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The Blurb On The Back:

Be careful what you wish for …

Necessity Bonehill has unleashed an evil djinn from his bottle. Now she has just seven days to put him back. But the djinn has a different plan, and returning to his prison isn’t part of it.

With her friend Azuli and a fierce flying carpet, Ness must race against time to stop the djinn from carrying out his deadly last wish – whatever it takes.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The last book in Jon Mayhew’s loose middle grade historical fantasy is another well-written tale filled with pots of adventure and deliciously dark villainy. What’s particularly good about this book is that Ness is initially a pretty unpleasant character – a wilful, stubborn bully who terrorises the other girls at her boarding school and enjoy fighting the local boys. Mayhew skilfully gives her a convincing emotional backstory to explain this behaviour while also making clear that those qualities that make her unbearable can, when used properly, also make her a gutsy, determined heroine. I really enjoyed her relationship with Sergeant Major Morris and, for the most part, her bickering relationship with Azuli works – although I would have liked for him to have had a little more development just to round him out more. I wasn’t completely convinced by the Lashkars of Arabesque Alley, mainly because they came very close to being stock Arabian mystics, but Mayhew does give a lot of emotional subtlety to the relationship between Azuli and his adoptive father. Fans of MORTLOCK and THE DEMON COLLECTOR will enjoy the sly cross-references to those books and the return of some characters and themes from those books, but this does work very much as a standalone book for those who haven’t read the preceding novels. Ultimately, I enjoyed reading this and while I’m sorry that the trilogy has come to an end, I’m very much looking forward to reading what Mayhew writes next.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Books for the free copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Edgy Taylor sees demons when nobody else can.

He also works all hours for the most brutal and abusive master in London.

One night, when Edgy fears his master’s temper may spell the end, a mysterious bespectacled old man intervenes to save him. The man does not think Edgy is insane. Instead he takes Edgy to the Royal Society of Daemonologie. Here Edgy discovers that chance had nothing to do with their meeting. And that chances are something he is about to run out of.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

A companion novel to the critically acclaimed MORTLOCK rather than a sequel, this is another darkly entertaining historical fantasy for children, with plenty of thrills, spills and riddles. For me the demons really steal the show, but I loved the main character and there were plenty of twists in the tale to keep me guessing. I’m really looking forward to reading the next in this entertaining series.

THE DEMON COLLECTOR is released in the UK on 7th March 2011. Thanks to Bloomsbury for the ARC.

The Blurb On The Back:

A past life doesn’t mean a good one

Will Hodge’s life is a mess! His mother is dead, he has no friends and he is being followed by a strange group of people who tell him they know him. But Will can’t remember them ... at first. And when he does, he doesn’t like what he knows.

While Will is struggling with unsettling memories, he learns that his past is a lot deeper than many people’s. Is he strong enough to break links with the powerful hold that history has on him?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Although this is a flawed novel, there are interesting ideas at play here and I liked the way it integrates current racial politics with past historical events. For that alone it’s worth checking out.

THE RETURNERS was published in the United Kingdom in April. Thanks to Bloomsbury for the ARC.