Garry Kilworth

Spiggot, a lowly boggart, is an armourer's son. When his father completes a suit of golden armour for the King of the Fairies, he entrusts Spiggot to deliver it post haste. Thus Spiggot embarks on his journey through Liofwende, a Mediaeval Britain parallel to modern days with Kling, a large dog-sized water rat, as his only companion. They are soon joined by Jack, a baffled teenager who has crashed his motorbike in Mortaland - our world - and finds himself waking up in Liofwende. Jack is show more chagrined to find himself at the bottom of the class system, further down even than the rat.

Before long, Spiggot is tempted into the armour himself to do battle with a deathless serpent. And he finds the heroic life to his liking! Cue more escapades .... enough misadventure in fact to fill several books.

'Spiggot's Quest' is peppered with all those wonderful mythical creatures that 'once' inhabited the British Isles, brought back to life with good humour and humanity. The pace is breathless and the pages abound with magic and unforgettable imagery. 'Spiggot's Quest' however goes back further, to the roots of British folklore. It is an eminently readable book, a real feel-good book that places you smack bang in a where you can almost smell the fungi and leaf litter. show less

A story of wolves living in northern forest and tundra. From the wolves’ viewpoint, but unlike any other book I’ve ever read about wolves. I was fairly riveted, but it took so long to read because of eye strain, and some technical issues (see below). I had to take breaks and read easier books or graphic novels here and there instead. The main character is a wolf who doesn’t really fit in well, to his strictly-ordered pack. Thinking outside the regimented norm is dangerous when survival show more is at issue. As he finds out even more keenly when ousted from the pack and living on his own. Barely survives at times, thrives in others. Has encounters with strange wolves, a fierce weasel, ravens and half-wild dogs. Travels long distances, faces down a rival, and meets a female unlike any he’s known back home. Then he starts a family but almost looses them, gets captured by humans, narrowly escapes but in a strange set of circumstances ends up in an uneasy partnership with a human in the wilderness. (Other wolves never quite believe him when he tells about this later on). He suffers greatly travelling to try and find his family again, not sure if they’re even alive. And in the end encounters other wolves with a risky, death-wish agenda: to kill as many humans as possible, in retaliation for what mankind has done to all animals. Led by his old rival. When they finally meet, he discovers they have more in common now, and form an uneasy truce- if they can survive it.

So much more than I can mention here! The story had a deeply-felt sense of culture among the wolves- the meaning of their songs (howls), the legends and stories shared (their own version of Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, etc). A sense of the very landscape being alive. The inter-relationship with other wildlife. The keen communication via scent and sound, the shape and feel of the wind, the terrain, etc felt so vivid at times. There was also a very subtle but profound examination through the story, of what a complete paradigm shift in how a family approaches things can occur, and how difficult that is to navigate. I feel like I’m not quite stating that clearly, but it’s the best I can do now.

I've seen other readers state that this book has inaccuracies in how it depicts wolf behavior and pack structure, but I enjoyed it regardless. Maybe it helps if you don't know too much. show less

Just like valuable antiques or meaningful mementos found buried amid junk in your attic, Attica is a rare treasure in an unassuming package, the kind you pick up without expectations and are blown away by. Seriously, I love this book, and what shocks me the most is how invisible it is. The Amazon record is dismal in its lack of reviews and the site I order books from for my library has barely any copies available. I think this is one of those British imports that snuck under the radar of show more Americans, and I hope reviewing it will get it a little more notice.

Step-siblings Jordy, Chloe, and Alex move into a duplex they share with their crotchety landlord. He sends them into the attic in search of a lost pocket watch ‰ÃƒÂ›ÃƒÂ’ one that means a lot to him ‰ÛÒ and that‰Ûªs where the adventure begins. One moment they are in their normal attic, searching through piles of dusty junk, but as they move further into the space, they begin to notice strange things. No matter how long they walk, the attic never ends. The walls to either side are no longer visible. Worse, they begin to feel that they are being followed. Soon, they are stumbling across villages of wardrobes and washtubs inhabited by strange, pale people who grow their own food with hydroponics, and they traverse all manner of terrain, including forests of coat racks, hills of typewriters, plains of empty floor boards, and a lake that is the largest water tank ever. They also run into all manner of creatures. Some are humans who abandoned their normal lives for the lure of Attica and became bortrekkers, adventurers and explorers, or board combers, treasure hunters who are obsessed with collecting one particular item. Some creatures are man-made objects that, after being mistreated by humans in the normal world, have developed malevolent personalities, like the mannequins who dress up their human prey in humiliating garments and mock them before killing them. Their search for the pocket watch becomes a search for the way home, but by the time they find it, one of them may not want to return.

There‰Ûªs only one other library review source that seems to have reviewed this book, and it is not nearly as glowing as the review I wrote. In fact, it‰Ûªs not even all that positive. (Oh well ‰ÛÒ that‰Ûªs the problem with reviewing and reviewers in general. We don‰Ûªt always agree. Maybe that‰Ûªs also a strength, because it shows how varied readers can be in their likes and dislikes.) While I do agree with this other reviewer that the children accept their surroundings and survive in Attica too easily, that doesn‰Ûªt take away from my enjoyment of the story. And besides, the kids are plopped into this whole other world where they must adapt quickly, because there‰Ûªs nothing gained by refusing to accept what‰Ûªs right in front of you, especially when that will get you killed; the book would be tremendously boring if they spent the first 50 pages keening piteously about their fate or something. I focused on the sheer originality of the setting (seriously, I only wish I was this creative) and the realistic family dynamics between the three kids. Each one has different temperaments and interests and each reacts and adapts to Attica in their own way, learning necessary skills that they can share with the others. Alex's development in particular was well-done; he's always felt like an outsider, but in Attica, he's happy: he learns to rely on himself, and he feels like he belongs, so much so that he almost becomes first a board comber, then a bortrekker. I also found the pacing quite fast ‰ÛÒ I raced right through the book, eager to see what weird thing they were going to come upon next and what was going to happen.

It's a pity that this is such an invisible title, because I can't see it doing well without some hand selling by librarians and book store employees, but I also can't see kids not loving it when they pick it up. show less

The "go into a particular place in a new house and discover a strange and secret world" trope is well-used, but Attica definitely takes a new tack on it. This is no "Castle in the Attic" or even (though the beginning is reminiscent of it) "The Magician's Nephew." The story is stranger, scarier, and more surreal than a previous generation of readers would expect; there's a definite Garth Nix flavor to this, with hints of Jane Langton, a soupcon of The Borrowers, and a definite rejection of show more Ruth Chew. And there's only the very faintest hint of any well-intended character growth/moral change.The world of Attica is complex and deep and well-built. I think it's a well-written book. But somehow I didn't care for it all that much. Perhaps I didn't feel the characters were as well developed as I might have liked, perhaps it was the modern noir undertones... or perhaps wondering if Mr. Kilworth had spent any time living in NY state and was making a reference to Attica NY as well caused me to feel a cloud of foreboding over the story... show less