This book is described as being a stand alone off shoot to the Gormenghast trilogy with Mervyn Peake writing in his introduction that after suggestions he decided to put it out as a volume in its own right.
The problem is of course that unless you are familiar with the strange world of Gormenghast and the character of Titus Groan a great deal of the beginning of this story will mean very little. Titus starts off struggling to suppress his desire to rebel against the responsibilities that come with his position as the heir to the House of Groan.
As a result of his yearning for change he decides to act on his impulse and escape and head beyond the boundaries of his former existence and discover something new and encounter a world where he is no longer Titus Groan with all that comes with that surname.
He escapes while the festivities for his 14th birthday continue and after walking and stumbling through the landscape comes to a wide river he has never seen before. A boat lies by the bank with an island on the other side the tempting destination. But no sooner has he gone near the boat than the Peake imagination fires up and a pack of wild dogs joins him in the water and pushed the boat to its destination.
Once on the other side Titus collapses under the dual strain of hunger and tiredness and then when he wakes the real adventure begins.
Using a very Spartan collection of characters - a goat, hyena and a lamb – Titus is guided slowly through to a point where it becomes a question of life and death. On his way to meet the lamb he learns from overhearing the goat and the hyena that they were once men and that the lamb had the ability to pull out of them some sort of animal nature that allowed them to become the creatures that resemble animals but with some lingering human traits.
The lamb has watched all of his creations die away as he sits in the centre of an underground network of mines and the thought of fresh blood is something that forces him to slightly lose control. Lose it enough to allow Titus to sow the seeds of doubt in the goat and the hyena and then critically delaying his attack against the boy long enough to let Titus cleave his skull with a sword.
This is all made rather stranger by the positioning of this story, which ends with the dogs taking Titus back leaving two old men on the other side of the bank, as a tale suitable for children.
This is dark, not just the sense of the title but dark in its imagination. If I read this to my children there would be a lot of questions afterwards and then nightmares. This doesn't sit comfortably with the usual Famous Five stories. That is not to say it doesn't have its merit but really this doesn't quite work as a stand alone book.
This does need a background knowledge of the Gormenghast trilogy to work and certainly a child would not have that along with a fair proportion of the readership. The imagination is rich but perhaps this episode should have been squeezed into the trilogy rather than left to be scrutinised on its own merits in the way that printing it as a single volume forces you to do.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
Burying the battle to improve reading
Watching Michael Rosen’s programme , which was shown on BBC 4 last night. The children’s laureate heads to Cardiff to try and revolutionise the attitude towards reading in a primary school.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
I like Rosen, he clearly loves reading, writing and diving into a sea of words to bask in the joy of language. But why has this programme been buried on BBC 4 and not given the sort of prominence that Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get people eating better get?
Maybe it’s because Rosen isn’t some sort of cheeky cockney prone to swearing in large doses.
A very interesting programme and one that raises some big issues. The problem is that it does so in a calm and adult way when these days what people want is a ranting, swearing celebrity wandering through the streets of Rotherham offending as many people as possible.
I like Rosen, he clearly loves reading, writing and diving into a sea of words to bask in the joy of language. But why has this programme been buried on BBC 4 and not given the sort of prominence that Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get people eating better get?
Maybe it’s because Rosen isn’t some sort of cheeky cockney prone to swearing in large doses.
A very interesting programme and one that raises some big issues. The problem is that it does so in a calm and adult way when these days what people want is a ranting, swearing celebrity wandering through the streets of Rotherham offending as many people as possible.
Crabwalk - post II
As the battle between the father and son – moderate and Nazi - starts to come to the fore the narrator is sidelined. His ex-wife seems unconcerned by their son’s behaviour and the mother is proud that her grandson is defending her own views.
As a result the narrator turns up at memorials to the sunken ship, surfs the web to catch the latest propaganda put out by his son and then turns his hand towards his own research.
If this is a book that is partly making a veiled attack on the web and the power of the internet to disseminate not just racist propaganda but factually incorrect history then it is successful.
But in terms of it charting the personal journey the writer makes as he delves into his past and pulls on his material for a novel it is harder going. Although his story is taking shape sadly no one around him seems interested and as a result you sense he is writing for a selected audience of one.
More tomorrow…
As a result the narrator turns up at memorials to the sunken ship, surfs the web to catch the latest propaganda put out by his son and then turns his hand towards his own research.
