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rjdenney's review against another edition
4.0
Now that was one awesome read!
I can't begin to describe how unique and wonderful this story is without giving spoilers. The story opens with our protagonist Ben Harvester, who meets the eccentric Mr. October in a cemetery. I loved the relationship between Ben and Mr. October because it was reminiscent of John Bellairs's Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon, an old man and a young boy becoming friends. After Ben and Mr. October meet, they run into each other again, but this time things get a little more creepy. Soon Ben is initiated into a group who helps Ghosts.
But there is also another group that wants to use the ghosts for something sinister and Ben only has a small amount of time before they come after him. I loved the characters in this book. They came to life so wonderfully and I thoroughly enjoyed the small amounts of actions and creepiness. If you are looking for a middle grade book to give you the creeps but also take you on a fantastic adventure, pick up Graveyard Shift by Chris Westwood when it hits shelves 7/1/12. If you live in the UK you can pick it up now as Ministry of Pandemonium.
Thank you to Scholastic for sending me this for review.
-R.D.
I can't begin to describe how unique and wonderful this story is without giving spoilers. The story opens with our protagonist Ben Harvester, who meets the eccentric Mr. October in a cemetery. I loved the relationship between Ben and Mr. October because it was reminiscent of John Bellairs's Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon, an old man and a young boy becoming friends. After Ben and Mr. October meet, they run into each other again, but this time things get a little more creepy. Soon Ben is initiated into a group who helps Ghosts.
But there is also another group that wants to use the ghosts for something sinister and Ben only has a small amount of time before they come after him. I loved the characters in this book. They came to life so wonderfully and I thoroughly enjoyed the small amounts of actions and creepiness. If you are looking for a middle grade book to give you the creeps but also take you on a fantastic adventure, pick up Graveyard Shift by Chris Westwood when it hits shelves 7/1/12. If you live in the UK you can pick it up now as Ministry of Pandemonium.
Thank you to Scholastic for sending me this for review.
-R.D.
tabandvelcro's review against another edition
3.0
Ben Harvester likes to hang out in cemeteries - where he meets the truly strange Mr. October. Eventually Ben finds out that Mr. October helps to escort ghosts to the other side - and that Ben can also see and help out these ghosts.
Overall this was a satisfying and scary read. It is truly difficult to find a good horror book for that kid who just-wants-to-be-scared. This kind of reminded me of how I felt when I read Coraline, with some genuinely off putting and unsettling imagery and characters, even as an adult. It also earned some bonus points because of some great beetlejuice-esque imagery. Since that movie is pretty much the source of my love of spookiness, it was much appreciated. I would definitely recommend this to your mature 4th grader and up who is just lookin for some creepy times.
Overall this was a satisfying and scary read. It is truly difficult to find a good horror book for that kid who just-wants-to-be-scared. This kind of reminded me of how I felt when I read Coraline, with some genuinely off putting and unsettling imagery and characters, even as an adult. It also earned some bonus points because of some great beetlejuice-esque imagery. Since that movie is pretty much the source of my love of spookiness, it was much appreciated. I would definitely recommend this to your mature 4th grader and up who is just lookin for some creepy times.
mountie9's review against another edition
4.0
The Good Stuff
•Delightfully dark and funny - written perfectly for boys/girls in middle school
•Intriguing characters - how can you not love Ben, Becky, Mr October and Lu
•Reminded me a little at times of the tv show Dead Like Me (Excellent show btw, go get yourself a copy of it
•Love the unusual and original storyline - very creative
•Honestly this might make an interesting series - not sure if there are plans for it, but it might be interesting
•Very wise commentary about life and death
•Mr October is such an intriguing character, would have loved to have more back story information on him
•Author fabulous at setting the mood of the story - I was hooked on the dark forboding feeling I felt the entire time I read - might be a lights on sorta night
•I know I shouldn't have laughed, but the part about the fiance mailing himself to his intended made me giggle (Yes I do have a dark sense of humour thank you very much)
•The scenes between Mr October and Ben are worth the price of the book alone -- not to mention how utterly adorablel the conversations between Becky and Ben
The Not So Good Stuff
•A wee bit predictable for the older reader
•Could have benefitted from a wee bit more editiing -- things just felt a litte off at times (Also could be me -- but hey have to be honest)
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"Everyone goes eventually," Mum said. "When they do, the timing never seems right. It always seems to soon.'
