Friday 28 December 2012

Foul Play


Foul Play is available in the library. This review was written by Euan Watson
Lately, I have been reading a book called Foul Play. The novel is about a boy called Danny who wants to become a detective and he is obsessed with crime books and detective movies. Danny is also a very big fan of his local football team City, especially the star player Sam Roberts, City and England’s top goal scorer.
At the start of the novel Danny was onto a case involving a number of burglaries in the area. He was trying to film two men burgling a warehouse but as he was filming, they caught sight of him. Luckily he got away by the skin of his teeth but will they come back to haunt him?    
When Danny finds out his legendary hero is kidnapped, he is on the case straight away and using the skills of all the movies he has seen. Will he be able to save Roberts in time for the World Cup so he can use his magic for England? Is the “Sam Roberts” dilemma and burglars connected? You will have to read to find out!
I think the novel is a very exciting, extremely gripping and fast paced.  I would recommend it for any age but especially for early teens.
The novel was shortlisted for “the book I couldn’t put down” award, which isn’t very hard to believe because I just couldn’t stop reading it!
Foul Play is a very good story and an extremely clever novel and I hope if you read it you will feel the same way about it as I do.

Sunday 23 December 2012

The Rule of Four

The Rule of Four is available in the library. This review was written by Tom Dean in second year.


The Rule of Four is an engrossing novel that describes fictitious events, but is based upon a real piece of renaissance literature. It follows four students at Princeton University as they attempt to solve the riddles of the Hypnertomachia Poliphili, a cryptic text that has remained unsolved for over 500 years, and describes the hidden tale that they uncover as they delve deep into a dark renaissance secret. It also focuses upon the difficulty of balancing friendships and the struggle to discover priorities.
Having also read the Da Vinci Code I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the two books, as both of them are built around shocking claims and historic conspiracies. Yet I felt that although The Rule of Four is without doubt a much slower paced novel than the Da Vinci Code it has a much deeper plot and is captivating in a different sense, but still if you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code you will definitely enjoy this!


“The Da Vinci Code for people with brains.”
 The Independent.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Tunnels Review


This review is by Moses Stubbs in Second Year. The book and series is available in the library!

The book “Tunnels”, written by joint authors Roderick Gordons and Brian Williams, was first self-published in 2005 under the title “The Highfield Mole, Circle in the Spire” but was renamed “Tunnels” to represent the editing in the book in 2007. It is the first in a series of five, the last being not yet published.

The main character is a fourteen year old boy, Will Burrows. He lives in Highfield in the south of England with his father, the Curator of the local museum, his mother, a screen addict who spends all day in front of the telly and his twelve year old sister Rebecca, who runs the home. Will’s father, Dr Burrows, often goes out on digging trips, archaeological digs for underground long-since buried train stations and such like. Will enjoys accompanying him on these trips and together they have a large collection of old antiques like show tickets from 1932 and ration billets from the Second World War. It is a fairly dull life for Will and the book has had a few complaints for its slow and lengthy start. And then Dr Burrows begins to notice a few things out of place in Highfield. Strange “men in hats” appear and he finds that some of the building structures are not quite right. Then a strange glowing artefact finds its way to Dr Burrow’s museum desk and there is the suggestion of something deeper. Suddenly Dr Burrows goes missing and as Will and his school friend Chester Rawls attempt to find him, they find that they too are dragged down into a huge secret that extends right to the deepest levels of the earth.
An exciting novel. It is well written and is very hard to put down. It is also very surprising and the end is quite unexpected. “Tunnels” is a great book and is aimed at boys from 12-17. It will make you desperate to pick up the next in the series!