If this is a book that is partly making a veiled attack on the web and the power of the internet to disseminate not just racist propaganda but factually incorrect history then it is successful.
But in terms of it charting the personal journey the writer makes as he delves into his past and pulls on his material for a novel it is harder going. Although his story is taking shape sadly no one around him seems interested and as a result you sense he is writing for a selected audience of one.
More tomorrow…
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Crabwalk - post I
This is a classic Grass story told at different levels all inter connected and all being slowly peeled back like an onion. When they collide you hit the centre.
A washed up journalist born in a war time disaster is pushed by his mother and some sort of creative writing teacher into putting down his experiences on paper. They focus on his arrival into the world which coincided with the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
His mother was on board the ship and the sinking, as a result of a Russian submarine torpedo, ended a vessel that had started life as a Strength Through Joy holiday ship.
The ship is sunk when it is carrying refugees, injured soldiers and the ships crew. That is one strand of the story telling the story of that night.
But there is also the historical context with the ship being named after the leading Nazi agitator in Switzerland who becomes a martyr after being shot at close range by a Jew determined to settle some scores for the abuse of his people in Germany. That story along with the added history of the Russian submarine captain is the second strand.
Then the third strand is the conflict between father and son after the narrator discovers that under the influence of his mother his son is spouting off pro-Nazi views about the ship.
The battle is being fought in cyberspace and there is a comment there from Grass about the contest online for the hearts and souls.
The book flits back and forth between the strands but they are all being peeled back and the sense of a showdown between the ships hull and the torpedo, father and son and truth and lies is always hovering over the narrative.
More tomorrow…
A washed up journalist born in a war time disaster is pushed by his mother and some sort of creative writing teacher into putting down his experiences on paper. They focus on his arrival into the world which coincided with the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
His mother was on board the ship and the sinking, as a result of a Russian submarine torpedo, ended a vessel that had started life as a Strength Through Joy holiday ship.
The ship is sunk when it is carrying refugees, injured soldiers and the ships crew. That is one strand of the story telling the story of that night.
But there is also the historical context with the ship being named after the leading Nazi agitator in Switzerland who becomes a martyr after being shot at close range by a Jew determined to settle some scores for the abuse of his people in Germany. That story along with the added history of the Russian submarine captain is the second strand.
Then the third strand is the conflict between father and son after the narrator discovers that under the influence of his mother his son is spouting off pro-Nazi views about the ship.
The battle is being fought in cyberspace and there is a comment there from Grass about the contest online for the hearts and souls.
The book flits back and forth between the strands but they are all being peeled back and the sense of a showdown between the ships hull and the torpedo, father and son and truth and lies is always hovering over the narrative.
More tomorrow…
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Borrowed in droves but far from classics
The list of the top 100 books borrohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwed from British libraries has been published in amongst other papers and in the top 100 the oldest book was published in 2003.
Now by all means call me a literary snob but why nothing older? Sure there are some good books in the last few years but what about the classics? Does nobody read anything unless it’s endorsed by Punch & Judy?
Here is an idea for the book loving duo, why not set up a Classic literature books of the year list and spark some interest in some of the greats? That way more people might feel brave enough to venture down well trodden paths with well known rewards waiting for them.
Now by all means call me a literary snob but why nothing older? Sure there are some good books in the last few years but what about the classics? Does nobody read anything unless it’s endorsed by Punch & Judy?
Here is an idea for the book loving duo, why not set up a Classic literature books of the year list and spark some interest in some of the greats? That way more people might feel brave enough to venture down well trodden paths with well known rewards waiting for them.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and six other stories - post III
This has been a great collection of short stories and the final three leave you in awe of his talent as a writer and storyteller.
May Day
In particular this story, the longest in the collection, is weaved together with a number of different characters coming in contact each other at a ball. One is almost destitute and has lost pride, employment and almost all hope, another is a wealthy young man who has avoided the same mistakes and the final element is a former girlfriend of the first.
They meet and fail to help each other leaving the stricken destitute former Yale man to take the ultimate step.
What it tells you is that in the world of all night parties, champagne and hotels those without the necessary funds were finished and locked out of that world. Equally they had nothing to offer other social groups so they end up alienated and isolated.
For those looking in, in this case two soldiers, they might be invited into the ball to have a drink by a drunk but once things have sobered up they are firmly back on the other side of the class divide and reminded of it.
