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Scholastic

The Secret of the Night Train by Sylvia Bishop

21st May 2018 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

We’re very happy today to be kicking off the blog tour for a wonderful MG book by Sylvia Bishop, the Secret of the Night Train. Smallest has read it, and will be contributing her thoughts after we’ve heard from Sylvia.

Book cover - The secret of the night train by Sylvia Bishop

Train no. 1: TGV Duplex (Paris – Munich)

In my new book, The Secret of the Night Train, Max Morel takes a journey from Paris to Istanbul on four trains. She is accompanied by a nun called Sister Marguerite, and must solve the mystery of a smuggled diamond. I was lucky enough to do this journey myself, and wrote a lot of the book on board. In this series of blog posts, I talk about my real journey, and how it informed the book.

So here we are on the first stop with Liveotherwise blog (AKA Paris – Munich)

Max begins her journey from Paris on the TGV Duplex train, a swanky blue double decker with comfy seats and soothing lighting and syrupy announcements in French and German. It leaves Paris at 3:55 – a nice, reasonable hour.

Lucky Max! For me, the TGV Duplex was train number 2. I had already crossed London on a deserted bus to get on the Eurostar horrendously early. And right before I went to sleep the night before, I managed to snap my glasses. So now I was wearing my contacts, but in case I needed anything in the night, I had my dodgily-sellotaped-together glasses perched on my head.

So I was tired, and surprised how homesick I felt. I have travelled by myself plenty of times, and I was not expecting this. I felt like a young child leaving home for the first time.

Dear reader, don’t let your kind heart break over my plight. The silver lining is so enormous it obliterates the meagre cloud. To avoid thinking about my homesickness, I did what I was there to do: I had seven hours on this train to start writing my story. And from my homesickness, Max was born. I didn’t know, until then, that she would battle homesickness on her journey. Now this drives her whole character.

There were so many useful little gems on that train. The weary-and-officious tut-pffff noises of the automatic doors seemed to announce the whole character of the policeman who would enter through them. Almost all the passengers left at Stuttgart, which really helped to narrow down Max’s investigations. Even the snapped glasses made an appearance, as our first suspect arrives on the scene with his glasses snapped – a bumbling British fool. An awful lot like yours truly.

Then from Munich, I started to really enjoy myself. But that’s another story.

Join us for the next stage of the journey tomorrow on Book Lover Jo’s blog

The Secret of the Night Train by Sylvia Bishop is out now, published by Scholastic (RRP £6.99) Buy at Amazon(affiliate link).

The drawback (from my point of view) of Smallest now loving to read is that I don’t get to share her reading experience in quite the same way as I used to. But we started the Secret of the Night Train in the time honoured way – I read the first two chapters aloud. It’s an excellent book for that, and rocks along nicely setting up the family and other characters in that first section. I really like Max, the protagonist, she’s lots of fun.

Then Smallest continued the journey by herself, so I’ll let her add her opinion of it all in her own words.

I enjoyed this book very much and I recommend it. The characters are two sided and the book is very adventurous. The train setting is genius and I think that many people my age would really enjoy it as it’s very exciting.

Basically, we like this book, and highly recommend it. Feel free to look it up 🙂

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Filed Under: Book club, It's where it is Tagged With: Scholastic, Sylvia Bishop, The Secret of the Night Train, UKMG

Winter Storm (The Inventory 4) by Andy Briggs

13th February 2018 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

We’ve been reading and enjoying the Inventory series by Andy Briggs since Small reviewed book 1 (read that review here). It seems only fitting that we are taking part in the blog tour for book 4, Winter Storm which finishes the series, and I’m very happy to give you a taster of the book by hosting an extract – read on to enjoy Chapter 1.

Book cover - Inventory 4 Winter Storm showing repeated stylised green figures with circuit board details

“Revolutions start with the tiniest of moments.” Onslow Winter stopped pacing the stage, extended his arms then slowly drew them together until his index fingers were touching. It was a touch of showmanship the technological genius had brought to every presentation over many years. “And we have the most awesome small there is!”

The thousand-strong crowd of technology journalists leaned forward in rapt anticipation like the star-struck fans they were. From the moment Winter had become a telecoms billionaire with the launch of his revolutionary mobile phone, he had been a technology superhero, and fan devotion to him had only grown over the decades. Even his wrinkles and saggy jowls had become trendy.Every event at Winter Tech was like a pop concert, and secrecy about each new project launch was absolute.

“With our revolutionary nanotechnology, we will reinvent how we invent!”

The lights in the auditorium dimmed. A single spotlight stabbed down centre stage as Winter gestured to a box on the floor, one that the audience had assumed was a speaker. It started to change shape, extending into a vertical column like a hundred years’ tree growth in time-lapse. As it stretched two metres tall, the audience oohed in appreciation, then burst into applause. Winter waved his hand to encourage them to keep going.