"Sorry, son, but after so long in the field, one's sense of humour does tend toward the morbid. But of course you're smart to question, and there's always a third choice, which is to do nothing at all. But then you'd always know what you're missing - and you'd never take advantage of your natural gift."
"But it's better to know the worst than to live in the dark, none the wiser.'
Who Should/Shouldn't Read
•For the more mature middle school reader - though less mature readers could still get something out of it
•Middle school readers who like their stories a wee bit on the dark and different will lap this up - would have loved this when I was that age
4 Dewey's
I picked up a copy of this from Book Expo America 2012
funsizelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Not as creepy as I expected, but still a good read. For older than the cover would imply.
rukhii's review against another edition
4.0
I am obviously not the intended audience for this book. But in my defense, I did buy the book when I was 12-13 years old. And so it sat on my shelves, gathering dust until I picked it up yesterday and decided to give it a go. For context, I'm 20 years old now. So, to make a long story short, I was on a long hiatus from reading but finally got the time to get back in the reading mode. My mind has been a blur lately and I'm hoping to clear and wisen things up there by coming back from this hiatus.
Back to the book in hand. I liked the concept of Pandemonium, an organization under whom operatives work to lead the lost souls who have just passed to the 'bright light'. Things got quite hasty when there were so many things being introduced at once but it was easy to catch up. The names of people who have recently passed, or are about to leave the land of the living and their numbers etched on a piece of otherwise blank card is also a concept I found interesting in the book. The numbers referred to the way a certain person passed, such as 3618 for drowning, 7696 for death in a bus crash, 5821 for death in a car crash due to drunk driver, and my personal favorite, (and I know this makes me seem morbid but the fact that this death isn't unique is intriguing) 43765 for death due to you attempting to mail yourself to someone as a prank but they decide to open the package rather dangerously. We come across many different numbers and causes of death in the book. So, there's never a moment where death hasn't occurred.
There were many characters that I liked. Mr. October, Ben Harvester's mother, the fire children (my favorite ghosts)... As much as I would like to say that I liked the villains too, they did appear quite a genuine amount in the book and there was a paragraph or two dedicated to the villain's back story but there's no explanation to their villainy behavior and not much seen of the villain. We mostly read about the Deathheads, or minions.
All in all, the book was an enjoyably morbid read and I would recommend it for someone who's just getting started in reading, especially young kids. Mostly due to how easy of a read it was.
Back to the book in hand. I liked the concept of Pandemonium, an organization under whom operatives work to lead the lost souls who have just passed to the 'bright light'. Things got quite hasty when there were so many things being introduced at once but it was easy to catch up. The names of people who have recently passed, or are about to leave the land of the living and their numbers etched on a piece of otherwise blank card is also a concept I found interesting in the book. The numbers referred to the way a certain person passed, such as 3618 for drowning, 7696 for death in a bus crash, 5821 for death in a car crash due to drunk driver, and my personal favorite, (and I know this makes me seem morbid but the fact that this death isn't unique is intriguing) 43765 for death due to you attempting to mail yourself to someone as a prank but they decide to open the package rather dangerously. We come across many different numbers and causes of death in the book. So, there's never a moment where death hasn't occurred.
There were many characters that I liked. Mr. October, Ben Harvester's mother, the fire children (my favorite ghosts)... As much as I would like to say that I liked the villains too, they did appear quite a genuine amount in the book and there was a paragraph or two dedicated to the villain's back story but there's no explanation to their villainy behavior and not much seen of the villain. We mostly read about the Deathheads, or minions.
All in all, the book was an enjoyably morbid read and I would recommend it for someone who's just getting started in reading, especially young kids. Mostly due to how easy of a read it was.
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