The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix

From a quiet bookshop in Bath, the Sinister (as in left-handed) Booksellers keep an eye on the activities of beings of the Old World, particularly the goddess Sulis Minerva who lives in the hot spring. One day, unpacking a parcel they stumble on an old map, which pulls bookseller Merlin into its depths. His sister, Vivien, and his on/off girlfriend, Susan, follow in an attempt to save him, and all three find themselves trapped in a sorcerous world created by an Ancient Sovereign, and guarded by living marble statues. Escaping from the map is only the beginning of their problems though, as they realise they aren't the first to be lured in, but might, in a very unpleasant way, be the last.

I've done that weird thing here of joining in with a series on book 2, but I found it didn't hamper my enjoyment. Nix fills in enough of the previous events to enable the reader to understand the background to book 2, but without telling the whole story and robbing us of a desire to read it.

On to book 2 though, and its Sinister Booksellers ... set in an alternate 1980s where magic and the humdrum everyday world exist side by side, it's a non-stop exciting read with very little quiet down-time for either characters or readers (though the characters do find time to sample quite a lot of delicious-sounding cake). For the 'booksellers' this is all comparatively in a day's work - their role is after all to keep people safe from the magical world and to keep that world secret -  but for Susan things are different. Until recently she'd assumed she was as average as the next person, but finding out her father was an Ancient Sovereign known as The Old Man Of Coniston has changed all that. She'd like to go back to how things were but having an ancient being pursuing her, feeling the call of her father's realm, plus  her growing relationship with Merlin, all seem to be acting against that.

I've seen The Sinister Booksellers of Bath described as YA but more off a crossover/ YA plus book, one as appealing to adult readers as their younger counterparts. It's not without its breath-holding moments but nothing too terrifying. A 5 star read which I'd definitely recommend to fans of Neil Gaiman or Alan Garner.

Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

 

Anna has always been told by her aunt that magic is a dangerous, sinful thing, that it was responsible for the death of her parents, and that it should never be used. Anna's now a teenager and although she shows little ability for magic, when she turns seventeen the little magic she does possess will be 'bound' to prevent its use. 

Then Selene, an old friend of both Anna's aunt and mother, arrives in London, accompanied by her daughter Effie, and a curious young man, a friend of the family, named Attis. Where Anna's aunt is severe and strict, Selene is charismatic and full of life - and more to the point she believes magic should be used to enjoy life to the full. She, Effie and Attis open Anna's eyes to a different side of the magical world (and perhaps the world in general), one full of fun. At school Effie and Attis discover other witches mixing unrecognised among the students, and set up a coven, drawing Anna into their disruptive plans.

At first it's all fun, but the coven's actions take a dark, destructive turn and Anna begins to wonder if her aunt was maybe right all along - that magic is a curse and shouldn't be practised at all. 

Threadneedle is the first book in great new urban fantasy series. Although aimed perhaps mainly at YA readers, with its share of teenage rebellion, and the school culture of 'Queen Bee' cliques, the style and its thread of dark, twisted family secrets to engage older readers. It's easy to sympthise with Anna and her desire for a more fun-filled life (whether than involves magic or not) but at the same time there's a distinct feeling that Effie and Attis will just lure her into trouble. And as events unfold, it's clear that neither her aunt nor Selene are quite as Anna sees them. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

Christopher and his mum Kate never seem to stay in one place very long. He's just started yet another new school, and having trouble finding friends and fitting in.
Then he 'meets' an imaginary friend, the Nice Man, and follows him into the woods near his home; the same woods in which a young boy disappeared 50 years ago. Christopher, too, disappears, but only for six days. On his return, he isn't the same boy. He's suddenly much cleverer than before and now has an obsession with building a treehouse in the middle of the woods - a treehouse which will provide a link between worlds, letting all sorts of evil out ...



Now, I haven't read The Perks of being a Wallflower, but I've seen the film and assumed that this new novel from Stephen Chbosky would be something in a similar vein. Well, fair to say Imaginary Friend wasn't at all what I expected. What you've basically got here is a horror story. It's not a genre I'm a huge fan of - the right story can make my hair stand on end, but so many seem to overdo the build up of tension and I just get irritated with it, and start skipping huge chunks. Sadly, Imaginary Friend falls into the second category. And then God and the Devil somehow got involved, and I really lost interest.


It's far too long. Reading a e-copy I hadn't realised just HOW long - 700+ pages - I'd just felt it dragging on and on. Maybe, just maybe, if it had been shorter it would have held my attention, but it wasn't and it didn't, although I did struggle on till the end.

