Book Review- Mister Creecher by Chris Priestly

Title: Mister Creecher

 Author: Chris Priestley

Series:  N/A

Published:  3^rd October 2011 by Bloomsbury

Length: 400 pages

Warnings: Gore, light romance 12+

Source: Library

Other info: Chris has also written The Dead of Winter and the Tales of Terror series.

Summary : Billy is a street urchin, pickpocket and petty thief. Mister Creecher is a monstrous giant of a man who terrifies all he meets. Their relationship begins as pure convenience. But a bond swiftly develops between these two misfits as their bloody journey takes them ever northwards on the trail of their target ...Victor Frankenstein. Friendship, trust and betrayal combine to form a dangerous liaison in this moving and frightening new book from Chris Priestley.

Review: Billy is a young thief on the streets of London when he meets Mr Creecher- a giant, mismatched man who is extremely mysterious. However, it doesn’t take long for them to form a strange friendship as together they journey north, following one man in particular- Victor Frankenstein.

In case you haven’t guessed Creecher is Frankenstein’s Creature, and (not so obviously) Billy is Oliver Twist’s Bill Sikes (but much younger). We also meet other characters such as Justine (the girl who hangs after Frankenstein’s Creature kills someone), and such. Points to Chris for including fictional characters into his own fiction. Extra points for including real life figures in this as well, such as Mary Shelley.

I enjoyed the Tales of Terror series of books, so I should have enjoyed this. And I’m glad to say I did. The atmosphere and world building, this time of Victorian London, is excellent, and elements of gothic horror come through a lot. The back end of London is portrayed fully and you get quite attached to the characters.

You don’t get that many teenage horror novels, and this is a good addition to the pool. If I hadn’t read Frankenstein by then, I would have probably done after reading this.

The writing is good. As well as building atmosphere and tension, there’s a nice quality to it that doesn’t censor gore, but keeps you thinking about the events,

Creecher is shown in a really pitiful light, more so than the original Frankenstein. There were many times throughout where I just wanted to hug him, but there were also enough times to remind us that at heart, he was a monster. Seeing him learn about things such as reading was really nice seeing him develop in ways that we take for granted.

Billy and Creecher’s relationship (non-romantic) is nice to watch develop. It grows slowly as both develop, and it’s nice seeing it happen. It also means that these two characters, both the antagonists in their respective classics, are really likeable in this book.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a strong horror novel for younger readers.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository |

Book Review- Anya's Ghost by Vera Brogsol

Title: Anya’s Ghost

 Author: Vera Brogsol

Series:  N/A

Published:  27 June 2011 by First Second

Length: 221 pages

Warnings: N/A 12+

Source: Library

Other info: This is Vera’s debut, but she’s worked on other things.

Summary : Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn’t kidding about the “Forever” part... Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.
Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya’s normal life might actually be worse. She’s embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she’s pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.Or so she thinks.
Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya’s Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut from author/artist Vera Brosgol.

Review: After a really normal school day, Anya's heading home. But, due to being lost in her own world, she falls into a well. And makes a friend. You can call her a friend, can't you, if she's been dead for ninety years? Due to a little technicality, ghost Emily can follow Anya around as long as Anya is carrying Emily's fingerbone. It seems like a great friendship-keeping Anya from being lonely after failing to fit in for being one of two Russians in the school, and the other one being a complete geek; and a nice change of scenery for Emily. But the when the whole best friends forever thing starts to be taken literally, Anya starts realising maybe it's not the best idea after all...

And another one of those books I don't realise is a graphic novel, not a wordy novel. Will I pay attention to the captions on goodreads? No. I'll carry on with the suprises. Oh well.

I love the idea. It's not often I read books centred totally around friendship, even if it is a paranormal friendship. That's actually a genre I'd be interested in reading a lot of. Romance has been done to death, so maybe...Vera's on to something!

The drawings were extremely cute. The style is consistant, making use of block shades of purply-grey colour, depending on your lighting.

Anya is the typical outsider girl; jealous of the popular one, a semi-friend (best way of describing Siobhan) and gets lost in her own world. She's so happy that she's found a friend in Emily that she does everything that Emily tells her, even if it's not quite what Anya had in mind.

Emily undergoes a lot of development, something I don't normally see in ghosts. Or maybe it's just showing what she's really like. Either way, she undergoes a drastic transformation from dandelion to...something else.

There was a nice range of supporting characters that turned out to be deeper than we think when we meet them properly, for example Dima and Elizabeth. Dima grew on me after a bit, and I think Elizabeth could have done if we knew more about her.

The unfolding of events was clear and logical, but throughout I just wanted to keep reading on. Many questions are answered in the final quarter, such as how Emily ended up dying in that hole, and we also get some unexpected history.

I honestly think that some day, paranormal friendship WILL be a big genre in YA lit. We've seen vampires, werewolves, ghosts and the like and we know that people love falling in love with them. But, as friends, paranormal creatures aren't really cared for, unless main character is romantically involved with another of that type. Hopefully one day, there'll be more books giving us the supernatural element, but with little romance, and with said romance being human on human. More on that another day.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a spooky fun little read that makes a refreshing change. I'd love to read more by Vera.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website |