This reminds me in places of the Great Gatsby because the same vacuous existence is being played out here by characters that with one slip could so easily fall from their life of luxury.
Oh Russet Witch
A strange story that doesn’t really fall into place until the very end. A young man working in a bookstore falls in love from a distance with a woman he sees from his room. They speak three or four times over a span of 40 years and it is only at the end, when he is decrepit and in his 60s that he discovers who she is.
The opportunity to get involved with a dancer who lived life to the full only becomes a prospect he realises he missed out on after he is told her identity. The irony is of course that everyone around him knew, including his wife, and never once filled him in.
Morale of the story seems to be to wake up and not only grab life by the lapels but do some basic research if you get the chance to escape the mundane.
Crazy Sunday
An odd story that ends this collection with another reminder of the fragility of those at the pinnacle of power in the Jazz Age. A young screenwriter becomes embroiled in the lives of a director and his actress wife. The director has the odd combination of affairs but an amazingly strong steak of jealousy. He even starts to suspect the screenwriter of being a threat.
That causes him to consider missing the attendance of a ball game. While he is on his way (or is he?) the telegrams charting his progress start piling up to be concluded with one telling of his death in an air crash. The wife clings to the idea it is just part of his jealous games and the screenwriter leaves with the intention of returning perhaps when is can exploit the situation more.
It shows that even those who have it all are constantly scared of losing it and that fear is the cause of their own worst nightmares being realised. A shallow world.
A review will follow soon...
May Day
In particular this story, the longest in the collection, is weaved together with a number of different characters coming in contact each other at a ball. One is almost destitute and has lost pride, employment and almost all hope, another is a wealthy young man who has avoided the same mistakes and the final element is a former girlfriend of the first.
They meet and fail to help each other leaving the stricken destitute former Yale man to take the ultimate step.
What it tells you is that in the world of all night parties, champagne and hotels those without the necessary funds were finished and locked out of that world. Equally they had nothing to offer other social groups so they end up alienated and isolated.
For those looking in, in this case two soldiers, they might be invited into the ball to have a drink by a drunk but once things have sobered up they are firmly back on the other side of the class divide and reminded of it.
This reminds me in places of the Great Gatsby because the same vacuous existence is being played out here by characters that with one slip could so easily fall from their life of luxury.
Oh Russet Witch
A strange story that doesn’t really fall into place until the very end. A young man working in a bookstore falls in love from a distance with a woman he sees from his room. They speak three or four times over a span of 40 years and it is only at the end, when he is decrepit and in his 60s that he discovers who she is.
The opportunity to get involved with a dancer who lived life to the full only becomes a prospect he realises he missed out on after he is told her identity. The irony is of course that everyone around him knew, including his wife, and never once filled him in.
Morale of the story seems to be to wake up and not only grab life by the lapels but do some basic research if you get the chance to escape the mundane.
Crazy Sunday
An odd story that ends this collection with another reminder of the fragility of those at the pinnacle of power in the Jazz Age. A young screenwriter becomes embroiled in the lives of a director and his actress wife. The director has the odd combination of affairs but an amazingly strong steak of jealousy. He even starts to suspect the screenwriter of being a threat.
That causes him to consider missing the attendance of a ball game. While he is on his way (or is he?) the telegrams charting his progress start piling up to be concluded with one telling of his death in an air crash. The wife clings to the idea it is just part of his jealous games and the screenwriter leaves with the intention of returning perhaps when is can exploit the situation more.
It shows that even those who have it all are constantly scared of losing it and that fear is the cause of their own worst nightmares being realised. A shallow world.
A review will follow soon...
Friday, February 06, 2009
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and six other stories - post II
This collection continues to get slightly darker mixing a commentary of the upwardly mobile with some old fashioned curses.
The Cut-Glass Bowl
A woman who has been given a cut-glass bowl by a former lover because it describes her as being cold, see through and beautiful to look at starts to suffer ill fortune. The bowl is always involved and as her fortunes dip the curse seems to stretch to her family and they are maimed by the bowl and the news of their death via telegram is inevitably put in the bowl for safe keeping.
This is dark and the element of the supernatural slightly disturbing. Of course Benjamin Button is hardly based on fact but this is the darkest tale so far in this collection. Add some more macabre details about the house, heavy blood red curtains etc and some howling wind and it wouldn’t sit too uncomfortably in a Poe collection.
