MG

Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren

12th September 2017 by Jax Blunt 4 Comments

When 13-year-old Valor is sent to jail, she couldn’t be happier. Demidova’s prison for criminal children is exactly where she wants to be. Valor’s twin sister, Sasha, is serving a life sentence for stealing from the royal family, and Valor is going to help her escape…from the inside. Never mind that no one has escaped the prison in centuries.

Valor has a master plan and resources most people could only dream about. But she didn’t count on having to outsmart both the guards and her fellow prisoners. If Valor’s plan is to succeed, she’ll need to make some unlikely allies. And if the plan fails, she and Sasha could end up with fates worse than prison.

Buy at Amazon (affiliate link)

I love a good fantasy adventure, and this ticked all the boxes for me. It’s Middle Grade, which is the age level before YA, which made it a very quick read for me, but nonetheless enjoyable. Fun main characters inhabiting a well drawn world – this is an accomplished debut and I look forward to the next instalment. (There *is* going to be a next instalment, right?) It is a little dark in places (these are not adventures where you bruise your knee, dust yourself off and are home for supper), and I certainly wouldn’t hand it to Smallest just now, who is on the nervous side as a reader, but it’s definitely one I would keep on the shelf for her in a couple of years time. By which time I’ll have the next instalment, right? If I had a criticism it’s that some of the supporting characters could do with a bit more attention to flesh them out a little, but I think that’s a casualty of the age category rather than the writing.

Very much looking forward to seeing what comes next, and hoping that it’s soon!

Find out more about Ruth at her website, Twitter Instagram

Disclosure: I was supplied a copy of this book by Bloomsbury via Netgalley for the purposes of review. Amazon links are affiliate links.

The Inventory 3: Black Knight by Andy Briggs.

22nd April 2017 by Jax Blunt 6 Comments

Buy at Amazon (affiliate link)

Dev and his friends are back with more mind-bending tech in this third instalment of the Inventory series. This time they are tasked with training new recruits to defend the Inventory’s incredible inventions. But will they be ready for action before Shadow Helix’s next strike?

First of all, why not catch up on Small’s thoughts on book one and book two of Andy Brigg’s The Inventory series? Now that you’re all set, you’re ready to hear what he thought of book three, Black Knight, aren’t you?

We’re going for a slightly different format this time around. Small is currently up to his neck working on a game for a competition submission so I’m trying a Q & A format on him.

Me: Tell me a positive about the book.

Him:

Me: OK, that was a bit too unspecific wasn’t it? Let’s try a different tack. Is there a sense of continuity from the previous books? Or do they stand alone?

Him: There’s no need to scan back – the required details are explained that you can just pick up and go without reading the previous books.

Me: Would you recommend this book to a friend?

Him: I would, but I would suggest reading the first two first to get the full story, it’s worth it.

Me:

. You have coding to do don’t you? Off you go then.

Hm. Not sure that worked an awful lot better than locking him in a room to write a review. Sorry Andy! if it’s any consolation, next child is nearly old enough to take over reading this series… (contemplates trying to get Smallest to write reviews. Cries.)

Anyway, to make it worth your while being here, a giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Everything Machine by Ally Jennen – review and giveaway

15th February 2017 by Jax Blunt 42 Comments

What would you do if you accidentally acquired an intelligent machine that could print anything? (I’m thinking robot cleaner. Or an extra storey for the house, maybe a dozen extra bookcases…)

The Everything Machine

From Ally Kennen

(twitter, web, facebook)

Release Date: 2nd February 2017

Genre: MG

Publisher: Scholastic UK

Format: Paperback

Cover illustration Chris Jevons

(twitter)

Buy at Amazon (affiliate)

Eleven year old Olly has a very special delivery – a 3D printing machine, stamped with PROPERTY OF M.O.D and BRITISH SPACE AGENCY. WARNING. DO NOT TAMPER, which has magical powers… It has a name, it speaks, and it can print ANYTHING Olly asks it to – a never-ending supply of sweets, a swimming pool in the shed – but what Olly really wants is… his dad, who has separated from his mum and moved out of the family home. Cue the creation of Dad-Bot – he looks just like Dad (on a good day) but is totally chaotic – and his antics tip Olly and co into a heart-racing and heart-warming adventure!

The Everything Machine is a great example of middle grade fiction – a romping yarn that draws in newly independent readers. Or passing parents for that matter – I started reading it so that I could talk about it and entice in the aforementioned newly independent reader 7 year old, and discovered I’d devoured three chapters and was desperate to know what happens next…

You have been warned. It’s a *very* readable book. I’m a particular fan of Bird, the 14 year old sister to our main character, who “knows how to fix the internet, debug computers, build crazy websites and put up firewalls. She’s got this very cool sideways haircut and seems to know about everything before it happens.” Definitely my kind of teen. (Also, cool sideways haircut? Would that suit me?) All the characters are well drawn, even the machine itself – a huffy printer sounds about spot on for the ones I’ve met day to day. Of course, there’s more to the story than the interactions between children and machine, but this is, as ever, a spoiler free review.

If you’d like to check out the Everything Machine for yourself, you’re in luck, because I’ve got three copies to giveaway – entry via the easy Rafflecoptr widget below. Mandatory entry is by comment, UK addresses only. What would you make with an Everything machine?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to check out the other blogs on the tour, and good luck!