Maryom's review - 2 stars - though horror fans will probably love it!
Publisher - Orion 
Genre - adult horror, fantasy

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

review by Maryom



Even before he moved to London, Richard Mayhew was warned that he would have a long way to travel, and that his journey would start with doors ...
For three years Richard's life has been uneventful. He has a steady office job, a steady girlfriend, and plans to settle down and marry, but things are about to change dramatically through an act of kindness. On his way out to dinner one evening, he stops to help an injured girl lying on the pavement, and takes her back to his flat. He assumed the only consequences would be irritating his fiancee, but matters are far more serious than that. For the girl is named Door (due to her ability to find and open them), she's the only surviving member of her family, the same assassins who murdered them are now pursuing her, and, most importantly, she comes from London Below, a shady world that exists beneath and between the streets and buildings of the capital. Some people are born there, some fall between the cracks of the 'real' world and end up there, some, like Richard, encounter its citizens and find themselves trapped between the two worlds. Having helped Door once, he finds he must help again if only to find a way to get home, and, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Richard is off on an adventure in a world that's familiar but wonderfully weird.

No book lover can be entirely unaware of Neil Gaiman but somehow although I'd read many of his short stories and a novel or two, I'd not quite appreciated the full breadth of his writing. Since reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane, all that has changed and I can't get enough!

Reading Neverwhere is like being taken back to childhood, to great fantasy adventures such as The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which bridge the gap between our everyday world and a hidden fantastical one, but told here in a way to appeal to adults and older teens.

So what specifically is to love about Neverwhere?

Well, first and foremost that parallel world of London Below hidden behind an overlooked doorway, or in an abandoned Tube station, with a 'Floating Maket' that moves from place to place (often familiar London landmarks), a labyrinth guarded by the Beast of London and too many marvellous sights and sites to describe here.
The characters - from Richard, an innocent from London Above, trapped against his will in a world full of danger and excitement; Door, seeking to avenge the death of her family; a female bodyguard who specialises in killing off deadly monsters lurking in the tunnels and sewers beneath cities all over the world, and known only as Hunter; the Marquis de Carabas who carries his life rather differently to mere humans; to angels, temptresses, a bird-man who makes his home on roofs, and a pair of hit-men, currently hired to track down Door, and disappointed when their appetite for killing can't be assuaged. Happily though, it's an urban fantasy that manages to entertain and thrill without the inclusion of vampires!
The way Gaiman has taken familiar place-names, twisted and re-invented them with wholly different meanings - you'll never think of Earl's Court, Down Street, Shepherd's Bush or The Angel, Islington in the same way again.
And ... despite a lot of the story taking place underground, I never once felt claustrophobic!

It's a non-stop adventure, full of danger, excitement and false trails, where, as you half-expect, friends can be disguised as foes, and vice versa.
I absolutely adored this, and much like Richard, didn't want to leave the World of London below, once the adventure's end was reached. Better than The Ocean at the End of the Lane? That's a hard call. I loved both, and wouldn't like to have to pick between them.



Now for a word about some 'technical' matters; this isn't the first version of Neverwhere, in fact several previous editions have appeared - first it was a TV mini series of 1996, then there was a tie-in book, followed by a US edition which explained all those quirky British things that might be meaningless to any foreign reader. This new version brings the best bits of all these together, adds some wonderful,atmospheric illustrations by Chris Riddell, a Q+A with the author and a short story How The Marquis Got His Coat Back set in the same world of London Below to make a gorgeous collectors' edition, a special present for a die-hard Gaiman fan, or just a wonderful 'introduction' for a newcomer like me.

Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Headline 
Genre - Adult/YA urban fantasy

Book of Lies by Teri Terry

"They are trapped, frozen. Waiting. Straining against the wood that holds them. The unwary catch a glimpse now and then - feel their desperate hunger, see a glint of red eyes - and scurry out of the shadows of the wood, back to the light.
She's coming; it will be soon.
They will run free on the moors again. The Hunt will return. 
And the ground will run with blood."

review by Maryom

Quinn and Piper are identical twins - but neither knows the other exists. Fearing a family curse, their mother insisted on them growing up apart; Quinn living in a remote house on Dartmoor with her grandmother, almost cut off from the world, not attending school, rarely meeting anyone else, even her mother; Piper living in more 'normal' surroundings in Winchester, with her mother and father, going to school, having friends and a boyfriend like any average teenager.

 Their mother always believed that one twin was cursed, full of evil, and would let loose the forces of darkness, while the other was the opposite and may even be able to lift the curse which has plagued their family for generations - but which is which? Now, at their mother's funeral, they're about to meet for the first time... 

Teri Terry's previous YA Novels - the Slated trilogy and Mind Games - were set in some vague dystopian future but Book of Lies brings fantasy to a town like yours.The story's premise - twins, one good, one evil, kept apart since birth, haunted by a family curse - sounds like the stuff straight out of fairy tales, but the setting is far from the deep-in-the-ancient-forest style fantasy. Instead events take place on the streets of an average English town and the wilder but still vaguely familiar (camping holidays/DofE) setting of Dartmoor. 

Told from the alternating perspectives of Quinn and Piper, the story hooked me from the first page. Being 'in' on the twins' private thoughts while each only knows her side of the story, and being able to put together the pieces about their family curse quicker than they did, kept me reading, wondering what would happen as the story raced towards its climax. It's definitely one of those un-put-down-able YA novels that rival a lot of 'adult' fiction.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Orchard Books
Genre - teen/YA urban fantasy