In a secret supernatural battle that's been raging for over a century, the stakes have just been raised and they're not wooden anymore. Not content to have his young hero battling all kinds of evil, he makes sure that the reader truly believes in the world he has created. I can just imagine the excitement Will Hill must have felt as his synapses started firing as he answered every subsequent question that arose, making connection after connection and thereby coming up with the idea for the secret branch of the government that is Department 19. Second, after Stevenson was Turned into a werewolf, Morris "pulled the Glock from his belt for a second time" and "cocked the gun", before killing Stevenson. The Rising is a fast, furious, can’t-turn-away thrill ride that will suck readers in just like a video game.

From there, Jamie is taken by Frankenstein (yes, that Frankenstein) to Department 19, a secret sect of the British government that deals with supernatural.This is very much for a teen audience, not just because of the continual violence, but also because of the complexity of the story and its length. There are promo videos online for both editions, I have popped them both at the end of this post - I'll leave it to you to decide which one you prefer. While I did like a lot of things about this story—especially Larissa—I tend to look for different things in most of the books I read. Department Nineteen takes us through history, across Europe, and beyond - from the cobbled streets of Victorian London to prohibition-era New York, from the icy wastes of Arctic Russia to the treacherous mountains of Transylvania.

It was weak at best, why not just hide Jamie and his wife away after he killed whatever-her-name-was? For example, when vampire die, they just don't crumble into a pile of dust, they freaking explode into showers of blood. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners.Part modern thriller, part classic horror, it’s packed with mystery, mayhem, and a level of suspense that makes a Darren Shan novel look like a romantic comedy. It's a gory, violent, action-packed thrill ride that will appeal to boys and girls, teen and adult audiences alike. It's also the title of a poem written by Wilfred Owen, which Owen had taken from a line of Roman poet Horace's Odes. I feel more forgiving in this than I would in an adult book because most kids aren’t looking for complex layers and hidden depths.

I knew that there would be fights, but I didn’t expect them to be shown with such detail and relish. I was glad he wouldn’t easily shut up and do what he was told, because at times I almost thought some of the “good” guys were worse than the vampires. Jamie Carpenter’s father is dead, his mother is missing, and he was just rescued by an enormous creature named Frankenstein. Jamie is the hero of my first novel, Department 19 , publishing in March, a hundred-mile-an-hour supernatural thriller, full of old-school vampires who would rather tear your throat out than kiss your face off, and who can't go in the sun because they will burst into flames. However I very obediently followed the wishes of the people at Harper Collins who so kindly sent me an early proof copy back in October, but now that the March 31 publication date is fast approaching, Operation Department 19 is Go!If you trawl back through the Spill The Ink blog you will see photos of some of Will's handwritten notes, showing family trees of his characters, a list of the previous commanding officers of Department 19, a guide to the strengths and weaknesses of vampires, and even a detailed list of authorisation codes for the various members of Department 19. The festive holidays are the perfect time to escape the cold, cosy up with a hot drink and lose yourself in a new book. But I eventually adjusted to it and even came to appreciate the fact this might be a gateway book for younger readers to seek out the original stories if they were curious enough.