Who is Charlie Keeper? by Marcus Alexander review

OMG OMG Dribble Dribble!! I'm super excited about this book, it arrived from Amazon on Wednesday and had finished it by Thursday evening and if it wasn't for my dutty hangover I probably would have finished it earlier lol!

If I was to sum up this book in one sentence I would put it something like this: new author takes tired fantasy formula reworks it with mad scientists in stormy mountains and brings to life the sickest, freshest, juiciest fantasy novel EVER!! :P

This book is off the hook!!! It reads with the ease of a graphic novel but has the content/imagery of a sophisticated contempory story, the characters are captivating, the speech and humour is stupidly good and the storyline is too fast. Really the book does not slow down, with each chapter you expect things to slow a bit but it doesn't it just builds and builds and builds up. Y'know when you get those stereotypical reviews where the critic says 'I couldn't put it down' and you're thinking yeah right the publisher slipped you a little envelope stuffed full of cash to say that, well I have to say it here and I'm sorry if I sound cheesey but - I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!!

It gripped me, I loved how each chapter seemed to end on a cliffhanger and I had to turn the page. And more importantly to me I loved how the book didn't falter or wobble off the path, Charlie (the main character) works out what she has to do and faces the challenges/adversity/enemies in a logical but still cool way no floundering off in odd directions or stupidity just super super cool action, intrigue, thrills, mystery and more action.

The characters are razor sharp too. Check out the bad guys:
The Delightful Brothers called Stix and Stones are brutal murderers with a thirst for fighting, action and cruelty.
Bane the Western Menace is a huge giant who can control stone, rules an army of living shadows, eats his enemies and you never, ever see his face as it is wrapped in darkness.
There's Mr. Crow perhaps the ideal of evil but I'm not going to go into him as it would be a spoiler lol!

The other dudes:
Nibbler the rude little dragon
Sic Boy the huge dog that scares everyone
The Wyrms evil stinking, rotting beasts that fly

And Charlie Keeper herself has to be the coolest little girl out there.
Awesome.

And I know this review is a little longer than my normal stuff but I want to mention the 'K'Changa' in this. Its the sport found in the world of Bellania and it is just pure adrenalin, its like a cross between capoeira, freerunning and maybe kung fu, Charlie uses 'K'Changa' first purely as a sport and then later as a tool to take down her enemies/avoid getting killed. Kinda like the old skool karate kid but not as boring, not as cheesey and with all the slickness you see in todays freerun kids.

Likes:
Everything!!!!

Dislikes:
The story concludes nicely but also goes on with an epilogue to end on a cliff hanger which I'm guessing leads us on to the sequel. Also found a mistake early on in the second chapter where a girl is given the wrong name in a sentence.

Conclusion:
Gobsmacked, this one is off the hook!! I think that if you're a teen boy/girl or YA fantasy reader you're going to get all juiced up on this. This is the best book that I have read in a long, long time.
Big up!!!

Breakin it down
story 10/10
characters 10/10
addictiveness 9/10
readability 9/10
Big total
9.5/10

Bless up,
Chocolate xxx

(had a wicked time last night and got another party to make tonight. Whoop whoop party!!)