Marcus Sedgwick (1968–2022)

When I first read this, I was like 9-10 years old and I thought it was well written but the Death of Korps freaked me out so I stopped reading it. Years later and I remembered the summary of this book but not the name or cover so I asked a book group on goodreads (titled: WHATS THE NAME OF THAT BOOK????) to help me out, within a few hours, I got a reply and I confirmed it was the book, I’ll come back to thank the person who solved it for me on this review later.
(THANK YOU AGAIN BECCA! YOU’RE AWESOME!!!!!)

The book started off well, it had promise of the dead days and a good mystery at first with all these deaths what force it was that was coming for valerian. This book is very plot driven which I appreciate but at times it doesn’t line up with the characters either. It felt that the “kids are smart and adults are creepy and mean” trope which at the time of the writing, YA was still in its infancy so I’m not surprised by that. I gave it three stars because the plot has potential and the pacing was good and I liked the concept of the dead days being used in here.… (more)

Arturo is a teenaged boy scratching out a meager existence in a Mexican border town run and terrorized by drug cartels. His friend Faustino reappears after a year out of contact and asks Arturo for a favor upon which all their fates depend. The rich imagery of religious and spiritual iconography, along with the vivid Freudian dreamscapes and the ritual of a card game (calavera) are painted in sharp relief against the barrenness, poverty and tragedy of Anapra in this dark thriller ostensibly written for theteen/YA market; but a bit more sophisticated than the genres usually provides.… (more)

A middle-grade short novel about a post-global-warming world in which much of what was England is now under water. Ten-year-old Zoe and her parents struggle to survive in Norwich, now an island, until the last supply ship is set to take them away. But Zoe gets separated from her parents and misses the boat. Months later she finds a small boat and sets out to try to find them.

Meh. S’okay. It felt like it could have been fleshed out much more than it was; honestly it reads more like an outline of a story rather than the finished product.… (more)