The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver

Review by KM Lockwood

246 pages

published by Hodder & Stoughton October 2012

One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake-loving younger brother, who irritated her and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not.

In fact, he was quite, quite different.

Goodreads Summary

“When Liza's brother, Patrick, changes overnight, Liza knows exactly what has happened: The Spindlers have gotten to him and stolen his soul. She knows, too, that she is the only one who can save him. To rescue Patrick, Liza must go Below, armed with little more than her wits and a broom. There, she uncovers a vast world populated with talking rats, music-loving moles, greedy Troglods, and overexcitable Nids . . . as well as terrible dangers. But she will face her greatest challenge at the Spindlers' nests, where she encounters the evil queen and must pass a series of deadly tests--or else her soul, too, will remain Below forever.

*******

 Both the cover and the short extract above give an accurate flavour of this charming fantasy book, ideal for 8-12 year olds. The world Lauren Oliver creates is full of colour and magic - with a good deal of creepiness. The reader encounters a host of strange creatures such as Lumer-Lumpen, Nocturni , Scawgs and of course, the wonderfully scary Spindlers.

If it sounds all a bit Roald Dahl, that’s not an inappropriate comparison, though there are touches of classical myths and legends, and a dose of traditional folk-tales too.

The author clearly revels in the rhythms and sounds of language, and enjoys detailed description - but that doesn’t mean the story lacks a strong plot. The love and loyalty of a young girl are at the heart of the action. The story is easy to follow, yet the characters are engaging and well-drawn: Mirabella the talking rat in particular.

There are moments of fanciful whimsy and sheer prettiness- and some which are decidedly scary. It won’t suit everyone. Some chapters would not make good bedtime reading for more sensitive souls!

I have only one real criticism - couldn’t somebody have told her that spiders have eight legs and are not insects but arachnids? The copy I read was an uncorrected proof so I rather hope that this has been amended in the final version.

All-in-all, this is a delightful and compassionate read for its intended audience. It would suit being read aloud for less confident readers - or just for fun - and there some important ideas to be discussed about family and friendship. Recommended.

An Interview with Lauren Oliver

This week has all been about Pandemonium in my house. So I couldn't go without interviewing the lovely author herself - Lauren Oliver.

1) Your fourth book Pandemonium has just been published. How does that make you feel?
You know, it’s still pretty surreal. But I’m really excited about Pandemonium. There’s been a lot of excitement around its release, and my fans have been incredibly supportive and enthusiastic. So I’m thrilled.

2) Pandemonium is the second book in the Delirium trilogy; can you tell us a little about what happens?
Delirium is really the story of one girl’s transformation, as the protagonist, Lena, begins to question everything she has been taught—about love, and family, and duty, and freedom. Pandemonium really widens the lens. We see Lena’s emergence as a fierce warrior, as she teams up with members of a developing resistance movement and the world teeters on the verge of war.

3) The final book in the Delirium trilogy will be called Requiem. Have you written this yet?
Yes! And I’ll give absolutely no spoilers.

4) Whilst working at Razorbill with other authors every day, did you find that it spurred you on to write your own books?
Well, I was always writing, but I definitely learned from the authors I read and edited. It was at Razorbill that I first understood how to tell a story—that sounds fundamental, but I struggled with it for years. I could always write a pretty sentence, but I needed to learn how to keep readers flipping the pages. All that I learned from my time at Razorbill.

5) Apart from the Delirium trilogy each book you have written has been very different. Do you enjoy writing in different genres? Is one genre easier than another?
I love writing in different genres, but mostly because I don’t think about genres when I write. I think about characters, and story world, and the category just follows afterwards. But I love to challenge myself as a writer, to push myself into unfamiliar terrain, which is I think why my books end up being very variant.

6) With four books under your belt, do you find the writing process gets easier with each new book?
Ha—I wish! Not a chance.

7) Do you try and aim for a daily word target when writing?
Yes! I always aim to write 1,000 words. Sometimes that takes me fifty minutes; sometimes it takes me four hours.

8) Do you edit as you go along or do you wait until the first draft is finished?
I definitely wait until the first draft is finished. I am of the “write through” philosophy—I’m terrified of losing momentum. This means that my rough first drafts are not only messy, they are largely indecipherable to anyone but me!

9) When is your ideal time to write? Morning, afternoon or evening?
Ideally, in the morning, at my “desk” (really my dining room table), with a cup of coffee and some peanut butter toast! But in reality, I travel and run around so much that I’m often squeezing in writing later in the day, typing frantically on my Blackberry or scribbling in notebooks.

10) Which authors inspired you whilst growing up?
I loved Roald Dahl and CS Lewis. I loved the Little House on the Prairie books and The Wind in the Willows, too. I was also a huge fan of the Redwall series.

11) If you could have written any other book in the world, what would it be?
Um, the Harry Potter series. Hands-down.

