It's been 13 years. I'd forgotten about this account. Oh no.

I will have to remember next time I pick up a YA or children's book.

My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

After finding the Book of Dead Days and The Dark Flight Down very enjoyable, I was glad to see this book in the library.

Peter lives with his father, Thomas, in a little village somewhere deep in the forests of eastern Europe way back in probably the 13th Century or sometime like that. Thomas is a drunkard who is supposed to be the woodcutter for the village, but Peter has to do all the work for him.

The story begins with a gruesome death. A man is killed by someone who is supposed to be dead. Gypsies come to the village to speak to Thomas, but he refuses to speak with them. When more people die and start to come back to life, Peter realises that his father is not who he claims to be and the mysterious object in the box that his father never shows anybody may be the key to stopping the undead from walking amongst the living.


My Swordhand is Singing is a very good vampire story, but it feels to me like something is missing all the way through. Parts, I felt, were rushed and others were laboured. I did, however, think the characters were spot on and the bit at the end explaining all the names for vampires was rather unexpected and appreciated.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Updating my blog

Woo! Inserted a counter today. Now I'll discover just how many people don't read my blog!

Measle and the Doompit by Ian Ogilvy

The Saint has done it again. Measle and the Doompit is the fifth book chronicling the adventures of Measle Stubbs - a young boy with magical parents who finds himself in heaps of trouble.

This time around, Measle's arch-enemy, the evil wrathmonk Toby Jugg (terrible pun), kidnaps Measle and his friend, Polly, and throws them both down a doompit - a big hole that sends them to Dystopia, a magical land where there worst nightmares can come true.

Along the way Measle must fight werewolves, a yeti, fairies, giant ants, Medusa and Toby Jugg himself.

But he is not alone. Polly is discovering that she has magical powers and his friends the rather nice, but not very bright wrathmonk, Iggy and his dog Tinker end up in Dystopia to help him out.

What I like about the Measle books is that they appear on the outside to be comedy fantasy stories, and there are many incidences of humour throughout. But what the Measle books really are is horror - but with a dark humour twist to them. These books and the things that Measle has to contend with make the kids out of A Series of Unfortunate Events look like Enid Blyton creations.

I wonder if someone has optioned these books for a movie yet? Count me in for a front row seat.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Hugo Cabret is a small boy with many secrets. One of them is that after the disappearence of his uncle, he is left alone to wind the clocks of the great railway station in Paris. Another secret is that he is stealing clockwork toys from the toymaker's booth so that he can fix an automaton that his late father was working on before he died.

When Hugo is caught stealing the toys, his adventures begin. What will the automaton draw? Where is Hugo's uncle? Who is the toymaker?

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a nice book. It is really only about 100 pages long, if that. It is bulked out by drawings and photos that add to the plot and make it much more interesting. My only gripe was that as soon as you find out what the automaton is drawing, it no longer really has the same air of suspense. Also, I'm sure there's a few instances of really bad editing. Sometimes character elude to things that actually haven't happened. They were probably in a draft of the book, but some over-zealous editor chopped them out without checking the rest of the story first.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Hugo Pepper by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

From the creators of the Edge Chronicles comes Hugo Pepper, another tale from the Far Flung Adventures series.

Hugo Pepper is a young boy who lives in the Far North with his reindeer herding foster parents. He was discovered by the snow giants after polar bears had killed and eaten his parents. The snow giants took him to the reindeer herders house where he grew up. One day, Hugo discovers a flying machine underneath some logs. It belongs to his real parents and inside is a device that will take him and the flying machine home.

Hugo crash lands in Firefly Square, where he is taken in by two mermaids who run the local antique shop. They knew his parents. Everybody in Firefly Square did.

Currently the shopkeepers of Firefly Square are losing their livelyhoods due to the malicious gossiping of the Firefly Quarterly, a magazine run by a slimy editor. With the help of Hugo and some snow giants, the inhabitants of the square must fight back.

I really enjoyed this story. The characters were excellent and the way that the story was told was very clever. Nearly every other chapter is a story based on the inhabitants of Firefly Square's past. The next chapter then relates to that story. The authors even splice in a treasure hunt and a tale of notorious pirate gone good.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

ZinderZunder by Philip Ridley

Hello there, moonlit dudes! This is my last Philip Ridley review until I can find somewhere that stocks any others. My library has very limited stocks it would seem. GRRR. How can I get my razzmatazz fix, eh?

ZinderZunder is the tale of WonderMax, a young boy who loves tapdancing. The only problem is that since the arrival of little Baby Fleur no one seems to care about Max's tapdancing. Everyone should want to see his razzmatazz. Everyone should dig his razzmatazz. Thank goodness for the mysterious ZinderZunder who can make your wish come true.

Suddenly everybody in Paradise Square is demanding to see WonderMax's razzmatazz. Can he dance forever to please the mob? Is there a lesson in humility and patience for everyone to learn. Of course there is, in true, wacky Ridley style that is.



ZinderZunder is certainly not the best Ridley book. It has moments where it struggles in places. But, by golly Miss Molly, it sure is fun for the most part.

Philip Ridley is a god. Simple as that.

Rating: 3 out of 5.