Review #35 - The Letter to the King by Tonke Dragt

The Letter for the King is a Dutch children's book that has just been translated into English. I got this at the American Book Centre in Spui, Amsterdam. The man on the checkout told me that this is one of his all time favourite children's books. I'm pretty sure it's up there in mine.

It's about a 16 year old boy, Tiuri, who is sitting in a chapel keeping his vigil before being knighted the following morning. He hears a knock at the window and opens the door and undertakes a dangerous task that stop him becoming a knight.

I think if I were to compare it to another children's book I'd compare it to The Hobbit. However, I hated The Hobbit (sorry Tolkien lovers) and I really loved Letter to the King. It has the same dynamic and both involve travelling to a destination and back from it. Letter to the King however is has no fantastical beasts or creatures (think BBC Merlin without the magic and bromance, mainly knights riding through places) which I really enjoyed. Also Letter to the King felt very much like all the plot points linked unlike The Hobbit which felt like a collection of shore stories. The Letter to the King's plot twists were better and more exciting. The style seemed to really work with The Letter to the King.

I really liked the pace of Letter to the King especially as it started very quickly which is actually what sold it to me. It had me hooked from a very early point. It does slow down but I don't think the matters. The suspense keeps it going from the constant danger he feels.

I read a lot of books that are either set in America or feel American because the YA genre is dominated by the US. This was beautifully European as a book. I felt like I had a lot of heritage as a book, in it's European Dynamic and the history of it with it's forests and knights and wars about land. I felt like this was a real strong point to this book.

The relationships between the characters were captured really well and were complex especially as there was a lot of prejudice to Tiuri. I liked the misconceptions. My favourite character was the horse. That horse. I think it's because it is Tiuri's validation as a hero symbolically.

If you get the amazing hardcover version like I have (I'm not sure about 1) if there is an English paperback 2) if it contains the map) it has a beautiful map at the cover which made the story really come alive and a lot of the reason I loved this book was because I could relate this book to something visual.

I would read this book if:
You want a children's book that is just wonderful
You want a book that captures European culture
You just want to own the world's most beautiful book

Five stars for you Glenn Coco, you go Glenn Coco

Review #27 - Half Bad by Sally Green

Half Bad is the first in a new series of UKYA books about a boy who is half white witch, half black witch. The white witches are known to be good and the black witches are known to be evil. The black witch who is the father is the most dangerous witch of all time. 

The first part of the book is in second person which is a really interesting stylistic choice so the book does feel really raw. The rest of the book is in first person which changed the tone quite drastically but it was still pretty good. It wasn't quite as powerful.

The book is really exciting and that is it's main reason you should read this. It is really gripping and I think that's why it is sold on such a wide scale (I mean WH Smiths is selling it as one of the 10 YA books it sell). I could not put it down. I would say this was an adventure book. I often feel adventure books have to be in the 9-12 section of a bookshop and this was wonderful because it was an age appropriate adventure book. Sally Green did wonderful things.

The book does have a part of it that is in the past and most that is in the present. The bit in the past is relatively on and explains why he is in a cage and why his family dynamic is what it is. I felt like the family dynamic was very similar to the one from Ender's Game.

The style was quite different from that usual UKYA style which I really enjoyed as the author just felt really confident with her voice and that was really refreshing. It's different.

I would recommend this if:

You want to read a fantasy YA book
You feel like something a bit different
You want a book you just can't put down

I wouldn't recommend this if: you actually want to revise

I gave this four stars