BOOK REVIEW: The Enemy(Charlie Higson)

Book: The Enemy

Author: Charlie Higson

Rating: 8.5/10

This is the first book in a series Higson has written and he's made a good start


"They thought they would always protect you, You were wrong"


The Illness, The Disaster, whatever you want to call it struck, without warning.Everyone over the age of 14 got ill.

The luckier ones died... those that didn't are people no longer... They are the enemy. They are mindless creatures, with no resemblance to the humans they once were.


We join the Waitrose crew,  one of many groups of kids who have survived in a London populated by mindless Grown-ups who want to eat them.

They are fairly organised and they can fight. They can scavenge food out of the neighbourhood, But that's not enough anymore . Scavenging is becoming dangerous, grown ups are getting more daring and hungry each day.

Contending for food with grown-ups, dogs and the Morrisons crew(another group of kids) is becoming harder.
Then in one trip things change for the worse,   One of their number die, and their leader Arran is bitten.And at Waitrose itself Small Sam, a little kid, is taken.  Meanwhile at Waitrose large numbers of the mutated adults are appearing.The situation is bleak and when a random kid appear from no where offering safety it seems to good to be true.


Now they must embark on a perilous journey through London with the Morrisons crew, all on the advice of a kid in a patchwork cloak. Grown ups are everywhere,  but the promise of a safe sanctuary is worth the risk.


But not all will survive the skirmishes that errupt on their journey to Buckingham Palace and those who do may not like what they find.


Buckingham is to good to be true, few grown ups.The kids their are  organised, defended,  lead by a posh boy called David. Food is in it's multitudes.

But when asked to attack other groups of kids things start fraying, bitterness and feuds errupt and violence seems to be the predominant diplomatic tool. Can the leaders of Waitorse and Morrisons  convince the kids to do what's right not what's safe? and will  the warriors and little kids agree?  David want to rule the world, do they want to follow him?

Meanwhile Small Sam is on his own journey, having escaped his captors and avoided being eaten he will be exposed to the horror of human nature as he falls prey to non infected adults who have resorted to cannabalism  to survive. Him and a wierd kid known only as The Kid   must escape and find thier own sanctuary. In a city where even large groups struggle to survive what chance do little kids have, read to find out.




I really like this book, it doesn't use complex language so suitable for all reading abilities(although prehaps not all ages). The detail in places  is light but still grabs you.
Lots of films,books and tv shows have been made around the subjects of adults disapering, mutating ect ect. But Charlie Higson has done a masterful job that makes you want to read cover to cover non-stop. I can't wait for the rest of the series and hope they live up to the high standard set by this book.

If your a fan of adventure,mystery, with little snippets of gore and horror this book is definetly for you. and even if those aren't your areas ofinterest the way it's written and the struggle to survive in a world with no adults should make you interest.

I recommend going and buying this book if your looking for the traits listed above or just for a completely different experience.

This series shows promise and the next one is already on it's way to me. Give it a go.

(Those in the UK,USA and Germany remember you can buy this book by clicking the links provided below.)

Hope you found this reivew helpful,

The Devonian Book Reviewer

UK:

USA:


Germany

Message from Devonian Book Reviewer: hello and nice surprise,

Hello Readers,

You have probably noticed that I haven't posted for ages! 
and i'm very sorry about that other commitments, work and numerous other things have kept me away.

But I was very pleasently surprised to log in and find over 300 of you a month have been viewing this blog despite the lack of new material. 


My thanks to you all.

I will do my best to post reviews when I can but it won't be as nicely organised and structured posting times and dates as my previous ones have been.


Anyway Thanks to you all and please continue to read the great reviews i'm writing  to give you a good idea of books to buy!

Thanks again,

The Devonian Book Reviewer

BOOK REIVEW: The Demon Lord (Peter Morwood)

Book: The Demon Lord

Author: Peter Morwood

Rating: 8/10


This is the sequel to his first book; The Horse Lord,


It Took Aldric Tavalain four years of rigorous training under the wizard Gemmel  to achieve his vengeance and retake his birthright, clan lord of Tavalain, lord of Dunrath hold.

But with memories of the people who died there and his family slaughtered by the evil wizard Klarr cu Ruruc he leaves the land of Alban and travels to the Imperial Empire, carrying a coded message in his head that not even he can read, only the person with the code words.

On reaching the Deep forest he meets a hunter Evthan and his niece Gueynor  who tells him of a terrible beast that is killing the women and children of the area. Aldric decides to help catch this beast while learning about the overlord in that area and how he is in league with a demon conjurer.

Then when he hunts this beast he finds the truth, it is a werewolf, a changeling who has no control over his actions, but worse still it's his new friend and ally Evthan. The honourable thing to do is to kill the beast and let him depart this world in peace but as Aldric does he makes a shocking revelation, this is the overlords doing as a punishment for a crime, and that his supposed niece is actually the disowned heir to the city of Seghar.

Travelling there seems the only option but can they survive the plots that hang around the city and when an uprising is in the offing what will Gueynor do?

More importantly can Aldric and Marek the demon destroyer stop the stupid  Overlord before the demon spirit he raises  takes control and this and is turned to darkness under the evil power of Issaqua,

all his missions for Alban count for nothing now, it's survival and success that matters and only that. but with the blame of the old Overlords death resting on Aldric what shall happen??

This book is a rather hard book to convey in a review in My opinion, It is better than the first but also rather different, I really enjoyed both this book and the first and would recommend them both even if they don#t sound so appealing in the way I've worded the reviews.

Hope you found this review helpful,
The Devonian Book Reviewer

Uk:


USA:

Germany: