Review - The Fear by Charlie Higson

The Eulogy (From the Publisher):
HE DOESN'T KNOW IT, BUT DOGNUT IS ABOUT TO SET OFF A CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT WILL AFFECT EVERY KID IN THE CITY.
The sickness struck everyone over the age of fourteen.
Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups . . .
THEY'RE HUNGRY. THEY'RE BLOODTHIRSTY AND THEY AREN'T GIVING UP
DogNut and the rest of his crew want to find their lost friends, on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait.
But who are their friends and who are the enemy in this changed world?

In a Nutshell: Brilliant. Just read it. Now.

Dearly Departed,
We are gathered here today to discuss The Fear by Charlie Higson. Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. How do you do it? Every time I read one of the books in this wonderful zombie series, I'm simply floored by how he writes. Mostly, it's in the characters - these books have a huge cast of characters, but at no point do any of these characters feel like they're just filler. Every single one of them has their own story to tell in the zombie apocalypse, and Higson has such a knack for writing characters that feel so real. The exchanges between characters and the glimpses we see of their thoughts makes you really want them to survive, though in a book like this you know that not all of them will make it to the last page.

The first book in the series, The Enemy (technically, though, this is the third in chronological order) really blew me away due to its no-holds-barred approach to killing off characters. Nobody was safe, and I think that's what makes for damn good horror. You really come to care for the characters and don't want to see anything bad happen to them. But when the bad does happen, it's still pretty spectacular. Some of the gory scenes in this book are just top notch - rather than just excess blood and guts, they're original gross-out stuff, particularly DogNut's flashbacks to what he finds in the bank cellar.

Reading this has made me want to go back and reread the rest of the series so I can see how all the stories intertwine. Higson really is a masterful storyteller, one of the best, and you never find yourself wanting to get back to other groups' stories, which is a common gripe of mine in multi-POV stories.

Truly top-notch zombie horror, and I'm very pleased to see there will be another book in the series out next year.

Review - Hell's Heroes

The Eulogy (From the Publisher):

Beranabus and Dervish are gone. Bec has formed an unholy alliance with Lord Loss. Kernel is blind, held on Earth against his will. Grubbs is mad with grief and spinning out of control. 

The demons are crossing.
The Disciples are falling.
The Shadow is waiting.

Welcome to the end.

The Epitaph (In a Nutshell): A highly satisfying ending to what is one of my all-time favourite series.

Dearly Departed,

We are gathered here today to discuss Hell's Heroes by Darren Shan. I'd been putting off reading this for some time. Not because I didn't want to read it - quite the opposite: Demonata is one of my favourite series, and I just didn't want it to end. But after feeling a little restless for something good to read, I finally picked it up yesterday... and didn't put it down until a few hours later when I'd raced through it.

Nobody knows how to write at such a cracking pace quite like Darren Shan. I can honestly say the time flew as I ripped through the final chapter in Grubbs, Kernel and Bec's fight against the Demon universe. If you've read the rest of the series, you'll know exactly what to expect from this last book, and while there are no big surprises here, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

One of my pet peeves in YA is when a favourite character dies, and no fanfare is made (I'm looking at YOU Hunger Games!) but thankfully that isn't the case in Hell's Heroes. Without being too spoilery, yes, characters die (this is a Darren Shan novel after all) but all of them are given the proper sendoffs they deserve.

While I'm sad to say goodbye to this excellent series, I felt this was a very fitting end and I can't wait to see what Shan will do next.

Review - Crowmaster

The Eulogy (From the Publishers):

After Kyle's ordeal at school, his mother packs him off to the safety of the countryside, where there will be no temptation to use his powers, and he can forget the bad things - like the fact that his dad is a monster determined to destroy the world.
 But here's the thing about the countryside: it's full of nature, and nature sometimes has claws. Followed by a spindly figure in the woods and attacked by crows, Kyle is about to discover that NOWHERE is safe from the invisible fiends…

The Epitaph (In a Nutshell): My new favourite in the Invisible Fiends series! So much action and horror, you'll be jumping out of your seat!

Dearly Departed,
We are gathered here today to discuss Crowmaster by Barry Hutchison. This is the third in the Invisible Fiends series, following on from the terrifying Mr Mumbles and the supremely creepy Raggy Maggie. I absolutely LOVED the other two, so I couldn't wait to get a copy of the latest in the series into my eager claws.
Readers, Crowmaster does not disappoint in any way, shape or form. I was blown away from page one, with the reappearance (maybe?) of Mr Mumbles and the addition of some very creepy crows who don't like to stay dead. I particularly liked that this was a change in scenery for Kyle, who goes to stay with his mum's cousin in the country. In the middle of nowhere. With nobody to call for help. But Marion is the sensible type - she'd never have an invisible friend, would she?
Well, we all know the answer to that one, and when the Crowmaster appears he is absolutely terrifying! There are a couple of gory scenes that had me gasping and laughing with glee in equal measures. Such a brilliant addition to one of my favourite horror series.
If you want a book with highly original horror scenes that don't shy away from being truly frightening, and characters that are guaranteed to give you nightmares, then Crowmaster is for you!