snack

[Liz Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barnaby makes a great hero. He's brave, devil-may-care, caring, adventurous, curious, and a loyal friend. One thing that I love about these adventures is that the author sows them with casual mentions of past cases that we've never seen, playing up how proficient and daring Barnaby is at this kind of thing.Once again other worldly forces conspire to pique his interest, call on all his deductive reasoning, and land him in mortal danger. The focal point of this danger is a boy's boarding school and the results are chilling. I didn't quite get the source of the evil/work out the mystery ahead of time but I think that, in this instance, there weren't enough clues or information to do so. As in other books in the series, the story doesn't shy away from the tragic death of innocents and the shedding of blood. I felt sad for a number of characters although the ending worked hard to show that the situation had been redeemed with a happier ending than expected. Great creepy fun for middle grade readers!

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 star

I found this series at our local library book sale. The librarian said that it had been a popular series of the preteen clients; so I thought I would get them and see what I thought.

This was well written and kept my attention, it didn't loose me anywhere nor did the author "spin his wheels" like so many seem to do in the middle of their novels when they don't know how to progress to the ending. This book moved smoothly throughout the entire story. You (the reader) was never left wondering who you were reading about. A mystery story a young boy who delivers letters finds clues that things aren't quite right at the school; so he starts to investigate and finds out there is something wrong and he must figure out what to do.

There is no bad language or sexual content. Well written series

[Caroline Blessing · Rating 5 out of 5]

More steampunky goodness with highstacker Barnaby Grimes. I enjoyed this one because it was easy to visualize the characters. I enjoyed the mix of historical reference and science (Darwin inspired) The story took a predictable ‘Lord of the Flies’ turn that still held my interest. Having recently seen reality tv modern day Indiana Jones, Josh Gates, in a jungle where such an artifact as The Green Skull could be found any day now, made this story fun.

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

London's premier Tiktok Lad tackles ancient evil from the heart of the jungle in his second adventure. Pretty standard fare for an adventure story, though the Chinese laundress teaching Barnaby mystical arts and the BBEG being a vague Aztec/Incan/Mayan demon god would probably both be considered a little tasteless when viewed through a modern lense.

[Oni · Rating 4 out of 5]

spooky

[Dantegideon · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were bits where it was good, but the writing style is quite annoying. Does he have to insert “tick-tock lad”, or “highstacking”, into every other sentence, for example?

[Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one but serviceable

[Savannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'histoire est plutôt banale, le style n'a rien de particulier et la traduction laisse clairement à désirer. Le personnage principal n'a aucun charme.

[Thobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this in our basement and now I want to read the rest. It was a pleasant surprise.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Return of the Emerald Skull" (Barnaby Grimes) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell brings Aztec cruelty on the eclipse. Barnaby, lanky Victorian London tick-tock delivery boy starts narration with scariest highlight, raising stone knife commanded by evil whisper to cut out the beating heart, deleting whose, then backtracks. First Barnaby picks up what should be a stuffed catincatapetl bird "the emerald messenger of darkness - named after the Toltec demon god Catincatepetl, Master of the Underworld and Lord of Chaos" from a bulky captain with dead eyes p36. He delivers the box to top-grade boarding school Grassington Hall, and hoists bat in a cricket-like game p48. He delivers shirts to slim Mei Ling. Sweet symmetry and balance delineate her graceful limbs poised to defend afront folded laundry in her family shop p68. She teaches him yinchido, the Way of the Silver Mist, seeing between. Light humor relieves terror "Stover's pasties ... are excellent at filling empty spaces" p87. Of course evil invades the school and Barnaby comes to the rescue. Though horror is a genre I avoid, the drawings bring to life a brave "highstacker" this "cobblestone-creeper" can follow enjoying Stewart-Riddell collaborations.

