A Sad Birthday.

Shades Children by Garth Nix.


"most (children) don't have the guts to slice open their own wrist, to reach in and pull the capsule out from where it nestles between veins and bone. "


One day, now long in the past, all humans over the age of 14 disappear, never to return......


In their place, arrive the tyrant overlords and several freakish hoards of creatures from an alternate dimension. All the children are rounded up and placed in dormitories, there to be trained and raised.


At the dawn of their fourteenth year, upon their sad birthday they are sent to the meat factory where their muscles, brains and bones are transformed into yet more creatures for the overlords to use in their senseless bloody battles.


Gold-eyes a boy nearing his sad birthday manages to obtain a razor. After a grisly and painful removal of his tracking capsule he escapes in a desperate ploy to extend his life. He finds ruined buildings, constant danger from the creature and finally he finds Shade.


Shade, a cold cruel and calculating computer program, once a university professor now the last hope of the escapees. However the food he provides is not for free, he requires information on the overlords and such information is costing lives at an inhuman rate.

Shade's children is dark. Dark in the story it tells, dark in its ruined streets and dark in its disfigured characters. It is refreshing to me to read such a story, one without cute little bunnies and fairytale characters, Shades Children is real in its darkness and original in its ideas.

A decent book I give it three out of five.

Daughter of the Clayr?

Lirael By Garth Nix Part Two of the Old kingdom Trilogy.

"It opened it's eyes and they were silver fires, brighter and more terrible than anything Lirael had ever seen."

For every Clayr there comes a time around their twelfth birthday when they receive the ability of true sight, this enables the Clayr to watch over the entire old kingdom. For Lirael the sight is two years overdue leaving her feeling abandoned, alone and unsure of who she is.

She eventually joins the ranks of the librarians. While working in this surprisingly dangerous environment she manages to summon the Disreputable Dog. Together Lirael and the Disreputable Dog explore the library of the Clayr and in the process find out some interesting things about Lirael.

Eventually Lirael's explorations lead her on a journey to find herself that turns into a journey to save the living of the world.

Lirael is a good page turner with one of the best sidekicks ever (the Disreputable Dog) however it ends weakly necessitating the reading of Abhorsen to tie off unending plot lines. A welcome taste of The Old Kingdom.

Blood on Stone.

Sabriel by Garth Nix part one of the Old Kingdom trilogy.

"The bell was twisting in her grasp, trying to sound of its own accord, a sound that would make her walk in Death."

In ages past a wall was made from blood, stone and charter magic to separate two kingdoms from one another.

In Ancelstierre there are cops, cars and cameras. People are born, people go to school, people work and people die and that is their end. It is a land ruled by science.

In the old kingdom there are Charter-stones, carriages and crossbows. People are born, people work and people die but not always forever. It is a land ruled by magic. It is a land ruled by death.

Sabriel is a sixth form schoolgirl in Ancelstierre, she is pretty, smart and privileged. Her father is a necromancer. Her father is the Abhorsen one of the few dedicated to quieting the restless dead of the old kingdom.

When her father goes missing she takes up his bells and sword (tools of necromancy) and sets off into the Old Kingdom in an effort to find him. soon she is fighting for the survival of the charter itself.

This is the start of a very original seres with a new magic system and a very real main charactor. It is so good my sister is reading it! (that is rare FYI) I certainly enjoyed it.