Listed on the Prizefinder

Gravity by Andy Briggs

28th October 2016 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

Buy from Amazon here

We very much enjoyed being part of the blog tour for Inventory: Iron Fist last spring, and I leapt at the chance for Small to read the sequel, not least because I love his reviews.

I think you’ll agree with me that he has not disappointed 😉

I tried to go into Gravity with an open mind. While I had somewhat mixed (though generally positive) feelings towards the original, I was hoping that the second book in the The Inventory series would be an improvement. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. The sequel manages to go in a much more interesting direction than the first book did, now focusing more on the characters and plotline than the technology within the inventory (which is a good thing, because the technology isn’t plausible enough to be interesting by any stretch of the imagination). Speaking of the characters, it goes much further in developing them than the first book did, making them much more interesting (except the main protagonist Dev. Dev is overpowered and boring), and creating a much more interesting book to read as a consequence. The series will still likely not appeal to people who prefer hard Sci-Fi, as the technology only continues to be ludicrously absurd and impossible (funnily enough, Andy Briggs’ previous series about superheroes actually pulled itself off in a far more plausible manner than The Inventory does), but I can safely say that I recommend this book, moreso than I recommended the original. (The fact that a word counter lists the three most used words in this review as “Book More Interesting” in that order should be a testament to that.)

(If you would like Small to read your book, be aware that he will be brutally honest about it. Feel free to get in touch.)

Thanks very much to Andy for the chance to be included in the tour.

Book info

Title: Gravity (The Inventory #2)

Author: Andy Briggs

Release Date: 6th October 2016

Genre: MG Sci-Fi

Publisher: Scholastic

Format: Paperback

Find it on Goodreads. Buy from Amazon here

Disclosure: amazon links are affiliate links, we were supplied a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Inventory: Iron Fist by Andy Briggs (review with giveaway)

13th May 2016 by Jax Blunt 24 Comments

When Big was around 12 or 13 she read pretty much constantly, often books I was interested in – we’d rush to be first at a new YA, and wait impatiently for the other to finish so that we could discuss it.

Small is a different kettle of fish. Although he is an extremely competent reader, his first pleasure is gaming – anything with a screen. He does read, but it takes something a bit special to tempt him away from his games. Having said that, he goes to bed every night with an audio book, and discovering that we can borrow them from the library was a massive relief – there’s only so many times even the most ardent HP fan can listen to the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry.

This was how we found Andy Briggs (twitter and website) – via his hero.com and villain.net books. (Do authors get PLR on audio books? I do hope so!) Which meant that when I was offered the start of his new series for review I leapt at the chance, on Small’s behalf of course. The book’s arrival tied in beautifully with a weekend away at Kentwell Hall, which meant no audio books or gaming as we were caravanning.

Small employs a first chapter rule on assessing books – that’s the minimum he reads to decide whether he’ll go on. After a few minutes reading, I asked how it was going. “I’m on page 37” was the reply – first chapter rule passed with flying colours. He read the whole book in two evenings, and really enjoyed it.

Writing reviews isn’t his favourite activity – but I asked him to supply a paragraph anyway, so here you go.

I’ve read and enjoyed previous books by Andy Briggs, so when I was given The Inventory: Iron Fist I was definitely interested. The first thing I thought about it was that its concept is very similar to the SCP Foundation Wiki or Warehouse 13- A location or organization dedicated to containment of unusual objects. In The Inventory’s case, it’s made to store highly advanced technology deemed too much for the world to deal with (whereas Warehouse 13 is dedicated to practically anything weird and SCP Foundation by definition studies anomalous objects), which, as an occasional reader of SCP Foundation myself, I found slightly disappointing- The idea’s been done before, and it’s not massively outlandish on its own, so this book definitely doesn’t get many points for originality. The character types used aren’t particularly new either- super-genius, stupid bully, and popular girl. But whether or not it’s original it’s still quite an entertaining read and got several laughs out of me.

I’m going to go with that being a positive response 🙂 (He’s 12. Enthusiasm is not his middle name!)

So are you interested?

The blurb:

The Rules: if you find a secret inventory of utterly deadly battle tech.

1) Do not try it.

2) Do not tell anyone.

3) Do NOT let thieves in behind you.

What’s more secret than top-secret? The Inventory. Home to the deadliest inventions the world isn’t ready for. Invisible camouflage. HoverBoots. Indestructible metals. Plus a giant creature of chaos: war robot Iron Fist. No one has ever broken past the state-of- the-art AI security system. (Seriously, most bad guys have no idea this stuff is even there.)

Problem 1: the security robot wasn’t ready for a gang of kids wandering in.

Problem 2: they’ve ONLY brought the ruthless Shadow Helix gang in behind them. Seriously dumb, but it’s a bit late for ‘sorry’.

Say hello to trouble: the Iron Fist is in the wrong hands!

If you are, I’ve good news for you. I have a copy to give away! Entry via the rafflecopter widget below – good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you’re not lucky, you can buy via Amazon (affiliate) Iron Fist (The Inventory) or other on and offline retailers, like Hive.

Disclosure: we were supplied with a copy of Iron Fist for review, links may be affiliate links.

Listed with The Prizefinder. Find more competitions here: Competitions at ThePrizeFinder

MG

Footer