Sophie Anderson - The House with Chicken Legs - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Book Review

Some stories are truly inspired by the soul. They dance with the wind until one day it's time for that story to be born. The House with Chicken Legs is one of those stories. It is Sophie Anderson's debut book for middle-grade readers and is due to be published by Usborne on the 1st May 2018. The story is beautifully told and delicately carved from Slavic folklore; it has been inspired from tales told by Sophie's Prussian grandmother during World War II.

The narrative from the first page leads the reader into a rich fantasy world that is wildly imaginative and very bold. You'll find yourself being swept away in the blink-of-an-eye as 'the house with chicken legs' takes off without warning in the middle of the night before nestling in a dark forbidden wood on the edge of civilization. This is a super start to an epic tale which skips and dances its chicken legs into a macabre world of fantasy.

The book explores the theme of death and the afterlife which are all told through the eyes of the young and loveable protagonist Marinka. Baby Yaga, her grandmother, is an inspirational character. She is a spiritual witch who is wise and very old. Her role is to guide the dead through the gate with tradition, ceremony music and lots of food. This delivers an edge to the story and sends a spine-tingling feeling down the back as the dead march on to the afterlife, or do they?

The story is told with heart, passion and love. Marinka dreams of a normal life, but her destiny may have a different path for her in this gripping adventure that will captivate the reader in so many ways. It's a truly magical story that will transport the reader into a narrative full of emotional challenges and many questions to be answered. As Marinka faces loneliness, friendship and death she tries to challenge her destiny and break free from her grandmother's footsteps.  Unfortunately, her house has different ideas and delivers an endless amount of possibilities.

You will journey across a creative landscape through mystery and sadness. You'll fly over a vivid backdrop like no other and explore the sounds and taste of another culture. It's a story full of tragic events but, eventually, the light shines bright. In fact, the stars come out to play and dance a merry jig leaving you with a warm feeling inside. This is a really memorable classical story that transcends time. It will stay with you forever, regardless of the next adventure that you find yourselves on. 

Jessica Meats - Child Of The Hive - Book Review

Mr Ripley's Review

Close your eyes and turn off all your senses . . . . .  all you should see is the blackest of black, even blacker than you thought possible, with voices (so many voices) all different, yet saying the same things. But your mind is telling you a thousand other things that you can't take in . . . . . what kind of place would you be in?
This book is a really interesting, debut Sci-Fi Fantasy teenage book which has been written incredibly well. It covers a great concept - if we ever get to the point where technology is developed to think for itself and function on its own, what would happen within this world for better or for worse. The action, which is on-going within the story develops the readers thinking all the way through the book. The characters are very well constructed and help to create the pace and build up within the middle section of the story. But then the story slows down somewhat to establish a gentler ending, which I thought perhaps needed more action and punch, like the start of the book. I found the general style of writing refreshing in its use of vivid and detailed description. I really connected to this book; its thought process and deployment of characters. I intend to read it again as I got a lot of out of it, and I don't say that everyday.
I give this book four out of five, as I would have liked some aspects of the story to have been sequenced slightly differently, in order to give maximum impact.

Book Published by Book Guild Publishing 30 Sep 2009

Book Synopsis:

Will is different... 'special'. He's a genius at maths and even though he's still at school studying for his A levels, he lives on his own in a dingy, run-down bed-sit and has to work at night to support himself. But there's something more that sets him apart - something he has to keep hidden from everyone, even his friends. Otherwise, he risks blowing his cover or, worse, losing his life…

Sophie is 'special' too. Deep in the bowels of a secret government facility she spends her days colouring in seemingly unfathomable patterns on endless sheets of graph paper, never speaking a word. To those around her she seems like a simpleton, but little do they suspect that she, like them, is fighting a secret war - a war against the deadly organization known as the Hive.

Set in a Britain of the near future, Child of the Hive is both a tense sci-fi thriller and a gripping philosophical exploration of what it means to be human in a world of ever-increasing technological sophistication. An unputdownable read.

About the Author

Jessica Meats grew up in Nottinghamshire and is a recent graduate in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of York, where she was a regular contributor to a university creative arts magazine. Today she works as a Technology Specialist.