Witch Breed

Hell's Underground #4

by Alan Gibbons

When Paul arrives in 17th century London, he expects to be thrown into a life or death struggle for the three gates that imprison the ancient King Lud. But the battle doesn't come. Instead, Paul roams alone, learning how to survive in a city where all the talk is of the savage civil war that rages beyond its ramparts. Somewhere underground, Lud is waiting in his crypt, preparing to rise again. War, fear and want are his tools. But Paul too has his own weapons and is gaining strength and losing inhibitions about using it. Meanwhile, beyond the city, innocent women are being killed for it is so easy to claim that they are witches. One woman - whether innocent or guilty - possesses the only power available that can help Paul in his quest.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy

368 pages, Hardcover

First published August 26, 2010

About the author

Alan Gibbons is an author of children's books and a Blue Peter Book Award. He currently lives in Liverpool, England, where he used to teach in a primary school. His father was a farm laborer, but was hurt in an accident when Alan was eight years old. The family had to move to Crewe, Cheshire where Alan experienced bullying for the first time. He began to write for his pupils as a teacher, but never tried to get any of his work published.

Gibbons trained to be a teacher in his mid-thirties and starting writing short stories for his students. Later, he began to write professionally. In 2000, he won the Blue Peter Book Award in the category "The Book I Couldn't Put Down" category for Shadow of the Minotaur. He was a judge for the 2001 Blue Peter Book Awards. He was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2001 and 2003 and shortlisted twice for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. He has also won the Leicester Book of the Year, the Stockport Book Award, the Angus Book Award, the Catalyst Award, the Birmingham Chills Award, the Salford Young Adult Book Award and the Salford Librarians' Special Award.

Reviews

[Ryan (Empire of Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witch Breed is the fourth book in the Hell's Undeground series by Alan Gibbins, and a series of books I admit I hadn't seen before. I recieved Witch Breed to review thanks to the brilliant Nina Douglas at Orion, and was itrigued as soon as it came though my postbox. I set about catching up with the series, and borrowed the first 2 books from my friend, and the third from the library. Now caught up, I could read Witch Breed.

First off, wow. What a series. Horror in abundance. Terror, suspense. Demons! Everything you need to get boys reading! Perfect.

Witch Breed is my favourite book of the series so far. It's terrifying, exciting and un-putdownable. An incredible expose of the atrocities, the injustices, that took place in England's history, as many innocent women were tried and executed for the crime of being a Witch.

It's an effortless read. Fluid, the writing is perfect. Tension and scares from all sides. Half-masked demons and murders.

This book actually blew me away, and so I can't really say much about it. I seriously do not want to give a single thing away. This is a must-read. One of the strongest books I have read this year. Seriously guys, go and get a copy. I promise you will not regret it.

[T.A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book lost some of the appeals of the other books and felt as if it was rushed in places and that the author had lost interest in the story.

As he's never written another book in the series I'm guessing I'm right.

Whilst you could say this book ends it all by saying the fight is timeless and will go on even through out time with one side or the other leading the fight, but it just felt a bit like an excuse was being made should if he decided not to continue the series.

This is a shame as it was a good series and this is a bit of a letdown.

[Jen-Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book so much but there were a few parts that bothered me but it's still fantastic. Its a shame that for whatever reason there is no 5th book, the ending leaves it open but since this book was published years ago I doubt it'll ever be finished.

[Moa'ath Sultan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a throwback to a series I picked up in my adolescent years. It was good enough to give me a sense of appreciation for knowing how things unfurled after where I left off when I read Renegade.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witch Breed is different from the previous three books in this series. In these we saw Paul Rector very much in the middle of things from the moment he arrives in each new time period, and following the dramatic climax of Renegade you would be forgiven for expecting something pretty much the same from this book. However, there are moments throughout Witch Breed where you may find yourself wondering exactly who the main character is. Is it Paul? Or is it Grace Fletcher, soon to be trialled for witchcraft? Or perhaps it is Netty, Paul's 21st Century girlfriend who has been brought back in time by the evil Nathanael Rector as bait to lure and destroy Paul? The reason for this doubt is that for a large part of the book the story's viewpoint jumps around between characters, each having an important story requiring our attentio, and yet at no point does this become confusing - Mr Gibbons accomplishes it with seemingly effortless ease, and in doing so ratchets up the tension to even greater highs.

For a horror writer this is such a great period in British history to focus on. It is 1645, slap bang in the middle of the English Civil War, but more importantly it is the time when Matthew Hopkins, the so-called Witchfinder General, was travelling around Eastern England with his assistant John Stearne persecuting scores of innocent women and having them executed as witches. Sometimes when requiring a diabolically evil villain an author need look no further than the history books and Mr Gibbons' use of Hopkins and Stearne in the plot of Witch Breed is perfect.

Coming off the back of the failure he experienced in Renegade, we begin to see another side of Paul's character in Witch Breed. Whereas in previous books we saw him slowly gain in confidence, especially as he realised that he could acquire the powers of the demons he killed, we now see him have many moments of self-doubt and confusion. Can a boy really defeat the ancient evil of King Lud, given the demonic resources this creature has under his control? Is he just a pawn of Cormac and the Priests of Beltane? And then when Netty suddenly appears in the 17th Century all previous plans are out of the window as Paul's priorites shift, with potentially disastrous consequences. In the other books Paul has often had to rely on the assistance of others in order to reach his goals, but this help becomes even more essential in Witch Breed as we discover that despite everything he has been through, and the powers he has developed, Paul is still at heart a normal teenager, and still has many of the flaws, worries and doubts that any young person would have.

Of course, despite the nastiness of Hopkins and Stearne, there is still a Rector ancestor for Paul to contend with, and this time it is Nathanael. This Rector, though, is not given quite the page count that family members in the previous books have enjoyed, but we are still left in no doubt as to the shear evil and ruthlessness of this man. After the entourage of evil that surrounded Samuel Rector in the previous books I didn't think Alan Gibbons would be able to follow it up with a similarly memorable band of demonic followers for Nathanael. Oh me of little faith! Yet again, the author has created a terrifying bunch of monsters for Paul to pit his wits against, and these demon riders come with names such as Lamedog, Ratshade, Claypin, and my absolute favourite, Suckvenom.

If you love horror and haven't yet discovered this series then you must make it a priority - you will not be disappointed.

[Elle Singleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing! You can really get into the story even if you haven't read the previous books :) It's really fast paced and gets into the action staright away but it tells you background info too. Definately a book I would recommend to people who love fantasy and magic stories.