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Jump to navigationJump to searchWarren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio and Wilhelm Staehle (view source)
Revision as of 10:42, 8 October 2020
, 10:42, 8 October 2020no edit summary
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|title=Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye
|author=Tania del Rio and Wilhelm Staehle
|website=http://warrenthe13th.com/
|video=GLjLZaNQ2fc
|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>1594748039</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=1594748039|cover=<amazonus>1594748039</amazonus>
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To start with the obvious, this book looks wondrous. It's a rare thing today to pick a book up and just caress it, however much you love them – so don't you dare rely on an electronic copy of this. It's in a fancy, large square hardback format, and there is great visual fun with semi-secret messages, different fonts, Olde Schoole layout, backwards writing, white on black pages – and that's before you get to the illustrations. Every spread has something, and never does it feel like filler – it perfectly matches and accompanies what you're seeing, and it all looks resplendent in just black and white and red. It's all in a Victorian, woodcut-effect style – even when it features go-faster blurs, and even when Warren the Thirteenth looks like a chubbier Crazy Frog.
Ah, yes, Warren's looks. By the end , you will discover that none of the characters really look or behave like an average human being. There seems to be a girl who can appear and vanish like nobody's business, there's a character swathed in bandages who communicates via pictograms on playing cards, and that's before you get to who or what's in the boiler room… But this is not some macabre selection of freaks and ghouls. As befitting the prestigious amounts of life in the design, this is a bright and vigorous frolic, one where mood never presses down on the page, however , concerning things get. Whatever the levels of gothic and melodramatic, the brio of the storytelling shines through, meaning this really will be a book the young will cope with, and breeze through probably unconcerned they're in the company of greatness.
The adult reading this will, I think, not engage quite so effusively. Don't get me wrong, this deserves five stars for so many reasons, but I cannot see me recommending this to all ages amongst my friends and family, unlike some other volumes. I guess there is just a smidgen of silliness too much for all tastes. The passing adult, I can imagine, will pick this up, glory at how it all looks, and find perhaps a level of childishness they might not universally find favour with.
But what they will come away with is an appreciation for the style, and in the end , there are some brilliantly clever parts of the plot here, that make this a book generally to cherish, and reread. It's not a case of a mediocre book being given a lift by high production values – this is a seriously enjoyable delight. You get to the end of chapters and stop – not for a yawn or more coffee, but to ration the pages. It's that good. It opens up what I sincerely hope is an equally fine and much-loved series.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
I think the last children's book I gloried so much over receiving to review due to smarts and beauty combined was [[Goth Girl: and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell]]. We think you'll also enjoy [[Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle]]. You might enjoy [[The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate de Goldi and Gregory O'Brien]] but we had some reservations.
{{amazontext|amazon=1594748039}}
