Tag: #Scary

The Secret of the Moonshard by Struan Murray

On By @f33lthesunIn Fantasy, Upper KS2+Leave a comment
Cover and art by Vivienne To

Blurb

Domino is an eleven-year-old girl with a strange affliction: if she goes anywhere near magic, it will kill her.

All her life she’s been trapped in a floating laboratory, safe from magic but not from the cruel children and the crueler Science Barons who live there. Domino believes the Barons are trying to invent a cure for her magic allergy, but when a mysterious wizard arrives and unleashes total chaos, she discovers that everything she’s been told is a lie.

Domino escapes to the wondrous city of Abzalaymon, its streets filled with marvels she’s never seen, from automobiles to televisions to hulking thunder lizards. But the Science Barons are on her trail, and Domino must brave a hidden realm of magic if she is to defeat their sinister plot, and uncover a secret that might just save the world: the Secret of the Moonshard.

Review

Struan Murray has done it again. A superbly crafted story in a fantastically created world. The Scientarium floats above the city, tormenting Domino, who dreams of visiting it one day, who has known nothing else but the bullying / prankster revenge and testing cycles her life consists of, thanks to the Science Barons who raise her there “to protect her from magic”. Does she really need protecting?

Once again, following the highly original and exciting Orphans of the Tide trilogy, the author has delivered with a variety of well defined characters, twists and turns, magic and mayhem, chases that have you on the edge your seat and even some dinosaurs.

Creating characters with depth and believability is a special skill and Murray has this down to a fine art. The ones that I’m particularly drawn to are those who bring indecision to my mind…which side will these characters fall on when push comes to shove? Abzalaymon, the spirit, is a deliciously contrasting character, which puts you, as the reader, on edge. Will they help Domino, Calvin and Raphael…or eat them?

A book map is always a bonus.

Thanks to NetGalley and Puffin for the eARC in exchange for this review. The book will be published on March 7th 2024

The Haunting Scent of Poppies by Victoria Williamson

On By @f33lthesunIn Grown Up Novel, Spooky, SuspenseLeave a comment

Blurb

A spine-chilling winter ghost story set in the months after the Great War. Perfect for lovers of MR James and Susan Hill

The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.

Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he’s forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can’t believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there’s a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London’s mobsters is lurking in the shadows.

Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he’s suffocated by his own greed?

Review

Having recently read a few of her books, a couple of MGs and a YA dystopian novel, I was intrigued to read a ghost story by her. I was not disappointed. Yet again, Victoria Williamson delivers.

The author’s descriptive writing, detailing the gas attacks and hauntings, is superb, my heart did beat faster during a couple of the “chases”. She creates a hauntingly spine-chilling atmosphere and builds the tension effortlessly.

I had some difficult finding any redeeming characteristics in Charlie, the main character. He was a wrong ‘un but did he deserve what happened to him? Was it karma for all his wrong doings, which including dodging the war draft?

Like all the best ghost stories, some things are left to the reader to wonder … was what happened to Charlie really a haunting, or hallucinations from nonchalantly burning the dried poppy bookmark he found in the book?

Thanks to @silverthistleps and @The_WriteReads for a copy of the book for review purposes.

The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams by Victoria Williamson, illustrated by James Brown

On By @f33lthesunIn #Mystery, Children Upper KS2, Fantasy2 Comments

Blurb

In a strange little village called Witchetty Hollow, eleven-year-old Florizel is the first to run into the curious visitors who’ve come to open a brand new Daydream Delicatessen and sack-baby factory.

At first, it seems the daydream confection and cheap sack children are the best things that could have happened to the poor folk of the Hollow – after all, who has the money to rent their child from Storkhouse Services these days? But after a few weeks, Florizel starts to notice something odd happening to the adults of the town. First, they seem dreamy, then they lose all interest in their jobs and families. Soon they’re trading all their worldly goods in the newly-opened Pawnshop for money to buy daydreams. With no money for rent payments, the children of Witchetty Hollow are being reclaimed by Storkhouse Services at an alarming rate. Florizel needs to act.

Review

This is a dark, sinister story that made my skin crawl at times but it is ultimately filled with hope.

Victoria Williamson has cleverly created a deeply creepy, Grimmesque fairy tale world, covering themes of greed, addiction and capitalism alongside those of friendship and community suitable for young readers (9+) that will have them fearful for Florizel and Burble but also page turning hopefully to find out what happens next.

There is a wide range of characters, from mostly good to downright wicked, in particular the child repossessing “nurses” who are just as ominous and scary as the infamous child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Illustrations by James Brown

The dark and light of the story is reflected in the descriptions. The Dream Delicatessen and Pawnshop evoke scenes bursting with colour and sparkle, in stark contrast to the rest of the town, which is shrouded in gloom and despair. James Brown’s black and white illustrations capture the drama and atmosphere perfectly.

