Sunday 8 April 2012

The Double Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood



REVIEWED BY K.M. LOCKWOOD
Published by Indigo in May 2011
Pages - 352

 'Sixteen's an interesting age: not quite a fully grown man, but not a kid either. Anything is possible when you're sixteen.'


Goodreads summary
Fin finds himself at the heart of an ancient prophecy when the Knights of Nowhere kidnap the Storyholder, threatening his world - and all the worlds woven into place by the Stories...
Finmere Tingewick Smith was abandoned on the steps of the Old Bailey. Under the guardianship of the austere Judge Harlequin Brown and the elderly gentlemen of Orrery House, Fin has grown up under a very strange set of rules. He spends alternate years at two very different schools and now he's tired of the constant lies to even his best friends, to hide the insanity of his double life. Neither would believe the truth! But on his sixteenth birthday, everything changes. The Judge is killed, stabbed in the chest with a double-edged sword that's disturbingly familiar, and from that moment on, Fin is catapulted into an extraordinary adventure. Through the Doorway in Fin's London, a hole in the boundaries of Existence, lies another London -- and now both are in grave danger. For the Knights of Nowhere have kidnapped the Storyholder, the keeperof the Five Eternal Stories which weave the worlds together. Because of the Knights' actions, a black storm is coming, bringing madness with it. Fin may be just 16, but he has a long, dark journey ahead of him if he is to rescue the Storyholder and save Existence!
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This is the first part of a fantasy serial and begins with a complex prophecy. You have the sense of an intricate world lurking just out of sight from the start off and as you read on from a beginning set in an apparently ordinary London, you find this is so.
Sarah Silverwood has created a highly visual story with many intriguing and imaginative touches, and some surprises along the way. There are chases in striking locations, strange phenomena and all sorts of double-dealing in both The Somewhere and the Nowhere – and our hero Fin must cope in both worlds. He has two very different friends, Joe and Christopher as well as some rather odd adults as allies – and later on we meet the strong-willed Mona. I rather hope she will prove significant in the second book: TheTraitor’s Gate.
This book will suit many fans of multi-layered magical worlds and fast action. It leaves plenty of threads to be picked up in further adventures too. I have to point out there is a use of intense swearing that means it could not be recommended to high ability younger readers.

3 comments:

  1. Ohh magical worlds :D Now why can't I fall down into one..one where you could eat as much chocolate you wnat witout getting fat or getting bad teeth

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  2. And here was me promising myself not to start reading any more books that form a series, this sounds and looks great.

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