Early Review - Pale by Chris Wooding (3/5 starts)

Reading Level: Middle Grade/YA
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Size: 72 pages
Publisher: Stoke Books
Release Date: September 1st 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1781120910
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars


I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley.com. It was a super quick read that addressed an interesting concept in a simple way. This definitely wasn’t my favorite read by Chris Wooding; I much preferred his Malice series or some of his stand alone books like Poison and Storm Thief.

Jed is friends with a bunch of boys who hate and bully Pales. Pales are people who are given a serum after dying that brings them back to life, after being brought to life they are very Pale in color. When Jed is part of a horrible accident he ends becoming exactly what he hates.

I didn’t realize that this book is kind of a specialty book; it’s supposed to be a high interest book for older readers who have trouble reading. As such some of the things in the book are intended for a YA and older crowd; but the plot, characters, and writing are very simple.

The idea of Pales is a neat one. Basically some people have DNA that allows them to take a serum after dying, this serum brings them back to life mostly unchanged.

The main character is fairly simple; he’s your typical popular bully. His friends are very typical of the type of people who hang around bullies. You don’t really see a lot more depth in Jed’s character until he is turned into a Pale.

The plot is also very simple; basically a bully becomes one of the people he used to bully and is forced to reevaluate his actions.

Despite the very simple story, characters, and writing style there is a good lesson here. Jed ends up reevaluating his actions and learning what true friendship means. I should mention that there are some graphic scenes where kids are beaten (by their peers) and this is probably only a book for YA and up.

Overall an okay book. Definitely not my favorite Chris Wooding book, but it is an interesting concept explored in a very simple way. The writing, characters, and plot are all very simple but the content of the book is at an older kid level (there’s beatings and a lot about making out/girlfriends, etc). This is a good book to interest older kids who read at a lower age level. I’d recommend this to a YA boy who reads at a middle grade or lower level.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Review - Havoc (Malice, Book 2) by Chris Wooding (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Size:  384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: October 1, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0545160452
Stand Alone or Series: Book 2 in Malice series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars
  
This is the second part of the Malice series by Wooding.  I really enjoyed the first book, Malice, and thought it was an interesting combo of graphic novel and standard book.  This was a great addition to the series and gave nice closure to the events that were left hanging in Malice.  You definitely need to read Malice before reading this book.

Seth is back in the real world with the artifact that holds the secret to Tall Jack's undoing.  Katy is still in Malice and is trying to join up with the rebel group Havoc.  Both of them will need to combine their forces with the goddess Lack and the Queen of Cats if they are going to defeat Tall Jack and shut down the Malice comic book for good.

This was a great addition to the series.  The plot moves quickly with ample twists and turns to keep you guessing.  The action scenes are very well done and the setting is imaginative and captivating.  This is a hard book to put down with non-stop action from beginning to end.  I love how the story is interspersed with comic book scenes.

In general I really enjoyed this book.  I have a couple small complaints though.  The characters are never fully fleshed out; they are a bit spare and more characterization would have made this even a better book.  My second complaint is that the graphic comic scenes are kind of second rate.  I had the same complaint with the first book.  The scenes are sketchy, hard to follow, and it is hard to distinguish one character from another.

The above being said I still really enjoyed this book.  The questions from the first book are answered; we get to meet the mysterious Grendel and the mysterious Queen of Cats.  Things are pretty well wrapped up.  I am not sure if there will be more books in this series, but if there aren't I think this book wraps up things just fine.

Overall a great wrap-up to this series.  Love the creativity of Malice and the wonderful action scenes.  Not so fond of the sketchy artwork and the lack of characterization; but don't let those things keep you from reading this really engaging and creative book!  Look forward to reading more of Wooding's books in the future; I have both The Fade and Retribution Falls on my bookshelf waiting to be read!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

 

Review - The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding (5/5 stars)

I have read a lot of other Chris Wooding books.  I loved Poison and enjoyed Storm Thief and Malice as well.  This though, was one of the best of the bunch.  This is a very well done book and creates a wonderful world with an excellent story.

