User Reviews - Helen Jones
Our number 1 reviewer for October, Helen shares her thoughts on a couple of great Indie Books
Adam-2 by Alastair Chisholm (Nosy Crow)
It’s a new world… How can he save it?
The robot Adam-2 has been locked in the basement of a lost building for over two hundred years – until one day he is discovered by two children, and emerges into a world ruined by a civil war between humans and robots.
Hunted by both sides, Adam discovers that he holds the key to the war, and the power to end it – to destroy one side and save the other. But which side is right?
Surrounded by enemies who want to use him, and allies who mistrust him, Adam must decide who – and what – he really is.
A brilliant MG sci-fi adventure.
What started as an interesting twist on a sci-fi adventure became a thought-provoking read with many parallels in the current world. This is the first book I have read where one of the main characters is non-binary. It was also the first time a children’s book had really made me consider the perspectives of different sides in a war and what it takes to be accepted in an unfamiliar world. In the end though it is a fantastic page-turning adventure with brilliant characters which stayed with me for days afterwards. If you like this, try Orion Lost too.
Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep By Philip Reeve (David Fickling)
It was always at sundown they were seen. In that twilight hour, when the walls between the worlds grew thin, strange things might slip through the cracks. Sometimes then, so the stories went, enchanted islands would appear in the empty ocean to the west of Wildsea. When Utterly Dark was a baby, she was washed up on the shores of the Autumn Isles and taken in by the Watcher of Wildsea. But everything changes when her guardian suddenly drowns. Now who will keep the Watch, and make sure Wildsea stays safe from the strange forces teeming in the deep ocean around them?
Fantastic combination of magic and myth
Loved the intriguing title and the beautifully written description of the Autumn Isles drew me in to this dark but magical tale. Utterly Dark is wonderful – a brave, thoughtful and determined heroine – and the supporting characters are brought to life brilliantly. No spoilers but it is a fantastic adventure that rushes headlong to the end. I am sorry to have finished it and can’t wait for the sequel!
