Awards News

Two lots of awards news to cheer me this morning:

From The Times online: A gothic tale about vampire hunters has become the perfect Hallowe'en winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2007, it was announced yesterday. Marcus Sedgwick won the prize with his sinister story, My Swordhand is Singing, about a woodcutter and his son who fight the legendary undead in the forests of seventeenth-century Romania. (My review is here)

For more details about the prize visit Bookheads or Booked Up

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And in the non-Book Awards category David Tennant and Doctor Who both won awards in their categories in last night's National Television Awards ! Alas that Freema Agyeman couldn't make it a hat-trick.

Blood Red, Snow White - Marcus Sedgwick

Marcus Sedgwick's new YA book, Blood Red, Snow White is an astonishing book that I found very hard to put down. It's set at the time of the 1917 Russian Revolutions, a period that saw the end of a centuries-old dynasty, when the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia sent shockwaves around the world. This story is that of one man who was in Russia at that time: Arthur Ransome, probably best known these days for his classic children's novel Swallows and Amazons, although at the time he'd only published Old Peter's Russian Tales. This story covers the riches and excesses; the glory of the Russian nobility; Tsar Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra; their haemophiliac son, Alexei; the ever notorious Rasputin; Lenin and Trotsky who ruled from the palaces where the Tsars had once danced till dawn. Sedgwick has fictionalised history and blended it with Ransome's biography. Part One is told as a fairy tale: featuring wise and foolish kings, princesses, enchantresses, wishes and magic; Russia's vast cold plains and mighty cities, its riches and its poverty all play a part in the downfall of the Tsars and the rise of the new order. Part Two is about betrayal: Ransome is now working as a spy, in a country that is bleak and threatening. Part Three is told in the form of a memoir from Ransome's point of view; it's a love story with a fairy tale ending, about Ransome's love for his daughter, Tabitha, and for Evgenia, the Russian woman with whom he fell in love.

Written with all Sedgwick's usual Gothic style and featuring some cleverly created bridges between history, biography and fairy tales, Blood Red, Snow White is a multi-layered novel that is sure to prove a best-seller. This book is out in July and was received for review from Waterstones.com.

Scholar's Blog Spoiler Zone Update

I've just posted a review of Malcolm Rose's Circle of Nightmares over on the Scholar's Blog Spoiler Zone.

I won't be posting a review of Doctor Who's Season 3 episode 4, "Daleks In Manhattan" during next week, as it's the first of a two-parter (written by Helen Raynor - the first woman to write for New Who), so expect both "Daleks In Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" to be reviewed together the week after next.

Talking of the Daleks, users of the BBC Doctor Who website were recently polled to discover the scariest monsters in the Whoniverse - and the Daleks were voted number 1 (to my surprise since I find the Cybermen far more chilling!)

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In other news, I've been lucky enough to receive an ARC of Marcus Sedgwick's new YA book, Blood Red, Snow White which isn't out until July, from Waterstones.com. They recently did a draw for readers of their children's newsletter, to "win" a book to review on their website, and I got the book I wanted - and believe me, no one was more shocked than I was when it arrived in yesterday's mail ! The book is described as The Russian Revolution - fairy tale, spy thriller, love story - one man's life during the last days of the Romanovs. So far, it's fascinating reading - and totally like anything else Sedgwick has written (not that any of his books are similar to any of the others).

My Swordhand Is Singing - Marcus Sedgwick

From the title onwards, Marcus Sedgwick's My Swordhand is Singing is a poetic tale set in the isolated, hostile environment of the forests of seventeenth century Romania. It tells the story of the woodcutter Tomas and his teenage son, Peter, who are outsiders in the village of Chust. The pair cannot seem to find a place to settle, although they have spent longer in Chust than anywhere else before, and Peter is starting to put down some roots, beginning a tentative romance with Agnes, the daughter of the draper. However, Tomas is keeping secrets from his son (such as what is hidden in the long wooden box that Tomas hides under his mattress), and strange and menacing things are happening in Chust: a man who died recently in mysterious circumstances is said to be visiting his widow at night, and she is looking pale and weak as a consequence. Something is very, very wrong in Chust.

In an author's note, Sedgwick notes that there are many old vampire legends, which all tell different stories, some of them contradicting others. In some of the legends, the undead are the fang-toothed vampires of Hammer Horror movies, whilst in others they are more like zombie flesh-eaters, and in still others they are werewolves. Sedgwick explains that My Swordhand Is Singing is inspired by all these varied and ancient Eastern European legends of vampires, and combines them them to make a new retelling.

Sedgwick writes with a concise precision that still allows for poetic expression, such as this:

There was nothing for Tomas now.
Not the singing.
Not the square.
Not the dead.
Not even Sultan.
Just the sword, that flew so fast that the air itself was cut in two.
But the hands grasped and grappled and there were too many. He was pulled from Sultan's back landing clumsily in the mud.
From a seemingly vast distance, he heard a cry.
'Father!'
Peter. It was his son, Peter, sprinting to be beside him in a moment. Dimly, Tomas saw Peter snatch the sword from the ground and begin to swing it wildly about him. The hostages [vampires] faltered, shocked by the fluid energy of the boy, by his strength.
Tomas' eyes were closed, but in his mind he could see Peter twisting and stroking the blade from side to side.
'That's it,' he whispered. 'That's it. Feel it.'
In his heart, he hread Peter's reply.
'Yes, Father. My swordhand is singing.' (pp. 187-88)

Sedgwick doesn't waste words as he paints a chilling Gothic picture of the fight between good and evil. My Swordhand Is Singing is tense, unnerving and beautifully structured so that every element is woven into the tale in a seamless manner. This tale features love, courage, regret, loss, and redemption, plus a strong dose of the supernatural. This is definitely one of the best books I've read this year.