In Scotland, dressing up at Hallowe’en and visiting other houses is called guising. The fear inducing Gobbelino guisers, in their cloaks and masks, made me reminisce about a childhood Hallowe’en where someone (a friend of my parents) came guising to our house in a huge coat and mask and, to this day, I still do not know who it was. This story is as creepy as I felt that night.

Thank you to Tiny Tree Books and The Write Reads for a free digital copy of the book for review purposes.

Wilthaven by Oli Jacobs

On By @f33lthesunIn Grown Up Novel, Horror2 Comments

Blurb

A quiet English town that thrives on local produce, old fashioned values, and survival against the rule of an Eldritch Abomination. Here, you will enjoy endless walks, soothing sounds, forceful avatars, and the kind of joys that only an English township can bring!

(Please note: this dossier has been compiled by the BPD based on materials found relating to P1983 – or Wilthaven as you know it. Treat every sentence, word, image, and syllable with the utmost paranoia. Be safe.)

Wilthaven is a horror comedy.

Review

Wilthaven exists but it doesn’t.

The Bureau of Paranormal Discoveries (BPD) has been investigating it for many years. Reports, recordings and documents, as well as encounters with residents of Wilthaven, are presented here, building up the history of a place not in our dimension, in order to decide if it is threat to our way of life.

In Wilthaven, the normal rules of science and nature do not apply.

The Crest family has been in charge for generations. The Wilthaven Way is their code of conduct.

There is a nighttime curfew and severe consequences for those who do not comply with it, but not from the authorities of the town. For those that do comply, a good night’s sleep is not guaranteed.

Do not go into the Wilthaven woods. You may or may not come out. If you do, you will never be the same again.

How did the materials related to Wilthaven come to exist in different worldwide locations in our dimension? What happened and is still happening there? What are the origins of the scratching and screaming during the hours of darkness? Who are the avatars? So many questions (and also shivers) arise from reading this dossier. A few laugh out loud moments too.

The materials are presented in the order they were uncovered, not chronologically. This leaves the reader piecing the story together part by part, which I liked. The items recovered are not always complete. However, the missing/lost sections confidently leave a lot to the reader’s imagination: a feeling of unease, a building horror of what happens to the people who encounter whatever is actually ruling Wilthaven, because it is definitely not the Mayor.

The drip feeding of information, the frustration of missing (damaged or retracted) details, linking the story together as each item in the dossier is revealed was, for me, very reminiscent of reading Michael Crichton. High praise!

There is also a sub story concerning the agents who document and act on the materials. The dossier format cleverly allows us to follow this via the lead agents summaries and Director’s notes.

I will definitely be on the lookout for more of Oli Jacobs’ spine tingling work.

I received this book to read and review as part of the 2021 BBNYA competition and the BBNYA tours organised by the TWR Tour team. All opinions are my own, unbiased and honest.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where Book Bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or twitter @bbnya_official. 

The sign-ups will soon be open for the 2022 BBNYA competition, be it for authors to enter their books, or for bloggers wanting to be part of the new panel, so keep your eyes peeled!!

Book Info

Publisher: Independently published

Length: 362 Pages

Date Published: April 27th, 2020

About the Author

Oli Jacobs is a bearded chap who enjoys spinning a yarn or two. While now a hermit, he has been rumoured to be seen drinking beer and enjoying chicken in the wilds of Southampton. If seen, please approach gently as he has severe anxiety and may cry.

As well as Wilthaven, Oli has also written other Horror (The Children of Little Thwopping, The Station 17 Chronicles), Comedy (the Kirk Sandblaster series), Thriller (the Mr Blank series), and short stories (the Filmic Cuts series).

As always, he hopes you enjoy.

The Incredible Talking Machine by Jenni Spangler

On By @f33lthesunIn Children KS2Leave a comment

Pull back the curtain and enter a world where mystery and magic take centre stage in a gloriously gothic, Victorian era adventure.

Twelve-year-old Tig works at Manchester’s Theatre Royale, cleaning, selling tickets, crawling along beams to light the gas stage lamps and anything else that is asked of her by her deliciously villainous boss, Mr Snell.

A strange and intriguing new act, a talking machine, arrives and behaves in a way that Tig just can’t work out. The machine appears to be hinting at a dangerous secret, so Tig must race against time to solve the mysterious clues. Just when she thinks she has, it turns out she was wrong and, because of her impetuousness, problems occur and her close friends start to mistrust her.

An action packed Victorian adventure full of ghosts, gadgets, a dress with pockets (if you know, you know) and shifty villains.

