Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Top Children's and Teen Series Picks - August 2014 - UK Published

Derek Landy - Skulduggery Pleasant #9: The Dying of the Light - Published by HarperCollins Children's Books (28 Aug 2014) 

The FINAL shocking, heart-wrenching book in the jaw-droppingly stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant series.

Valkerie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain’t big enough for the three of them. The end will come…

The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder.

And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals… and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.

The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive…

Mark Walden - Earthfall: Retribution - Published by Bloomsbury Children's (14 Aug 2014)

It's been several months since the events of Earthfall, yet Sam's attempts to rouse the enslaved people of London from their trance-like state have frustratingly failed. Worse still, the enormous Voidborn drilling device which Sam and his friends disabled in London was one of hundreds scattered across the planet, all nearing the final stages of construction.

Joining up with another resistance group, they plot to disable a drilling machine in Tokyo and in the process implant viral commands that will cause a catastrophic failure of the entire network. Just as that mission appears to have been successful, Sam and the others are double-crossed by the resistance leader.

Earthfall: Retribution will take the series on to a global stage, as the true scale of the conflict being played out on Earth is revealed.

Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods - Published by Puffin (7 Aug 2014)

"If you like horror shows, bloodbaths, lying, stealing, backstabbing and cannibalism, then read on..."

Who could tell the true stories of the gods and goddesses of Olympus better than modern-day demigod Percy Jackson?

In this action-packed tour of Greek mythology, Percy gives his hilarious personal views on the feuds, fights and love affairs of the Olympians. Want to know how Zeus came to be top god? How many times Kronos ate one of his own kids? How Athena literally burst out of another god's head?

It's all here in black and white...

Pittacus Lore - I Am Number Four: Book Five - Published By HarperCollins (26 Aug 2014)

The Revenge of Seven is the heart stopping fifth installment in the Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore.

The worst was supposed to be over. We were reunited after a decade apart. We were discovering the truth about our past. We were training and getting stronger every day. We were even happy. . . .

We never imagined the Mogadorians could turn one of our own against us. We were fools for trusting Five. And now Eight is lost forever. I would do anything to bring him back, but that's impossible. Instead, I will do whatever it takes to destroy every last one of them.

I've spent my entire life hiding from them, and they've stolen everything away from me. But that stops now. We're going to take the battle to them. We have a new ally who knows their weaknesses. And I finally have the power to fight back.

Mark Walden - Aftershock Blog Tour Day Four (H.I.V.E. From Book to Video Game?)

                                        

Before I started making up stories for a living I made video games.  I do accept that at some point in my life I may actually have to get a proper job but, to be honest, I'm hoping to put that moment off for as long as humanly possible.  I don't make games any more but, I still play them.  All of them.  Well, not quite all of them perhaps but, still, quite a few of them. One of the consequences of my old job is that as soon as people find out what I used to do for a living they always ask me one thing.

Would you like HIVE to be made into a video game?

The short answer is yes but, with a few reservations.  Firstly, I pity the poor development team who end up with me hovering over them saying “oooh, wouldn't it be cool if....”  It would be almost impossible for me to step back and let them just get on with their jobs, especially considering the years I've already spent in the game development trenches.  The other problem would be telling a story.  Don't get me wrong, there are games that tell amazing stories but, I don't necessarily think that would be so easy for HIVE.  Would there perhaps be too many restrictions placed on the story by the plots of the existing books?  When in the timeline of events does the game take place?  Do the books have to then reflect the events of the game?  It all gets very complicated for a game developer when you're dealing with any pre-established world but, there are ways around those problems.

Personally, I'd much prefer a sandbox type of game where you play as a pupil of HIVE just trying to survive life at the school and eventually graduate as a fully qualified villain.  Anyone who's played a game that Rockstar released a couple of years ago called Bully will have a pretty good idea what I'm talking about.  I'm not sure I'd want to play as Otto or one of the established characters from the books, I think I'd rather create my own HIVE student and maybe interact with the existing characters in a peripheral way instead.  I certainly think it would make for a more interesting game.

The truth is that these days it is almost unheard of for a book to be made into a video game unless it's also being made into a film and then the game will usually just follow the plot of the movie.  Unfortunately the vast majority of movie based games also fall into the “not very good” category, usually because their development is rushed to coincide with the release of the film.

What I think is far more interesting, and this is already happening, is the idea of books based on video games.  You only have to look at the amazing worlds being dreamed up by development teams like Valve, Irrational, Blizzard or Bungie to see the potential for gripping stories set within them.  Still, there are some people who argue, incorrectly in my opinion, that video games are somehow stopping people from reading.  I think the fact of the matter is that reading a book and playing a video game are wildly different experiences and that one will never replace the other and that's exactly the way it should be.

Mark Walden Facebook Fan Page is Now Live - The Villains School of Higher Education

                                              

CALLING ALL VILLAINS!

The new Mark Walden Facebook Fan page is now live – www.facebook.com/markwaldenfan

Here is your chance to discover more about the author of the HIVE series and have your say. There will be regular updates, giveaways and free downloads. There will also be top gadget ideas, video game highlights and some villainous characters passing by every now and then! Mark himself will be popping by to let the fans know what is currently going on in his world.

If you know of anyone who might be like to be a fan then please let them know. Spread the word.......

Welcome to H.I.V.E., the school where villains rule. Here, eligible students are trained in the ways of wickedness in the hope that they will become super-villains. The school’s motto is ‘It takes the best to create the worst’ … but one of the new students is about to become their worst nightmare!

Packed full of humour, action and with a knowing nod to cinematic baddies, H.I.V.E. subverts the traditional school-based novel by setting it somewhere that the pupils are encouraged to misbehave. With a filmic text that rolls from one action sequence to the next, all four H.I.V.E. novels have bags of boy appeal, enough hi-tech gadgets to make James Bond jealous and a globally dominating sense of fun. Not since Hogwarts has there been a school that children will so actively want to attend!

Get villainous!