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libraryrobin's review
3.0
Dark and creepy with an overall oddness. Not bad, just not for every reader.
crowyhead's review
4.0
A charming, strange tale in which Britain is overrun by monsters previously thought to be imaginary. It has a definite sort of "War of the Worlds" flavor, with British soldiers complaining about the quality of the tea, then dashing off to perform heroic acts. It's billed on the jacked as Aiken's "first adult fantasy," but I would also recommend it to teens who like a touch of the bizarre.
giantarms's review
4.0
A solid story about fantastic and bizarre things that happen from a very stiff-upper-lip-cuppatea perspective. If Hitler had used demons instead of bombs, he still would not have won.
One minor flaw? Global warming tie-in seems anachronistic and a hair preachy.
One minor flaw? Global warming tie-in seems anachronistic and a hair preachy.
anna_hepworth's review
1.0
Usually I love Aiken's books, but this left me cold. The big problem -- the unrelenting Boys Town aspect of the story. The deliberate and foregrounded misogyny against the (very) few female characters was unpleasant.
And this is a book that probably passes the Bechdel test (I'm not going back to check, because ick). The story focuses on a train heading across England, to fight the monsters who have taken over. And while it is a train for males only, there are two female characters, one of whom is the cook, the other of whom is a little girl. Given that there is at least one scene with these as the only two in the kitchen, there was at least a conversation between them. Whether it was about The Men, I don't remember.
I'm not sure if this was deliberately written as so horrible. But whatever the message was that it the author was going for has completely missed me.
I finished it. Because I'm an obsessive story completer. Because maybe it got better. Because maybe the explanation for the world would make up for everything else. And I wish I hadn't.
And this is a book that probably passes the Bechdel test (I'm not going back to check, because ick). The story focuses on a train heading across England, to fight the monsters who have taken over. And while it is a train for males only, there are two female characters, one of whom is the cook, the other of whom is a little girl. Given that there is at least one scene with these as the only two in the kitchen, there was at least a conversation between them. Whether it was about The Men, I don't remember.
I'm not sure if this was deliberately written as so horrible. But whatever the message was that it the author was going for has completely missed me.
I finished it. Because I'm an obsessive story completer. Because maybe it got better. Because maybe the explanation for the world would make up for everything else. And I wish I hadn't.
nigellicus's review
5.0
With the UK invaded and the population depleted by swarms of horrible monsters, the surviving populations has been forced to live in hiding. A Cockatrice Corp is formed to battle the menace, travelling the country on an armoured train powered by wind, solar and stellar energy and compressed diesel bricks. Drummer boy Dakin Prestwich is on board, and soon so is his cousin Sauna, along with her mysterious precognitive powers. Travelling first to Manchester and then to Scotland and the heart of the outbreak, fighting monsters every step of the way, can the Corp defeat the monsters once and for all?
A brilliantly demented book that manages to be hilariously funny even as characters get devoured and vanished and turned to stone by the score. The premise is amazing, though, and the whole thing is fantastically entertaining.
A brilliantly demented book that manages to be hilariously funny even as characters get devoured and vanished and turned to stone by the score. The premise is amazing, though, and the whole thing is fantastically entertaining.
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