Thank you Lauren for joining us to today. My review of Pandemonium will be up on the blog tomorrow. 
To find out more about Lauren Oliver:
Twitter: @OliverBooks
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lauren-Olivers-Books/150649964965429?sk=info
Website: http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/

The Day I Met Lauren Oliver And Lots Of Lovely YA Bloggers!

Before I start this post, I just want to say a big thank to Sarah from Feeling Fictional blog for allowing me to use some of her photos from the event. She is an amazing photographer and a lovely blogger, so do go visit her blog which is listed at the bottom of the post.

On Monday I got invited by Hodder and Stoughton to go to the book launch for Lauren Oliver's new dystopian novel Delirium. You can read my review of Delirium here. I was lucky to be invited and I must thank the delightful Clover from Fluttering Butterflies for getting me on the guest list.

The event was held on the Caledonian Road in London at Drink, Shop and Do, which was a delightful setting where tea and cake were served - just so typically English.  I found it hilarious watching Lynsey from Narratively Speaking and UK Book Tours, drinking gin from a bone china tea cup!

Lauren Oliver was AMAZING! She was so lovely to talk to and made us all feel so relaxed in her company. Lauren sat down with us at our table and it was like we had known her for years.  We discussed the books, as well as talking about the film possibilities.  Lauren was an utter delight to talk to.

This was the first blogger event I have ever been invited to and it was fabulous to talk to the people behind some of the blogs I love and to talk without having to Twitter in 140 characters first.  In the picture above, I am sat next to the charming Clover from Fluttering Butterflies.

I also got to sit next to Jo from Once Upon a Bookcase who was delightful too. During the evening's events we got to listen to a musical set from Minnie Birch whose wrote the Delirium song for the book trailers.

Here is a photo of some of the lovely book bloggers who attended the event

Sarah from Feeling Fictional

Me

Michelle from Fluttering Butterflies

Lynsey from Narratively Speaking and UK Book Tours

Becky from The Bookette

Jo from Once Upon A Time

Other bloggers who attended who are not featured in these photos

Carla from The Crooked Shelf

Lauren from I Was A Teenage Book Geek

Jenny from Wondrous Reads

Kay from Dead Book Darling

A big thank you to Eleni from Hodder and Stoughton for inviting me to such a wonderfully English occasion. Check out the video below of the event.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Pages - 393

Published by Hodder and Stoughton in January 2011

Book: Kindly sent by publisher.

It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure. Everyone else in my family had had the procedure already. My older sister, Rachel, has been disease free for nine years now. She's been safe from love for so long, she says she can't even remember its symptoms. I'm scheduled to have my procedure in exactly ninety-five days, on September 3. My birthday.

Lena Halloway has always looked forward to the day when she will be cured of the disease amor deliria nervosa. She remembers quite clearly how it affected her mother and she doesn't want to die from the same disease.

As the day of her cure grows ever closer, Lena is shocked to find herself changing her opinion of the cure. Especially when she meets Alex. Lena begins to wonder if the cure really is the best thing for society. Surely

 love is the answer and not the disease.

When I began to read this book, I found myself in awe of Lauren Oliver's world building abilities.  Through her vivid descriptions, she has created a believable society with a hint of Big Brother lurking in the background. Lauren Oliver clearly spent a long time researching and developing this book in order to give it such an authentic reality. Her detailed descriptions of the effects of  love on the innocent, were uncannily accurate,leaving me shuddering with a possible premonition of love being outlawed throughout the world.

It took me a little while to warm to Lena, as she came across as rather childish to begin with and only interested in her own self importance. However as her character grew and the society controlled blinkers fell away from her eyes, I could not help but grow to love her.  She became a devious and feisty young woman, my favourite kind of female protaganist!

The relationship between Lena and Alex took a little while to ignite,slowly burned, then exploded on to the pages. The forbidden boundaries of their relationship, intertwined with recurrent whispers of Romeo and Juliet, created such an intensity that I found it impossible to put the book down.

I felt that the characters who had been cured were extremely well written. The fact that they were unable to exhibit  any signs of emotion at all, was clearly shown through their disregard to crying children and injured pets. They gave me the distinct impression of androids, unable to comprehend  feelings or reveal emotions.

The story ended with an unexpected yet powerful cliffhanger, that left me bewildered and breathless. I feel helpless in my lack of knowledge of their futures and can only wait with anxiety until the release of the second book in the series, Pandemonium.

Having read Matched, I found I couldn't leave this review without a comment about it in relation to Delirium. I will not compare them as from my personal perspective there is no comparison. Within Delirium love is a virulant disease, whereas in Matched, love isn't the main issue; finding the perfect match is.  Out of the two dystopian worlds, Delirium was definitely more realistic and scarily achievable than Matched. Delirium didn't leave me feeling suffocated in the same way that  Matched did.

For all lovers of dystopian fiction, I do feel Lauren Oliver has created a new world for us to step into.