Kill Baxter by Charlie Human
Having pretty much saved the world in the previous story and receiving no appreciation for it Baxter Zevcenko is feeling a little hard done by. Add to that the fact that he has to change schools and is attempting to turn over a new leaf and become a better person and you have a character who has a scathing internal monologue. Baxter is only sixteen but he has already seen and experienced things that make him incredibly bitter, he also has a really vicious streak and sharp tongue, making him an exciting and hilarious protagonist.
| Kill Baxter by Charlie Human | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Steve Shayler
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| Summary: The world is on the verge of war between magical and non-magical beings and sixteen year old Baxter Zevcenko is forced into the conflict despite only being interested in becoming a better person and maintaining a long distance relationship. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 304 | Date: July 2014 |
| Publisher: Century | |
| ISBN: 978-1780891323 | |
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This is the second book in the series and Baxter has to move schools from the gang warfare riddled Westridge High School of the first book in order to attend an establishment that is for magically gifted students. After discovering in the first story that both sides of his family have very different and powerful magical abilities he has no choice but to be trained at his new school, Hexpoort. It is no Hogwarts; in fact the author seems to take great pleasure in making jibes that are directed at the world of Harry Potter, there is even a distinctively scarred student who is thought to be the basis of great prophecies, and it would be very difficult to meet a more unpleasant young man and even more difficult to describe him without using foul language. Hexpoort is more like a prison or an asylum than a boarding school and the students are exposed to extreme danger, violence and hard labour and those that thought (including Baxter himself) that there wasn’t anywhere as unpleasant as Westridge are shown to be very wrong.
Baxter hates it and struggles to unlock his magical abilities due to the greatly conflicting aspects of his dual heritage. His time at the school is quite short-lived though and events take a turn for the even worse as MK6 (the government agency maintaining a living arrangement between magical and non-magical beings) is dragged into conflict with a terrorist organisation that threatens the balance.
After Baxter’s time at Hexpoort the story seemed to lose its way a little and felt really rushed and directionless. It is a fast paced story anyway but the plot picked up a few gears and the events felt forced and seemed to jerk from one confrontation to another with only minimal storyline to connect it all together.
The story is full of humour and really made me laugh many times with its absurdity, bad attitude and characters that are just pure gold to read, especially Ronin the big bearded, foul mouthed, recovering alcoholic ninja. This is a brash and ballsy read that doesn’t pull any punches and as such it is for the most part an incredibly fun read but it is the characters and the over the top nature of the story that make it so much fun. The storyline itself lacks a little cohesion and despite containing thrilling and climactic moments just didn’t always flow well. Worth reading for the humour alone but I really look forward to Charlie Human perfecting the balance between the humour, the action and the storyline.
The first book in the series Apocalypse Now Now is also well worth reading for its humour.
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