Monthly Archives: September 2023
The Secret of the Blood Red Key by David Farr – Blog Tour: Extract and a Giveaway
About the Book
The dazzling follow-up to the phenomenal The Book of Stolen Dreams from master storyteller David Farr, perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell and Philip Pullman.
Step inside the pages of an immortal adventure…
Rachel and Robert have defeated the tyrant Malstain and become the heroes of Krasnia, but all is not how it should be. Robert is swept away with his new friends, leaving Rachel alone to take care of her ailing father, who’s lost without their beloved mother.
From nowhere, a boy appears knowing the secrets of the hidden blood-red key. For the key is a way into the Hinterland – and Rachel must promise that, as a new key keeper, she will answer when it calls. When a young girl, Elsa Spiegel, is illegally smuggled into the Hinterland, Rachel has no choice but to use her key to save Elsa. But her fate is linked to Krasnia, and Rachel must battle to save her home as she knows it.
About the Author
David Farr is one of the UK’s leading screenwriters and directors for film, TV and theatre. In 2009, he was appointed Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his productions of The Winter’s Tale, King Lear and The Homecoming all opened to critical acclaim. David is known for his work on Spooks and his 2016 BBC adaptation of The Night Manager, starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. He completed his first feature film, Hanna, in 2009, and has since adapted it into a hugely successful series for Amazon Prime, and has recently adapted The Midwich Cuckoos for Sky. The Book of Stolen Dreams is his first novel.
Extract
Here is a short extract of Chapter 13 The Lock which also demonstrates the wonderful illustration in the book. PDF version of the extract for download below.
Giveaway
The publisher sent me an extra copy of book one so I’m hosting a giveaway. To enter comment below where you would want the key to open to (U.K. addresses only).
What I Thought
To come… unfortunately I have been unwell again so have been unable to read this one. I will reshare this blog post with my review later in the month when I’m feeling better.
Do check out what everyone else on the blog tour thought – follow along on social media using #TheSecretToTheBloodRedKey and #TheStolenDreamsAdventures
Thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the Publisher Usborne for the copy for review. The blog tour poster is below for reference.
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Scareground by Angela Kecojevic – TWR Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!
Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?
Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
About the Author
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
What I Thought
Nancy Crumpet is a girl at home on the rooftops of Greenwich and with her family of baker parents. She knows she is adopted but when black balloons, raven feathers and music only she can hear arrive in town, she begins to realise that maybe they didn’t tell her the truth about her origins.
Along with her friend, Arthur, Nancy gets a ticket to the mysterious Scareground and although she’s made a promise to stay away it’s one she simply can’t keep when the truth is out there on the wind.
Author Angela Kecojevic has created a perfect spooky middle grade read with sumptuous writing. The descriptions leap off the page and the scares leap out at the scareground’s participants. It’s not too frightening for the reader but, as the book describes the Scareground, it is macabre. I think this would make a marvellous Tim Burton cartoon.
But are the scares as innocent as they seem and are the enigmatic Skeltor and his fairground crew to be trusted? After all the fair takes in boys that are otherwise unwanted. Waltzer, Shy, Racer and Dodge remind me of Fagin’s boys but they deal with illusion rather than thievery.
Without giving things away, and probably because people reading this will be too young to remember, but this gives me the same vibes as one of the 80s Care Bears Movies. But there are no Care Bears here to save the day it’s up to Nancy and Arthur and the Sky!
Love that this is all wrapped up but with the promise of a new adventure. I think our protagonists are ready to tackle the next one.
Huge thanks to The Write Reads tours and Neem Press for the gifted copy. Opinions are, as ever, my own.
kirstyes 