Thursday 12 June 2014

Thirteen by Tom Hoyle

Summary from Goodreads

Born at midnight in London, on the stroke of the new millennium, Adam is the target of a cult that believes boys born on this date must die before the end of their thirteenth year. Twelve boys have been killed so far. Coron, the crazy cult leader, will stop at nothing to bring in his new kingdom. And now he is planning a bombing spectacular across London to celebrate the sacrifice of his final victim: Adam.

Paperback, 336 pages
Published February 13th 2014 by Macmillan Children's Books







My Review
 
Okay, I'll admit it - I had a bit of a love/hate kinda relationship with Thirteen! I loved how frightening and edge-of-your-seat it was at times but I hated how slow the middle became and also how sketchy some of the detailing was.
 
The premise is totally amazing - thirteen boys born at midnight in London on the stroke of the millennium. A cult makes it their mission to murder all of the boys before they turn fourteen - their bonkers leader believes this needs to happen to bring his new kingdom. The only boy to be causing the cult a problem is Adam, the last boy standing!
 
Adam is a really great character - he's brave, strong and stands up for himself. He goes on such a kick-ass journey of survival and he never stops swinging.
 
Another very interesting character is the cult leader, Coron. I thought Hoyle done a fantastic job bringing him to life so wickedly. Coron, is demented, twisted and probably the most frightening thing about him is how he truly believes his own delusions and also how he can manipulate others so effectively. 

The story is quite pacy and I really enjoyed those super fast action scenes where everything was racing. I wasn't a fan of the slower parts though.

Thirteen is an explosive read that is very readable. It's dangerous, disturbing and always exciting. The ending is mindblowingly brilliant and I'm very eager to get my hands on book 2. Plus - look at that cover and did I mention the yellow page edging? Totally awesome!

3 / 5 stars

*Special thanks to Macmillan for the review copy*


No comments:

Post a Comment

Talk to me lovely people! :)