Jenni Spangler has used a real story to create a tense, atmospheric tale involving a cast of characters so well written that I read it in one afternoon. It helps that I have always been fascinated by stagecraft and inventions/curiosities like this

There is plenty of action, from Tig balancing on beams high above the stage in the dark, lighting the new gas stage lamps to mysterious thefts, disappearances and races to try to prevent the machine’s “open to interpretation” predictions of catastrophe.

However, the strength of the story lies in the characters that Jenni has created.

  • Tig, the feisty, impetuous, determined heroine.
  • Nelson, the sensible, cautious friend.
  • Mr Snell, the villainous, permanently nagging boss.
  • Gus, the ambitious but sneaky stagehand.
  • Mr (oops, sorry, Professor) Faber, the eccentric German inventor of the talking machine.
  • Eliza, the stage manager, who does her best to look after Tig when her “act first, think later” attitude gets her in trouble.
  • Euphonia, the talking head…does she have a mind of her own?
  • Annie…you will need to read the book to find out about her.

Chris Mould’s brilliant illustrations capture perfectly the array of characters and the gothic feel of the time, adding even more texture to an already well woven story.

The Follower by Kate Doughty (due to be published 23.3.2021)

On By @f33lthesunIn Horror, Young AdultLeave a comment

The Follower is a YA story that follows the story of teenage triplets, Cecily, Amber and Rudy Cole. They are the personalities that front the family’s social media influencer account about house flipping. They take on multi million dollar makeovers, live-streaming and photoshopping their way to sponsorships that increasingly become needed due to the family finances. The majority of followers (The Cole Patrol) are in awe.

The triplets each had their own “thing” on social media. Cecily does make up and wanted to delve into the chemicals and science of the make up. Amber has been relegated by mum to the behind camera operations, despite wanting to promote her plus size fashion tips and Rudy has become the “host with the most”, when all he wants to do is investigate and dabble in his music.

But all is not as “prefect” as it seems, both on social media and in their lives. The triplets are increasing fed up with their mother’s control of their output (mainly due to financial pressures) and the never ending need for the perfect shots to up the follower count.

When they take on a house in the New York suburbs that has been empty for a few years after a suicide, the locals are none too happy and neither is one particular follower. This is when things start to totally unravel for the Cole family.

The Follower posts messages to their account warning them off “my house”. The family ignore these until strange things start to happen. Items are moved or disappear, doors are locked that were previously open, shadows are seen, footsteps heard…but no solid evidence. The normally encouraging and cheerleading followers start to take notice of The Follower’s postings and accuse the Coles of fake news and faking accidents for internet hits, turning against the family.

I wanted to tell them to stop posting, but like all horror stories, characters always do things we all know would be sensible not to.

The incidents become increasingly life threatening but are difficult to prove to the police. Rudy takes on his own investigation, with the support of his sisters and a couple of local teenagers they have befriended. This just increases the rage of The Follower.

The tension builds during the story, clues lead in a range of different directions until the final, slightly bemusing denouement. I felt there were not enough hints earlier in the story to have possibly worked out who The Follower was. However, the explanation added to the depth of the back story. There is no final “happy” ending…we are left wondering what will happen next.

There are some difficult themes in this book: loss, disfigurement, stalking, death, suicide, as well as the overarching theme of social media portrayal of life vs reality (lies vs truth?), which leads the narrative and is very uncomfortable at times.

There are some follower posts between each chapter, on a background of a shadow (The Follower). These add to the creepiness of the story. I noticed that the shadow is not always in the same place, which added to my unnerved feeling.

Cover and other illustrations are by Hana Anouk Nakamura.

This is a story loosely based on an ongoing true story. It is deeply unsettling.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amulet Books/ABRAMSbooks for an eARC.

The Monsters of Rookhaven by Pádraig Kenny

On By @f33lthesunIn Children KS2Leave a comment

Nothing is as it seems in Rookhaven. No one is as they seem in Rookhaven.

Mirabelle and her family are suddenly exposed to the outside world when two orphan siblings, Tom and Jem, accidentally find their way through the invisible shield that protects them from the outside world…or is it the other way round? Who wouldn’t want to be protected by carnivorous plants?

The family are a bit of a mismatched group, all with their own past experiences and special skills. Especially the enigmatic Piglet, the being locked in the cellar. Is everything as it seems? Would it make things better or worse if Piglet is released?

Pádraig Kenny has written a classic gothic tale for children. There are echoes of other fictional worlds but the author has created a unique world with unique characters. Every one of them finds out more about themselves and we as readers are led to think one thing then forced to re-evaluate what we already thought we knew.

Themes of family, friendship, trust, fear, community, grief, morality and mortality are tackled deftly.

Edward Bettison’s illustrations are used to superb effect throughout the book, like light shining through the dark.

Endpapers…I love them and these by Edward Bettison are stunning. They are an added extra that echo the illustrations throughout the book that complement the story telling.