Bad Tuesdays 4: The Nonsuch King by Benjamin J Myers
| Bad Tuesdays 4: The Nonsuch King by Benjamin J Myers | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: Splinter takes centre stage in this fourth Bad Tuesdays book. We want to see this angry and bitter street rat come good, but how many people will he betray before we finally give up on him? This series just gets more and more enjoyable. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 360 | Date: May 2011 |
| Publisher: Orion | |
| ISBN: 1842556428 | |
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With Chess teaching herself the skills she'll need when time reaches the fifth node and with Box stuck on a distant planet fighting for his life with the other Fleshlings, it's time to see what Splinter is doing...
... hungry for power, the King of the Street Rats has abandoned his siblings on a perilous quest for recognition and status. Yes, Luke, he's gone over to the dark side. Contemptuous of stupid, loyal Box, and consumed with jealousy of Chess, Splinter Tuesday is making his most dangerous powerplay yet. He intends to take out the two most powerful Crystal Priests and become the Twisted Symmetry's fifth Grand Inquisitor. And if he has to betray Chess to do it, then so be it.
Oh, I do love this Bad Tuesdays series. And Splinter, who takes central stage in this fourth instalment, is probably its most interesting character. The post-industrial, vicious world he comes from has shaped him ruthlessly. We want to see this angry and bitter street rat come good, but how many people will he betray before we finally give up on him? Throughout The Nonsuch King he is given many chances to take a better path and we see flashes of the boy he could be, but we're disappointed each time as the temptations of power prove too seductive. And yet, he has great courage, biting intelligence and huges reserves of determination.
In the background, Chess is struggling too - feeling isolated and uncertain in her lonely position as the only person who possesses the capability to defend the universe against the Twisted Symmetry. Her friends are only trying to protect her but she feels as though they are pushing her away. But Box hasn't given up on her even though she believes that he has.
There's more mind-bending science, interdimensional madness, moral ambiguity and some fantastic fights. What more could you want? Except perhaps, book five?
My thanks to the good people at Orion for sending the book.
If time and dimension doesn't phase them, they might also enjoy Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson. The younger ones might enjoy When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, which itself is a super riff on A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Bad Tuesdays 4: The Nonsuch King by Benjamin J Myers at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Bad Tuesdays 4: The Nonsuch King by Benjamin J Myers at Amazon.com.
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