Over Christmas I read two excellent books.
The first one was called H.I.V.E (Higher Institute of Villainous Education) by Mark Walden. This is a really excellent book. Fans of Harry Potter will love the basic concept – but this is certainly no Harry Potter wanabee. Instead H.I.V.E is about a top secret school where children with the propensity for ‘wrongdoing’ are sent to practice their talents and develop criminal masterminds. Instead of Maths, English and Geography, lessons include Tactical Education, Stealth and Evasion, and Villainy Studies.
This would seem the perfect place for the likes of 12 year-old Otto Malpense who is extraordinarily good at inventing advanced technology and using it to manipulate any situation to his advantage… This includes his once having sabotaged the prime ministers speech at an important political conference!! However in Otto’s opinion H.I.V.E is a complete waste of time as the teachers there can’t teach him anything he doesn’t already know. The only problem for Otto is that nobody is allowed to leave H.I.V.E until they complete their education. Nobody has ever even come close to escaping from the island. However this does not deter Otto, and with his friends Wing (a martial arts expert), Shelby (a jewellery thief), and Laura (a Hacker), Otto devices a plan. But will it work?…I guess you will have to read it to find out!!
The second book was Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (or the Golden compass if you are American). I am sure many of you are familiar with the film which was a hit over Christmas. However if you have not read the book yet I definitely recommend you do. The film was excellent, but the book is in a league of its own. It continues the story much further, and goes into more detail about the Magisterium, Dust, Iorek Byrinson and the enigmatic Ms Coulter.
The story is about a girl called Lyra who lives at Jordan College in Oxford. Lyra lives in a world much like our own, only in this world everyone has Daemons, which are life long animal companions which reflect their soul. Lyra is like a little street urchin, and spends her days playing with her friends Roger (the kitchen boy) and the Gyptian children who live by the river. That is until one day children begin to disappear from the streets, taken mysteriously by a group nicknamed ‘the gobblers’. Then the enigmatic Ms Coulter arrives and takes Lyra out of school starting a whole series of events which finds Lyra and her Daemon Pan in the snow filled North where she meets fighting bears, witches and aeronauts.
It really is an excellent book full of mystery, suspense, adventure and has some really amazing characters. I recommend you read it and the sequels – The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spy Glass.
