It might have all begun with Kim's 1994 book The Original Dr. Shade and Other Stories. Or perhaps in the short story 'Clubland Heroes' that appeared in Joe Lansdale's anthology Retro Pulp Tales in 2006 (reprinted in The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club 2007). Or even a vague element of his most recent novel An English Ghost Story. But while all are obviously contributing factors, the heart of the story, as noted in the acknowledgements, is an expansion, or extension, of the 2010 novella 'Kentis...

Thank gawd I finished this book. This book... this book... I liked this book but I was SO thankful to finish it because I didn't enjoy reading it. I have no idea if that even makes sense but that's the closest way to describe it.I think it was the story telling style of the author that did it to me. I mean, yeah, there was five billion characters and all but whatever. I kept up with that. I think it was a mix that there wasn't a sense of urgency and there was no clear plot thread. For the first

I can't believe that I'm going to write this...but DNF at 62%Usually I will read a book from end to end, no matter how torturous it is. The only other book I have ever not finished is The Vampire Lestat (both because it was a sequel to my favourite book of all times but also because they turned Lestat into a mother loving pussy). But I just couldn't keep going. Not with so many books on my shelves calling out to me that I know will be worlds better than this.If you were to judge a book by its fi...

Well, that was tons of fun! And, oh, the swoons Victorian names!

DNF at page 86.The book is interesting, and it seemed rather fun, but every page I read screamed "I'm clever! Like me!" I wanted to give in and like it, but I kept feeling pushed out. Quite simply, this book was not for me. Not at this time.

Originally published at Risingshadow.Are you fed up with reading fluffy young adult fantasy fiction about girls who adore supernatural beings and fall in love with them? Do you want to read a novel that has intriguing darkness in it? If you want to read something a bit different and entertaining, Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is an interesting novel for you, because the author gives an invigorating treatment to YA fantasy.The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School is a well w...

I read a lot a lot of boarding school books when young. I always wanted to attend one too, it seemed fun. Giggles, smuggled candy, horse back riding. Very posh, and very British, yes they were all British schools.This school is not like the others. Yes there are dorms, and different wings. Our heroine Amy ends up in Desdemona and shares a room with 4 other girls. One with quick fingers, one a bandit princess and one a lady. She soon realizes that she is not alone, there are other unusual girls l...

An English Ghost Story is one of my favorite books, so I decided to pick this up since they share a linked universe. The beginning was fantastic, but the more characters that were introduced, the more they all seemed like the same mean girl. I couldn’t tell them apart. There is a class list at the end of the book, but it doesn’t help much since most of the girls go by nicknames. There were some plot points that moved so quickly, they seemed insignificant. Early on, someone is kidnapped and the a...

Having read Newman's Anno Dracula series, I had really high hopes for this but sadly he didn't quite manage to live up to them. I think his style of writing and use of mainstream influences didn't really work as well for YA as it has for adult fantasy, particularly his use of lots of characters (even I got a little lost with a the people involved, especially as nicknames were used a lot without them being listed in the pupil lists at the back), interwoven stories and the familiar feel of this wi...

This book was weird as fuck. Usually I'm down for some weirdness but I was also bored as fuck. I had to force myself to finish this book. Largely because this book had multiple arcs happening within the book that all connected. But it hard to see how they'd connect until way too late. The characters were weird and frustrating. Not like "oh girl you different, lets me friends." But like "Oh girl you... please walk away." I just couldn't. I was skim reading by the end. Also the writing was repetit...

My first DNF of the year. What a chore this was to read i managed to read 278 pages but no more!! Started of suspenseful and full of promise, it quickly lead into an utter bore feast. The author introduced far too many characters and besides the main one and her cage mates i had no idea who the hell anyone was or why they were relevant to the story. So much descriptive text (i know, i know suppose to be a goos thing right?….wrong!!) a description in EVERY sentence. I have no idea what the book w...

I'm going with 3.5. The story was good but it took a long time to get into it. I got a little confused sometimes when it seemed to be the future or the past. Overall a decent read and I likes to characters, but I probably won't reread it.

A mash-up of Harry Potter-meets-Graceling-meets-Nancy Drew, I got into the book quite quickly, however, I did find it slightly confusing at times. There was a vast amount of characters I was introduced to over a short period of time, with only a few words each, who were then brought back later on in the book where I was expected to know exactly who they were and why they were important. In addition, in one paragraph the characters would go from being called by their surname and then by their nic...

YA female-lead fantasy is overwhelmingly dominated by romance. I'm not a romance-hater. Few things delight me more than a well-written, "slow burn" romantic plot with no pesky triangle in sight. All the same, too often I get the sense that romance is the ONLY kind of story some writers know how to tell about a female protagonist. So when a book comes along that presents us with an "unusual" female lead and centers her story on friendship and a fight for identity, with romance nowhere in sight, I...

***4.5 STARSThis book was heading for 5 stars until page 357 and the 20+ year time jump, which dropped it to 4 stars. But then on page 375, it jumped back to the original time line, which earned back ½ a star.There are TONS of details in this book; approximately 250 of Amy's classmates, mentioned by name, many of which we're supposed to keep track of. And then there are the numerous superheroes and an entire page of battles "Kentish Glory" took part in…there is A LOT of detail in this book. But

A cracking good read!It beats me why so many reviewers were down on this novel. It was fun, whimsical, and dotted here and there with atrocious puns. Set in the early ‘20s, it prefigures the rise of fascism to a slightly stomach turning degree. The Black Skirts were at first a subject of humorous disdain. (Their leader’s mother — an entomologist and eugenicist — wrote a book blurbed by Roderick Spode, he of the infamous Black Shorts brigade!) Then their ranks began to swell, and the lockstep mar...

This starts out as a parody of old YA novels about the adventures of boarding school girls (think cartoonist Glen Baxter, who mines similar terrain), but, Kim Newman being Kim Newman, the novel gradually shifts into remarkably inventive and compulsively readable dark fantasy. Apart from its imaginative force, I was particularly struck by the skill with which Newman manages a very large cast of characters. Characterization is not deep, but he renders even very minor players memorable. His imagina...

D/F - Just could not get into this book. The language was tough as there were so many made up words it was some times hard to follow. Add that to jumping into the story in what felt like the middle and it was just tough to get engaged.

This was like reading one of Joan Aiken's better books. You have small children in a grim alt-1920s English boarding school for girls with odd parents (thieves, spies, mad scientists) or who themselves have superpowers. The larger world is the 1920s that we might have had if superheroes and supervillains were a fact of life. Most people don't have powers, though, and there is an ugly side to how people with Abilities are viewed. This book didn't dip into politics much, but if it had, the results...

Rating: 1 / 5 starsNancy Drew meets Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children.I picked this based on the cover thinking it'd be spooky and it wasn't.This book contained a lot of long sections that were supposed to be part of the world building, but it was way too much and didn't really do much to compliment the story. Too many specific details that felt like the author was trying too hard. We are introduced to way too many characters in a short period of time and are expected to remember the...