Thaniel is a wych hunter, like his father before him.  On one of his treks into the dark alleys of London, while tracking a Cradlejack, his is attacked by a young woman.  He subdues her and brings her home.  When she comes too he finds that her name is Alaizabel Cray and she has been possessed by an evil old wych named Thatch.  Little do they know that Alaizabel is tied into much darker plans that threaten to destroy London.  Thaniel and his friends will have to join forces with both legal and illegal forces to prevent a secret society, the Fraternity, from summoning darkness that will destroy first London and then the world. 

The characters in this book were amazing as was the creative world that Wooding has created in Victorian London.  Thaniel is an interesting character as a seventeen year old boy who was raised by the most prominent wych hunter in London.  He feels a desperate need to prove himself now that his father is dead.  Alaizabel is intriguing because of her mysterious past and her persistent ability to survive against all odds.  Then you have Thaniel's guardian Cathaline, the Beggar Lord, Carver a determined police deputy, Stitchface (A serial killer of dubious alingment), and the Fraternity themselves.  All of the characters are incredibly interesting and have many shades of grey to their personalities.

This is not a light-hearted book, it is very dark and has a bit of a steampunk tone to it.  Most of it takes place in dark places and the hunts are for monsters and other evil things.  The book isn't incredibly gory, but it is very spooky.  The action scenes were very well done.

The plot was amazing and it was nice how the number of small plots that were going on all tied together.   In true Chris Wooding style there is a revelation at the end that is surprising and thought-provoking.  Wooding is very good at throwing something crazy at you at the end and it is always something that makes you think.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it for middle grade and older readers.  It would probably be a bit scary for younger children; a lot of people do die and it is a very dark story.  I loved the way it ended and kind of wished we would get to join Alazaibel, Thaniel, and Cathaline on more adventures.

Chris Wooding continues to be one of my favorite authors.   Next up to read from him is The Fade and then the next book in the Malice series Havoc.

This goes towards the following reading challegnes:
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

 

Malice by Chris Wooding (4/5 stars)

When I saw that Wooding had released a book that was part graphic novel and part book I was very excited. Not to mention the cool premise of the book. So when I was offered this book through the Amazon Vine program I was ecstatic. It ended up being a great book; I didn't realize that it is the first book in a duology. The second book "Havoc" is supposed to be released some time in 2010. Overall it is an interesting read and a pretty cool idea, it has some issues but for the most part those are out-weighed by the creative storyline.

Luke and Heather sit down to read a comic called Malice. Malice is full of incomplete stories of teens fleeing horrible things in the dark. Luke decides to try and summon Tall Jack, the bad guy from Malice, doing a ritual that kids are talking about. When the lights go out, eventually Luke finds out that the ritual worked. Seth is Luke's best friend and after Luke's disappearance he decides to check out Malice for himself. When he sees Luke's grisly death in the next issue of Malice he decides that he needs to stop Tall Jack. He willingly enters Malice and there runs into another boy that helps Seth learn the ropes. From there the boys descend into the hellish city of Malice.

This is an interesting book and it is very creepy. Most of the book is written as a novel. Specific fight scenes are then done as scenes from a graphic novel. So you have mostly book and a little graphic novel. Does this work for the story? Kind of. I am a big fan of graphic novels and books, so I was looking forward to this. Unfortunately the graphic novel scenes are done in a very sparse and non-detailed style. This ends up making it hard to tell what is going on in the graphic novel scenes, the scenes are actually drawn in a kind of immature way. I found myself wishing that Wooding had gotten the artist from one of the mangas I read (like Hellsing or Berserk) to draw the monster scenes, because they were just lacking.

As for the novel itself it was fascinating. Wooding does a good job of depicting a horror filled world that is interesting, very detailed, and full of wonder. The characters are so-so. They are kind of stereotypical and at times talk like they are in a cheesy action films, but I didn't really mind that much...it fit with the story. The strong point through is definitely the super creative world that Wooding has created. Also the idea behind how the kids get to Malice is fascinating.

Another warning, the book ends mid-plot...which always irritates me. The remainder of the story will be picked up in "Havoc". Overall I enjoyed the book, even though it wasn't perfect. I have previously read "Poison" and "Storm Thief" by Wooding and in both cases it was the ending that absolutely blew me away. So I will have to see how the next book plays out before I can fully judge this first one.