Questions:
• Why are Ratface and Jug-Ears "lumbering towards her" on p69, then "climbed slowly to their feet" p70 without falling in between?
• Both "-ido" martial arts and quiet tea ceremony sound more japanese than chinese.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great addition to this fast paced and atmospheric series. This time I chose the audiobook edition which is narrated by Paul Panting and he does a fabulous job breathing life into these characters. I think his voice for Barnaby is a perfect fit and makes for an even deeper connection with the character. In this volume, Barnaby lends a hand when a once top notch boarding school comes under the control of outside evil forces. Once again Barnaby comes up against unbelievable peril and harrowing circumstances. This is a great series for reluctant readers because of its rapid pacing and not stop action. 4 stars!

[alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual I loved the illustrations and the deep sense of place evoked in the narration. I found it a little gruesome for a children's book, and yet a little simple for a preteen or teenage reader. It seems to fall somewhere in between, not really hitting a sweet spot. I wished the side characters were included a little more in the main action. At the same time, the quick-moving and simple plot works to draw the reader into an eyewitness account of horrible happenings. I reckon it works in its own way. I think of the Grimes series as written in the spirit of the penny dreadfuls. It's a little bit like horror fiction for children.

[frumpburger · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the beginning, awkward and irritating. Trying too hard and it's abundantly clear. Plus, I felt like the emerald skull was a little racist, as it's evil but mimics Aztec religious rituals. I dunno. Maybe if I were a 12 yr old boy, this would have done more for me, but I'm not and I just read it because I had to review it. I'd stick to Harry Potter or other, better-written young adult novels, though, I think.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the next in the series i read - (see Nightwolf) and as such does make passing reference to it however reading it you could almost see these books in any order as there is no hard and fast chronology. The same gaslight smog ridden magical and horrifying London comes through and even with such a small book and simple read it still managed to purvey the feel on London from that era which i think is as much a character as any you are likely to meet in these books

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This is a pretty fun action-adventure series, with dark tones. It's a quick and easy read, pure brain candy.

Only a 2.5 because while it's fun enough, it's still just a little over ok for me. I'm going to have to resign myself to the fact that there's just not going to be much in the way of character depth or development - but I keep hoping for something more than a serviceable adventure type thing.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I totally love this pair's Edge Chronicles, I don't think this series lives up to that standard. They're quick, enjoyable reads, but they lack in the character growth department and I don't find myself invested in the story. This one also has pretty much nothing to do with the first, so you probably don't have to read these books in any type of order. I'm going to put this series on hold, read all the edge chronicle books that I have left, and then decide if I want to continue or not.

[Carterkempgmail.Com · Rating 3 out of 5]

These guys write odd books. This one is set in an almost-London and features a messenger who heroically solves a mystery and rescues a school that's been taken over by an ancient malevolent force. Part mystery, part fantasy, part horror, and part swashbuckling action adventure (heavy on the fight scenes), this not-too-hard-to-read book will grab the occasional kid but the general weirdness will leave most puzzled when they put it down halfway.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. It seems like anything these authors comes out with is simply amazing. The plots are original and fun, the characters are real and likable, and the books are impossible to put down! I hadn't read the first one, and this did an excellent job of catching me up where needed, and I wasn't lost at all.

[MJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

My eight-year-old insisted I needed to read the book since he loved it. It's a quick read and pretty interesting: While it's clearly designed for the young reader crowd, it's interesting enough to make it worth reading if you have a few hours.

[Magenta Cooly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, my gosh! This one was so creepy!...
A mayan god brainwashing Barnaby, and forcing children to eat freshly killed deer, while preparing for the demand of human sacrifice!!
Ahh! I love this one!

[Kell · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it comes to tales that will grab youngsters and really keep them gripped to the end, you’d be hard pushed to find another writer/illustrator team that can match up to these guys. Return of the Emerald Skull is dark and dangerous and just gruesome enough to appeal to young lads!

[Abdulel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this one. It seems like anything these authors comes out with is simply amazing. The plots are original and fun, the characters are real and likable, and the books are impossible to put down!

[Owlboyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barnaby's adventures continue and they are as interesting as his first. The story line is fast paced and keeps you involved all the way through the story. Can't wait for the next installment of his adventures.

[Tiffany Lynn Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
Personally the atmosphere wasn't as strong and I wish there had been more of a build up for the finally show down but over all Return of the Emerald Skull was a very enjoyable fallow up to Curse of the Night Wolf.