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Monday 19 August 2013

The Diamond Thief by Sharon Gosling

 


This is a thrilling mystery set in Victorian London that follows Remy, a high wire circus act, who is also a very clever thief.  We follow her as she attempts to steal the Darya-ye Noor diamond from the Tower of London but is thwarted by a clever adversary, Lord Abernathy.

I have to say that I really loved this story.  I really warned to Remy who I found to be a very reluctant heroine.  The way her tale entwines with Thaddeus Rec is extremely entertaining and utterly convincing.  Thaddeus Rec is a young policeman who when not trying to save Remy is trying to arrest her.  They are both orphans and it is really interesting to see how their paths have differed, Remy being a thief and Thaddeus a policeman who was once living destitute on the streets of London.  They are both catapulted into the underworld of the London sewers and underground rivers.  That part of the story was really interesting as I never knew how many rivers there were under London.

There are other characters that play a huge part in this Indian Jones style story.  My favourites being J and the Professor.  J had all the charm you would expect of a Victorian cockney lad who lives on the streets and he reminded me of a character from Oliver Twist.  The Professor is like a mad scientist with all his futuristic inventions including night vision glasses. In my head he was “Doc” from Back to the Future!

All in all this is a truly entertaining book that captured both my heart and imagination and I for one cannot wait to read more books by Sharon Gosling.
 
Many thanks once again to the lovely Emma for the book - http://www.bookangelbooktopia.com/

Friday 2 August 2013

Goblin Sectrets by William Alexander




This book confused me! For starters I am not sure what time period it is set in.  Not that it always matters but I kind of like having some sort of reference.  It feels as though it is set in older days but there are mentions of trains and complicated clockwork characters so I am still not sure. 

The story revolves around Rownie who is searching for his brother.  He ends up with a group of Goblins who are also looking for Rowan.  The Goblins are a group of actors although acting has been outlawed by the Mayor.  This is another part of the book that did not make much sense.  You are never really told why it has been outlawed and I think if we had the book may have made more sense.  The Goblins also have masks that they wear whilst performing and I would have loved to know more about them, the history of why those particular masks and their meanings.

There also doesn’t seem to be enough back story to tell you why there are clockwork people and animals and how they came about.  You don’t really know who is clockwork and who isn’t and again a bit more about that would not have gone a miss.

The book is only 220 pages long and I think this is its downfall.  If the author had written a longer book that could give you some of the back stories then I would have enjoyed it a lot more.  Maybe it is this short as it is targeted for the 8-12 age range but I think they could have coped with something a bit more in depth.

Thanks again goes to Emma for the  book - http://www.bookangelbooktopia.com/