Cowards - Marcus Sedgwick

Marcus Sedgwick's Cowards is subtitled, "The True Story of the Men Who Refused to Fight". It's the story of Howard Marten and Alfred Evans, just two of the several hundred young men who refused to join the army during World War 1. They, together with fifteen other Conscientious Objectors are sent to the Front Line in France, having been conscripted into the Army once the Military Service Act was passed in 1916. They were told that they would have to obey their military orders or face the firing squad, but each one refused, over and over again, to go against their principles.

This is a brief, but very thought-provoking book. It's well written in a direct, simple style that clearly explains what the men believed and why they refused to fight. Adults will find it as interesting as children. I highly recommend the book to those who are looking for something to give to children who are wanting to discuss the rights and wrongs of armed conflict in any era and any arena. Cowards is also available from Amazon.com.

The Dark Flight Down - Marcus Sedgwick

The Dark Flight Down is the sequel to Marcus Sedgwick's The Book of Dead Days.

Sedgwick left several plot threads untouched at the end of the first book, particularly those relating to Boy's past, but he ties them up in this compelling, sometimes chilling, story. Boy is now working for the scientist Kepler, who sends him on an errand to the Yellow House, Valerian and Boy's former home. Whilst there, he's captured by Imperial soldiers and taken to the palace, where the dying, mad emperor Frederick is waited on by a group of power-hungry courtiers. Frederick is single, and he decides that he wants to become immortal so that he can rule forever without needing an heir. His right-hand man, Maxim, hopes to use Boy, whom he knows was Valerian's famulus (assistant) to somehow find the Book of Dead Days, so that he can make Frederick immortal.

To make things worse, the bloodthirsty Phantom is still loose in the city and Boy soon discovers that it dwells in the palace, deep underground. Boy is surrounded by treachery and Machiavellian lies, and his only hope lies with his friend, Willow, with whom he had planned to run away on the day he was captured. But then Boy learns the horrific truth behind the Phantom and the emperor - and what connection they both have to his past.

There's rather less magic and rather more mystery in The Dark Flight Down, compared to The Book of Dead Days. The titular book only appears in the story occasionally as the focus is mostly on Boy's attempts to escape Maxim, and to find out his true identity. Since the horror is all human, it's far more frightening than demons.

Sedgwick does a good job of wrapping up his story, revealing Boy's mysterious past and the identity of his family. The identity of the Phantom was a complete shock to me, a shock that was fairly horrific. The character of Boy is developed a great deal in the second book as he realises that it's not your name or parentage that defines you, but who you are and what you do that matters.

The Book of Dead Days - Marcus Sedgwick

It's entirely thanks to Kelly at Big A, little a that I began reading Marcus Sedwick's books, as she sent me his The Foreshadowing to read and review for The Edge of the Forest. I looked him up online and then went rushing to the library for other books by Sedgwick. His duology
The Book of Dead Days and The Dark Flight Down is very popular.

Can a Faustian pact ever be avoided? And if it can, what will be the cost? The Book of Dead Days is an historical fantasy novel in which a nameless boy, known as Boy, searches for a way to help save his master Valerian from his Faustian bargain, and for clues to his own past.

Valerian is a stage magician in Korp's Theatre. There he presents many illusions, with Boy as his assistant. But their lives change irrevocably during the Dead Days, that strange period between Christmas and New Year. Valerian is desperate to find an ancient and very powerful book which he believes contains the answer to avoiding his fate. Boy, and his friend Willow, go with him in search of the book, which Valerian believes is hidden in the grave of one Gad Beebe. Whilst they're in the largest of the city's graveyards, Valerian is attacked by graverobbers and his arm is broken. Boy and Willow get him home with some difficulty, and Valerian tells them his story: fifteen years ago, he made a Faustian bargain in order to win the heart of the woman he loved. Will Boy, Willow and Valerian find the book in time ? Where has Valerian's friend Kepler disappeared to ? Just who or what is The Phantom, the being that is going around killing the City's inhabitants ?

Dark Horse - Marcus Sedgwick

Marcus Sedgwick is turning into one of my favourite YA fantasy authors. His output is astonishingly diverse, in terms of settings for his novels. Dark Horse, for example, is often harsh and unflinching. The story plunges the reader into a pivotal moment in the life of a small, apparently Nordic tribe, called the Storn, who are largely isolated from other peoples except through its irregular contact with itinerant traders. Rumors of a vicious, horse-riding people, known as the Dark Horse, are troubling the Storn's lonely lifestyle, and the appearance of a strange man with white hair and black palms brings death into their closed society. Sedgwick creates rounded and complex characters who are weak and strong, venial and high-minded. He weaves a double tale - a third-person narrative that is set in the story's present, when the violence and disruption of the Storn's life are first imminent and then present, and then a series of first-person flashbacks recounted by 16 year old Sigurd, the tale's protagonist. He begins his account several years earlier, explaining how he comes to have an adopted sister, named Mouse, from an unknown people, who has the ability to communicate with animals, then moving forward from there until both narrations coincide in time.

Mouse's identity becomes central to the novel's events and even explains the marauding of the Dark Horse. Sedgwick employs a lean narrative voice and writes in short chapters that encourage the reader to keep turning the pages, and he draws the reader along, allowing them to make sense of the unexplained connections, to puzzle out the characters' motivations, to decide who is a hero and who is a villain. Sedgwick does not make any concessions to moralising or romanticising, regarding the harsh life of the Storn, but this tale is rich, involving, and lively.