Friday 13 March 2020

Monstrous Devices by Damien Love

Alex collects toy robots, an interest started and encouraged by his grandfather. The latest one in his collection is a little bit different, though. A little bit strange...

For a while this book seemed to be playing into one of my pet peeves; No One Will Tell The Hero What's Happening. Alex spends a lot of time chasing his grandfather around from one set piece to the next, Not Being Told Things. After a while things start to fall into place, though, starting to make sense.

It's a fantastic adventure story, not quite like anything I'd seen before, ranging all over Europe and taking in various myths and folktales along the way. It's going to be a great acventure series - yes, I'm saying series now, I think there's more stories to be told. I hope there is. I'd like to know what happens next, and I think it could run for quite a while.




On a winter's day in a British town, twelve-year-old Alex receives a package in the mail: an old tin robot from his grandfather. "This one is special," says the enclosed note, and when strange events start occurring around him, Alex suspects this small toy is more than special; it might be deadly.

Right as things get out of hand, Alex's grandfather arrives, pulling him away from an attack--and his otherwise humdrum world of friends, bullies, and homework--and into the macabre magic of an ancient family feud. Together, the duo flees across snowy Europe, unravelling the riddle of the little robot while trying to outwit relentless assassins of the human and mechanical kind.

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