“Nanobots. You’ve all heard of them before. Some of you have seen them. Tiny mechanical robots that can work together for a greater task. But these. . .” He paused for a moment to admire the black monolith that had formed onstage. It was so matt black that it seemed to suck the illumination from the spotlights pointed at it. “These are something else. They are not tiny robots. No. What you are looking at are the first bio-bots. Like you, like me, this column is built of living components, each a millimetre long, that have been engineered into a

programmable living swarm.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium as the assembled crowd tried to work out what he meant. That was the trouble with being Onslow Winter: his mind worked far ahead of most people’s. The corners of his mouth twisted into a smile as gasps of astonishment slowly rippled through the crowd as the audience began to understand.

“It’s something more than a robot or a cyborg. Capable of adapting to its environment and shaping itself with almost limitless possibilities! It’s a living bioborg. I call it Winter Storm.”

With that, the smooth monolith suddenly whirled like a tornado, with a sound like a billion marbles clattering together, before finally taking the shape of a towering arm that pivoted and waved at the crowd. By now the applause was deafening. People had taken to stomping their feet on the floor in admiration.

Still the whirlwind turned – and the resulting construction made everybody freeze in silence. It was a seven-foot-tall humanoid. A matt-black robot formed of smooth contours. The head was in the shape of a sleek futuristic biker’s helmet. Although it was featureless, people felt their skin prickle as the head turned side to side to study them. The lack of eyes didn’t mean they couldn’t feel the living machine’s gaze bore into them.

With a soft clump that sounded like it was walking on bubble wrap, the humanoid stepped forward – then raised its fist in triumph.

On cue, the crowd went wild with cheers and thunderous clapping. The applause was so loud that it almost drowned out the explosion above them.

A circular section of ceiling blew away in a shower of smoke and plaster dust. People began scrambling for the exits, only to find them blocked by menacing thugs wearing body armour, their faces concealed behind black plastic shields like hockey masks. They wielded peculiar rifles with a white central chamber from which a faint mist steadily poured. With a twitch of the trigger, one of the men shot a blast of frigid air across those nearest him, immediately encasing them in ice.

“Do not panic,” boomed a voice from above, and a figure slowly descended from the hole in the roof. There was a faint whirl from the antigravity boots he wore as they carried him to the stage, where a shocked Winter stood. “You will not be harmed.”

The frozen people suddenly shattered into countless ice shards. The villain sighed and gestured to the broken pieces.

“Correction. Nobody else will be harmed if you just cooperate.”

Onslow Winter was nothing if not a performer. With the frightened eyes of hundreds of people on him, he raised himself to his full height and approached the newcomer. Behind him, the Winter Storm humanoid mirrored his stance, acting as a towering bodyguard. Winter stared at the figure’s eyes, which were white, with no pupils. They were unnerving, to say the least.

“Onslow Winter, I am here for your wonderful Winter Storm.” The newcomer gestured to the humanoid. “Hand it over, or I will freeze your adoring fans, one by one.” He gestured to the audience.

Winter licked his dry lips and finally found his voice. “Wh-who are you?”

“I am your biggest fan.” The figure’s smile was absent of humour. “But you may call me the Collector.”

***

You’re hooked aren’t you? Just in case you want a tiny bit more, here’s the blurb:

In the fourth and final book of this gripping series, all the Inventory’s secrets are revealed.

Having learned a troubling truth about himself in the Black Zone of the Inventory, Dev is called back into action to defend the world’s greatest store of futuristic tech – and he’ll need all the help he can get from his friends. The Collector is back and as menacing as ever, and now he’s stolen Winter Storm, a swarm of powerful biobots, which he is using to infect and control people. Who can be trusted now?

Now I’ve got you 🙂 I guess you’ll want to know a little more about the practicalities. The book came out on 1st February, and is available from Amazon here (affiliate link) as well as other bookshops. The cover (up top) fits beautifully into the rest of the series, which shiny green writing and a futuristic picture (they really look great together on a shelf).

And don’t forget to check out the other posts on the blog tour. blog tour banner listing stops

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Filed Under: Book club Tagged With: Andy Briggs, extract, Scholastic, the inventory

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

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Filed Under: Book club, current, giveaway Tagged With: Andy Briggs, Black Knight, MG, Scholastic, the inventory, UKMG

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

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Filed Under: Book club, current, giveaway, It's where it is Tagged With: Ally Kennen, blogtour, MG, Scholastic, The Everything Machine

Gravity by Andy Briggs

28th October 2016 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

gravity-blog-tour

gravity

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.

Andy Briggs

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.

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Filed Under: 2016, Book club, It's where it is, Small steps Tagged With: Andy Briggs, blog tour, Gravity, MG, Scholastic, the inventory

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