Teaser Tuesday - 12/29

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from "Malice" by Chris Wooding.




Here it is: "There was a faint skittering noise from the landing, the sound of tiny clicking claws, like rats.  He looked up in alarm, in time to see something small dart across the gap at the top of the stairs" Pg. 13

Storm Thief by Chris Wooding (4/5 stars)

This is the second book by Chris Wooding that I have had the pleasure to read; the first was Poison. I liked Poison a lot more than this book; but, like Poison, what really stand out in Storm Thief is the ending. This book could best be described as a kind of gothic Sci-Fi young adult novel.

In this book we spend most of our time with Rail and Moa who eke out a living serving as thieves in a ghetto in the city of Orokos. During one of their thieving raids they stumble along a mysterious artifact of enormous value. They decided to take it and run with it; hoping to make their fortune off of the proceedings. Beside this story is the parallel story of Vago; a golem made of muscle and metal whose path intertwines with that of Rail and Moa. Vago is a golem who doesn't know his purpose or maker; yet he finds he is extremely adept as fending off the Revenants in the city of Orokos. Orokos itself is the most interesting part of the book. Orokos is a city plaugued by probability storms that can change reality at the drop of a hat; it is also plagued by Revenants, beings made of energy who are deadly to the human habitants of Orokos. The citizens of Orokos believe that it is the only place in the entire world, but Moa dreams that there must be some place else.

I did not like the characters or the storyline of this book as much as I liked Poison. The story itself is pretty dry, devoid of humor, and I thought the characters were bland and in general not all that likable. The plot of the book itself was also fairly typical; it was very much one of those humans trying to escape from isolation types of stories. Think City of Ember. The thing that really made this book interesting was the setting. Orokos is an interesting setting, the Revenants are an interesting enemy, and the probability storms are an amazing idea.

The book didn't go above an okay (3 star) rating for me until the end. Towards the end (when you find out the story behind Orokos) is when the story really starts to make you think; what happens to a society that has too much order versus one that is steeped in chaos? The ideas presented in the end of the book made this book an above average read for me. I really wish that the characters and plot had been as engaging as they were in Poison. I still have the Haunting of Alaizabel Cray to read; and I have heard that this is an excellent book.

Although I didn't think this book was wonderful, it didn't diminish Chris Wooding as a creative author in my eyes.

Poison by Chris Wooding (5/5 stars)

This was a surprisingly good book. I have never read a book by Chris Wooding before, and although I had to slog through the first chapter, the book really picked up pace from that point on.

Poison lives in a swamp with her step-mother, father and baby sister. Poison is an outcast, she can never understand why the people of the swamp village put up with living the way they do, she can't understand why someone doesn't change things. When Poison's sister is stolen by the Phaeries it is the last straw. Poison leaves the village with the local wraith-catcher determined to get her sister back.

This book starts out as a wonderfully Gothic and classic Brothers Grimm-like story. These is not your Disney fairy tale but the dark and scary fairy tale that stays true to a Grimm fairy tale. Initially you think this book is just a very well written story about a girl on a quest to save her sister. As the story progresses it ends up being about so much more. There is much more at stake than Poison's sister. Poison quickly finds out that reality is not what it seems; and deeper questions come up as to who weaves the stories that are a person's life.

This was a delightful book. The details are magnificent and the story is very creative. The plot weaves irony in and out of the story and you will say "huh, wow that was clever." Poison is a strong character and the side characters are also intriguing. Wooding has developed an interesting world where humans are on the bottom of the food chain, except in one aspect.

This is not a book for the faint at heart. Although it is appropriate for preteens and young adults; it is a creepy and scary book. I would put the creepiness right up there with Joseph Delauney's Spook's Apprentice series. This is a wonderful young adult horror though.

I also have the book The Storm Thief by Wooding and I am very much looking forward to reading that book. I am definitely going to look into acquiring more of Wooding's books. He is a great storyteller. I don't think I have gotten such delight out of a fairy tale since I read Ironside by Holly Black. Although this tale is set in a different world; the characters are just as engrossing.