The Four Fists
A clever story about the way a man’s destiny was shaped by four punches in the face. Each time he over steps the mark he is thumped and each time it almost immediately brings him to his senses. As a result he become caring, compassionate and is able to empathise with others.
As the fists fly so the character improves. Not medicine I suspect that would benefit all of us.
The Cut-Glass Bowl
A woman who has been given a cut-glass bowl by a former lover because it describes her as being cold, see through and beautiful to look at starts to suffer ill fortune. The bowl is always involved and as her fortunes dip the curse seems to stretch to her family and they are maimed by the bowl and the news of their death via telegram is inevitably put in the bowl for safe keeping.
This is dark and the element of the supernatural slightly disturbing. Of course Benjamin Button is hardly based on fact but this is the darkest tale so far in this collection. Add some more macabre details about the house, heavy blood red curtains etc and some howling wind and it wouldn’t sit too uncomfortably in a Poe collection.
The Four Fists
A clever story about the way a man’s destiny was shaped by four punches in the face. Each time he over steps the mark he is thumped and each time it almost immediately brings him to his senses. As a result he become caring, compassionate and is able to empathise with others.
As the fists fly so the character improves. Not medicine I suspect that would benefit all of us.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and six other stories - post I
You end up reading this and come to the conclusion that if you can have a really strong idea it is possible to write about it s long as you do as brilliantly as Scott Fitzgerald.
The Strange Case of Benjamin Button
In one sense this is quite a straightforward story of a man who lives his life in reverse. Starting as a 70 plus and ending as a babe in arms he leads a live often clouded by frustration and rejection. He falls in love with a younger woman but as their ages move apart he leaves her and eventually he is back in the cot in his son’s home.
Fitzgerald skips whole decades of Benjamin’s life as he sticks to the main flash points of marriage, war, work and love. That obviously provides a great opportunity for script writers to fill the gaps for the likes of Brad Pitt but for the reader it keeps the story focused.
Rather than indulging the one idea until it loses its power by showing a life in selected highlights you never forget that Button is living backwards. At times he highlights the conflict between youth and adulthood as well as questions of discrimination because of age. One very powerful idea that he carries off brilliantly.
Head & Shoulders
Again another story where the title hints at the twist. A very clever but socially isolated academic is introduced to a chorus girl and he falls head over heels for her. They get married and describe their relationship as him being the head and her being the shoulders.
But down on their luck with her expecting he decides to try some trampoline stunts and becomes famous for his death defying jumps. She meanwhile writes a bestseller. Their roles are reversed and in the final scenes it becomes clear that jealousy and the resentment over failed ambitions could well be more powerful emotions than love.
The Strange Case of Benjamin Button
In one sense this is quite a straightforward story of a man who lives his life in reverse. Starting as a 70 plus and ending as a babe in arms he leads a live often clouded by frustration and rejection. He falls in love with a younger woman but as their ages move apart he leaves her and eventually he is back in the cot in his son’s home.
Fitzgerald skips whole decades of Benjamin’s life as he sticks to the main flash points of marriage, war, work and love. That obviously provides a great opportunity for script writers to fill the gaps for the likes of Brad Pitt but for the reader it keeps the story focused.
Rather than indulging the one idea until it loses its power by showing a life in selected highlights you never forget that Button is living backwards. At times he highlights the conflict between youth and adulthood as well as questions of discrimination because of age. One very powerful idea that he carries off brilliantly.
Head & Shoulders
Again another story where the title hints at the twist. A very clever but socially isolated academic is introduced to a chorus girl and he falls head over heels for her. They get married and describe their relationship as him being the head and her being the shoulders.
But down on their luck with her expecting he decides to try some trampoline stunts and becomes famous for his death defying jumps. She meanwhile writes a bestseller. Their roles are reversed and in the final scenes it becomes clear that jealousy and the resentment over failed ambitions could well be more powerful emotions than love.
Blowing my trumpet
I know this is both self promotional and a little bit sad (after all it’s taken two and half years) but I have finally hit the 50,000 hits milestone. Never going to challenge anyone serious online with those numbers but it makes me feel warm inside.
Thanks everyone for reading and hopefully you will stick with me in the future.
Thanks everyone for reading and hopefully you will stick with me in the future.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas - post III
The ending of this book is a shock because it is set up for a number of potential endings. The one that sis chosen is one of the most horrific once you have taken it in. But in a way it needs to be. Not just for the sake of getting the message home but because the book lacks that little bit have pace.
It seems to plod along with you always wanting the gears to change. When they finally do it is with just a few pages left. The only negative about this book is that question of pace. Things come to a head only at the very end and the comments I had from other readers has always been about the pace.
Some found the gap filling style also annoying but that didn’t bother me. In some ways this was a holocaust take with a twist and although the twist does start to get stretched the story is one that is so important to stick with that you do go to the end.
A review will follow soon…
It seems to plod along with you always wanting the gears to change. When they finally do it is with just a few pages left. The only negative about this book is that question of pace. Things come to a head only at the very end and the comments I had from other readers has always been about the pace.
Some found the gap filling style also annoying but that didn’t bother me. In some ways this was a holocaust take with a twist and although the twist does start to get stretched the story is one that is so important to stick with that you do go to the end.
A review will follow soon…
Charing Cross road
There are a couple of slides and videos on The Guardian about the state of Charing Cross road in London, the street for booksellers and book buyers. With the move of Murder One the state of the street is up for debate.
I have always thought that if anything was going to turn the screw on the existing second hand specialists apart from the obvious rent rises it would be the internet.
The days of browsing in a bookshop on a weekend or lunch hour are becoming increasingly rare sadly and now that shelf surfing is done online. Add to that the fact most of these booksellers are using things like Abe Books themselves and it explains why Murder One is going to try and crank up its business virtually.
I have always thought that if anything was going to turn the screw on the existing second hand specialists apart from the obvious rent rises it would be the internet.
The days of browsing in a bookshop on a weekend or lunch hour are becoming increasingly rare sadly and now that shelf surfing is done online. Add to that the fact most of these booksellers are using things like Abe Books themselves and it explains why Murder One is going to try and crank up its business virtually.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
book review - Print is Dead
There is clearly one school of thought, and you can understand its magnetism, that looks at the iPod and argues the same is going to happen for books.
There are chapters in this book by Jeff Gomez that do just that and then add in examples of changing consumption and viewing habits with television and newspapers to back up the fundamental arguments that not only is change coming, but it is already here.
In that argument he is persuasive peeling back the behaviour of the digital generations and commenting on just how much data I sent and read across the internet. Unlike most of the other books on this subject, written before the internet became quite the force it is today, he is not looking to a future time when digital reading starts but acknowledging that it has started.
That then raises the next obvious question about whether or not the publishing industry has learnt anything from their musical counterparts. Are they ready to embrace change and update business models that have not been radically tinkered with since the introduction of the paperback?
Gomez is not so sure that they are. Most seem to have resisted making any moves quite happy to believe that the initial e-reader products have been failures and therefore so is the whole concept. But their audience has embraced change.
Also there are warnings for authors that fail to move with the times and understand that what they need to do is increase their interactivity. If they opt for the reclusive life then they may well end up with no visibility and as a result turn away a potential readership.
But all is not lost and Gomez believes that many will make the transition and the future of the book – if you view that to mean a collection of words rather than an object – remains strong.
In terms of adding to an existing canon of works on the subject Gomez is clearly the most up to date because this was only published last year and because of technology he is able to maintain a running dialogue on his web site.
Easy to read but there are some big things to digest here and not all of them will have you nodding in agreement. A book is different from a compact disc and parallels between the two can only go so far.
There are chapters in this book by Jeff Gomez that do just that and then add in examples of changing consumption and viewing habits with television and newspapers to back up the fundamental arguments that not only is change coming, but it is already here.
In that argument he is persuasive peeling back the behaviour of the digital generations and commenting on just how much data I sent and read across the internet. Unlike most of the other books on this subject, written before the internet became quite the force it is today, he is not looking to a future time when digital reading starts but acknowledging that it has started.
That then raises the next obvious question about whether or not the publishing industry has learnt anything from their musical counterparts. Are they ready to embrace change and update business models that have not been radically tinkered with since the introduction of the paperback?
Gomez is not so sure that they are. Most seem to have resisted making any moves quite happy to believe that the initial e-reader products have been failures and therefore so is the whole concept. But their audience has embraced change.
Also there are warnings for authors that fail to move with the times and understand that what they need to do is increase their interactivity. If they opt for the reclusive life then they may well end up with no visibility and as a result turn away a potential readership.
