Crawlers by Sam Enthoven
May. 30th, 2010 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Four boys and four girls are on a trip to the theatre.
Little do they know that they will never see the play.
They’re about to be plunged into a nightmare.
Beneath the theatre lies a secret.
And now she has been released ...
Jasmine is a teenage girl from an inner city comprehensive. Driven and determined, she keeps herself apart from the other girls in her school and dreams of a successful future.
Ben is a teenage boy from an expensive private school. Quiet and reserved, he likes horror films and zombies and doesn’t really hang out with the rich boys at his school.
They meet at London’s Barbican theatre complex where they are each part of school parties there to see a play. But they never see the play.
Unknown to anyone, there’s something being kept captive underneath the Barbican. Something old and sinister. A queen who’s been waiting for over 300 years to be let out. A queen that can control people’s actions - a queen waiting to rule over her subjects.
Sam Enthoven’s written a fast-paced, scary rollercoaster of a book that pitches 8 teenagers from vastly different backgrounds into a nightmarish situation where they find themselves locked in the huge Barbican complex with hundreds of adults and children all under the control of a malevolent creature intent on domination. However, the threat from the crawlers is no less dangerous than the threat from the teenagers to each other, as tensions come out within the group – notably between Josh (an overly privileged and hugely arrogant boy) and Samantha (a mouthy girl well used to forcing her will on others). Enthoven handles the group dynamics well and the emergence of a traitor within the group is handled in a way that allows for twists and genuine surprises.
Ben and Lauren are likeable enough protagonists, although the Queen’s interest in Lauren and her supposed special qualities feels a little artificial and forced at times. The supporting teenage characters are slightly too broadly drawn to be wholly believable, but again are likeable enough.
Enthoven gives a shout out to a number of big horror names in the acknowledgement to the book – including John Carpenter and H. R Giger and their influence on the book’s story and imagery is clear (pleasantly so).
It’s not a perfect book – the ending is a bit of anti-climax given the events building up to it. However it is fast-moving, genuinely creepy and uses horror heritage to good effect. It’s a book that budding horror fans will probably enjoy.
The Verdict:
This is a fast-paced YA horror novel with plenty of chills and frights and which makes great use of the dynamics between the teens in trouble. I wasn’t struck on the ending, which felt like a cop-out given everything that happened before, but it’s still worth a look – especially if you’re interested in horror as there are plenty of nods to some horror greats.
Four boys and four girls are on a trip to the theatre.
Little do they know that they will never see the play.
They’re about to be plunged into a nightmare.
Beneath the theatre lies a secret.
And now she has been released ...
Jasmine is a teenage girl from an inner city comprehensive. Driven and determined, she keeps herself apart from the other girls in her school and dreams of a successful future.
Ben is a teenage boy from an expensive private school. Quiet and reserved, he likes horror films and zombies and doesn’t really hang out with the rich boys at his school.
They meet at London’s Barbican theatre complex where they are each part of school parties there to see a play. But they never see the play.
Unknown to anyone, there’s something being kept captive underneath the Barbican. Something old and sinister. A queen who’s been waiting for over 300 years to be let out. A queen that can control people’s actions - a queen waiting to rule over her subjects.
Sam Enthoven’s written a fast-paced, scary rollercoaster of a book that pitches 8 teenagers from vastly different backgrounds into a nightmarish situation where they find themselves locked in the huge Barbican complex with hundreds of adults and children all under the control of a malevolent creature intent on domination. However, the threat from the crawlers is no less dangerous than the threat from the teenagers to each other, as tensions come out within the group – notably between Josh (an overly privileged and hugely arrogant boy) and Samantha (a mouthy girl well used to forcing her will on others). Enthoven handles the group dynamics well and the emergence of a traitor within the group is handled in a way that allows for twists and genuine surprises.
Ben and Lauren are likeable enough protagonists, although the Queen’s interest in Lauren and her supposed special qualities feels a little artificial and forced at times. The supporting teenage characters are slightly too broadly drawn to be wholly believable, but again are likeable enough.
Enthoven gives a shout out to a number of big horror names in the acknowledgement to the book – including John Carpenter and H. R Giger and their influence on the book’s story and imagery is clear (pleasantly so).
It’s not a perfect book – the ending is a bit of anti-climax given the events building up to it. However it is fast-moving, genuinely creepy and uses horror heritage to good effect. It’s a book that budding horror fans will probably enjoy.
The Verdict:
This is a fast-paced YA horror novel with plenty of chills and frights and which makes great use of the dynamics between the teens in trouble. I wasn’t struck on the ending, which felt like a cop-out given everything that happened before, but it’s still worth a look – especially if you’re interested in horror as there are plenty of nods to some horror greats.