But all is not lost and Gomez believes that many will make the transition and the future of the book – if you view that to mean a collection of words rather than an object – remains strong.
In terms of adding to an existing canon of works on the subject Gomez is clearly the most up to date because this was only published last year and because of technology he is able to maintain a running dialogue on his web site.
Easy to read but there are some big things to digest here and not all of them will have you nodding in agreement. A book is different from a compact disc and parallels between the two can only go so far.
The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas - post II
The way the book is written there are gaps all over the place that you are expected to fill in. For some reason this reminds me a bit of the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole but it has been years since I read that so I might be wrong.
Although the style is akin to the Mole Diary the content is nowhere near it as Bruno makes a friend across the other side of the wire and starts to get a slight understanding of the treatment that some of the Jews are being given by the Germans around them.
But he is still light years away from understanding everything around him and his innocence, often portrayed as arrogance in his replies to others, reveals his lack of knowledge.
In some respects he is a victim but of course nowhere near those on the other side of the wire and the purpose of telling the story through the eyes of a child is clearly not just to appeal to a younger readership but also to unfold the concentration camp world in a much more innocent and simple way.
Last chunk tomorrow…
Although the style is akin to the Mole Diary the content is nowhere near it as Bruno makes a friend across the other side of the wire and starts to get a slight understanding of the treatment that some of the Jews are being given by the Germans around them.
But he is still light years away from understanding everything around him and his innocence, often portrayed as arrogance in his replies to others, reveals his lack of knowledge.
In some respects he is a victim but of course nowhere near those on the other side of the wire and the purpose of telling the story through the eyes of a child is clearly not just to appeal to a younger readership but also to unfold the concentration camp world in a much more innocent and simple way.
Last chunk tomorrow…
Monday, February 02, 2009
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - post I
I was encouraged to pick this up by someone who had read it in one sitting with memories of a trip to Auschwitz still fresh in his mind. As my Jewish friend remarked “Although this is a book for children it is something that you can get through quickly but really hits you.”
So it was with a mixture of expectations I started this and from the very beginning it was heading in a direction that was clearly designed to make you think.
You follow the story of Bruno and his family being forced to leave Berlin and you assume they are Jewish but it turns out to be the exact opposite and with that trick delivered so brilliantly you are hooked. Of course the Enid Blyton type cliffhanger endings to each chapter help but this is designed to let the reader wander some way in front and guess the story but can you guess the ending? Not yet.
More tomorrow…
So it was with a mixture of expectations I started this and from the very beginning it was heading in a direction that was clearly designed to make you think.
You follow the story of Bruno and his family being forced to leave Berlin and you assume they are Jewish but it turns out to be the exact opposite and with that trick delivered so brilliantly you are hooked. Of course the Enid Blyton type cliffhanger endings to each chapter help but this is designed to let the reader wander some way in front and guess the story but can you guess the ending? Not yet.
More tomorrow…
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Boy in Darkness - post II
Although this is a story that doesn’t really go anywhere, nor adds a great deal to Gormenghast it will live long in the memory. It is one of those stories that acts as a perfect companion piece to the Gormenghast trilogy because you need that prior knowledge for the story to really work. Titus Groan is never really explained or is the setting of his location.
But understanding from the trilogy just how determined the teenager is to change his life it is no surprise that he encounters and survives the meeting with the lamb. With just the goat and hyena left of the many that have been transformed from men to beasts at the hand of the lamb Titus is clearly a candidate to join them.
But he resists and with the sweep of a sword ends not just a reign of terror but an entire finish to the kingdom of the mines. Titus then returns back to the castle with his determination for escape clearly not broken.
At the end of the book there is a page advertising more Children’s books from the same publisher. I would be frightened to read this to my children let alone encourage them to pick it up for themselves.
A review will follow soon…
But understanding from the trilogy just how determined the teenager is to change his life it is no surprise that he encounters and survives the meeting with the lamb. With just the goat and hyena left of the many that have been transformed from men to beasts at the hand of the lamb Titus is clearly a candidate to join them.
But he resists and with the sweep of a sword ends not just a reign of terror but an entire finish to the kingdom of the mines. Titus then returns back to the castle with his determination for escape clearly not broken.
At the end of the book there is a page advertising more Children’s books from the same publisher. I would be frightened to read this to my children let alone encourage them to pick it up for themselves.
A review will follow soon…
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